The Walking Dead: Season 5’s ‘Slabtown’ was a departure

Season 5’s “Slabtown” was somewhat of a departure for The Walking Dead, though it’s hard to pin down exactly where it fit.

After being absent from regular episodes for quite some time, Beth (Emily Kinney) returned to The Walking Dead. Looking at it the episode for a second time, it seems the writers were looking to establish a bigger variety of events and issues. Kept in a hospital against her will by Lt. Dawn Lerner (Christine Woods), it is definitely a strange scenario. To help her cope, Dr. Steven Edwards (Erik Jensen) explains the situation and comes across as a nice guy. However, it also becomes clear that these are not great people. In fact, Officer Dawn almost instantly slaps Beth for a mistake made by Dr. Edwards!

Dawn also regularly emphasizes that Beth must “work off” her debt to the facility, although Beth keeps insisting she never asked to stay there. It brings up an interesting question: Even if they saved her life, does that legitimize holding her captive? It certainly wouldn’t to many fair-minded people, and it seems to be these characters want an excuse to grab power (a very popular theme in reality, too, aside from The Walking Dead universe). It’s also very clear that Beth only acquiesces out of uncertainty and fear, and due to a general lack of alternatives.

Beth’s escape attempt

Beth as a nurse was an unexpected turn for The Walking Dead, too. When she went missing from Daryl, one might have assumed she had been killed, or maybe that her fate would never be revealed. However, when she meets Noah (Tyler James Williams), it does provide additional reason for her to escape, which ratchets up the action level in these episodes. In fact, there are a few walkers scattered about here and there for good measure, too. There are other reasons to escape, too. A now bitten worker, Joan (Keisha Castle-Hughes), had tried and obviously failed to escape, which suggests something’s wrong. There’s also a rapist cop named Gorman (Cullen Moss) who seems hellbent on getting at Beth while Dawn (and the rest) tend to look the other way.

Why the hospital?

Chances are, these Walking Dead hospital episodes aren’t everyone’s favorites. For one thing, the situation is not entirely unique, given that the show had hospital/medical segments before. Dawn also doesn’t come across as a particularly threatening villain, and one wonders how Officer Gorman’s allowed to run rampant. If he’s such a menace, how come Dawn doesn’t just shoot him or something (murder may still be wrong in this universe, but not entirely uncommon)?

Maybe she has some twisted loyalty to him, but Beth takes him out like it’s no big deal anyway. This all suggests that the cops are loyal to each other, pretty much no matter what. Of course, it’s still open to interpretation. One thing is clear, though: Hospitals can easily become like prisons in a post-apocalyptic scenario, especially if the outside world’s dominated by walkers.

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