The Walking Dead is back! Where is the Governor? What has happened with all of the people brought into the prison? How is “Crazy Rick”? Has Carl shot anymore children? Josh provides the weekly recap for this week’s The Walking Dead, while both Violet and Josh provide their thoughts on the episode! Ready for some zombies? Let’s get into this week’s recap of The Walking Dead titled 30 Days Without An Accident!
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The Walking Dead Episode 1 30 Days Without An Accident Recap Overview
Need a quick The Walking Dead episode recap of episode 1 titled 30 Days Without An Accident? Here is a summary of events for the episode. Each event is linked to the more detailed The Walking Dead episode recap for 30 Days Without An Accident if you need more information!
- Rick tends the prison fields a s a farmer, others try to lower the zombie population at the gates.
- Many couples have formed in the prison. Sasha puts together a party to go scrounging. Hershel talks to Rick about his gun.
- Rick runs into a disshelved woman foraging for food, Daryl and Zack discuss Daryl‘s life before the apocalypse.
- The scrounging party is ambushed, and Zack perishes. Rick nearly is shanked, but the woman suicides, and it is revealed her husband she wanted to help is a zombie.
- Violet the pig dies, Daryl mourns for Zack more than Beth did, Patrick zombifies without any bites being done.
The Walking Dead Episode Recap: 30 Days Without An Accident, the Details
Farmer Rick Tends His Crops and Pig
The Walking Dead opens to Rick heading outside, into the prison yard. He is farming, as a pile of zombies linger at the gate. He digs up a gun, and we realize he has been listening to head phones. He takes one earbud out, and looks at the zombies he can now hear. He takes apart the gun, tosses it into his wheelbarrow, then puts his earbud back in, and continues hoeing.
After the intro, Carl comes and visits with Rick, and they talk about their pig, named Violet. It seems the pig may be sick. Meanwhile, Daryl and Carol discuss the new people in town. We meet Patrick, a kid who is impressed with Daryl’s hunting abilities. At the gate, there is a crew trying to keep the zombie population down at the fence, to prevent it from falling. Carol and Daryl discuss the problem that if the zombies build up too much, the fence could fall.
Time for a Day Out
Glen and Maggie are sleeping, and Glen wakes up with a look of concern. He asks Maggie to “not go today”, which turns out to be a supply run. She agrees grudgingly. At the gate, Tyrese talks with Karen about not liking the job of killing the zombies on the fence, and he has decided to go on a run for the day for a change. We learn that he and Karen have become a couple. Another couple is revealed, Beth and a newcomer, Zack. The teenager, who is going on the run, tries to get some sympathy from Beth but she isn’t giving any. Another newcomer, Bob, volunteers to go on a run with the crew that is heading out. He says he was a medic in the army. Sasha, who seems to be leading this party, is hesitant since they apparently just brought him into the group, and aren’t sure of his abilities to work as a team.
Back with Rick, Hershel is showing Rick how to farm better. Meanwhile, Michonne has come back on a horse from an errand, which we learn is searching for the Governor. She meets up with Rick and Carl, and hands Rick an electric razor. Daryl rolls up on his motorcycle, and they talk about places to search for the Governor. Daryl suggests a spot, but Rick isn’t excited to go looking, and chooses to check snares for food. Michonne volunteers, and heads out again. Hershel talks to Rick about his contributions with farming, but tells Rick that the “Council” has told him to tell Rick that taking his gun is required when he goes outside the fence. Rick tries to make excuses, but Hershel stands firm.
This Can’t Be Good…
Outside the fence, Rick has found a snared deer, but a shadowy figure has run to it. Rick tries to walk away, but the figure hears him. It is a woman, who pleads for his help. The woman pleads for Rick to help her get the deer to her husband since they haven’t eaten in days. Rick offers her some food. She then asks about Rick’s camp, and then asks if she and her husband can come back with him. Rick hesitates, but says that he needs to meet the husband, and ask 3 questions to both of them. Rick frisks her, and finds she only has a knife, which he lets her keep. Rick warns her that if she “tries anything,” she will be the one who loses.
Back at the prison, a group of kids are giving the zombies names. Carl and Patrick walk up, and Carl is angered that they are giving the zombies names since they’re neither people or pets. The kids shrug him off and head to story time, including Patrick.
Daryl and the crew going out arrive at a military camp, and they begin searching for supplies. At a store, they wait to see if zombies are about, and Zack has a game going with Daryl, asking what he did before the “apocalypse”. He guesses homicide cop, to which Daryl tries to egg him on. Zack realizes he is being played, but the game is over, as they have to clean the store out. As they move in, the camera pans to the lower half of a zombie. The camera then pans skyward, and we see the other half of the zombie–along with a crashed helicopter on the roof of the store, and a few dozen zombies wandering around.
Couple of Deaths
Inside the store, Glen, Michonne and the gang look for supplies. Glen looks at baby photos longingly. Bob finds the liquor area, and he notices there seems to be a leaky roof in the area. But he decides rather than be concerned with the roof, he contemplates taking some alcohol. He decides against it, and returns a bottle to the shelf. The shelf falls, trapping him, and alerting the zombies above. The group tries to assist Bob, but the zombies on the roof of congregate to one area, and the leaky roof caves, causing a literal rain of zombies. The group fends the zombies off, while trying to help Bob. The group is taken by surprise at first, but it seems they are going to make it. However, Zack falls, and is bitten–twice. The group has to leave him. The helicopter crashes through the roof, decimating the rest of the building.
Back with Rick, Clara, the girl asking for help, tells Rick of their story just before the outbreak. They have some chats on the way, and Clara reveals she had to do some things she didn’t want to–such as leave people behind, hide when people needed help, and such. Finally, they arrive at Clara’s camp, and she begins talking to a box. Rick surveys the area, and Clara suddenly lunges at him with a knife. Clara reveals that her trick was to feed Rick to her husband, who is now a zombie. She then pleads for Rick to let her turn into a zombie, and not “end it”. She then stabs herself in the gut. As she is dying, Rick leans down and she asks him what the three questions were. They are “How many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? and why?” He grants her wish, and leaves her body alone.
Back at the prison camp, Carol is reading for story time. Carl peaks around the corner, watching from afar. Carol then brings out some knives, and begins training on knives to 5-8 year old kids. Meanwhile, Patrick, in attendance, excuses himself because he feels sick. Carol spots Carl, who seems upset about the training. Carol asks him to not tell his father.
Heart to Heart Talks All Around, and a Death Finishes the Episode
Speaking of his father, Rick has returned, and we see that Violet the pig has died. Inside the prison, Tyreese talks with Karen, who reveals he didn’t much enjoy his run either. Glen and Maggie talk, and Maggie reveals she is not pregnant. Apparently there was a scare. She says they could make it if they had a kid, but Glen isn’t so willing to start a family.
Daryl tells Beth about Zack’s death. She isn’t phased,and simply changes the counter on the “accidents in the work place” sign in her room back to zero, from thirty. Daryl is more broken up than Beth it seems. Michonne looks at her map, apparently still searching for the Governor. Rick talks with Hershel about Clara. Bob lays down in his cot, thoughtfully.
Finally, we see the sick Patrick make his way to the shower, looking worse for the well. He attempts to shower down, to feel better, but he falls to the ground. He zombifies, and has the same white pupils we saw from another zombie earlier in the episode.
Josh’s Thoughts: The Walking Dead, Season 4 Episode 1: 30 Days Without An Accident
Overall, I was very impressed with the season premiere of The Walking Dead. It seems to have been a few months since the Governor battle, and it looks like people are settling in to the relative “calmness” one can have in a zombie apocalypse. It is nice to see a small change in place. Or at least the remnants of one for the few months we haven’t seen what has been happening.
Rick almost seems to be a pacifist, with his not wanting to take his gun anywhere. It seems the encounter with the Governor has really messed with him. While he has backpedaled from “Crazy Rick”, he certainly is not “clearheaded, capable leader” Rick either, and he seems to know this himself. Clara certainly did no favors in helping Rick’s sanity, as she reinforced the thoughts he had of himself.
As for Michonne’s hunt for the Governor, she will likely turn something up eventually, as we know he is signed on for this season as well. How he turns up is in question though, and what he has done in the past few months should be interesting to say the least.
One odd thing this episode, is how everyone seems to be pairing off, including Beth with a character we just met this episode. I suppose humanity has to reproduce some how, and there is a lack of options given the current apocalyptic predicament. Another oddity was Carol’s “story-time” actually being more of a “weapon-learning time”. Carl certainly didn’t seem happy with it either, and he has already been forced to grow up in this. Beth’s reaction to the death of Zack was a little unnerving to me. Is that what is going to happen to humanity? Become numb to the loss of people close to you? Or is she simply an exception to the rule, and a bit of a psychopath? I am curious to see where Beth goes from here.
And the biggest question of all–What is with the pig and Patrick, and the weird-eyed zombie? Is the virus mutating to become more potent and airborne? That is going to make the outbreak more scary, as you will never know who is and isn’t sick. So far, I am all in with the the start of the season. I thought it was well done, and the writers seem to be setting us up for a fun ride this season of The Walking Dead, so I hope anyway.
Violets’s Thoughts on This week’s episode of The Walking Dead, 30 Days Without Incident
Excited that The Walking Dead has finally returned! Ever since we saw the Season 4 trailer at Comic-Con, I have been very much looking forward to this season. Initially, I wasn’t sure what to expect going forward, considering that the Season 3 finale was so anti-climactic, but that trailer made it look like this season was going to be pretty awesome. Thankfully, the Season 4 premiere lived up to my expectations and did not disappoint.
Yes, it was a little annoying with all the coupling being focused on at the beginning of the episode, but that is what’s going to happen in a time of relative calm in the wake of an apocalypse, people are going to start pairing off. But what a dramatic change for Beth. All this time she’s been this nice, innocent young girl, but now that she got herself a boyfriend, she has completely changed the way she dresses and styles her hair, and her attitude is different as well. It’s like she’s a different person.
Rick is a different person as well, which I suppose started with him pulling a 180 and letting all the Woodbury folk in. Now he’s anti-guns as well? Weird. In any case, I enjoyed his scene with Clara, who, I’ll admit, seemed like a talking walker at first. That would be creepy if it were true. I would have liked to have seen her husband though, and I feel like Rick should have gone ahead and killed them both, despite her request for him not too. I have a feeling that this decision might come back to bite him, literally. The concept of Rick’s Three Questions was interesting. Will we get to see these questions and Rick’s judgment of someone’s answers in action in the near future? It seems like the Three Questions are a big deal that they can’t just let go to waste on someone who was dying, and then never bring them up again.
Overall, this was a gripping, exciting episode, with an abundance of intense zombie action, as there should be. Hopefully that doesn’t slow down next week. Indeed, it seems like it will only get more intense, what with Zombie Patrick running around inside. Which brings us to the pig. Why oh why did the pig have to have a name, and of all names, why did it have to be Violet?? I’ll never live this one down. Sigh. Anyway, so when the pig was sick, I didn’t think anything of it. But then when the pig died, I thought about how pigs are the source of certain diseases, and did not think this would bode well for the prison group. I did not even think anything of Patrick’s sickness or connect it with the pig, I just thought he was being a wuss when Carol pulled the knives out. But then at the end when we saw just how sick Patrick really was, I thought, yep, pig caused a plague.
So… what now? I think it’s about to get really good.
Scenes from The Walking Dead, Episode 2, Infected
Here are scenes from next week’s The Walking Dead episode titled Infected:
This is the beginning of the end of their prison days. For that reason, I liked this episode. The show got stagnant once they started staying at that prison. Once they got out, it got good again in my opinion.