‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: Season 5, Episode 4 – ‘Slabtown’

Beth Greene is in trouble on “The Walking Dead,” but she’s no damsel in distress.

Sunday night’s episode of Season 5, titled “Slabtown,” caught up with Maggie Greene’s little sister, for the first time since she was mysteriously taken in Season 4. Where Beth has been is at a hospital – Grady Memorial, in Atlanta – where everything has a price, and no one can afford freedom.

Beth, In A Hospital Bed: Opening her eyes, Beth learns she’s in some sort of medical facility. It’s Dr. Steven Edwards who comes to greet her when she screams out. Everything’s okay, he tells her, before introducing her to the gruff Officer Dawn Lerner. It’s Dawn who explains how Beth got here. Dawn’s officers found Beth on the side of the road. “The man I was with, is he here too?” Beth asks, referring to Daryl Dixon. No, she was alone, Dawn explains, further patting her group’s backs by noting that they saved her and Beth owes them.

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It’s Dr. Steven who shows Beth around the facility where she’s going to work as an orderly/ward/do-whatever-is-needed type of helper. They treat people here at Grady Memorial, but if patients don’t show signs of improvement, they cut their losses and dump the bodies through a shoot. And as for the walkers? Here, they call them rotters.

Beth, In The Cafeteria: A sleazy officer named Gorman tells Beth she’s looking “better and better.” Just like Dawn, he tries to impress upon Beth that they did her a favor saving her, and, “if someone does you a favor, it’s a courtesy to show some appreciation,” he adds, as he preps some food she’s retrieving for Dr. Steven. Walking back to the doc’s office, Beth passes a young man (Noah), who like her, is being told what to do by Officer Dawn.

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Beth & Dr. Steven, In His Office: Sitting in Dr. Steven’s office, Beth says she doesn’t plan to stay long so she didn’t take any food from the cafeteria (so she won’t owe the officers). A seemingly friendly guy, the doc says he won’t tell if she tries a bit of his guinea pig.

A badly injured patient interrupts their talk. Dawn needs this man — Gavin Trevitt – who fell from his first floor apartment trying to get away from rotters, saved. Dr. Steven doesn’t think he’s worth saving – he has internal injuries. He may die. So angry about Dr. Steven’s prognosis, Dawn slaps Beth across the face. Hard.

“Is she always like that?” Beth asks as Dr. Steven tends to her face a short while later in another room. “Only on her bad days. Unfortunately for us, those are the only kind she has,” Dr. Steven says as the two bond. He leaves so she can change into clean scrubs Noah left for her as Dawn likes the wards to look clean. As she picks up the clean top, Beth finds Noah left a lollipop in the pocket.

Heading outside of her room after changing, Beth stands next to Dr. Steven as they watch Joan, another female ward, being dragged in by the officers. She’s been bit by rotters. To save her, she’s going to have to have her arm removed. She doesn’t want any help from them (especially Gorman, who abuses her). Dawn doesn’t care about anything Joan is saying, and orders Dr. Steven to get to work, while Beth holds the screaming Joan down.

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Beth & Noah, In A Hospital Back Room: After a brief, formal introduction between Beth and her fellow orderly, Noah gives her his story. Pulling up his trouser leg, he reveals a large cut. He was with his dad when Dawn’s people found him. “They said they could only save one,” Noah tells her. “For the longest time, I actually believed them. Now, I get it,” he adds. His dad was stronger and he could have fought back, Noah says. Noah explains the set up of the hospital too: “Dawn’s in charge. But just barely.” Noah doesn’t want to be here and he’s hoping to escape when the time is right.

Beth & Officer Dawn, Beth’s Room: “You shouldn’t see this as a sentence. I’m giving you food, clothes, protection,” Officer Dawn explains as she sits with Beth for a heart-to-heart. “When have those things ever been free?” she adds. Dawn believes one day, things will change and they will all be rescued, and her group will be the ones helping to rebuild.

Beth & Joan, Joan’s Room: Hearing Beth’s humming makes a weary, recovering Joan happy. “I’m so sorry,” Beth tells her. Feeling an opening, Beth asks the woman what Gorman did to her. “It doesn’t matter,” she says. “I guess it’s easier to make a deal with the devil if you’re not the one paying the price,” she says, hinting at the Gorman situation.

Beth & Gorman, In A Hospital Room: After finishing up cleaning, Beth reaches under the mattress of the bed for the lollipop Noah usually leaves her. It’s not there.  “Lose something?” Gorman says, popping into the room, holding Beth’s sweet. He pops it in his mouth, then, as a show of dominance, he takes it out and pushes it toward Beth’s mouth. “Leave her alone,” Dr. Steven says, coming in as Gorman harasses Beth. “The girl shudda been mine,” Gorman replies. The two men square off, the doc standing up for Beth, reminding Gorman he can’t do anything to him because he’s the only doctor around. Not forever, Gorman smugly notes.

Beth & Dr. Steven, Hospital Ground Floor: After Beth asks what makes this seemingly kind doctor stay, Dr. Steven takes her to the ground floor, which has rotters/walkers, kept out by a gate of sorts. On the rooftop, the doc tells Beth his story. When things went haywire with the world, Dawn kept them together and alive. Their method of helping people – their work for future service — developed. “As bad as it gets, it’s still better than down there,” Dr. Steven tells Beth.

With his story over, Beth prepares to head back. Dr. Steven tells her to give Clozapine to Mr. Trevitt, the patient he was working on earlier.

Beth, In Mr. Trevitt’s Room: After crushing up Clozapine pills and liquefying them, Beth injects them into Mr. Trevitt. Noah comes in just around the time Mr. Trevitt starts to seize. And then, Dawn comes in too. What did they do to Mr. Trevitt, she demands to know. Noah takes the blame, suggesting he must have unplugged Mr. Trevitt as he was cleaning. Gorman is told to take Noah to his office. As soon as Beth and Dr. Steven are alone, he asks her if she gave Trevitt “Clonazepam.” “Clozapine. You said Clozapine,” she says. “No, I didn’t,” Dr. Steven lies. Hearing Noah being hurt, Beth tries to get to her friend. “You can’t stop it,” Steven says, holding Beth back.

Beth, Cleaning The Hospital: Dawn comes in for another heart to heart with Beth. She knows Beth was the one who caused Mr. Trevitt to seize. “Every sacrifice we make needs to be for the greater good. The thing is, you’re not the greater good. You’re not strong enough,” Dawn tells Beth, pointing out her old scar from when she tried to commit suicide (in Season 2). “In here, you’re part of a system. The wards keep my officers happy,” she adds.

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Beth & Noah, In A Room: “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Noah says of the bruises all over his face. Dawn needed Trevitt for something, that’s why she was so upset, Noah explains.

This talk leads to their immediate escape plan. Noah directs Beth to Dawn’s office to find the spare key, while he distracts the officer. Inside Dawn’s office, Beth first finds something else – Joan. She is dead on the floor. Suicide. Maneuvering around the body quietly, Beth breaks into Dawn’s drawer and gets the key, just as Gorman walks in. Beth says she was retrieving something for Dawn in order to cover herself. Gorman knows she’s lying and calls her bluff, suggesting they can work something out. As he moves in closer, Beth manages to see that Joan is becoming a walker, so just as he reaches up under her shirt, Beth clobbers Gorman over his head with a heavy object. Gorman falls to the floor and walker Joan digs into his neck. While walker Joan is feasting on Gorman, Beth grabs his gun and calmly sneaks out.

Seeing Dawn in the hallway, Beth tells her Joan and Gorman are in her office looking for her. As Dawn heads one direction, Beth and Noah head in the other.

Beth & Noah, The Escape: With Dawn kept occupied by walker Joan and dead Gorman, Beth and Noah reach the elevator shaft without incident. Using towels tied together, he lowers her down the shaft. Noah follows, but a walker pops out of one of the sides, causing him to fall the rest of the way and into a big pit of rotting bodies. Beth falls into it too.

After composing themselves, the two get up and start walking, but it’s like trying to get through a deadly Halloween house of horrors. Sure shot Beth hits target after target and gets the two of them safely outside. Noah is still severely limping following his beating by Gorman earlier, and his fall down the chute, so Beth does her best to take care of the walkers in the yard. Noah manages to make a break for it and gets through the fence, just as the officers come out and take care of the walkers and pin Beth down, handcuffing her. Although she is captured, watching Noah get away makes Beth smile.

Beth & Dawn, Inside The Hospital: “Who the hell do you think you are?” Dawn asks Beth. “He attacked me,” Beth says about Gorman. “Just like he attacked Joan.” Her confidence back, Beth tells Dawn her idea of the world changing back is a dream. “No one’s coming Dawn. … We’re all gonna die and you let this happen for nothing,” Beth adds. Her words have an effect on Dawn, who looks down, a sad expression on her face. Until she snaps. Picking up a broken photo frame, she smacks Beth in the face.

Beth & Dr. Steven, Her Room: “You’re healing quickly. You should be ready to jump back into it in a couple more days,” Dr. Steven tells Beth as he patches her up. The conversation then takes a turn when Beth asks how Steven knew Mr. Trevitt was a doctor (the man she accidentally killed with the wrong drug). Steven used to know him. He was an oncologist. “They would’ve kicked me out,” he says, by way of explanation.

After Steven walks out, Beth spots some scissors on a table. Moments later, she’s walking toward the doctor, holding them in her hand. But he’s busy with a new patient they are wheeling in – a familiar looking woman with short gray hair.

It’s Carol.

“The Walking Dead” airs Sunday nights at 9 PM ET/PT on AMC.

— Jolie Lash