Alone (TV Series)

"Alone" is the thirteenth episode of Season 4 of AMC's The Walking Dead. It aired on March 9, 2014 at 9/8c on AMC, and on March 10, 2014 at 9pm on Fox.

Plot Synopsis
Bob Stookey is wandering, on his own, through a post-apocalyptic world, finding shelter where he can, and drinking frequently during the nights. One day, as he is wandering around, Daryl Dixon and Glenn Rhee approach him. Daryl asks Bob how long he had been on his own, how many walkers he has killed, and how many people he has killed. When Bob responds that he had killed a woman, Daryl asks why. Bob responds that she had asked him to. Bob then gets in the back of the truck Glenn is driving.

Present-day, Bob, Sasha, and Maggie, in a dense fog, are surrounded by walkers, and are fighting them off. During the struggle, a walker nearly bites Bob, alarming Sasha. After they have fought off the walkers, Sasha tends to Bob, and they both see that the walker hadn't bitten Bob, just torn at his bandages. A relieved Sasha embraces Bob.

Present-day as well, Daryl is teaching Beth how to track and use his crossbow. Beth finds tracks, and correctly deduces that they are from a walker. Daryl comments that she is getting better at tracking. They approach a clearing, where a walker is feasting on a small animal's corpse. Beth attempts to get close to the walker to shoot it with Daryl's crossbow, but her foot is unexpectedly caught in an animal trap. The walker notices her. She fires the crossbow, but the bolt hits the walker's mouth, missing the brain. Nevertheless, the walker is quickly killed by Daryl.

Sasha, Bob, and Maggie agree that they need to find a better place to set up camp, as the clearing they are in is covered with fog. Maggie pulls a small compass out of her pocket and attempts to use it, but becomes frustrated to learn that it is broken. Bob says that they don't need it, citing that the sun rises in the East, and sets in the West, meaning they can use it to tell which way is which.

Daryl helps Beth walk through the forest, until they come upon a graveyard being overlooked by a large house. He then carries Beth on his back (calling it a "serious piggyback") through the graveyard. Halfway through, Beth dismounts and begins staring at a 19th century tombstone marked with the epitaph "beloved father". Daryl looks at it too, then pulls some flowers from the ground and places them on the tombstone. Beth takes Daryl's hand to hold it. The two remain silent but are seen squeezing the grip of their hand holding.

Maggie, Sasha and Bob, come upon some train tracks, along with a sign advertising the community Terminus. Bob reveals to them about the broadcast he, along with Tyreese, Daryl and Michonne, had heard over the radio during the search for medical supplies for the prison survivors. Maggie immediately demands that they go to the community, as it would be a likely place Glenn would go. Sasha disagrees, saying that there might not be any other signs that Glenn could have seen. Bob, however, agrees with Maggie, and Sasha is forced to agree with them.

Daryl and Beth explore the funeral home at the graveyard. Beth immediately noticed how clean the interior is. Daryl guessed that someone had been living in it. As they explore, they find numerous bodies dressed up, as if for a funeral, and a coffin. Beth says that it is a beautiful thing, citing that whoever had dressed them up had wanted to give them a proper burial. She then turns to Daryl asking if he thinks that's beautiful, to which he stares as her wordlessly for a few seconds, then moving towards her to wrap her ankle.

Maggie's group has set up camp, along with tripwires and noisemakers to alert them to coming walkers. Bob asks Sasha where Maggie is, and she responds that she is getting firewood. Bob asks Sasha if she wants to stop, to which she replies yes. When asked why, she says she wants to survive. She tells him that Glenn is probably dead, and that they need to stop at the first town they come across, and set up residence there.

Daryl and Beth search the house's kitchen, finding a big stash of food and drinks in the cabinets. Daryl notes that they don't have a speck of dust on them, meaning that someone had put them there recently, and that someone was indeed living in the house. They set up tripwires to alert them if anyone is coming. During the night, Beth sings and plays a piano in the house while Daryl watches her and listens in secret. When she discovers him, Daryl goes and get into the coffin they found, saying that it was the comfiest bed he had slept on in years, then asks her to play more.

Sasha awakes, finding a note in the ground left by Maggie, who left in secret in the middle of the night. Bob insists that they follow her, and that if they follow the train tracks, they will catch up to Maggie.

As Maggie follows the train tracks, she comes across another sign for Terminus. A walker appears her. She lets it approach her and easily kills it. She then cuts the walker's entrails open.

Sasha asks why Bob has been smiling all of the time since the prison, asking if he even knows what he's smiling about. Bob responds that he is not alone, citing that he had been alone after his first two groups were wiped out, and that he had finally broken the streak. They then come across the walker Maggie killed, and find a message left for Glenn in the walker's blood, telling him to go to Terminus.

Daryl carries Beth into the kitchen, with food set up on the table, and begin to eat. They stop when he hears noises outside. Daryl tells Beth to stand back when he goes to investigate. When opening the front door, he finds a one-eyed dog on the front porch. He attempts to pet it, but the dog runs away in fear. Beth asks if the dog will come in, to which Daryl becomes upset she didn't stay back. Beth says it's only a dog and seems saddened it wouldn't come in, to which Daryl replies maybe it will come back later.

In the middle of the night, Bob is awakened by the sound of a walker. Sasha is already awake, and calmly says that it has been making noise for around an hour, prompting Bob to suggest that it was caught on something. Sasha suggests Bob get rest, but he is unable to. He instead asks her why she thinks that Tyreese is dead, saying that if Tyreese were alive, he'd go to Terminus, and that she knew that.

Beth writes a thank you note to the person staying in the house for the food she and Daryl ate. Daryl suggests she doesn't leave it, and that they wait for the owner to return and try to live with them. Beth asks what convinced Daryl that there were still good people in the world, but he doesn't answer. After persisting to know what changed his mind, Daryl gives a long gaze towards Beth, leaving her to respond with "...oh,". Before they can continue, they hear the dog from before barking, then it begins squealing in pain. Daryl goes to the door and is immediately attacked by a horde of walkers lurking upon the door. He holds the door shut, while Beth gives him his crossbow, then they both attempt to run. Daryl convinces Beth to leave through a window while he distracts the walkers. After leading them through the house, and being cornered and nearly swarmed, Daryl manages to escape to the graveyard, where he eliminates another two walkers, finds Beth's discarded bag lying on the floor, and, to his alarm, sees a black car with a white cross leaving—suggesting that Beth has been abducted. Daryl tries his best to run after the car, but eventually losts it in a crossroad.

Sasha and Bob come across another message for Glenn written in walker blood by Maggie. Bob states that Maggie is, indeed, staying close to the train tracks, and that if they speed up, they can catch her.

Daryl is still running in the direction the car went, and is beginning to get tired. Finally, after hours of alternating between running, and walking, he collapses besides a crossroads of train tracks and paved road shown to be extremely saddened and exhausted.

Bob and Sasha come across an empty town besides the train tracks, and Sasha tries to convince Bob that they should set up a camp in it. Bob refuses, wishing to find Maggie, and Sasha tries to convince him to stop following her, saying that Maggie didn't want them coming along. Bob replies that he doesn't care, and that he is going to find her and help her. When unable to convince Sasha to come with him, he gives her a kiss goodbye, and they go part ways.

Sasha enters an old building, and searches the inside of it. Once she has concluded that it is clear, she momentarily begins crying, but quickly pulls herself together. She then goes to the window, and is shocked to see Maggie lying among the corpses on the ground. She accidentally causes the window she is looking through to fall, smashing on the ground, and startling Maggie. It also brings out a number of walkers and Sasha quickly goes to help Maggie. Once they have finished dispatching the walkers, Maggie asks Sasha where Bob is, and Sasha replies that he is looking for Maggie. Maggie then confronts Sasha, revealing that she had heard Sasha tell Bob that Glenn was likely dead, and says that she is wrong. Maggie then asks for Sasha's help in reaching Terminus, to which Sasha agrees. Then they leave to catch up to Bob.

Daryl is surrounded by six men, heavily armed with assault rifles and a bow. Before they say anything, he jumps up and punches one of them, aiming his crossbow at his head. This man is the same man Rick nearly killed when he broke into the house he had claimed along with Carl and Michonne. The men point their guns at Daryl, one of them calling "dibs" on his leather vest, but the man Daryl knocked down tells them to hold their fire. He then begins talking to Daryl, saying that he admires Daryl's crossbow, and that he would like one like it. He then tells Daryl that if Daryl shoots him, then the rest of his group will kill Daryl, telling him that it would be suicide, and asks why he would hurt himself when he could hurt other people. He then introduces himself as Joe. Daryl slowly lowers his crossbow and introduces himself to the man, Joe's group lower their weapons.

Maggie and Sasha catch up with Bob, and, united, they continue their journey to Terminus.

Elsewhere, Glenn finds a sign for Terminus, and looks at it in awe.

Co-Stars

 * Keith Brooks as Dan
 * JD Evermore as Harley
 * Marcus Hester as Len
 * Davi Jay as Tony
 * Eric Mendenhall as Billy

Uncredited

 * Dooley
 * Gustavo Blade, Frederick Carpenter, Ellie Decker, Christopher Weite & Gary D. Edwards as Walkers

Deaths

 * None

Ratings
Upon airing, the episode was watched by 12.65 million American viewers, and received an 18-49 rating of 6.3. This marks a rise in viewers from the previous episode, but a slight decrease in adults 18-49; the previous episode received an 18-49 rating of 6.4.

Critical Response
Phil Dyess-Nugent of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A- rating, saying "In what future historians will refer to as 'the post-Governor era of The Walking Dead, the show has stepped in to fill the gap left by the conclusion of Breaking Bad. This is now AMC's very slow-moving, contemplative, character-based genre show that may go a long time between outbreaks of bloody mayhem, outbreaks that serve as beats in the action but that scarcely threaten to overshadow the quieter moments." Roth Cornet of IGN gave the episode a score of 7.8 out of 10.

Trivia

 * First appearance of Dan.
 * First appearance of Billy.
 * This episode shares the same title as the first episode of The Walking Dead Webisodes: The Oath.
 * The title of this episode refers to the survivors ending up alone:
 * Bob is alone after losing a third group.
 * Daryl is alone after he and Beth are separated.
 * Maggie sets off alone to find Terminus and Glenn.
 * Bob and Sasha end up alone after a short dispute, only to reunite with Maggie at the end.
 * The song that Beth sings while playing the piano is "Be Good" by Waxahatchee.
 * The song that plays during the opening scene and the ending scene is "Blackbird Song " by Lee DeWyze.
 * It was revealed by Sonequa Martin-Green on Talking Dead that Sasha was a firefighter before the apocalypse began.
 * The Funeral Home that Daryl and Beth take shelter in is a private house near the cemetery, placing the house in the cemetery was done with CGI. The house is nearby Morgan's burning site, in the episode "Clear", in the town of Grantville.

Goofs/Errors

 * The first shot of Maggie and Sasha after they finish taking out the walkers around the building that Sasha planned to use as shelter, Maggie's face has almost no blood on it, but in the very nexy shot and for the rest of the episode, her face in covered.