Inner City Blues

Poster used for the second episode.

"**Inner City Blues**" is the fourth episode of the first season of *The Walking Dead*. It is the fourth episode of the series overall.

## Plot

Rick Grimes' mission to retrieve guns and rescue Merle Dixon in Atlanta goes awry. Things at camp begin to breakdown as fear grows.

## Synopsis

At the camp, Lori watches as the white cube van drives off, her attention only interrupted by Carl, who rushes past her quickly. She calls for him, and asks him where he’s going. Carl stops, and tells his mother that he plans on playing with Sophia, who is sitting alone by a car. Lori leans down to him, and tells him she’ll be down at the creek washing clothes, and to keep an eye on Allen, and listen to him while she’s gone. Lori is interrupted by Donna, who informs her that Andrea and Amy will be watching the kids, making a point to say “anything to get out of laundry duty.” Amy overhears, and shouts “You’re damn right!”, causing an angry Donna to get upset, which Amy only furthers by saying “Oh, bite me.”

Carol walks up quiet, clearly having just cried. The women look on at her in concern as she walks up to one of the boxes of clothes, picking it up. Lori attempts to ask her if she’s okay, but Carol softly shuts her down, and walks towards the creek, with Ed watching on from afar. Shane, in the meanwhile, walks up to Morales, who is eating, and asks to take him hunting.

At the creek, the three now joined by Jacqui, Carol breaks the silence, and says she can’t wait to smell the clothes using this detergent, something Lori agrees with, and that Dale’s stuff wasn’t the best. This upsets Donna, saying it’s bullshit to get this excited about that, and that it’s unfair they have to do this while the others can hunt and go on runs, wondering when things go back to normal, if they’ll still have rights. Lori tells her she can’t shoot a gun, never even tried, and doesn’t trust the men to do this. She tells her it’s not about rights, and Donna brings up how they’re just pretending at this point about Ed and Carol. Carol once again shuts it down, and tells her they just need to get the clothes done.

In the woods, Shane and Morales walk through quietly, as thunder overhead alerts them. Morales tells Shane that Rick really helped them out of that situation yesterday, and he can’t believe he didn’t make the connection based on their talks. Shane lightly brushes it off, and attempts to focus on the hunt, though Morales tells him he’s been meaning to tell him about something that happened earlier. Before Morales can, Shane stops him, and the two spot a Roamer, eating a fox. Shane notices it doesn’t even see them, and Morales asks if they should get the fox away from it, and wonders if it would even be safe to eat.

On the rooftop in Atlanta, an enraged Daryl Dixon has just discovered his brother Merle's severed hand on the ground. He angrily points his crossbow at T-Dog, who doesn't show any fear. Daryl eventually relents when Rick pulls his revolver out and aims it at him, telling him that he doesn't care if every roamer in the city hears him shoot it. Daryl puts his crossbow down and asks T-Dog for a do-rag in which he proceeds to fold up Merle's hand and place it in Glenn's backpack. While T-Dog is grabbing the hacksaw and the numerous other tools from Dale's toolkit on the rooftop, Daryl follows the trail of Merle's blood along the rooftop.

Back at camp, Carl and Sophia play together, while Andrea and Amy talk behind them. Around them, Morales’ kids play with Anna, and Ben and Billy are seen playing with toys close by. A quiet Sophia looks towards Carl, and asks him if he thinks her daddy will come back too. Carl asks her “Ain’t your daddy dead?”, which Sophia confirms, but that his dad came back. Carl tells her his was just sick, and they had to leave him. Sophia quietly says oh, and wishes her dad would come back, and that she doesn’t like her new one.

Daryl shoots another roamer with his crossbow and notes that his brother managed to kill two of them in the room one-handed. The trail of blood leads Daryl, Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog to a kitchen, where a blowtorch is burning next to an iron steak weight crusted with skin — the result, they speculate, of Merle cauterizing his stump. They believe Merle has left the building. Rick agrees to help Daryl search the streets for his brother.

Back at the creek, Lori tells Carol it’s okay to not be on watch. Carol tells her she just wants to be safe. Donna asks Lori to entertain them, and tell them how she met Rick. Lori says she doesn’t want to bore them, but after Donna persists, she begins to tell the story. She mentions she met Rick’s brother, Jeff, in their senior year of high school, and that she met Rick through him. Carol tells Lori they seem perfect together, and Lori agrees with this as they pack up the clothes.

The three begin to head back, but a Roamer follows after them, hidden behind several trees. Allen notices this, and shouts at them to watch out. Donna, who was lagging behind, is in the most danger, and Allen begs for her to move as he raises his rifle, his wife frozen in fear. Suddenly, an ax swings, and an out of breath Dale is shown standing over the Roamer and Donna, who had fallen to her knees. She begins to stammer out a thank you as the survivors rush to the scene. Sophia and Carl are the first to reach them. Andrea and Amy are seen holding Ben and Billy, as Allen rushes to his wife's side. Dale claims he was chopping firewood when he heard the screams, wanting to take a break from the car. Allen sees the biting head, and shoots it quickly, the sound causing several to cover their ears. Allen apologizes quickly while Carol tries to comfort her daughters. A returning Shane and Morales find this scene, and Shane rushes to comfort a shaken Lori, who confides in him. After realizing how close the two are, Lori awkwardly backs away, while leaving Shane confused. Allen asks a nearby Morales for help getting the roamer into the woods while Lori walks away from Shane.

In an abandoned office above the department store in Atlanta, Glenn outlines a plan to retrieve Rick's bag of guns on an old whiteboard. Daryl will watch his back from the store's alley, while Rick and T-Dog cover a second alley that is two blocks away.

Glenn and Daryl climb down the ladder to the alley, and Glenn drops his backpack while Daryl stays behind to cover him. Daryl makes a racist remark towards Glenn, who ignores this. On the street, Glenn runs towards the tank. Roamers are waking up all around him, but he grabs the bag — and Rick's hat — without much trouble and heads back toward Daryl. A roamer surprises him, and tackles him. Daryl saves him, as Rick and T-Dog notice the amount of dead, and rush back, the four escaping inside.

They decide to head back, having gotten the bag of guns, though Rick notes it looks like some rifles and shotguns are missing. They begin to head back to the van, but find it missing. Daryl speculates it was Merle, and that he’s probably long gone. Glenn worries he’s going back to camp, but Daryl denies this, and says he might eventually, but he knows his brother, and that he wouldn’t go back while this badly hurt to cause harm. T-Dog asks if they should go to the gun store while they’re here, and Rick says they do need to make up for the missing guns now.

At camp, thunder alerts Orlando, who is seen with Jim, as they finish up the Mustang. Jim begins to tell Orlando various tips about mechanic work, after Orlando admitted he always wanted to get into it. Jim trails off eventually, and stops talking, leaving a confused Orlando to get his attention. Jim then nods slowly, and tells Orlando he’ll have him fixing these cars and RV with him in no time.

A few blocks from the gun store, the four survivors formulate a plan to get to the swarming gun store safely. T-Dog brings up the sound method, but Rick dismisses this, saying it was a great escape method, but not for this. Rick says he has an idea, but that they might not like it. Rick opens the door, and retrieves the Roamer Daryl killed earlier. Rick says he notices that roamers don't mistake themselves for a living person, and he believes the reason is smell. Rick chops up parts of the roamer and tells Glenn to rub it on his clothes and put a few pieces in his pockets. Rick hopes that by smelling like the roamers, the roamers won't attack them. T-Dog gets sick to his stomach and throws up, while Daryl walks up to Rick, and places Merle’s severed hand in his pocket, and says its a finishing touch. T-Dog wipes his mouth, and tells them to meet at a point on a map close to the gun store, telling Rick he’ll look for a car with Daryl. Daryl takes the bag of guns, and the four depart.

As Rick and Glenn move towards the gun store, they walk up to a Roamer, to see how well the theory works. At first it appears that the Roamer is going to attack Rick, but it settles down as Rick moves back. As they walk further in to the city, they notice that none of the Roamers are coming after them. Rick also mentions how it is a gloomy day. The Roamers on the streets don't attack them either and Glenn notices the Roamers don't seem to be alerted by them talking. Rick supposes that they can't tell the difference between grunts and conversation.

Jim watches as Orlando begins to cover up what is left of the Mustang as it begins to rain slightly. Orlando asks for help, but Jim appears quiet, and doesn't react. Orlando asks Morales, who is walking over, if this happens often. Morales nods, and tells him that Jim was here even before his family was. The two look at Jim, concerned. Morales reassures Orlando, telling him to not worry so much about him. Jim gets up suddenly, and begins helping with the tarp, and thanks the two of them for helping with the car today. Morales spots Shane walking, and quickly catches up to him, telling him he wants to talk to him about what he mentioned earlier.

They arrive at the gun store to see a large crowd of Roamers. Rick tells Glenn to remain calm and grabs a shopping cart to carry more guns. He uses his hatchet to break in and tells Glenn to hurry as the Roamers are starting to notice they're acting different. They grab as many guns and ammunition as they can and exit. As they do, Rick mentions that it is starting to rain. A roamer starts to approach them but Rick kills it with his hatchet. It begins to downpour and the two start to run as the rain begins to wash away the smell. The roamers take notice of Rick and Glenn and attempt to attack them. The cart crashes and Rick begins shooting the roamers while Glenn picks the guns up. A roamer bites Rick's shoulder but he manages to kill it, and the pair are able to continue their escape. The two get outside of the city limits towards the spot, and Rick tears off his jacket, relieved to see that the roamer did not break his skin. Rick asks Glenn not to tell Lori about the close encounter.

Meanwhile, back at camp, Lori is standing outside the camp ground, looking towards the city. Shane walks up behind her, and tries to console Lori, saying that Rick will be fine. He tells her to come back to the camp, and that he will keep her company as he gets closer towards her. Lori refuses Shane and tells him that he needs to stop trying to make advances at her since Rick is back. Shane says, "But what about that night when we - on the road down here?" Lori, her back to Shane, says, "That night was a mistake."

While the survivors begin to clear up camp due to the rain, some of the woman, including Carol, Miranda, Jacqui, Amy, Andrea, and Donna, begin talking about what they miss, joking and laughing with each other. Carol grabs some of the food to place inside the RV, but slips in the mud, and spills it across the ground. She apologies as Jacqui attempts to calm her down, telling her it wasn’t an issue. However, Ed walks up, and yells at her, and tells her Sophia and Anna will starve now.

Ed then demands that Carol comes with him, but Jacqui rebukes that they know of his domestic abuse to Carol. As Ed tries to grab Carol, he slaps her across the face. Shane, upon witnessing Ed slap Carol, and still seething over his confrontation with Lori, pulls Ed away from Carol and proceeds to beat him to a bloody pulp. Miranda shields her kids from this, while Donna does the same with Anna and Sophia. Carl watches on with intent, Lori unable to arrive back in time. Morales can be seen with a slight smirk, one of the few people not shown to be in fear or shock. Allen tries to watch, but also tries to move his kids away from the scene. Dale is seen from the door of his RV watching in shock. Shane warns Ed that if he lays another finger on Carol or anyone else in the camp, he will beat him to death. He then leaves Carol to tend to her battered boyfriend on the floor, while the members of the camp watch Shane walk away in horror.

## Credits

* Rick Grimes
* Shane Walsh
* Lori Grimes
* Carl Grimes
* Glenn
* Dale
* Amy
* Andrea
* Carol
* Ed Peletier
* Sophia
* Anna
* Orlando
* Jim
* Allen
* Donna
* Ben (No Lines)
* Billy (No Lines)
* T-Dog
* Morales
* Miranda Morales
* Eliza Morales (No Lines)
* Louis Morales (No Lines)
* Jacqui
* Daryl Dixon

## Mentioned

* Merle Dixon
* Jeffrey Grimes