Tales of the Walking Dead Amy/Dr. Everett – a satisfying slow burn

The fourth episode of Tales of the Walking Dead will no doubt be criticized for being a slower episode. After coming off the high of “Dee,” an episode that shocked fans by the new revelations of the character Alpha from The Walking Dead series, “Amy/Dr. Everett” is a slower-paced story. But, it proves the whole premise of TWD, that the undead aren’t the worse threat in an apocalypse.

This article contains spoilers for Tales of the Walking Dead episode 4, “Amy/Dr. Everett.”

The episode begins with narration by Dr. Everett, played by Anthony Edwards, a naturalist who dedicated his post-apocalyptic life to studying the undead or Homo Mortuus, a phrase he coined. He has quite the setup to track and analyze the undead, their migratory patterns and behaviors. He has lived alone for an undisclosed amount of time and likes it that way.

The timeline of this series is unclear, but viewers see Dr. Everett log his 4,306th video, which could signify one a day, making it 11 years. But we don’t know if he began those logs when he found the ranger station or if it was after his partner Dr. Moseley died. We know he wandered around for two years before locating the ranger station after his group fell apart but have been given no clue how long the group had been conducting their studies after the outbreak.

The Dead Sector where Everett lives and conducts his research is set apart by a 40-foot deep, 600+ feet wide man-made trench spanning hundreds of miles. He has earmarked three of the undead, Sunflower, the one who is the first alerted by sounds; Gamma, his original specimen; and Specimen 21 (Dr. Moseley), who has taught him the most. Viewers will learn that 21 is why Everett can get close to the herd as he was Everett’s partner, who, before getting killed, made a jacket of walker skin. This tactic is similar to the Whisperers and their masks.

Tales of the Walking Dead episode 4

Amy (Poppy Liu) is part of a group that breaches the trench, believing the Dead Sector should be taken back for the living. Her group partners with the skull hunters, a group that collects the heads of the “chompers,” as she calls them. She gets separated from her group and is saved by Everett when she is attacked by 21.

This episode looks at how the undead’s only act is mindless eating with no other agenda, and by separating them from humans, the area has begun to thrive. The animals who escaped from the zoos after the outbreak have also populated the Dead Sector. By allowing nature to take its course, Everett has been able to watch the area take on new life.

Amy and her group believe that too much land has been given up to the chompers, proving Everett’s point that once nature rights itself, humans come in and take over again. She believes you can respect the science and care for people, a statement they disagree on.

Just when you side with Everett, his hypocrisy shines through when he tries to intervene when 21 is attacked by nature in the form of an alligator. This proves Amy was right when she told him he changes his agenda to fit his needs.

It is a sad moment in the end when viewers see that Amy’s community was overrun by the Homo Mortuss, as Everett told her, and we see Amy’s reanimated form. It appears that Everett has a tracker that he will place on her neck, and she will replace Specimen 21 as his test subject.

Ultimately this episode sets out to prove that Rick Grimes was right, “We (humans) are the Walking Dead.”

Tales of the Walking Dead is the series that The Walking Dead universe has been in dire need of. It is a refreshing change of pace that allows creators to dive into other facets of the apocalypse and shake things up. It gives fans reality twisted episodes like “Blair/Gina” and amazing new back stories like “Dee.” The limits of this series are only restricted by the imaginations of the creators. It would be fascinating to see a series of “What if…?” episodes in this series. (AMC hit me up; I have several I have already started writing!)

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