The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner – Hopes and Fears

Gripping, emotionally-charged, and completely blindsiding – Telltale’s The Walking Dead is one of the most talked about releases this year. Each episode throws us further into the depths of a zombie apocalypse with tougher decisions and even more emotionally draining moments. This offers little peace of mind as we head into the fourth episode; if we know anything about Telltale by now, it’s that the developer always ups the ante, and will wreak even more havoc on our emotional core. As we inch deeper, we have to wonder: Are we slowly torturing ourselves by willingly placing ourselves in such a hopeless situation? Time will tell if there’s a light at the end of this dark tunnel. For now, we’re invested – too deep to let go – so let’s speculate about our hopes and fears for Episode 4: Around Every Corner. 

Warning: Spoilers ahead if you haven’t played episodes 1-3.

Stay Safe, Clementine

Holding the life of a child in your hands is the scariest thing in the universe – just ask any parent. Wide-eyed and innocent, you don’t want them exposed to the harsh realities of the world until they’re ready. Unfortunately, when you’re amidst a zombie apocalypse, you can’t exactly shield a child from violence and death. When Episode 3: The Long Road Ahead ended, Lee was just coming to terms with this, even going as far as to show Clementine how to fire a gun. Clementine will never be the same again. For Episode 4, I worry that she’s going to be a very different girl. The only other child around to sustain her innocence – Duck – died at the end of Episode 3. Don’t think for a minute that she doesn’t sense a familiar fate for herself. But will that fate happen in Episode 4? Doubtful. Clementine is the heart of the story. Episode 4 isn’t the time for such a huge loss, nor do I ever hope a time for that exists. However, do I believe Clementine is in danger? After the teaser at the end of Episode 4, you bet I do.

As the teaser revealed, Clementine has secretly been communicating with a stranger through her walkie-talkie. The stranger claims that he can reunite her with her parents. Do we honestly believe this creep? I think a lot of us are on the fence about Clementine’s family. My fear is that they’re now zombies and Clementine might have to face-off against them. Remember how difficult it was for Lee to see his brother as a zombie? Can you imagine an eight-year-old seeing her zombified parents? As for the enigmatic walkie-talkie guy, he has to have some obsession and ties to Clementine to contact her, unless he learned about her through her parents. Still, this doesn’t paint a pretty picture for what Clementine will be thrown against in Episode 4. If her parents are alive, isn’t that just as frightening? You might want them to be alive, for Clementine’s sake, but wouldn’t that mean that Lee would lose Clem? Maybe I’m just selfish, but I don’t trust others to protect her like Lee has.

Kenny, Keep Your Head

If Episode 3 taught us anything, it’s that no character’s death is off limits. Nobody experienced the multitude of loss quite like Kenny. I took a liking to Kenny from the get-go, because I saw a survivor in him – a fighting spirit. But with the loss of his wife and son, I see a different man, one who barely has the will to live. I’m surprised he didn’t put a bullet through his skull after his wife committed suicide and Duck was shot dead because he was about to turn into a zombie. However, for all the fighting that Kenny has done up until this point, I want to see him survive and overcome. If Kenny throws it all away, it’s much too easy. At the same time, that’s the most realistic reaction to such a heavy situation. The other concern with Kenny is his recklessness. Now that the people he was fighting for are gone, that could be exacerbated. I like it when the will to live pushes people through hopeless circumstances, and I hope Telltale has this in store for Kenny. But Telltale has taught us to always fear the worst. If Kenny can’t snap out of the most emotionally crippling event of his life, his days might be numbered. 

Where Did You Go, Lilly?

No matter the choices you make in Episode 3, you end up separated from Lilly. You also never get confirmation of where she might be headed, or if she’s even alive. Maybe she ran into other survivors, or maybe her resourcefulness bought her some time on her own. Will she be back? Most importantly, will she redeem herself? I never liked Lilly because she reminded me too much of her father – blinded so much by judgment that she can’t see the good in people. If she’s coming back, I hope it’s to make things right and she shows remorse for flying off the handle and killing an innocent person. But we’ve already seen Lilly increasingly lose her sanity, and that alone makes her potential comeback terrifying. What if she’s still holding on to all that resentment over her father? What if she deludes herself into thinking that it’s the group’s fault she killed somebody? 

[Next Up: Ben's role, suspicious new characters, and Lee's past ....]

Ben, What’s Your Deal?

I feel like it’s tough to form a connection with Ben. He’s one of the most underdeveloped characters in the series. He just sits in the background while others take the reins. Something interesting happened with Ben in Episode 3, though. He seemed agitated that the group wouldn’t let him have a larger role. Perhaps this is the reason we don’t know much about him, because we haven’t embraced him as a member of the group. But now it’s hard to like Ben since he indirectly caused the death of another group member. That’s more on Lilly, but Ben didn’t speak up and some of the blood is on his hands for his dishonesty. Episode 4 is make or break for Ben – is he really worth having around? Will he step in for the grieving Kenny? The truth is we don’t know much about Ben at all; he could become an asset or pull the group down. My greatest hope is that he has some intriguing character development and doesn’t end up a throwaway character.

New Characters: Will They Step Up Or Down?

Any time new characters enter the group, it’s hard not to be suspicious – especially after those crazy cannibals in Episode 2. In the middle of Episode 3, a homeless man named Chuck joined the group. We know very little about Chuck, except that he hasn’t seen his family in over a decade. I get the vibe that Chuck is hiding something. He seems way too calm and collected during a zombie apocalypse. This suspicious feeling could be the game getting into my head. Maybe his role is to impart his wisdom to the group and deep down he’s just a generous guy. Episode 4 is his chance to prove where he stands, for better or worse. I wouldn’t mind if he revealed more about what happened with his family in the process.

Chuck wasn’t the only new character in Episode 4; we also briefly met a couple, Omid and Christa. Omid seems like a good guy; he even saved Lee’s life and wasn’t afraid to help out the group. The drawback with Omid, however, is that he injured his leg when jumping onto the train and it’s not healing anytime soon. This could be a difficult choice for the group: Leave him behind because he could slow the group down and potentially bring more danger, or help a guy who was only hurt because he was helping the group. While Omid seems more generous, his other-half, Christa has a stronger personality. We already saw how well that worked out with Lilly; let’s not make the same mistake twice. My other concern with Christa is how focused she is on Clementine, almost as though she doesn’t trust Lee. Would she potentially try to steal Clementine? People do crazy things in the face of a catastrophe, and I wouldn’t count Christa out as being one of those people, especially if Omid’s leg ultimately brings his death.

More Of Lee’s Past Revealed

We know Lee isn’t perfect; since the beginning we’ve known he is a convict, but deep down we all hope he’s not a bad guy. After all, we trust him to protect our beloved Clementine and we’re shaping him as a character with every dialogue choice we make. However, the harrowing truth is Lee murdered a senator who was having an affair with his wife. Lee often lets on that it was an accident – which I hope is true – but so much of that event is still kept under wraps. Lee was about to serve a life sentence, so just how accidental was the death? What really happened on that night? Would we view Lee differently if we knew the truth, or is the slate clean due to his heroics during the apocalypse? Either way, Lee shows remorse when he talks about the death, which is better than him not taking responsibility for his actions. Still, I need to know what happened on that dreadful night. 

One of the best parts of The Walking Dead is its ability to keep us guessing. The fact that a series can get my head spinning to this degree astounds me. I’m sure I’m not alone in this; what are your hopes and fears about what’s heading our way?