The Walking Dead 'Claimed' Review: The survivors get some direction

After two slow-paced episodes that showed the aftermath of the Governor's attack on the prison, The Walking Dead returned Sunday night with "Claimed," an episode that picked up the pace slightly and gave the characters something they desperately needed: direction and purpose.

With everyone scattered after the attack, the only goal was to survive. That's great for the characters, but the audience needs something more to invest in that that. Throughout the first few seasons of the show, the group went on different journeys: reaching the CDC, finding Sophia, securing the prison, saving people from Woodbury, etc. The show has spent much of the fourth season dealing with the turmoil amongst the group, but they still had a cozy set-up until the Governor literally blew it apart with a tank.

So now, the show needed to give the characters something to do to keep things interesting, and "Claimed" pushed them in that direction. Rick, Carl and Michonne had holed up a little suburban house, but a group of strangers forced them to head elsewhere. On the bright side, the trio found the sign for the mysterious sanctuary that Carol, Tyreese and the others found in the last episode, so it looks like those two groups could be reunited sooner rather than later.

Newcomers Abraham, Rosita and Eugene also injected some purpose into the show, as the three are on a mission to get Eugene to Washington, D.C. Fans of the comics already know how this ends, so I won't spoil it for you here. But it's clear that not everything is on the up and up with Eugene, who claims to know what started this whole zombie apocalypse thing and how to fix it. He wouldn't tell Glenn what happened ("It's classified") and the look on his face as the trio headed back with Glenn and Tara hinted that Eugene might not be what he seems.

The plot is still inching forward in the second half of Season 4, but things seem to be picking up steam. Hopefully the next few episodes will continue to build momentum toward a satisfying conclusion.

Notes and Quotes:

-       It figures that Cheez Wiz...sorry, Crazy Cheese...would survive the apocalypse. And Michonne's attempt to make Carl laugh with a mouthful of the stuff was great, as it's always nice to see Michonne in a mode other than zombie mass murderer.

-       Carl got really sad about Judith really quickly, but the two might just be reunited in the next episode or two, so hang in there, little guy.

-       Who were those guys that walked into Rick's temporary house? Just a random group of strangers, or something more?

-       Is Rosita's outfit any less ridiculous than it was last week?