The Walking Dead: looking back at After season 4 episode 9

On February 9, 2014, the midseason premiere of season four aired with an episode titled “After.” The episode was written by Robert Kirkman and directed by Greg Nicotero. This title refers to the period after the prison was destroyed. All the main characters were split up, either on their own or, if they were lucky, they escaped with someone else or a group.

This episode shows that Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) escaped together, and Michonne (Danai Gurira) was left alone at the prison. We see her slash through walkers, most likely in anger at what had just transpired. She comes upon the reanimated head of Hershel Greene (Scott Wilson). As if the fandom did have enough of a shock by his death, we had to be reminded of this horrifying image. Poor Michonne had to put his head down, which was a sad sight to behold.

The Walking Dead season 4

This episode starts with Carl and Rick heading away from the prison to find somewhere to allow Rick to recover from his fight with the Governor. He could barely see or talk, and even walking seemed to be painful for him. Carl was angry that his father had decided to garden instead of protecting everyone.

Viewers had to watch the pair argue about what needed to be done as they wouldn’t accept help from the other. You just wanted to yell at the pair to work together and stop acting like children, even though Carl was a child. Carl was also a little brat while searching for food and a place to stay. In the end, we witnessed the scared child inside Carl break down and pour out his emotions from all he had to endure. And when Rick awoke from his coma state, Carl was grateful that his father survived.

Meanwhile, we watched as Michonne traveled with two new pet walkers looking for survivors of the prison massacre. She also experienced a lot of emotions while she dreamed of her previous life, her previous love, and the child she lost. This was the first real outpouring of emotion we saw from her, and it was heartbreaking. She was always such a rock that it was hard to witness this side of her.

Eventually, she makes her way to Carl and Rick, which is awesome to look back on; as we all know, they became a family in later seasons. It was a highly emotional episode, and we saw much growth in Carl’s character.

It’s sad to think that all three of these characters didn’t make it to the end of the series. Rick and Michonne will be featured in a series titled Summit in 2024, but Carl’s death makes it impossible for him to return.

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