The gang enjoys a quiet and uneventful day in their happy new prison home.
Actually, no, that’s not what happens at all
Lori Grimes lived a sad and misbegotten life.
She suffered greatly and caused great suffering.
Credit: Gene Page/AMC
She made mistakes and was always punished for those mistakes.
A desperate housewife from Kings County, Georgia, Lori got into an argument one morning with her husband.
They were high school sweethearts; they got married young; they had long lost the ability to communicate.
When the zombie apocalypse came, her husband died in the first wave or so Lori thought.
But then, a miracle!
Their old squabbles fell away in the brave new world.
In a weird way, Lori Grimes was the luckiest person in the new zombie world.
Everyone else lost their families.
Lori got hers back.
Unfortunately, without even realizing it, Lori had already brought shame and ruin unto her family.
Thinking herself a widow, she began a relationship with her husbands best friend, Shane.
Personally, I think thats a ridiculously simplistic, even offensive read of the Lori situation.
The world was over.
Her husband was dead.
Also, a womans got needs.
(Though experiment: Would you like Lori more if she had hooked up with Daryl?)
But Loris affair with Shane wasnt just disastrous: Its practicallyThe Walking Deads version of the Original Sin.
She got pregnant: Maybe it was her husbands, and maybe not.
That story arc consumed most of season 2, and ended like something out of a Greek tragedy.
Her two lovers tried to kill each other.
Rick survived, but couldnt even stand to look Lori in the face anymore.
Tell me Im being a bitch, if thats what Im being!
The fact that Lori was comically incapable of doing anything right didnt help matters.
She let Carl go off on a hunt in the forest…and Carl immediately got shot.
She wasinconsistent to the point of schizophrenia.
In her last days, though, something changed in Lori Grimes.
She saved Hershels life.
NEXT: The prison population problemThe episode got off to an eerie start.
It was an implication that there was a storm on the horizon.
But inside of the prison, the Grimes Gang was focusing more on a matter of geopolitical diplomacy.
Axel and Oscar, the two remaining prisoners, cant living in the Dead Zone anymore.
They were happy to do whatever had to be done to become part of the Grimes Gang.
Rick locked them up and convened a quorum to decide their fate.
T-Dog wanted to bring them into the fold.
Daryl brought up a good point: Theyre degenerates, but they aint psychos.
Daryl recognized something of himself in them.
He wasnt exactly a saint in the bad old days.
But that didnt mean he wanted them in the group.
He recommended sending them into the wilderness, where they could fend for themselves.
It was decided: Theyd set the inmates free and let them determine their own fate.
They would even give them enough food for a week, because they were in a benevolent mood.
T-Dog called this what it was: Execution-by-Zombie.
She noticed bullet holes and blood in one truck.
The Governor apparated behind her, grinning his politicians smile.
They must have encountered bandits, said the Governor.
Michonne asked why the soldiers hadnt driven away from the walkers that killed them.
They wouldnt leave their men behind, said the Governor.
Michonne asked what happened to the body of the dead helicopter pilot.
He was cremated so that his funeral wouldnt upset anyone, said the Governor.
Vote Governor 2012: Hes got a believable answer for everything!
Michonne was having none of it.
She met with Andrea and told her it was time to go.
Andrea asked what the plan was from here.
The coastline, said Michonne; Best thing to do is to find an island.
This was the end goal Michonne had in mind: Grow old, live off the sea.
It was, essentially, a version of the life they were already living, except without zombies.
Unlike fellow newbie the Governor, Michonne hasnt really had any big character moments in her first four episodes.
Over at Grimes Memorial Prison, Lori and the gals were tending to the newly-asymmetrical Hershel.
He wanted to go for a little stroll.
He led the ladies outside into the prison yard.
The whole Grimes Gang was out there at that moment.
(Rick and the Melee Squad were further out, behind a fence getting supplies.)
Everyone had to smile at the old guy, walking again.
It felt like proof that some calamities could be overcome.
Rick looked at Lori.
Lori looked at Rick.
Together, they had rescued this mans life.
Maybe things could be different between the two of them.
But when the walkers suddenly invaded the prison yard, they had no time to react.
In the first few episode, they were moving through environments with clockwork efficiency.
Now, they were separated, with most of their heaviest artillery a long run away.
Rick and the guys ran back as quickly as possible, with Axel and Oscar along.
Hershel and Beth got behind one door.
Lori, Maggie, and Carl ran down another way, into the dark tunnels.
The Melee Squad arrived and cleared out the walkers.
but their problems were far from over.
Rick tried to shoot out as many alarms as possible.
Oscar and Axel swore their innocence, though.
They even offered to lead Rick to the shut-off point.
Meanwhile, back in Woodbury, Andrea was saying goodbye to her ol pal Merle.
She gave him a map to Hershels Miserable Farm.
Merle was feeling randy: How come we never hooked up, Blondie?
You called me a whore!
she said, flirtatiously.
Merle noted that they got left behind by the same people and saved by the same guy.
You aint curious about the old gang?
Andrea said no; maybe because Michonne was her new gang.
Andrea paid a visit to the Governor, too.
He poured some of his bourbon.
They talked about life.
Andrea admitted, I dont know what Im looking for…I dont know what matters now.
It was just him and his daughter.
The Governor said that she would always be welcome.
He told her to take care.
He told her his real name: Philip.
His big Morrissey eyes lingered on her.
(If youre keeping track, this makes three semi-sociopathic violent men that Andrea has flirted with.)
Andrea convinced Michonne to stay another day.
Michonne was not amused.
He had no backstory and no truly discernible character traits.
He got hurt, went crazy, and then stopped being crazy.)
A cynic would point out that the only black character on the show never got to say anything.
Boy, was there.
He led her through the tunnels…and ran right into a couple zombies.
Rick and the Melee Squad found their way to the back-up generator room.
Andrew and Rick wrestled.
Ricks gun fell…and landed right at Oscars feet.
Andrew told him to kill Rick: They could take back the prison themselves.
Oscar thought it over, and then shot Andrew in the head.
Things were going much, much worse for Maggie, Lori, and Carl.
Lori was giving birth, and Maggie has to serve as a fourth-string midwife.
(Carl, meanwhile, was the replacement nurse.)
Something was wrong; there was too much blood.
Lori knew the score.
Carl had a knife.
My baby has to survive, said Lori.
For all of us.
She knew that this was right.
She gave Carl some last words of advice: Promise me youll always do whats right.
She told him he would beat this world.
She was confident, and fearless, and heroic.
And then Maggie cut her belly open and Lori Grimes died.
NEXT: The primal screamCarls little sibling was born into a dead world screaming and miraculously alive.
Someone had to put a bullet into Loris dead brain.
Carl insisted: Shes my mom.
Maggie was shell-shocked; she left Carl to it.
A shot rang out, and Carl walked away, head held low.
Rick and the Melee Squad made their way through the tunnels.
They found T-Dog dead.
They also found Carols head-scarf on the ground, and assumed she was dead.
They emerged into the prison yard.
They asked Hershel if anyone had seen Lori.
And then Rick turned and saw a sight he could barely comprehend.
Maggie was covered in blood.
She was carrying a baby: The first baby Rick has seen in practically a year.
His son was following along.
And Lori was nowhere to be seen.
Im not sure thatThe Walking Deadhas ever had a better scene than the almost wordless sequence that followed.
Rick walked up to Maggie and asked after Lori; Maggie cried out a plaintive No.
He looked at Carl and understood everything.
The look on Andrew Lincolns face the slow-burn of realization and the steady accumulation of emotion was soul-burning.
For this oversight, Rick has lost a member of his squad and his own wife.
And his own son had to shoot his dead wife in the head.
Rick fell down, crying, screaming, incoherent.
Have you already read Dalton Ross exclusive chat with Sarah Wayne Callies about her characters demise?
Did the revelation that Andrew was the puppet master bother you?
Are you excited to see what kind of mental horror Rick has to live with now?
Will no one weep for Lori?
Ask me stuff aboutWalking Deador about zombies or about, like, life man!
