Review: ‘The Walking Dead – S5E4’ From The Editor

‘The Walking Dead’ season 5 brings to life its 4th episode with “Slabtown,” as Beth awakens after her kidnapping to find safe haven at a hospital, only to discover that her new surroundings are predictably not what they seem.

Last week’s ‘The Walking Dead’ episode, “Four Walls and a Roof,” saw Rick and the others realizing the threat of the surviving Terminus cannibals, while Bob shared a surprising revelation about his departure, and Father Gabriel confessed his sins. So, what does the latest episode of season 5 bring? Does Beth make it back to tell her tale to Rick and the others?

Read on for your in-depth review of everything you need to know about ‘The Walking Dead’ season 5, episode 4, “Slabtown”!

“Slabtown” wants us to think about the price. Again and again, Beth was confronted with the idea of contribution, be it by Dr. Edwards, Noah, Gorman or Dawn, that the value of her contributions to the group determine the survival rations she receive in return. Dawn wants everyone to serve a distinct purpose within the group, something especially poignant for Beth, considering that hers and Daryl’s spotlight episodes last season focused on developing Beth as a character with valuable contributions to the series, where she’d previously provided set dressing and songs since her introduction.

We also discover the fate of Maggie’s little sister, Beth, who disappeared after a run-in with zombies during her trek with Daryl in Season 4.

Like Rick before her, Beth wakes up in a hospital.

Unlike Rick—who awakens to an empty hospital nearly overrun by the living dead in the first episode of The Walking Dead—Beth finds herself in a creepy but-not-as-creepy-as-Terminus community of police and medical workers and one kind janitor. She’s been cared for and is all in one piece. But something is rotten in the state of Denmark, or Georgia, or whatever.

The hospital is a weird commune of sorts, tucked away at the top of an abandoned hospital, where everyone works for food and shelter. And electricity apparently. When Beth is greeted by the head cop—Dawn—and the resident doctor, Dr. Edwards, Dawn informs her that her men rescued Beth and because of that she now owes them. It’s a sort of post-apocalyptic indentured servitude. Not a bad deal, really, except for a few disagreeable details.

Here, ‘The Walking Dead’ attempted to cash in that credit, giving Beth the spotlight of her own episode. They fell pretty short.

There’s some understandable symmetry in positioning Beth’s new circumstances against Rick’s hospital awakening from the pilot, but there we had the benefit of recognizing that each new character would have something to offer from a narrative standpoint, at least for a few episodes. Five seasons in, we’ve almost no reason to expect that the seemingly idyllic hospital setting, or each subsequent character introduced will prove particularly relevant to the series at large, adding a ticking clock toward the inevitable discovery of something wrong. And while we began investing in Beth’s fate last season, “Slabtown” doesn’t provide nearly enough at stake to sustain that investment, only tying into the series at large with Noah’s climactic escape, or Carol’s last-minute introduction. That positions “Slabtown” solely as setup, with the payoff due to arrive at least some weeks down the line, judging by the apparent focus of next week’s hour.

Speaking of Carol turning up wounded at the hospital, it strikes me as odd for Daryl to return without her unless he had some reason to—and Noah, as a witness to the crimes being committed there and knowing the hospital’s ins and outs, would be a valuable asset.

In any case, this was an episode devoted entirely to Beth. We aren’t privy to what’s happening with Rick and the rest of the crew, or Abraham’s group. According to the preview of next week’s episode, “Self Help”, we’re going to focus entirely on Abraham and Glenn and the rest of the team headed to D.C. meaning the show is moving back to the story-telling style of Season 4. One group per episode. Oh dear.