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Besides featuring the most epic urination fail in the history of the written word, this issue allows our beleaguered prison group a moment to catch their collective breath after their unexpected victory over the Governor’s forces. Alice plays an integral role in stabilizing Rick’s critical condition with a crucial assist from Patricia. Patricia, Patricia . . . Crazy, crazy Patricia. In the grand scheme of things, it is very easy to overlook her and even to adopt a rather dismissive opinion of her. She’s no samurai ninja like Michonne or a muscular badass like Tyreese. She’s no sharpshooter like Andrea and is not as endearing as young lovers like Glenn and Maggie. However, when her moment came, she stepped up. She gave blood and saved Rick. Let that sink in for a moment. Patricia SAVED the life of Rick FREAKING Grimes! This means that if the group had just disowned her after her mistake with Dexter, Rick may very well have never made it past the prison. All of the good that Rick accomplishes afterward would never have come to fruition had it not been for the timely intervention of Patricia and her O-Negative blood type. It just goes to demonstrate how EVERY human being has potential value in the zombie apocalypse (and I daresay in life in general). Choosing to write someone off as useless or a hopeless case too prematurely can come back to seriously bite someone down the line. People are resources of inestimable value in the zombie apocalypse.

But sometimes people who are resources can be really dumb resources. With their leader fighting for his life and rendered unconscious, some really rash decisions are made that might make even the most optimistic of Star Wars characters say, “I have a bad feeling about this.” Driven by unresolved feelings of vengeance and hatred (which are totally understandable given the trauma she endured), Michonne enlists a markedly less resolved Tyreese to aid her in making an ill-advised retaliatory attack run on the routed Woodbury forces. Never mind that doing so removes two of the most capable prison group members from protecting the prison. Never mind that picking off a few more enemy adversaries will probably not make a massive difference in the long run. Never mind that Michonne chopped a man’s head in two while he was PEEING! Cooler heads simply did not prevail, and a massive error in judgment was made.

And then we have the slightly more measured though no less regrettable response of Dale, Andrea, Glenn, and Maggie. Having survived one attack from the Governor, this quartet decides to get the heck out of Dodge. It may be easy to condemn their desertion of the prison as faithless and cowardly, but a case can be made for recognizing when to cut and run. The prison is a marvel and will not easily be replaced, but lives are even harder to replace. If the decision to just give up the prison keeps people from dying, then it might be worth it. However, it is a possibility that living so long behind the prison walls has made Dale and company forget just how dangerous the world still is beyond its nurturing walls. Avoiding a future entanglement with the Governor is by no means a guarantee of safety. There are a macabre multitude of dangers lurking out there that may make digging in and fighting for the relative safety the prison offers the infinitely more desirable option. Running is the easier option in the short term, but has Dale considered the long-term ramifications of such a choice? As it is in life, the easy choice in the zombie apocalypse is seldom the optimal one.

And as for Hershel’s ominous words about Maggie? Damn. Just damn. Things are a starting to get real. more