TV Review: The Walking Dead (Season 4, Episode 14, March 16, 2014)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

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EPISODE 14: The Grove

THE HOOK: In the wake of war with Woodbury, Rick and his group have turned the prison into a working community, but danger continues to stir on the outside as well as from within.

The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS, so I don’t recommend reading this if you haven’t watched this episode

THE LOWDOWN: Wow, I have to say I’m still in awe of what I just watched. On the one hand, people can argue that this show is ‘just another zombie show’ in a long list of zombie themed stories and films, but they would be wrong. What we saw tonight was different, and that’s what you get when you draw out the human dynamic in a situation like this one. What makes this show so great is its ability to actually pull us into this world like it’s really happening, and make us feel what these characters are going through. That in itself is a triumph from where I’m sitting, so haters be damned, The Walking Dead is still going strong and tonight’s episode (as painfully tragic as it was) definitely raised the bar.

As I said before, this particular pairing of characters was a bomb just waiting to explode in our faces. First, there’s Lizzy and Mika. We all knew there was something off about these two, but damn, just DAMN! For a moment there, after Mika shot the walker and Lizzy was freaking out, I thought the two of them might just make it. Mika was comforting her sister and I thought it was a real bonding type of moment. Then Mika finds her feeding the train tracks walker a mouse (we all knew she was behind the mouse business, the sick little bitch), and she starts going on about ‘changing’ and whatnot. Right then and there I’d have clocked her with the butt end of my gun and fed her to the damn walker. If only. And then there’s the whole bit with her ‘playing’ in the yard with her ‘friend’ who Carol smokes. Then Lizzy loses her shit spouting stuff like, “what If I killed you” to Carol. That said, my heart nearly stopped when Carol and Tyreese found her standing over Mika’s body.

It’s hard to even describe what that scene did to me. I felt myself shaking my head in denial, like someone reached into my chest, grabbed a handful of wet stuff and yanked it out. If you thought the shooting of Sophia was rough, then maybe you better skip this episode entirely cause it ain’t pretty. I don’t know what’s worse for Carol and Tyreese, trying to wade through Lizzy’s insanity, or knowing what had to come next. Poor Carol. Doesn’t that woman have enough emotional scars? Putting Lizzy down Old Yeller style had to have extinguished whatever light was still in her heart. I’m sure there wasn’t much left, but whatever was there is no doubt gone now.

THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 4’s fourteenth episode is a game changer for this series, and quite possibly featured one of the most brutally emotional scenes I’ve ever seen on TV. Carol blames herself, and as she slowly begins to drown in guilt, she decides to lay the truth on Tyreese. I think we all figured he wouldn’t kill her, but I didn’t expect him to say “I forgive you”. It was a powerful scene, and to be honest, this entire episode was a symphony of emotional ups and downs from everyone involved. They sure as shit didn’t pull any damn punches, and if they’re going for the jugular now, I cringe at the idea of how they’ll end the season. So much bloodshed and sadness in such a beautiful wooden hideaway. The world truly is haunted.

ZOMBIE KILL OF THE WEEK: You know what, I know this is bending the rules, but Lizzy was a monster. Maybe not a zombie, but definitely a monster, so her death is the kill of the day, and it couldn’t come fast enough.

BLOOD AND GORE: Lots of walkers getting shot up, a mouse bites it, and two little girls go to rest in a quiet little grove in the woods. R.I.P Mika, you deserved better.

WTF CHARACTER MOMENT: Lizzy. OMFG. The depth of her psychosis would have even the brightest minds shaking their heads. Killing your own sister, the girl who was looking out for you, who understood you were five kinds of f*cked and still didn’t judge you. That’s some cold shit right there. Burn Lizzie. Burn.

COOLEST SCENE: I can’t call the deaths of kids cool, it’s just not right. I liked Tyreese’s haunted speech he gives Carol in the woods. He has no idea her tears are tears of guilt, which simply makes it that much cooler to watch. The emotional tension building between them was intense.

FINAL VERDICT:

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