Only four episodes are left and 18 Miles Out gets straight to it, beginning in media res. Shane is running from a pack of zombies, Rick is fighting another one and the kid they rescued last week, Randall (Michael Zegen), is crawling along the floor, his hands and legs bound, as he tries to reach a knife. What's going on here?!? Unfortunately, we're going to have to wait to find out as we're taken back a bit first. Rick and Shane are driving from the farm, looking for somewhere to release Randall. First, they get out and talk. Rick demands the truth from Shane and he admits to killing Otis. Rick presses further, telling Shane he knew he was having an affair with Lori and that he will stay alive to protect his wife, his son, his unborn child.
Back at the farm, Maggie is talking to Lori about Glenn. "Tell him to man up", Lori says, taking some food to Beth (Emily Kinney). Beth doesn't seem interested in the food, or in much else, except for Lori's pregnancy, asking her how she could possibly bring a child into this world. Rick and Shane finally pull over at their destination: the place from the first scene. This place has a bad feeling about this. When a couple of walkers appear, Rick lectures Shane about conserving ammo and they dispatch them with knives instead. Strangely, they don't seem to have bit marks. They must have been scratched, the guys assume. I was practically screaming "IT'S AIRBORNE!" at them at this point.
Lori goes back to Beth's room and finds her choking back tears on her bed. "I can't promise it'll get better, but we can make now alright", she says. Taking her food back downstairs, she notices the knife is missing. Beth gives it back and Lori runs to find Maggie. Rick and Shane drag Randall from the boot of their car and prepare to leave him with just a knife for company. He begs them not to leave, coming out with the usual stuff and then he hits the jackpot: he tells them he knows Maggie. Oh shit. Rick and Shane debate over what to do. As usual, Shane says they should just kill him or he'll find his friends and lead them to the farm, pulling out his gun and shooting at him. Rick pushes him onto the floor and says he needs a day to think about it. Shane gets pissed off, telling Rick that he's a terrible leader and that he can't keep "them" safe. Unsurprisingly, Rick reacts badly and the two get into a vicious brawl that only ends when Shane throws a wrench at Rick that misses him and goes through a window. After an ominous pause, a walker bursts out. Rick kills it, only for dozens more to come streaming out. He hides under the walker's body, Shane runs for his life and Randall manages to get himself free, killing a walker.
While Maggie and Beth are shouting at each other upstairs, Lori and Andrea get into a fight downstairs. Andrea ticks Lori off for taking Beth's decision away from her and Lori calls Andrea useless, saying all she does is sit around with a gun while they do the real work. Andrea says that she's doing what matters, keeping them safe and that Lori is self-centered. After Lori brings up her husband and son constantly getting themselves into danger, Andrea spits back that she doesn't get it: she hasn't lost anyone, not like Carol, Beth and she have. In a parting blow, she tells her to go and tell Beth that everything will work out fine, she can have a husband, a son, a baby... and a boyfriend - all she has to do is look on the bright side! Meanwhile, Rick is fighting for his life, shooting two walkers in the head and then winning the Zombie Kill of the Week Award: lying on his back, with two dead walkers on top of him, he puts the barrel of his magnum in one of the walker's mouths and shoots a third walker through the back of its head. Tallahassee would be proud! Shane has run into a school bus from where he stabs zombies through a gap in the door until he drops his knife. Whoops.
Maggie's efforts are to no avail and Beth is as determined as ever to kill herself, suggesting they do it together. Andrea offers to take a watch over Beth while Maggie rests. Unlike the others, Andrea doesn't lecture her, only telling her that "the pain doesn't go away. You just make room for it" before leaving her alone. When Maggie comes back, she finds her bedroom empty and the bathroom door locked. Lori forces the door open and they find her with her wrist bleeding, crying and saying sorry. Shane's situation in the bus seems hopeless. He has no weapon, there are about a dozen walkers pressed against the door and he can't move or else they will break the door down and get in. Then he sees Rick and Randall driving away and fears the worst. They don't abandon him but launch a daring rescue instead. Maggie tells Andrea that Beth tried to kill herself and Andrea says that she's made her choice, she wants to live. Maggie is hearing none of it and tells her to stay away from the house. Lori of all people comes to Andrea's defence, saying that she wants to live and now she knows it. The episode ends with Rick and Shane putting Randall back in their boot. Rick admits that he's probably going to have to kill Randall, but says that he still wants to take a day to think about it. He tells Shane that he has to trust him and hands him his gun back.
Another fantastic episode! The action scenes are great and once again show off the brilliant, utterly convincing special effects on the walkers. The drama in the farm is confined almost exclusively to two rooms and the four women, with no other characters appearing on screen. When I first saw it, I lamented the fact that just a week after I praised the pairing of Carol and Daryl they didn't even feature in the episode, let alone together. After reflection, however, it was a good move. By showing only the four women, the tension and the drama between them is kept as visceral as the violence between Rick and Shane and the walkers. It allows each of the women room to breathe and to illustrate their differing reactions to someone's desire to commit suicide. It's expertly handled and shows yet again that the human side of The Walking Dead is just as, if not more important, than the confrontations with the walkers. If they can't survive each other, how on earth will they survive the walkers, especially now that we're being given hints that the virus has become airborne?
9 out of 10.
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