This is a twin post of the same recap posted on Legend Zero.
Happy Monday!
Can I just say – this season just keeps getting better and better, not to mention severely intense. I’m loving the direction they’re going in, and can’t wait for next Sunday! Needless to say, SPOILERS AHEAD.
Now, onto the recap.
Last night’s episode, Four Walls and a Roof, started with a shot of a group of walkers clawing at some windows. It turns out that those windows are right next to where the Termites have their camp, and are currently still eating their Bob-B-Q. Gareth keeps them there (the walkers) as a reminder that he’s alive – for perspective. As long as he’s above ground, he’s fine. During his latest charming monologue, he goes on to explain to Bob that the intent was never to straight out kill the people he finds, but to give them a choice – join them in cannibalism, or feed them. He continues to wax poetic on the varying tastes of human flesh, upping his creep factor considerably, while threatening the group (women taste better, especially pretty ones). The threat to Sasha seems to finally send Bob into desperation, as he begins to cry, until we realize that he’s actually laughing hysterically. The Termites think he’s lost it, until he reveals that he was bit, meaning that they’r eating tainted meat. Termites proceed to worry, unsure of what would happen if they ate from someone who was bitten, but Gareth seems unworried, claiming they cooked the meat so they should be fine.
Attention shifts back to the church, where Sasha is searching outside, apparently trying to find Bob. Instead, she finds walkers that proceed to attack her. The group is fully aware now that they’re being watched – that there’s a very real danger. Now that Daryl, Carol, and Bob are missing, the attention shifts to the Fr. Gabriel, who Sasha is sure has something to do with the disappearances. She confronts and threatens him, backed up by Rick, until he finally confesses what it was that he did to make himself feel guilty. As caretaker for the church, he locks the doors at night, and locking those doors led to the death of his parishioners. His refusal to open the doors to the people who sought refuge at his church, causing them to yell and scream, attracting the walkers that eventually killed them all. As penance, he buried their bones, and is convinced that God sent Rick and co. to punish him for his sin.
The group gives Father Gabriel space, when they hear something outside. They find Bob lying on the ground outside the church, dumped by the Termites. Through the chaos of examining his wounds and him telling them what happened (including that Daryl and Carol drove away), he tells them he was bit, and to save any medical supplies, as he was going to die anyway. Clearly enraged, Rick asks about the location of their camp. According to Bob’s description and Fr. Gabriel’s knowledge of the area, the Termites are in a local elementary school. They decide to go after the threat, but not before Abraham decides to leave, to extract Eugene from the danger. He and Rick have it out in what’s possibly the most tense scene the show has ever given us. Abraham refuses to stay and wants to take the bus and head to DC. In an attempt to get him to stay long enough to help Rick and the others, Tara offers that she’ll go with them. That’s not enough, unfortunately, and Glenn and Maggie also offer themselves up. Abraham accepts the terms and decides to stay for half a day to help with the cannibals.
At this point, they’ve moved Bob to Fr. Gabriel’s office, where he’s waiting to die. Sasha is with him, and he intends to keep smiling until the end. She refuses to play the “good from the bad” game, and instead asks him why he didn’t tell her about the bite. He reasoned that he didn’t want to make everything about the end, but the middle because he likes it better. In the meantime, the group plans their attack on the Termite camp. They don’t give many details, but it looks like they’re going to head out in a group to attack in the middle of the night. Tyreese goes to Gabriel’s office after Rick asks him if he’s up for it, and he leaves the room to talk to Sasha. He wants her to stay behind with Bob, to treasure the moments they have left, and possibly find a way to forgive, to keep from getting to the dark place he found himself in after the death of his girlfriend in the previous season. She refuses on all accounts, giving him a knife to kill Bob with if he dies while she’s gone.
Half the group leaves to attack the Termites, leaving behind a small group at the church. As soon as the group leaves the church, the Termites show up. They waited until they were sure that Rick and co. were gone before attacking the remaining members in the church. Gareth is aware that Carl and the others are relatively defenseless, and, as he walks through the church, makes it clear that he knows exactly who is left and who is gone. He even tries to offer Fr. Gabriel a way out, telling him he can take baby Judith and go. Just as Judith’s cry gives away the group’s position, Rick and the rest show up. They kill two of the Termites, and then blow off Gareth’s fingers, bringing the rest of the Termites to their knees, mirroring how the season started out for Rick. Gareth attempts to negotiate, to promise that they’ll never bother the group again, but Rick doesn’t care. He knows Gareth will attack others – and proceeds to make good on his promise from the first episode. Red-handle machete in hand, he initiates the bloody slaughter that finishes off the Termites. It’s a gruesome scene, on of the worst (best) the show has delivered thus far.
After the slaughter, Michonne recovers her sword, marking the end of what little peace from bloodlust the group has experienced since their escape from Terminus. They make it clear that they very well could have ended up like the Termites, self-aware of their increasing violence. Fr. Gabriel is terrified and shocked that they would do that in the house of God. Maggie refutes this with the title of the episode: “No, it’s just four walls and a roof.”
The next morning, they say their good-byes to Bob. He thanks Rick for taking him in, for saving him and showing him that good people still exist in the world. He’s still sure that the nightmare ends, and that it shouldn’t end who they are. True to his character, he doesn’t stop smiling, even offering Sasha a reason to smile. She finally agrees to play the game, and asks what the good is, but Bob dies before he can respond. It’s one of the sadder deaths of the show, yet again dashing what hope the group may have scavenged from recent events. Unable to do it herself, Sasha gives the knife to Tyreese again, and he stabs Bob in the temple, ensuring he won’t return.
Some time later, Abraham’s group is getting ready to leave, taking Maggie and Glenn with them. They invite Rick to follow to DC when his group can (presumably after finding Daryl and Carol). After they drive away, Tyreese goes back to digging a grave, reminiscent of what happened in the prison, and Rick joins him, asking about what happened on their way to Terminus. Tyreese claims it killed him, but Rick disagrees. That night, Michonne is on watch, before Fr. Gabriel joins her. Oddly enough, she comforts him – while the voices don’t go away, it gets easier to bear it. They’re distracted from their conversation by a sound in the dark, and she goes to investigate, coming upon Daryl in the dark. Relieved, Michonne asks about Carol, who seems to be out of site. Daryl calls out to someone in the dark to come out.
Conclusion: This episode simultaneously held the saddest and most gruesome deaths of the show so far. It was a great episode, in my opinion, and despite the terrible things the Termites did, I really thought they’d last longer. The trailer made me think they’d team up or something under a common enemy. Oh well. A shock like that is always welcome.
So what did you think? Who’s in the dark behind Daryl? My bet is on Beth.
As always, think happy thoughts!
Image credit: Found via Google search on http://lylesmoviefiles.com/
FictionTrials 
Great post!
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Thanks!
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