The Walking Dead 'Slabtown' Review: Beth The Indentured Servant

After three action-packed episodes to start Season 5, The Walking Dead slowed down a bit with its fourth episode, "Slabtown." We finally learned what happened to Beth and who kidnapped her, but of course all that did was create a whole new mess of questions and problems.

The opening of the episode echoed the series premiere, in which Rick wakes up in the hospital in the aftermath of the apocalypse. We're not sure where Beth is or what's going on, but the episode slowly peeled back the curtain and revealed another group of survivors with some seriously warped philosophies.

These people essentially kidnapped Beth and threw her into indentured servitude against her will under the guise of saving her life. They did, in fact, help her recover, but now she's trapped in the hospital until she works off her debt. Unfortunately, it's a system that doesn't allow for anyone to leave because every time you eat, you're adding more time to your sentence.

This is part of what made Dawn such a despicable character from the moment she appeared on screen and intimidated Beth. But more than despicable, Dawn is actually pretty pathetic. She's still convinced that someone is coming to save them all and that they need to prove themselves efficient and capable to help put the world back together. That's the view of someone who hasn't spent anytime out on the road like Beth and who hasn't struggled to survive. Even the Governor and Gareth knew the world would never return to the way it was.

So for most of the episode, I was rooting for Beth to put a scissor through Dawn and get the hell out of there. This actually led me to another line of thought that persisted throughout the episode. Why didn't anybody just take out Dawn and assume leadership of the hospital? Gorman, as sleazy and awful and creepy as he was, seems like he could have overpowered her and taken charge. Moreover, he seemed like that's precisely what he wanted to do. So why was he and everyone else so afraid of her?

It's always a bit rough when this show introduces new characters because we spend so much time with Rick and his crew. But credit The Walking Dead in this episode for moving through the reveals pretty quickly. By episode's end, we had a solid grasp on Dawn's past and her leadership style, as well as the operations of the hospital and the danger it presents to any poor man or woman unlucky enough to get snatched up by the black car with the white cross.

Fortunately for Beth, it seems one of those people was Carol, who rolled into the hospital on a stretcher at the end of the episode, just as Beth was seemingly about to put a scissor through the doctor. Her appearance implies a few things. For starters, her and Daryl either split up or got separated somehow after they took off to follow the car. Second, she's probably not the figure in the woods that Daryl called to at the end of the last episode. Third, I'm no longer worried for Beth because if Carol figured out how to destroy all of Terminus, I'm pretty sure she can take out this hospital.

Notes:

- Noah is an interesting character for several reasons, including his line about having family in Richmond, Virginia. With Rick's group headed to Washington D.C., Noah is my new pick for Daryl's mysterious woods companion. Maybe he found Daryl after he got free and decided to join him.

- If Noah is the person in the woods, could he lead Rick's group back to the hospital to rescue Beth? Destroying safe havens is what Rick does best, after all.

- The shots of destroyed Atlanta showed the true devastation of the apocalypse. We often see the survivors in the woods, so this was a reminder that entire cities have been leveled.

What did you think of "Slabtown"? Let us know in the comments section.