The Walking Dead Episode 5.04 Slabtown

Beth wakes up in an Atlanta hospital. She's greeted by Dr. Edwards and Dawn, a well-groomed police officer. Dawn tells Beth they found her injured in the road and rescued her. "So you owe us," Dawn says.

Beth is put to work as Dr. Edwards' hospital ward and accompanies him into a patient's room. Edwards takes the patient off life support, explaining that if they don't show any sign of improvement, "Dawn calls it." He then wheels the corpse to the elevator where he dumps it down the shaft.

In the hospital cafeteria, another officer, Gorman, sidles up to Beth and says he was the one who rescued her from walkers. He suggests she return the favor. She stonewalls him.

Beth brings a tray of food to Edwards and explains that she's eating as little as possible so she can work off her debt to Dawn more quickly. "The more I take the more I owe, right?" she says. Then Dawn appears to inform Edwards they have a new patient.

Dawn explains that the patient fell from a first-floor apartment while trying to escape walkers. An officer whispers something to Dawn. She in turn urges Edwards to save the man, despite Edwards' assessment that he's unlikely to survive.

Edwards manages to stabilize the patient, but maintains "this was a waste of resources." Dawn takes out her anger on Beth, slapping her in the face, tearing her stitches. "Try to grasp the stakes here," she tells Edwards.

Later, Edwards tends to Beth's face, then waits outside as she changes out of her bloody scrubs. Beth discovers a lollipop inside her freshly laundered clothes.

Officers bring in a new patient, Joan, a resident of the hospital whose arm was bitten by a walker when she tried to run away. Joan struggles as Edwards tries to administer anesthetics prior to amputation. "Screw you," she tells Dawn. "And your little bitch," she hisses at Gorman. Edwards amputates her arm as Beth holds her down.

Covered in blood, Beth goes to the laundry room to fetch clean clothes. Noah, one of the hospital wards, tells her he left her the lollipop. As they chat, he divulges that he's plotting an escape. "They think I'm weak," he tells her. "They don't know s--- about me."

Dawn brings Beth a tray of food and insists she's just trying to keep everyone alive until the nightmare is over. In the meantime, she says everyone must contribute.

As Beth cleans Joan's room, Joan criticizes Dawn for turning a blind eye towards Gorman's abuse of the wards, including her.

Later, Gorman corners Beth in her room and makes lewd advances. When Edwards intervenes, Gorman growls that Beth should have been his. Edwards warns Gorman to toe the line, explaining he may one day require life-saving medical attention. "I think there's gonna be somebody," Gorman replies. "Somebody that ain't you."

After Gorman leaves, Beth asks Edwards why he stays at the hospital. Edwards brings Beth to the ground floor, where walkers claw at a door. He says he looks at the walkers whenever he contemplates leaving.

Afterwards, Edwards explains that his group initially kept to themselves until he convinced Dawn to admit wounded outsiders - on the condition that the patients work in exchange for help. Then he asks Beth to check on Trevitt, the patient Dawn insisted on saving, and administer his medication.

Beth injects the instructed medication into Trevitt's arm. Noah stops by the room to visit. As he and Beth talk, Trevitt starts convulsing and dies.

Dawn demands an explanation for Trevitt's death. Noah claims he accidentally unplugged the ventilator. Dawn orders her officers to beat Noah.

Beth privately confesses to Edwards that Trevitt seized. Edwards tells her she misunderstood his instructions and gave Trevitt the wrong medication.

Dawn confronts Beth about Noah's false confession. She explains she had to punish Noah in order to keep the system going, and then implies that Beth's role in that system is to let the officers have their way with her. "The wards keep my officers happy," she says. "The happier my officers are, the harder they work to keep us going."

Later, Beth tells Noah that she wants to escape with him. He suggests they slip out via the basement and asks her to steal the elevator bank key from Dawn's office.

Beth sneaks into Dawn's office, where she finds Joan dead on the floor from a self-inflicted wound. Gorman discovers Beth wth the elevator key and begins to molest her. Beth knocks him to the ground, where Joan, who has now turned into a walker, rips out his throat.

In the hallway, Beth tells Dawn that Joan was looking for her and that she and Gorman are in her office.

Noah lowers Beth down the elevator shaft until she lands on a pile of disposed corpses. Noah soon follows. They sneak through the basement and emerge in a walker-infested parking lot. Beth guns down several walkers before Dawn's officers catch up and tackle her. Beth smiles as she watches Noah successfully escape.

Dawn confronts Beth about Gorman, who lies dead on her office floor. "No one's coming, Dawn," Beth declares. "We're all going to die and you let this happen for nothing." Dawn punches Beth.

Dr. Edwards examines Beth's head. She accuses him of killing Trevitt, who was a doctor, by intentionally having her give him the wrong medication. He admits to it, explaining that being the only hospital doctor guarantees that Dawn will always protect him.

Afterwards, Beth marches down the hospital hallway, secretly wielding a pair of scissors. She stops short as Dawn's officers wheel in a new patient: It's Carol.