Four Walls and a Roof

"Four Walls and a Roof" is the third episode of the fifth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the fifty-fourth episode of the series overall. It premiered on October 26, 2014. It was written by Angela Kang & Corey Reed and directed by Jeffrey January.

Plot
Rick and the group find themselves pitted against some very nasty people, but our group might just have a plan to gain the upper hand.

Synopsis
As Gareth continues to calmly speak to Bob, while walkers growl at them from inside the elementary school they are camping outside of, Bob becomes more and more visibly distressed. Gareth admits here that his group had been leaving the marks on the trees as a way to find their way to/from Terminus. Finally, Bob begins chuckling, then breaks into a laugh as Gareth tries to chastise him for not listening. The rest of the group come over, commenting that Bob has "lost it". Bob, however, gleefully pulls his shirt down, revealing a bite wound on his shoulder, and laughing as he explains that he has been bitten and is therefore "tainted meat". As the members of his group react in horror, Gareth angrily kicks Bob into unconsciousness, while explaining that they will be fine - because they "cooked him".

Sasha exits the church searching for Bob, and, after killing two walkers, is joined by Rick and Tyreese, who take her back inside. Sasha claims that they are being watched by unknown assailants, and angrily confronts Gabriel, accusing him of being involved in Bob's disappearance. Rick pulls her away from Gabriel and calmly confronts Gabriel himself, demanding to know what Gabriel had done in the past to warrant someone writing You will burn for this on the side of his church. Gabriel tearfully reveals that during the beginning of the apocalypse, he denied anyone else entry to the church, allowing them to be killed by the walkers. He tearfully declares that Rick's group has been sent by God to finally punish him. As Rick listens, a faint whistling can be heard coming from outside, and Glenn reports that someone has been left lying in the grass.

Rick's group rushes out to discover Bob lying in the grass, and begin carrying him inside as walkers approach. However, the Terminants open fire on them from the trees, and Rick blindly fires off all of his bullets into the trees. As he turns to go back inside, he finds an "A" written in blood on the side of the church, a sign that they were prisoners in there until Gareth decided to kill them.

Inside the church, Bob regains consciousness and reveals that Gareth and five other Terminus survivors are responsible for his missing leg. However, he can only provide vague details on their location. Sasha asks Rosita if they have anything that might ease his pain, but Bob refuses, revealing his bite to the group. As they wonder how long he can survive, Glenn reminds them that Jim survived two days before they left him to turn. Gabriel tells them that they can put Bob on a sofa in his office, and Sasha thanks him.

As Sasha tends to Bob, Rick asks Gabriel if he recognized the place Bob described. He seems reluctant to answer, but admits that it sounds like Bob was being held at an elementary school, which is to the south (and within walking distance) of the church.

Rick meets with the group to discuss their next move. Daryl and Carol are still missing, so he suggests they hunt down Gareth's group. Abraham disagrees, fearing that it will be too difficult keep Eugene safe in such a hostile area. Thus, he believes they should leave immediately. Rick and Abraham begin arguing, and (except for Glenn's intervention) nearly come to blows. until Glenn finally gets Abraham to agree to stay for one more half of a day. In exchange, Glenn's guarantees that he, Maggie, and Tara will accompany them to Washington, D.C..

As the group prepares to leave to confront Gareth, Sasha spends time comforting Bob. As he sleeps, Tyreese approaches Sasha, and asks her not to come with them to confront Gareth. Sasha reminds him of how he felt when Karen was killed, but Tyreese claims that he had simply been blinded by anger at the time, and that forgiveness only comes when one truly faces his or her demons. Sasha angrily asks if he is asking her to forgive Gareth for everything he had done, and pointed out that they had no choice but to kill him. Tyreese disagrees, saying that while the rest of the group doesn't have a choice she does. Sasha finally consents, and gives Tyreese her dagger, telling him to put it through Bob's temple after he died.

Under the cover of night, Rick, Michonne, Sasha, Glenn, Maggie, Tara, and Abraham leave the church to go to the elementary school. As they disappear into the woods, the Terminants appear, arriving at the church from a different route, and break in. As they search the church, Gareth asks the group to come out, revealing that he knows that Rick had taken some of their members and most of their guns to the elementary school. When they don't comply, he calls for Father Gabriel saying that if he reveals himself and the group, they will spare him, and even let him leave with Judith. As they search, Judith begins crying and gives away the group's location. Gareth and the Terminants give the survivors one last chance to come out before they break down the door, and, when no one replies, orders the Terminants to force their way in.

Albert and Mike approach the door but are both shot in the head from behind. The Terminants turn around as Rick appears from the shadows and orders them to drop their weapons. Gareth begins to panic and tries to get Rick to back down by threatening the rest of his group, but Rick unceremoniously shoots off his middle and index fingers as he points at the door. Gareth fall to his knees and tells the rest of the Terminants to do as Rick says. All of them except Martin kneel, who insists they haven't been beaten. Abraham steps out of the shadows and puts his rifle to Martin's head, and orders him to get down, which Martin does. Rick then walks to Gareth, who tries to tell Rick that they used be good people who really did accept newcomers into Terminus until "they" arrived and changed everything, and tries to convince Rick to let them go. Rick explains why it's too dangerous for him to do that, then reminds Gareth of a promise he made to him back in Terminus, before pulling the machete with the red handle from his belt and slashing Gareth with it, who screams in agony as Rick, Michonne, Sasha, and Abraham hack and bludgeon the remaining Terminants to death.

When it is all over, Gabriel opens the door and surveys the carnage, as Rick, Michonne and Abraham walk past him to check on the rest of the group. Gabriel is shocked, and looks at Maggie an Glenn in astonishment, meekly exclaiming, "This is the Lord's house." Maggie looks at him, and coldly replies, "No, it's just four walls and a roof."

The morning after, each member of the group says goodbye to Bob as he begins to succumb to his bite. Bob asks for a moment alone with Rick, but when Rick attempts to give Judith to Carl, Bob tells him to let Judith stay, joking that he trusted her. Bob thanks Rick for showing him that there were still good people in the world, and for taking him in. He advises Rick to take a look at Judith and to tell him that the world isn't going to change. Rick takes Bob's hand for a minute before leaving, and Sasha returns to stay by Bob's side in his final moments. Slowly Bob dies, and Sasha breaks down in tears and leaves as Tyreese uses the knife she gave him to stab Bob in the head.

Later, after burying Bob, Abraham gives Rick a map depicting the route they would be taking to Washington. The group has decided to split up, with Abraham's group, along with Glenn, Maggie, and Tara leaving for Washington, and the rest of the group promising to follow after Daryl and Carol return. Rick then opens the map to find the message, "Sorry, I was an asshole. Come to Washington. The new world's gonna need RICK GRIMES . As the church bus carrying Abraham's group departs, Rick sees Tyreese digging graves for the Terminants, goes to help and asks him what it was like for him getting to Terminus. Tyreese replies "It killed me", after a while Rick says "No it didn't".

That night, Michonne is sitting outside the church, inspecting her katana, which she had found in Martin's backpack. Gabriel comes sits on the steps next to her, commenting that he can't sleep after what has happened. Michonne tells him that although that feeling never goes away, it will lessen over time. They are interrupted by rustling from the forest. Gabriel returns into the church as Michonne goes to inspect. As she slowly walks to the tree line, she sees a few bushes rustling, and Daryl appears. Michonne grins at the sight of Daryl, but the smile fades as she asks where Carol is. Daryl pauses, staring at her, before looking over his shoulder and telling someone they can come out.

Co-Stars

 * April Billingsley as Theresa
 * Chris Burns as Mike
 * Benjamin Papac as Albert
 * Travis Young as Greg

Uncredited

 * Charlotte & Clara Ward as Judith Grimes

Deaths

 * Mike
 * Albert
 * Gareth
 * Theresa
 * Greg
 * Martin
 * Bob Stookey

Trivia

 * Last appearance of Gareth. (Alive)
 * Last appearance of Mike.
 * Last appearance of Albert.
 * Last appearance of Greg.
 * Last appearance of Martin. (Alive)
 * Last appearance of Theresa. (Alive)
 * Last appearance of Bob Stookey. (Alive)
 * This is the first time that two main characters have died whilst being credited as 'Also Starring'.
 * This is the second time that two main characters have died in the same episode. The first time is in Too Far Gone.
 * The title of the episode, "Four Walls and a Roof", comes from Gabriel's objecting to the violence just committed in the House of Lord, to which Maggie replies, “No, it’s just four walls and a roof".
 * This is the second time that two main characters die in the same episode. The other times were in "Too Far Gone", where Hershel and The Governor died, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be", where Abraham and Glenn died and "The Calm Before" where Enid and Tara died.
 * Michonne reclaims her katana in this episode.
 * This is the fourth time Carol's fate is left unknown by the end of the episode.
 * In the Letter Hacks section of Issue 134, Kirkman reveals that The Hunters didn't get infected after eating a bitten human, as well as Gareth's group.
 * The board in Father Gabriel's church lists several passages from the Catholic Bible. These would have been the passages of note Father Gabriel would like to be known. They are as follows:
 * Romans: 04: "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
 * Ezekiel 37:7 "So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone."
 * Matthew 27-52 "...and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life."
 * Revelations 9:6 "During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them."
 * Luke 24:5 "And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?"

Comic Parallels

 * Gareth giving a speech to Bob about how bears eat their cubs to survive is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 65, where Chris gives a similar speech to Rick instead.
 * Bob revealing his bite to the Hunters while yelling he's "tainted meat" is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 64, where Dale reveals his bite to Chris instead.
 * Sasha looking for a missing Bob in the woods is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 62, where Andrea looks for a missing Dale instead.
 * Sasha blaming Gabriel for the group's missing members is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 63, where Andrea blames him instead.
 * Gabriel revealing he got his congregation killed is adapted from Issue 63.
 * The Hunters dumping Bob on the church's front lawn as bait is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 64, where Dale is dumped instead.
 * Bob updating the group is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 65, where Dale updates them instead.
 * Gareth getting two of his fingers shot off is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 65, where Chris gets only one finger shot off instead.
 * The Hunters being executed brutally by Rick's group on the church is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 65, where the Hunters are executed on an abandoned neighboorhood instead.
 * Bob's goodbye speech to Rick about not losing hope is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 66, where Dale thanks Rick for keeping the group alive instead.
 * Bob succumbing to the infection with Sasha by his side is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 66, where Dale succumbs to his infection with Andrea by his side.

Goofs/Errors

 * When Gareth has his hand pressed up against the door of the elementary school, the walker at the very left can be visibly seen blinking several times.