User Reviews

This is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the Walking Dead. Just like how last episode dealt with the immediate aftermath regarding Rick, Carl, and Michonne, this episode deals with everyone else. The episode also welcomes back Carol after a brief respite from the show. The episode is pretty emotional at times as we see people struggling to cope.

In this episode, "Inmates," Daryl and Beth are together as Beth tries to remain hopeful of the events. Tyreese and the little girls get attacked by walkers, but Carol comes to the aid. Sasha, Bob, and Maggie decide to look for Glenn near the school bus. Glenn is still at the prison and runs into Tara, as they search for Maggie.

Overall, this was an excellent episode as we continue to see where the survivors ended up being and how they all doubt everyone else survived. It's another character-driven episode, but it sure packs a punch. I rate this episode 9/10.

Those that didn't like the character drown episode last time around, will find more to enjoy here.

Plot In A Paragraph: after the last episode only focusing on three characters, we catch up with the rest of the group here. Daryl and Beth are together in the woods tracking down other survivors. Tyreese is protecting Lizzie and Mica; who saved him in the last mid season finale. Maggie is with Sasha and Bob. Meanwhile, Glenn awakes in the prison alone.

Some great surprises. Including the return of Carol who i was a bug favourite of (and was disappointed and upset when Rick sent her away) and also the reveal that Tyreese had gotten Judith out of the prison.

Emily Kinney puts in a good performance as Beth, Norman Reedus is as cool and cold as ever as Daryl. I need to give praise to the two young girls who play Brighton Sharbino (Lizzie) and Kyla Kennedy (Mike) who are both superb.

If you were disappointed with the slow-paced, character-focused episode "After," you'll probably enjoy this episode more. If you loved that episode, you'll probably be disappointed with "Inmates."

I loved this episode (though not as much as the one before it): There were plenty of tense moments, the cinematography was excellent as always, and I liked how the writers' chose the best grouping of characters possible. Having Tyreese paired with Carol was a genius move, and putting Lizzie-the-Demon-Child in charge of Judith* made just about every sane member of the audience uneasy. I'm glad they separated Glenn and Maggie, and that they paired Glenn up with Tara, which should be interesting to watch.

I don't think there's a single dull moment in this episode, and with all these different story lines going on, there's a lot to look forward to for the rest of the season.

Now for some minor complaints:

The scene where Maggie was afraid Glenn was one of the Walkers in the bus would have been a lot more suspenseful if Glenn hadn't already been shown in the previews. Way to spoil your own show, AMC.

Carol coming in to save the day was a little too convenient.

Why does every minor character seem to die immediately after being introduced?

Tyreese did NOT pick up Judith when they were running away from what they assumed were walkers, yet suddenly he had the baby in his arms?

Minor issues aside, this was a great episode that could be setting up the best half season yet.

*Oh, and Judith is still alive, which is good because without her, the show would just be too bleak.

Constantly spinning in circles. But requiring drastic action instead of these fillers, which just don't see enough walking with the dead. Another boring episode playing on the same gratuitous themes. Zombies are cattle. How many can we slaughter as quickly and easily as possible per episode, not scary counting those cows. Any horror film would have run out of this course, when never undermining that antagonist. Introduce a nobody so they can be zombie fodder, although any known heroes are super humanly invincible. Because none of them die until a given scenario where they have too, in some big epic sending off and finally horrifically they are then a zombie. Although this never happens often enough to make any real sense of horror. Because the antagonists are merely a never ending river of spatter. Oh but then the colonels men came, durp durp.

Hurrah for seeing some ingenuity and finally seeing some intelligent body armour. But Do'h Molotav's are for cars only because zombies are attracted to fire which doesn't burn them.

After i watched "After" i found my self a little disappointed, i liked the episode but i thought that it could've improved, this episode improved it. you get to see a few story lines unfold, my favourites were with Tyreese, Carol, Judith ,lizzie and Mica who were starting to make there way up to a city with protection and Glenn and Tara who were looking for Maggie, glens wife, and at the end of their story there appears to be a new group of enemies who remained unnamed in the episode. The other story lines consisted of Daryl and beth trying to stay safe and find a shelter and Daryl giving up on finding the rest of the group, and Maggie, Sacha, and Bob trying to find glen, which led to a really cool scene where Maggie thought that glen was on a bus so she let all the walkers come out but went up to them to see if they were glen, so this episode also had no problem with action,

all in all i think that this is one of the better ones of this season and i'm really looking forward to the episode next week.

There is something I didn't understand in this episode How did Tara know the name of Glen ?

After only seeing Rick, Carl, and Michonne last episode, the expectation was that they would show the rest of the groups this week. That held true, and we were treated to a solid episode with some intriguing character development, tense sequences, and a reveal at the episode so awesome I nearly soiled myself. While it wasn't as riveting of a character study as last week's episode, and it wasn't without a few notable issues, The Walking Dead delivered another good episode this week as it continues to inch towards its goal of a complete season of excellence, and gave us a clear indication of where they are going next.......

Out of all the groups this week, Tyreese's was my favorite. However, I had one problem with what was done. It may be a little too early to judge this, and it sounds bad, but I wish Judith had died. Her death would have had a huge effect on the group, particularly Rick and Carl. Traumatic events like that are perfect for producing phenomenal character development, just look at Game of Thrones, or even Hershel's death in "Too Far Gone". Leaving her alive takes quite a bit of the punch away from the mid-season finale. I was convinced that she was dead, and the emotional damage that caused was one of the biggest reasons for giving the episode a "10". It feels like they didn't have the guts to fully kill her off, so they are attempting to get the character effects by leaving her fate in question. However, it just doesn't have the same impact. However, keeping her alive did contribute to the most intense moment of the episode, though that turned out to be a missed opportunity to make the death of Judith even more shocking. I was shaking in my seat as the show cut back and forth between Tyreese's walker killing and Lizzie suffocating Judith as walkers approached. It was one of the most gripping moments of the season, and it was masterfully done. That sequence was strong enough on its own to make this a good episode. Still though, imagine how shocking it would have been for Lizzie to kill Judith! I still think that could happen, and I hope it does when they reunite with Carl. I would love to see what that does to his mental state. One thing that this episode did do was convince me almost 100% that Lizzie was the killer, and that Carol covered for her. That would be a huge twist! A lot of people have not been talking about it (which is unfortunate), but what the writers have done with Lizzie has been absolutely spectacular. Every time I see her, I get creeped out: she's a freakin' psychopath! I haven't seen many post-apocalyptic stories create a kid who is basically a serial killer in the making (if she isn't already). Scott Gimple and the gang are really exploring the messed up things that young children might believe are acceptable in a world like the one in Walking Dead. Even more unexpected that the character arc of Lizzie is Brighton Sharbino, the actress who plays her. I am one of those guys that often finds child actors annoying, but she has been stupendous. How many ADULTS can play a crazy person this well, let alone child actors. I really think that she is going places. On the opposite end of the spectrum from Lizzie was her sister Mika, who was afraid of just about everything. Trying to keep these two nut-jobs in line was Tyreese, and Chad Coleman gave a top-notch performance once again.....

"Inmates" is a tough episode to score. While not without its problems, "Inmates" was packed with solid material, important reveals, and gripping moments. However, a few of those issues really bugged me, and some will impact the show moving forward. Still, they don't even come close to spoiling the reveal of Abraham, Eugene, Rosetta, and "The Sanctuary". Scott Gimple has a clear vision for the show, and that vision includes a lot of comic material with a unique spin. The Walking Dead's best and darkest content appears to be on its way, and I can't wait! FULL REVIEW AT http://www.ign.com/blogs/ao66 OVERALL SCORE: 8.2 out of 10

The Walking Dead is running out of ideas. Inmates is another episode of characters running around scavenging, and (of course) cutting zombies' heads off. Hey let's go loot the Seven eleven, cut, stab, and shoot three zombies then grab a bag of chips. MMMMM chips! That is the jest of this season so far. I believe Inmates is a developmental episode where new characters are being developed, and the plot twist of where each and every character is going to end up! Inmates is a building block episode which is needed to build the current driving plot. Regrettably, the building block episodes are slow, repetitive, and add little for the viewers' experience for the series. If you want to miss a couple of episodes miss the first two. Inmates is a four out of ten.

Ah, this is better.

After last week's laughably bad and little sense-making episode, this week's "Inmates" proved to be a return to form, although it still wasn't without its faults.

First, the positives. This seemed to be a return to form for The Walking Dead, filled with real tense moments (contrast to the stupid Carl- falling-every-ten-seconds, Rick might be dead gimmicks from last episode) and some good drama from the characters, including Maggie's heartfelt search for Glenn. The acting was quite solid, the action scenes good (the bus, the brutal killing of zombies in the last scene), and it gave characters room to develop in meaningful ways and grow connections. Tyreese got some good character moments in trying to juggle two little children (one psychotic) and a baby (more on that later), and we felt Maggie and Glenn's relationship strengthening as both wanted strongly to find each other. The gore effects were great, especially the ending when Tara bashed in the zombie's head and it gradually squished piece by piece. It was a good character building episode, filled with some good development and some interesting plot developments and questions, including the distant Terminus and the new characters in Abraham and his group.

Which transitions to the negative aspects of the episode. Firstly, what was with Abraham and his group's stupid pose? I know they were trying to recreate the comic book's cover, but it transitioned horrifically and hilariously to visual form. Why were they posing? To look cool? It was unnatural and it was laughable. I assume the comic fans were getting all gooey over it, but realistically, it looked terrible.

Secondly, some scenes were unnecessary. Beth and Daryl's scenes were quite pointless as seeing them walking through the woods does not prove an engaging viewing experience. Beth's dramatic voice over, providing an ironic twist for the viewer and the characters regarding their situation, seemed pointless and overly-dramatic.

Carol's return was also done quite poorly. Not only am I not a fan of Carol as a character and therefore was quite upset at her return, her return was done poorly, making the show's knowledge of itself as a show known. She suddenly appears behind Tyreese, and the viewers are left to gasp in surprise at her return. It was wholly unnecessary and did not provide much in the way of dramatics. Also, JUDITH'S NOT DEAD! Honestly, show? I lost quite a bit of respect for the show when I saw Tyreese holding her. I KNEW the show would not have the balls to kill her off, and it really cemented the show as safer and more conventional than the comic. Where the comic takes BOLD steps regarding deaths and themes, the show, due to its mainstream appeal, became too cowardly to kill off a baby in fear of upsetting its viewers. I KNEW the show would not have the guts to kill off a baby, and because of its lack of risk-taking abilities, I lost a huge amount of respect for the writers and this episode in general.

So, it was a good episode with some good character moments and some good gory effects, but filled with some sloppy dramatics, had some unnecessary scenes, and did not take risks, and because of that, I deduct a few points.

7/10

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