Beth Signed Up for Obamacare and Look What Happened

“Slabtown”

Well, we finally find out what happened to kidnapped Beth, who we know was taken away from Daryl last season. Beth opens her eyes in a hospital room with a lovely view of the windowless office buildings that now comprise downtown Atlanta. The nature of the room can only be courtesy of the semi-socialist single-payer health care system towards which the U.S. is inexorably headed. No, seriously, it’s just a post-apocalyptic hospital room in Grady Memorial, Atlanta, Georgia. Beth is greeted by a female cop and a male doctor. She wasn’t “kidnapped,” she was “saved,” and now she “owes” her captors. Ominous!!

Beth experiences the joys of the National Health Service, British style!

Apparently, this is a police force-physician run operation. Nice—also a glimpse into our dismal future? Beth seems to have been recruited to “help out” at the hospital. She checks out the cafeteria, which is surprisingly clean, offering tasty treats. A cop introduces himself as Gorman, the one who “rescued” her. He reminds her that “everything costs something.” Sexual favors, anyone?

And…the hospital’s sole doctor is eating guinea pig, which isn’t that uncommon in South America, but it is in downtown Atlanta. I guess it’s better than a pulled human sandwich (an homage to Gareth, who hopefully is rotting in hell). He shares his plate with Beth. A new “patient” is brought in (if I put another word in quotation marks, I swear I will “plotz”). The doc is not too optimistic, but Dawn the cop seems intent on saving him. Dawn is frustrated and mad, so she slaps Beth hard across the face, drawing blood. Okay, I’m officially confused!

Dawn is a mean one, according to the so far nice doctor. Another patient is brought in. She’s less than compliant. She’s also been bitten. Dawn wants to amputate. She asks Beth for help in holding down the lady whilst Doc saws off her arm. She meets a nice young man who is ironing scrubs. He slipped Beth a lollipop earlier to cheer her up. He reveals that he’s waiting for the right moment to escape.

Dawn the cop wants a heart to heart with Beth. She tells Beth that she should be happy. She’s helped her, and help isn’t free. Ahem. Dawn claims that they’re helping people. Yeah, just like Gareth had a “sanctuary,” she runs a “hospital” that “helps” people. What does this tell us about rebuilding the future following a zombie apocalypse? It tells me that humanity, or at least the remaining residents of the state of Georgia, is now incapable of doing anything nice just for the heck of it! Beth is essentially an indentured servant with some time to work off before she can leave.

Dawn is a good cop gone bad, who thinks she's doing good, for the greater bad.

Beth is mopping up blood in the amputated arm chick’s room. The woman shares some info about Gorman and Dawn. However, she does so rather cryptically, so I can’t say anything more than that presently.

Beth encounters the charming cop Gorman again, who is sucking on HER lolly. He is super creepy, taking a long lick of it and then offering it back to her. Ew. The doctor intervenes. Dawn calls the shots where Gorman is involved; she calls him off Beth. The Doc can’t answer Beth’s question as to why he stays, so instead of offering words, he takes her to the ground floor of the hospital. There are walkers clawing at the grated window. Working for Dawn is surely better than what awaits beyond the hospital, right?

He takes her to the roof and tells a story of how it began. We get yet another scenic view of a deserted Atlanta. The hospital at first was evacuated. A few were left, who clung to life by going on runs. The whole life-bartering system developed when Dawn approved the Doc taking care of an injured child in exchange for the kid working off his medical care. Beth is dubious. She leaves to tend to a patient.

She administers some drugs via syringe to a patient, who immediately begins seizing. She gave him the wrong drug; clozapine instead of clonazepam. Beth claims that Doc said it wrong, but he refutes this. He DID say Clozapine. The mopping/ironing guy (Noah?) takes the blame. Dawn tracks down Beth to give her a talking to, telling her that she’s weak. Dawn sees herself as a survivor who will be useful to any future recovery efforts (yes, if they need a concentration camp guard, Dawn is your man!) Dawn hints that Beth just doesn’t have what it takes. Beth and Noah plot an escape. Perhaps she’s not as useless as Dawn thinks, eh?

Whilst Beth is snooping around, sifting through drawers and the like, she comes across amputated chick Joan who seems to have committed suicide and is lying on the floor. Of all people, Gorman finds Beth, who comes up with a lame explanation about Dawn needing a key. Uh oh, looks like Joan is waking up, and it’s not going to be pretty. Beth shoves Gorman to the ground where he is chomped on immediately by zombie Joan. End of Gorman. You shan’t be missed.

Beth runs into Dawn and sends her straight to Gorman and Joan. After, Noah and Beth are attempting their escape a la tied bed sheets to the pit where the Doc dumps the dead bodies. Noah is left on top. After Beth reaches the bottom, it’s his turn. He’s attacked by a walker on the way down, and they both end up in the pit of human rot. Noah is limping, having hurt himself after landing. After shooting their way through (I guess Beth took Gorman’s gun) they reach sunlight and the outside only to encounter dozens of walkers. Luckily Beth is a crack shot. While she’s fighting walkers, a limping Noah escapes, but Beth is taken down by cops.

Beth stands up to Dawn. Gorman attacked her, attacked Joan. And it’s Dawn who let this happen, she says. Dawn’s solution? Violence. She punches Beth.

The Doc reveals, after being found out by Beth, that he knew the doctor whom Beth administered the fatal dose of Clozapine to. He just needed to eliminate the competition. Beth looks like she wants to kill the doctor (is that a sharp pen she’s hiding?), but the next patient rolls in, and surprise! It’s Carol. This should be good. I’m guessing she won’t be a fan of Dawn’s. They’re too much alike, after all.