Running
In terms of content, the fourth episode doesn’t have an awful lot of plot progression but it does have a pretty well written journey for one of the survivors. Before we get there though, we see Sun and William emerge from hiding, deciding to travel East. Unfortunately, more zombies arrive and they’re forced to retreat back into the Diner again as the undead start banging on the windows. Back at the school, the fourth man that got separated from Spears tries to find his way out of the school only to wind up on the roof of the building. Thankfully, he manages to climb down, just in time to witness the school kids shooting a man. This victim quickly turns into a zombie and chases after our protagonist through the streets. After locking the zombie in a house, he finds himself on a street with no one around. Realizing he needs food and a working car in order to get around, the man gets searching. This leads him to a nearby supermarket where a tense atmosphere once again grips the episode. Hearing a noise in the distance, the zombie from earlier is back and the chase ensues once again. After dodging and weaving through aisles, he winds up back outside where he climbs on top of a school bus. For now, the zombie is unable to reach him and he’s able to catch his breath. After some time has passed, the man snaps out of his daze to see the zombie is still at the bottom of the bus and waiting for him to move. Eventually he does, jumping off the bus and sprinting toward a nearby fire station where he reaches for an axe to hit the zombie with. Unfortunately he misses and running through to a library the man is eventually saved by another survivor who kills the zombie. Unfortunately, he winds up getting bitten in the process. Before he can turn however, the man grabs an ashtray, ready to hit the survivor before he turns as the episode closes out. If I’m honest, Alone does absolutely nothing to advance the plot of the series. While it’s good as a standalone tale of surviving in the apocalypse, the lack of empathy toward the main character, given our lack of time with him, makes this a pretty passive episode in its own right. While the camera work and constant handheld cameras that follow him around do make for some pretty slick cinematography, there just isn’t a whole lot else going on here. It’s still an enjoyable episode but certainly feels like the least significant out of the 8 depicted in this season.
