Slabtown

"Slabtown" is the fourth episode of Season 5 of AMC's The Walking Dead. It will air on November 2, 2014 at 9/8c on AMC, and on November 3, 2014 at 9pm on Fox.

Plot Synopsis
Beth wakes up on a hospital bed with her arm in a cast and sutures on her cheek. She gets up and looks out the window, and finds herself in Atlanta. Beth bangs the door, asking for help. Someone opens the door, and Beth steps back. A doctor and a female cop enter the room and introduce themselves as Dr. Steven Edwards and Officer Dawn Lerner. They tell Beth that she is in Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and she was found on the road, wrist broken and was alone when they found her. In an ominous tone Dawn tells Beth, "You owe us."

Beth accompanies Stephen as he makes his rounds. His first stop is a man they found under a bridge. He unceremoniously pulls the plug and stabs his brain. Resources are scarce, if a patient doesn't improve almost immediately they have to cut them off. They take the body for disposal. "Come on, the body’s getting cold," Dawn says. They take the bodies and drop them down an elevator shaft to the basement. Dawn explains that if the body is still warm the walkers will take care of most of it.

When Beth gets food she runs into Gorman, who states that he was the one who found and saved her. He reminds her that everything costs something as she gets her food and suggests that she be a bit friendlier. On her way to the Dr. Edwards' office, Beth passes Dawn’s office and hears Dawn lecture Noah about how to do her laundry. "If you’re safe enough to be bored, you’re lucky," Beth tells Dr. Edwards when he complains about his job.

A new patient is whisked in, Gavin Trevitt, who fell from a second floor window. The officer who brings him in whispers to Dawn, who suddenly becomes much more involved. Dr. Edwards says that it’s a losing battle but Dawn insists that he try anyway. Things aren't looking good. The doctor shows Dawn his bruised stomach and that he is suffering from too much internal bleeding. When the doctor delivers the bad news Dawn turns and slaps Beth, re-opening her sutured cheek. Dawn tells Beth to "try and grasp the stakes here."

Dr. Edwards re-stitches Beth’s cheek and leaves so she can put on a fresh shirt that Noah left for her. She finds a lollipop in the pocket and smiles. Beth walks down the hall and finds a woman, Joan, who's been bitten. Her arm has to be amputated but she refuses treatment and was caught trying to leave the hospital. Beth is forced help hold her down while the doctors saw her arm off.

Beth goes to the laundry room with her bloody clothes and meets Noah, who left her the lollipop. Beth wonders why Joan would try to escape and why couldn't she just work off her debt and leave. Noah informs her that they tend to save people that are weak and unable to fight. They save them and force them to stay until they've worked off their debt. Noah states that he was from a walled community in Richmond, Virginia, and he's taking off when he gets the chance.

Dawn brings Beth some food and Beth tells her she's not staying any longer than they make her. Dawn tries to sell her on staying at the hospital. She thinks that the world will return to normal and it's important to keep safety and order. However, Beth stays strong on her decision to leave. As she mops up blood in newly-amputated Joan's room, Joan wakes up. She tells Beth that Dawn could control her men but she doesn't because it's easier. She refuses to tell Beth what they did to her and tells her, "It doesn't matter. I guess it's easier to make a deal with the devil when you're not the one paying the price."

Back in her room, Beth looks for her lollipop under the mattress. Officer Gorman walks in sucking on it. "Lost something?" He offers Beth a taste and pushes it in her mouth. Dr. Edwards comes in before the situation escalates. "Girl should've been mine," Gorman says. Dr. Edwards challenges him over his "ownership" of Joan, telling him that no one is anyone’s property. Dawn comes by and Gorman threatens the doctor by saying Dawn won't always be in charge. When they all leave, Beth asks the doctor why he stays. In response he takes her to the ground floor.

He bangs on the metal shutters with a pipe. Walkers immediately attack. Atlanta is a bad place to be. Then they head up to the roof. Edwards tells her how it all started, with Atlanta destroyed, they started to trade care for service. The man in charge, Hanson, started to crack and got people killed. Dawn "took care of him" and kept them safe. "As bad as it gets, it's still better than down there."

Dr. Edwards tells Beth to check on Mr. Trevitt and instructs her to give him 75mg of Clozapine. Beth goes down and injects it. Noah stops by just as Trevitt starts to seize and flatlines. When Dawn demands to know what happened, Noah takes the blame, saying he accidentally unplugged the ventilator. Dawn tells an officer to take Noah to her office. When Beth tries to explain what happened to Dr. Edwards, he says, "You gave him Clonazepam, right?" Beth is confused and hears Noah being beaten in the other room.

Later, Dawn comes to Beth's room. She knows that Noah didn't unplug the ventilator. She says she had to beat Noah. She proceeds to tell Beth that she isn't the greater good and hence isn't keeping her worth. "The wards keep my officers happy. The happier my officers are the harder they work to keep us going." Beth goes to see Noah who had sustained a cut on the eyebrow and a black eye, who says he's fine. He tells her that he knows that Trevitt was important to Dawn for some reason. Beth says she'll leave with him. He tells Beth that he'll distract Dawn while she makes a play for her spare elevator key.

When they get their chance, Beth goes through Dawn's drawers. She finds a wallet and finds an ID with St. Ignatius Hospital on the back. Then she looks over and finds the body of Joan on the floor. It is revealed that she killed herself by opening up the sutures on her amputation and bleeding out.

Ignoring the body, she finds the spare key in a drawer just as Gorman walks in. He offers to keep quiet if Beth will be friendly. Beth looks over and sees Joan reanimating. She agrees to go along with Gorman to buy some time, then smashes a jar on his head, knocking him to the ground where he's bitten in the jugular by Joan. Beth grabs his gun and runs.

When she sees Dawn in the hallway, she says that Joan was looking for her and that she saw her and Gorman heading toward her office. Noah and Beth make a break for the elevator shaft while screams echo from Dawn's office. Noah lowers Beth down the shaft on a makeshift rope. As he climbs down the rope after her, a walker reaches through some partially open elevator doors. He falls into the pile of bodies at the bottom of the shaft. Beth jumps down after him.

Noah's leg is injured, but he can limp. They fight their way out of the basement into the parking lot. More walkers on the other side of the fence arrive. They climb through and Beth fights walkers while Noah squeezes through a gate on the other side. Beth, having been slowed down by walkers, is tackled by an officer. As she's wrestled to the ground, she sees Noah escaping and smiles.

Dawn dresses down Beth in her office. Beth pleads self defense. She accuses Dawn of letting these things happen. Dawn says she has to. "NO ONE’S COMIN' DAWN. We’re all gonna die and you let this happen for NOTHIN’!" Dawn looks at the floor and sees a shattered picture of her and a man before knocking her out.

Later, Dr. Edwards is seen examining Beth's new forehead sutures. As he leaves the room Beth confronts him, "How did you know Trevitt was a doctor? That's why you had me give him the wrong meds, right? Why did you have me kill him? 'Cuz if he had lived there'd be another doctor and Dawn wouldn't need you." Edwards doesn't fight the charge. He says they would have kicked him out or had him killed. He states, "When they arrested Christ, Peter denied being one of his disciples. He didn't have a choice, they would have crucified him too."

He leaves the room. Beth picks up a pair of scissors and follows him. She stalks him down the hallway and sees Carol brought in on a stretcher.

Co-Stars

 * Unknown as Officer O'Donnell
 * Unknown as Officer Shepard

Uncredited
(To Be Added)

Deaths

 * Unnamed Man
 * Joan
 * Gorman

Trivia

 * First appearance of Dawn Lerner.
 * First appearance of Noah.
 * First appearance of Steven Edwards.
 * First (and last) appearance of Gorman.
 * First (and last) appearance of Joan.
 * This episode marks return of Beth Greene since her disappearance in "Alone".
 * This episode marks the first appearance of Atlanta since Season 2