‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: Episode 413 — ‘Alone’

Bob Stookey went from being the kind of guy who gets drunk on green cough syrup in the woods, to a man with heroic purpose; Maggie found a new use for walker blood; Beth and Daryl got very close in a funeral home and one of them ended up with some new “friends” on Sunday night’s episode of “The Walking Dead.”

Here’s our blow-by-blow recap of “The Walking Dead” Season 4, Episode 413, “Alone”:

The Woods (Bob Stookey Flashback): Alone, Bob Stookey walks through the woods. He survives – eating nourishment where he can get it, but he appears to be a man without purpose. Stumbling upon a shelter, Bob reinforces the sides, sits down and gets drunk on green cough syrup. Another day he sleeps atop an abandoned truck carriage. Walking down the road the next morning, a motorcycle revs up behind him. It’s Daryl Dixon and Glenn – a flashback to when they first met Bob. “Hello,” Bob says, informing them he’s alone. “I was with one group and another one after that,” Bob tells Daryl. Neither of his groups made it. “You people have a camp?” Bob asks. Daryl and Glenn exchange a look before Daryl begins asking the three questions: How many walkers have you killed (Bob lost count)? How many people have you killed (only one)? Why (she asked me to)? “Wanna come with us?” Daryl asks. Bob’s in.

The Present…

A Fog In The Woods: Standing back to back in a triangle, Maggie, Sasha and Bob are on high alert as they hear walkers through the dense fog. One lunges forward. Bob takes it out, Maggie another, Sasha a third. A pack comes, but the trio manages – or do they? “Bob?” Sasha asks, looking like she’s ready to cry. “It’s OK,” Bob laughs. “He got me right on the bandage!” Sasha jumps up and embraces him, glad he wasn’t bit. Seeing Bob wince in pain, Sasha backs away. “I didn’t say stop,” Bob says in a flirty tone. “I just said, ‘Oww!’”

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Elsewhere In The Woods: Beth peers down Daryl’s crossbow, practicing her tracking skills. “Pretty soon, I won’t need you at all,” she tells Daryl, pleased with her progress. But she does need him after all, and right away. Sneaking up on a walker, Beth loses her footing after stepping in an animal trap that collapses around her ankle. Daryl slays the walker who moves in on Beth.

A Cemetery: “Hop on,” Daryl says, offering Beth a piggyback ride when her injured ankle gives out. As the pair pass through a cemetery, they stop at a grave. Picking up a sprig of yellow flowers, Daryl places it above a headstone that reads, “Beloved Father.” Daryl and Beth hold hands, thinking of Hershel.

Some Train Tracks: Stepping out of the woods, Maggie, Bob and Sasha see a sign next to the tracks. “Terminus” it reads, something Bob heard about on the radio when he was on the veterinary college run (with Daryl, Tyreese and Michonne, earlier in Season 4). “We should go,” Maggie says, noting that if Glenn saw the sign, he would go there. Sasha isn’t convinced, but they head down the path anyway.

A Funeral Home: Inside the funeral home (it’s located on the same grounds as the cemetery), Beth and Daryl notice some surprising things. The place is spotless and someone has taken great care to dress up some corpses to try and make them look human again in preparation for burial.

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The Woods: With Maggie asleep, Bob and Sasha have a heart to heart. Sasha thinks they need to stop. “We get warnings,” she tells him. “Odds are, Glenn is dead. Odds are, we will be too. … We got six bullets and you’re still bleeding.” Sasha wants to find a building to set up in for safety. “Just think about it,” she asks.

A Funeral Home: There’s food (peanut butter, diet soda and pigs feet – or in Daryl speak, “white trash brunch”) in the cabinets. There’s a piano too. Beth plays a tune as Daryl strolls in, using the coffin as a resting spot. “Go ahead and play some more. Keep singing,” he tells her. “I thought my singing annoyed you,” she replies, bashfully. “There ain’t no jukebox, so…” So, she does.

The Woods: After a short slumber, Sasha wakes up to see Bob staring at the ground. “Don’t risk your lives for me. Good luck,” reads a message Maggie wrote in the dirt. Bob insists they go after her.

The Train Tracks: An alone Maggie is about to carve a message in a railway sign post for Glenn, when a walker stumbles up. She kills and guts it.

On the road to find Maggie, Bob’s sunny optimism contrasts with Sasha’s gloomy disposition. Why is he so happy? “I’m not alone… I broke my streak,” he tells her, remembering he was the lone survivor of his first two camps. A moment later, the pair see why Maggie gutted the walker – she used its blood to leave Glenn a message about meeting at Terminus.

Funeral Home Kitchen: Daryl carries Beth into the kitchen as they sit down for food. Before they can ingest a morsel, there’s a disturbance at the door. Phew! It’s just a one eyed dog. Daryl reaches for it, but the dirty canine runs away.

A Shelter Near The Tracks, Nighttime: “If Tyreese were alive he’d go for Terminus… Why do you think he’s dead?” Bob asks Sasha as they talk late into the night. “Are you just too afraid to find out if he is or not? Until now, I thought you were the toughest person I ever met, which is kind of weird because you were the sweetest too,” he tells her.

Funeral Home Kitchen: Happy to have had a little respite, Beth decides to leave a thank you note at the funeral home. “Maybe you don’t have to leave that,” Daryl says. “Maybe we stick around here for a while. They come back, we’ll just make it work.” Grinning, Beth comes to a realization – Daryl’s hope is back. She points out that he now thinks good people still exist in the world and asks him what changed his mind. He looks at her and grunts and then stares. And stares – rather intently – some more. “Oh,” she says. Before the moment can go anywhere else, the cans strung up around the perimeter rattle. Daryl opens the door thinking it’s the dog. Hands bust through the door, then walkers, who come for Beth and Daryl. Urging her to grab her bag and meet him outside, Daryl acts as bait, leading the pack downstairs. Fending them off with knives and those dressed up corpses, Daryl barely escapes. Running outside he finds a new horror – Beth’s backpack is in shambles on the ground. Looking up, Daryl sees a Cadillac speeding off, Beth presumably inside. “Beth,” he screams while chasing after it.

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The Road: Day breaks and Daryl continues running down the road in the direction the car left. Drenched in sweat, his pace slows to a walk. At a fork in the road, he drops his crossbow and falls to the ground.

The Train Tracks: “Bob, right there! Secure and high up,” Sasha tells her companion after spotting a multi-story building she think they can start a new life in. But Bob’s not stopping. “She’s alone,” he says of Maggie. He makes one last attempt to convince Sasha. “I’m gonna try something here,” he says, leaning in to kiss her. It doesn’t change her mind and they part ways.

Alone, Sasha heads into the building, walks upstairs and looks around. Heading over to the window, she holds up Maggie’s broken compass. In her line of sight outside the window, Sasha spots Maggie lying between three walkers – asleep. Shocked, Sasha touches the window, sending it shattering onto the pavement. The noise wakes up Maggie and a host of walkers. Sprinting out to help her friend, the pair face a bloody battle, and win. Why did Maggie stop? Sasha wonders. “‘Cause I was waiting for you,” Maggie tells Sasha. “I’m not giving up, but I need your help, and I can’t do it by myself.” They make a pact to find Bob and get to Terminus.

A Fork In The Road: Daryl’s head is down when a man with a gun strolls up (the man whose group came into the house Rick was in, in 411, “Claimed.” Five more quickly surround Daryl. One – the leader — leans in to look closer. Instinct takes over. Daryl strikes the man, knocking him down. Whipping their guns up, the leader’s pack surrounds Daryl, who has his own crossbow pointed at the man’s head.

“I’m claiming the vest! I like them wings,” a bearded man behind Daryl says.

“Hold up!” the leader says, laughing hysterically at his newly-bloodied nose. “A bowman. I respect that. A man with a rifle, you could have been some kind of photographer [or] soccer coach back in the day, but a bowman’s a bowman through and through,” the leader continues, looking Daryl in the eyes. The man urges Daryl to calm down. “Come on fella, suicide’s stupid. Why hurt yourself when you can hurt other people,” the man says, revealing he is not a good guy. “Name’s Joe,” the man says, introducing himself. Daryl spits out his name and lowers his crossbow.

The Train Tracks: Like the episode began, Bob is walking down a road alone, but this time, in the present. He has purpose in his step as he walks to find his friends, but they find him first. “Bob,” Sasha calls out. Smiling, Bob turns around to see Maggie and Sasha and they all embrace. He nods in the direction of Terminus and they start walking.

A Terminus Sign On The Tracks: A gloved hand reaches toward the map. It’s Glenn. He knows where to go.

“The Walking Dead” airs Sunday nights at 9/8c on AMC.

— Jolie Lash