Lez be honest: one of the reasons I’ve been lagging in my recaps is because although I dearly love The Walking Dead, some of the spark had gone out of the last two episodes. I put off seeing Episode 12 because it was beginning to feel tedious commenting on the travails of our peeps in Walkerlandia – it all felt so lackluster. That all changed with Episode 12: “Clear.” There are major spoilers in this review, so turn back now if you haven’t seen the episode and don’t want to know what happens. Two further caveats: the writing was so spectacular in this episode, I found myself jotting down the dialogue much more often I usually do, so be ready for lots of quotes. Also, I find myself wanting to write and write and write about this episode, but this has got to get posted before next week’s episode, so I’d LOVE to continue the dialogue in the comments. What do you think “Clear” means? What does hope mean in a world that is so bleak? How fucking amazing is the actor who plays Morgan, Lennie James? Will we see Morgan again?
There is a great symmetry to this episode. Rick, Michonne and Carl are together in the most fucked up road trip one could imagine. I had forgotten their purpose, only that Rick had invited Michonne along not so much out of a desire to use her as-yet STILL-unrecognized mad survival skillz, as to keep her and Merle apart. Patronizing? Yes. A bad idea? No.
We’re treated to the palpable, strangulating tension among Carl & Rick on the one hand, and Michonne on the other. She’s continually ostracized (this point is made even clearer later, as her fate is discussed by Carl and Rick AT her, not WITH her), and the queer Chicana feminist in me can’t help but think it’s because she exists outside the mold of traditional notions of femininity and/or womanhood. She’s confounding in her gender presentation and this can tend to make people uncomfortable.
The contrast between her and Andrea is striking. Although both experienced (and bested) similar feats of survival in their time “alone” together, Andrea is part of a community, even looked at as a leader. I cannot ascribe all this simply to Michonne’s relative aloofness. Andrea’s inclusion and acceptance has a lot to do with her straight and white privilege. Remember, this is still the South, and the latent racism of the previous society and civilization persists into this world of Walkers. Andrea’s shacking up with The Governor removes the threat of her potential non-heterosexuality; Michonne, on the other hand, remains butch, completely uninterested in any male companionship, and therefore, suspect.
The car’s unchallenged rejection of the hitchhiker does not smack of inhumanity, only rationality. No one argues to pick him up, as they might have done months earlier. The hitchhiker’s inevitable demise illustrates a major theme of the series that is further developed in this episode with heart-wrenching clarity; as potentially dangerous as other people are, no one survives alone.
Once their armory run results in empty gunracks, they discover a Beautiful Mind-like maze of Walker/people-traps and scrawled admonitions that are certain harbingers of a disturbed mind busily at work:
“Away With You”
“No Guilt, You Know That”
“Just Listen”
“Turn Around and Live”
“… Worse”
“Asshole”
“Not Shitting You”
After a shoot ‘em up showdown, Carl takes out the masked gunman on the rooftop just in the nick of time. It turns out to be Rick’s initial savior, Morgan!! So despite their clear mission parameters, Rick decides on a bit of improv, much to Michonne’s chagrin. Taking Morgan inside his fortress, as it were, Michonne and Rick trade instances of saving each other’s asses, important when cementing friendships in a post-apocalyptic world.
Inside the building, Morgan’s lack of sanity is literally written on the walls. “CLEAR” repeats itself in day-glo motif around the room. Carl sees his old neighborhood labeled, “Rick’s House,” and also clearly labeled as “Burned Out.”
There is an incredibly touching moment as Rick is inspecting the transferred and augmented arsenal Morgan has amassed when he finds the walkie-talkie. His hand shakes as he picks it up. There is so much in that moment – so much loss, so much pain, so much experience and time and memory. A year can be enough to change lots of people in normal times, but in this new world, it gallops at a hyper-accelerated pace. Morgan is not the man Rick knew, not by a long shot.
In light of all this tragedy and heartbreak, thank god the writers injected some levity.
Rick: “We’re eating his food now?”
Michonne: “Mat said welcome.”
You thought Rick’s psychotic break was bad? He has nothing on the panicked, suicidal force of Morgan’s brand of crazy. The actor who plays Morgan, Lennie James, gave a performance that moved me (and everyone else with a beating heart) to tears. The heart-breaking intensity of “YOU WEREN’T THERE!!!” The lucidity peeking through thunderclouds of insanity: “You gave me the gun.” And the flat out emotional slash-and-burn of a man who has lost everything and has chosen his own hell on earth to atone for his perceived sin. “Your boy? Is he dead?,” Morgan asks Rick. Rick says no. “He will be. The good people always die. And the weak people – the people like me,“ Morgan cries at the bitter and unfair irony of this, “we have inherited the earth.” Not exactly the Scriptural interpretation most Christians are contemplating.
Rick’s exhortations to get Morgan to come back with them will not sway Morgan from his roost. It’s hard to argue with his logic: “If you’ve got something good, someone wants to take it.” This dilemma comes down to “I have to clear” versus “You have to come.” When Rick says, “You gotta be able to come back from this,” it’s crystal clear that Rick is talking to himself. It also drives home the point (hilariously made by a fan tweet mentioned on Talking Dead: that awkward moment when Rick Grimes is the sanest one in the room. Still, Morgan’s nihilism is not exactly unfounded. He beautifully sums up the unfortunate likely end for most survivors: “You will be torn apart by teeth or bullets.” Depressing? Yes. Out of left field? No.
The Crib Run brings some much needed camaraderie, in this case between Carl and Michonne. Carl’s mission to retrieve the picture of his parents asserts his manhood in a noble way (not a machismo way), which is something Michonne responds to. Carl unfortunately parrots Rick’s logic and words about Michonne’s temporary and conditional acceptance in the group, showing how very much of a boy he still is.
There was some very nice symmetrical symbolism in using rats as bait for vermin-like zombies in the bar and the street. The turning point in Carl and Michonne’s relationship comes when she tells him to wait while she goes to retrieve the picture. It’s a moment of truth and trust – Carl’s fidgeting keeps us on the edge of our seats as to whether this is going to pan out. When Michonne magically appears moments later, a wall between them has been demolished. Michonne smiles for the first time EVER – holding a multicolored metal cat that is “too goddamn gorgeous” to leave behind, proving that her katana skills are light-years ahead of her interior decorating acumen. “I think she might be one of us,” Carl tells Rick. How random and bizarre that Michonne’s potential survival comes down to the whims of a pre-teen boy. The breaking down of tension and mistrust flows from son to father as Rick discovers Michonne understands his mental struggles. “I know you see things,” she tells him. “People. I used to talk to my dead boyfriend. It happens.” Her nonchalant acceptance and ability to relate causes Rick to visibly relax, even engaging in healthy self-deprecation. He asks Michonne, “You wanna drive?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, ‘cuz I see things.”
As they drive back to the prison, and their impending battle, the mood in the car has changed 180 degree from the beginning of the episode. Leaving Morgan, I was dismayed thinking that maybe they would change their mind where the hitchhiker was concerned and pick him up. That would have been unfair, since it would meant the hitchhiker would have been the beneficiary of the emotional resolutions he wasn’t a part of. Luckily, instead we get a grim reminder of how dangerous it is to be out in the open, on your own. And our heroes score a backpack.
Scenes from Episode 13 show the climactic meeting of Rick and The Governor, something we have all been waiting for. I wonder if we’re going to hear that iconic Western whistle song when they first meet (“The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” by Ennio Morricone, the whistle comes in at 0:31 in the linked video). I know it’s going to be playing in my head, regardless.
Thanks to busyEXPERIENCE, our featured deviantARTist, for providing the illustration (entitled “Zombie Disposal”) for this week’s A Bloody Mouthful.
