Walking Dead Postmortem: ‘Consumed’

By Ed Carroll | Nov 17, 2014

Welcome to Walking Dead Postmortem, where we will debate and review the juiciest parts of every Walking Dead episode the day after it airs.

“Hey. We ain’t ashes.”

I admit, I really thought the writers of The Walking Dead threw us a curveball at first, and would have Daryl (Norman Reedus) revert back into his psycho-badass routine (which we’ve seen following the death of his bother, Merle, in season three) and either leave Noah (Tyler James Williams) for dead or worse, kill him.

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I’m not certain if that was a lack of faith in this show on my part, but this week’s episode ‘Consumed,’ seemed filled with mild surprises for me; nothing truly consequential or shocking (other than Daryl and Noah, which we’ll get to), but the episode did a good job of well, not doing what I expected it to do.

I expected a Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl romp through the woods, killing undead and Daryl deflecting Carol’s conversation. Instead, we got another trip into an urban environment and some interesting dialogue between the two. Fighting walkers in a city seems like a small thing to be excited about, but I just feel that the show could really have some fun with walkers somewhere other than the woods now and again.

We got a brief bit of the two doing some recon work and taking care of walkers through the window, always fun to watch, but they quickly headed towards the city, where the real meat of this episode was.

Carol and Daryl (Caryl?) continue to be a bright spot in the character relationships on the show. I know there are fans frustrated that their relationship hasn’t taken a more romantic turn, but I think the show is handling the two perfectly, even if they are building to a romantic coupling of the two.

Carol and Daryl are two damaged people in the Walking Dead’s world, but they’re damaged more in ways that affect the world as it was before walkers consumed it. Listening to Carol talk with Daryl about how her husband Ed would beat her, but she’d just hope for something to change, instead of doing something about it was fantastic.

I honestly had never considered that there was a third “version” of Carol, but she’s correct in that who she is now is certainly not the same as the mess that we met at the beginning of the series, and it’s even still different from the confident community leader that she was in season four.

Daryl isn’t the loose cannon wild card he was in season one (and hasn’t been for some time), but even Ol’ Softie Daryl seemed to get another edge after the prison attack in season four. So, it was good to see that his relationship with Carol was still close.

Daryl is certainly respected in the group and he trusts most of them in return, but it’s clear that he has a few favorites, with Rick and Carol at the forefront. But in this world, it’s hard for Carol and Daryl to really allow themselves to love again, and honestly, I’m not certain the show needs to do much more with the relationship than what they have been doing.

hey’re close. They trust each other. They look out for each other. After the apocalypse, what more could you really ask from a companion?

Credit: Zombie Prophet

Carol seemed annoyed by Daryl’s patient attitude throughout the entire show, and it came to a head when Daryl gave Noah some payback for stealing their weapons. I really thought Daryl was going to leave Noah to die, and not because I thought Daryl was a terrible person again, but more because Noah endangered one of the people Daryl didn’t want to lose again.

Credit: Zombie Prophet

Thankfully, Daryl didn’t completely lose it and allow Noah to die, and as a result, now knows where Beth is.

I got the sneaking suspicion Carol was going to go somewhat willingly into the hospital (and I actually thought she woke up in Grady Memorial during the scene were she finds Daryl disposing of the bodies, at least until she grabbed the gun from her pillow), and I really REALLY hope next week’s show is essentially the “Carol and Beth Kick Ass Hour.”

But ‘Consumed’ was mostly a transitional episode, about moving the pieces of the show’s puzzle where they need to be; I am still very concerned we’re building up to a BLOODY SEASON FINALE, but The Walking Dead is starting to do so much better with the little moments, I might be able to live with a sloppy finale.

Quick Thoughts:

— We’ve had some really cool individual action scenes this season, and man, the car falling over the bridge was a really awesome sequence, even if it was a pretty dumb idea by Daryl and Carol. Still, I’m willing to live with dumb ideas with minor consequences that are executed as well as this scene was:

Credit: Zombie Prophet

— So, why wasn’t Noah with Daryl when he appeared back at the church? Or, is he there, and Daryl isn’t letting him see the others first?

— Beth is another character that Daryl has had connections with, and it will be interesting to see Beth, Carol and Daryl interact together, if they manage to all meet up.

— I need to double-check, but I don’t think we’ve seen Rick (Andrew Lincoln) in three episodes, which feels like a bit of a record since season three (it’s probably not, though).

Verdict: ‘Consumed’ had some fun action and thrills without any real consequences, and seemed to further the show towards a rescue mission at Mercy Hospital. But in its quieter moments, we got chances to enjoy Carol and Daryl’s friendship, which remains a bright spot on the show, five seasons deep.

7.9 out of 10.

Thanks to Zombie Prophet for the GIFs, and feel free to share your thoughts and comments below!

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