Walking Dead 402: Quarantine and jury by fire

Walking Dead episode 402 re-emphasized the danger of disease even apart from the zombie plague, and made us wonder who can be trusted.

“Infected” has a lot of interesting story developments for The Walking Dead. As the episode begins, a hand feeds a rat to walkers along the prison fence. We’re also reminded that, despite being surrounded by fences, bars and concrete, the prison isn’t necessarily safe. When zombie Patrick (Vincent Martella) stumbles around at night, he easily attacks and turns those sleeping behind the prison’s supposedly protective walls. Of course, anyone who reanimates poses a potential threat to others, and the zombie cycle threatens to spread. Even beyond that, this series presents an interesting dilemma for those in close quarters: Disease.

Even without the deadly zombie virus, disease has been known to cause death and related hardship through human history. In an setting largely devoid of modern medical treatment, people need to rely a lot more on folk knowledge, basic survival instincts and plain old luck.

Meanwhile, when it’s assumed that the pigs are likely carriers of the virus, it’s obvious that everything about this world is potentially contaminated. It’s a hell of a challenge for people trying to redo civilization. Basically, it’s one of the Walking Dead’s biggest issues, and largely unexplored until this season. Sure, there were glimpses into the issue, but here Rick and crew are forced to face it head on. In the end, it all comes down to one’s ability to do just that: Face a problem and make the choices they need to make.

Quarantine and jury by fire

Practically every Walking Dead fan knows how season 4 pans out. Still, when the issue of quarantine emerges, and how they should react to the sick and injured, it never loses relevance to later episodes. It’s also quite relevant to real life. Any viewer can look into this scenario and ask how they themselves would act. Would they feel alright about establishing a quarantine, and other boundaries within the prison? Sure, we don’t deal with walkers pressing up and knocking down prison fences, but how would we react in a similar scenario where we must be protected against any hostile force?

Meanwhile, as the episode ends, things take a very dark turn, as Tyreese sees the charred remains of Karen and David – ostensibly because they had a little cough. Well, you’d need a cold heart to feel nothing for the character, as Karen was shaping up to be the love of his life. As he stands there looking at the burned bodies, we can sense his struggle to process what he’s seeing, or his denial.  One can scarcely imagine standing there in his place, trying to understand why someone would do something so monstrous.  Of course, most of us know who did that and why.  Still, it’s one of those interesting tragedies which help shaped the show.

No doubt such scenes existed in antiquity during plagues, where one might react with irrational superstition, out of fear that plagues were simply demonic possession. Have things changed in the era of modern medicine? Probably not entirely, as the initial fear of being destroyed by an alien, unknown force remains. We may call it “virus” now rather than “demon,” but it can still lead to our destruction, one way or another. Thus, season 4 is still an interesting and unique Walking Dead season. While season 3 made us feel the prison might keep people safe, now we see it’s just another trap. Going here was a risky move to begin with, and here we see just how flimsy those walls and fences really are.

What are your thoughts on this Walking Dead episode? Let us know in the comments!