The Walking Dead Review: “Four Walls and a Roof”

Showdown at St. Sarah’s.

Title: “Four Walls and a Roof”

Cast and Crew

Directed by Jeffrey J. January
Written by Angela Kang

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes
Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Bob Stookey
Chad Coleman as Chase Tyreese
Alanna Masterson as Tara Chambler
Andrew J. West as Gareth
Seth Gilliam as Father Gabriel Stokes
Danai Gurira as Michonne
Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee
Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene
Michael Cudlitz as Sgt. Abraham Ford
Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter
Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa
Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes
Norman Reedus as Darryl Dixon

Additional cast and crew information may be found here

Premise

Bob tells the people having him for dinner that he has been bitten and, after a brief bout of indigestion, they make plans to invade the church. Gabriel trumpets his secret.

High Point

Gareth and the cannibals1 appear at the corner of the wideshot, enter St. Sarah’s, and slowly make their way down the aisle. Gareth dispassionately announces his intentions. A baby cries.2

The show gave us a truly suspenseful scene….

Low Point

…undercut by the fact that the slow execution of Rick’s plan mostly makes sense from the point of view of keeping the viewers in suspense. In terms of group safety, the survivors should have cut down the cannibals the minute they entered.

The Scores

Originality: 3/6 Rick has used this plan before, but this felt like a different take on the typical Walking Dead siege situation.

Effects: 5/6 The effects this week were low-key, but effective.

Story: 4/6 We have a tense story that ends with the group, once again, splitting up.

Acting: 6/6 We experienced some very strong moments with several of the characters.

Emotional Response: 5/6

Production: 6/6

Overall: 4/6 I am interested in hearing about Darryl and Carol’s adventure, and next week looks different, at least, for this show.

“Four Walls and a Roof” receives 33/42.

Notes

1. I think they played CGBG back in ’86.

2. What did I miss? How does Gareth know Judith’s name?

3 replies on “The Walking Dead Review: “Four Walls and a Roof””

  1. How does Gareth know Judith’s name? – the dude with the hoodie in the church (the last one to kneel) was the one from the cabin with Tyreese and Carol a couple of episodes back. I’m guessing that Tyreese didn’t kill him after all.

  2. Couple of chilling lines in this one. Of course the title’s line “just Four Walls and a Roof” was chilling at the end of the episode. But I though that “We didn’t want to waste any bullets” was a really really cold line.

    However, is it just me or did Glenn and Maggies decision seem to be more because it fits the story’s plot than that it is actually something the characters would have really done?

Comments are closed.