User Reviews

Everything about John Dorie is awesome especially loved the humor in this episode from the singing bass alarm to the Tuesday is movie and popcorn night. I just wish "Laura" wasn't such a "B" I hope John is on this show till the end he brings so much charm.

"Laura" won't be for all Walking Dead fans. Some might consider it a "filler" episode or a "character piece", an episodic romantic interlude within a season needing a brief respite from the ongoing backwards/forwards story arc about Madison's faction and Mel's faction. It does give back story to how John Dorie and Laura (Naomi to Madison and her folks) met, fell in love, and their time spent together on his farm, often fighting off zombies with axes and knives to the heads/faces. Truthfully that description is exactly it. John Dorie is by himself, thinking up words while playing Scrabble all by his lonesome. He finds Laura washed ashore, injured and in need of medical assistance (a wound to her side will need stitching), offering his home and food to her while she heels up. She is a warm body to talk to, spend time with, even share popcorn while watching a movie. While in the middle of a nap, John Dorie awakens to Laura looking at him, telling him she lost a child. That's all she says, though, because Laura holds a lot inside due to past trauma. Laura often encounters good people, offering her shelter and kindness. That's perhaps long overdue, as when Laura comes upon John Dorie she is plenty worse for wear. She had seen enough awfulness so some opposite treatment was certainly welcome. But she's always leaving those good to her behind, doing so to John Dorie as well after the two had sex. The two do profess their love to each other; Laura is gone, leaving behind Scrabble letters to make sure John Dorie does realize her feelings for him. And those letters went into a mintos box, the conclusion featuring a "present day" sitdown as John Dorie and Morgan talk about not just accepting that all there is in life is violence and death. Many might consider this episode a pleasant alternative to faction wars and ongoing zombie gore, while others will yawn because it spends nearly its entirety with John Dorie and Laura as they grow fond of each other, riding in a boat on a lake, retrieving items/supplies from the store of a man John Dorie once knew, cleaning a fish they catch, arguing about using guns when the zombies gang up on them, and discussing why John Dorie doesn't like to fire his guns anymore. John Dorie had mentioned being a cop in his life before everything went to hell, but Laura draws out why the past haunts him...a story about clipping a store robber's leg with a bullet, watching him turn, retreating to his farm away from proclamations endorsing his status as a hero. And John Dorie admits to be a sharpshooting performer, later proving so when Laura is overrun by zombies in dire need of help or else...he even does the twirling trigger bit, as his pistols work their magic spinneroonie in his hands before sliding them back into his holsters. Their separation, though, inspired John Dorie to leave the comforts of his homestead to search for her...the episode often features John Dorie telling Laura she can stay as long as she wants while she constantly reminds him she plans to leave at any time.

This episode was way to slow for a Horror show. The episode was okay but almost no action, one shooting scene but that's all. This was a dramatic episode between 'Laura' and John Dorie nothing more nothing less.

It may perhaps pain one a little to admit it, but FTWD has regularly proved (even) more watchable than TWD, the series from which it spun out. The (arising) dystopia was handled differently from the outset. The LA startoff was good as we actually got to see how the thing did start, as opposed to being thrust into a zombie world in fully-fledged existence. Then we had California and Tijuana, and life on a still-gorgeous Pacific Ocean, and an equally-scenic Mexico (the latter with its special thinking vis-a-vis the (un)dead); and interesting fish-out-of-water characters like Madison, Nick, Alicia and Colman Domingo's superb Victor Strand, growing into their new roles. Remember Victor conversing with the International Space Station? I will for many a long year, and somehow Rick Grimes (love him as we do) would never have done that. Or - more to the point - he never got to do that...

I suspect that those of us who watch both "Walking Dead" series to confront ourselves with the dystopia as much as the gore have always found a little more, a little deeper, on offer from FTWD, though it's hard to pin down the secret of its success. For sure the out-West setting has always differed from the out-East one. Away from LA, the population density in the West is far lower, so maybe people had slightly more chance of making a go of things? Maybe those folk were slightly better equipped to deal with the crisis from the outset?

Anyway, in "Laura" we have no Victor, Madison and family or even (much of) the newly-arrived (and mostly-welcome) Morgan (Lennie James), who has now bridged the two shows, and the two worlds, with some success. But we do have new-on-the-scene John Dorie, and Garret Dillahunt (first a hit with me way back when in the context of "The 4400") has de-prettified and aged sufficiently to carry off the cowboy/cop character of John Dorie with aplomb. He's a SUPERB character, man of few words but deeper feelings, good guy - yes really - and he knows how to manage out in the Texas scrub. He's got a cabin by a river and - on his own or with the newly-arrived Naomi/"Laura" (Jenna Elfmann) - he shows us what we always suspected: that for a lucky few present in some remote, reasonably defensive, places, life after the dying might have its beauty, its satisfactions, its sufficiency, its own special pace, rhythm and style. It's not self-imprisonment in a Georgia prison, or even keeping one's head down on Hershel's farm, it's just a cowboy going on being a cowboy - in outstanding cowboy country - and as if not that very much has changed.

I think we needed this, and TWD never quite gave it to us in all those seasons.

This was a beautifully written episode. John is the most likable and endearing character in the entire show, and we've only known him for a few episodes. Genuinely, I care more about his story arc than any of the season 1-3 characters. And that speaks to the strength of the writing this season.

This episode pulls at the emotional heartstrings (reminds me of the Neegan flashback episode in The Walking Dead). The message at the end with Morgan, about how there's more to live for than just surviving, killing, and dying, was very powerful. This writing was perfectly executed. Nothing but great things to say.

It's flashback fill in the character detail time, as we find the details of Laura and John's relationship.

Whilst this season doesn't have the momentum of previous ones, and this is the kind of episode that will have some going 'OMG this is like so boring nothing happens at all!', this is a steady build, and great character drama. Very well acted also. Two people meet and get to know each other more. All of which builds to a moment that got an emotional reaction from me.

Good solid drama. Does have some walker action, so will satisfy those fanboys eventually. But for those who like the former, well worth it.

So after the disjointed mess that was episode 4, we get an entire episode focusing on these new B characters? That's so wrong. We've only seen them in a few episodes and they get an entire episode just for them? Im sorry but they don't deserve it. John has a kind soul and he is likeable. Laura at first didn't trust him but after some time that changed. I don't get why the zombies were falling into the river. Like there was no human or noise to attract them, makes no sense. Wow she left after he told her that he loves her, that hurts. At least the episode ends with Morgan which is nice. Ok, while this episode was decent, I'd prefer if they just skipped this filler episode and continued the main story. My rating is 6.7/10.

4x5 Rating: 8.6/10

Storyline: John Dorie cleans a pair of matching pistols on the porch of a creek side cabin. He sees an infected coming down the creek and, leaving the gun, kills it with an axe.

John wakes up and starts his day - brushing his teeth, making his bed, playing Scrabble against himself. He finishes the day watching TV and eating popcorn.

John hears sloshing in the creek and finds a woman lying unconscious in the water: It's Naomi.

John lays Naomi on his bed and discovers a deep gash on her stomach. He dresses her wound and sleeps on the couch while she sleeps on his bed.

In the morning, John finds the cabin empty. He goes outside and catches Naomi searching his Jeep for keys. John tells her where to find the keys but warns that the car needs a new battery. He suggests she at least takes some food, water and first aid supplies before leaving.

Naomi gives John instructions on how to stitch her wound. She grimaces as John pierces her skin with a needle.

John serves fish stew for dinner and asks if he can call her Laura because she refuses to tell him her name. He welcomes her to stay as long as she'd like. Naomi insists she will leave as soon as she is better.

John mounts a curtain around the bed to give Naomi privacy.

Naomi wakes up in the middle of the night and sees John cleaning his pistols.

John kills two infected in the creek and decides to investigate the source of the infected. He mentions to Naomi that he is also going on a supply run. Naomi insists on joining him. He offers her boots to protect herself from snakes, but she refuses to wear shoes that might impede her ability to run.

John and Naomi row the canoe upriver. Naomi inquires about John's past. He informs her that he was a police officer.

John and Naomi reach a bridge and notice a breached guardrail. They quickly deduce that infected have been falling through the gap and floating downriver.

John and Naomi stop at a general store for supplies. Naomi lays out first aid supplies for anyone else who visits the store.

John and Naomi use corrugated metal from a gas station to mend the guardrail.

Naomi lies in bed while John watches a movie. She joins him on the couch. John offers to make some brittle.

Naomi watches John sleep during the movie. He wakes up and stares at her. She reveals that she lost her child.

John gets ready to fish in the creek. Naomi asks him to teach her how to fish.

John gives Naomi a fishing lesson and shows her how to gut the fish. They eat fish for dinner. Naomi thanks John for teaching her.

John and Naomi play Scrabble and fish over the ensuing days.

John removes Naomi's stitches. Naomi announces that she's ready to leave, now that her wounds have healed. John goes outside to kill an infected and realizes that their patch on the bridge isn't working. Naomi offers to help John fix the bridge by blocking the gap with the jeep.

John and Naomi sit in the jeep on the bridge. Naomi says she learned how to hot-wire cars from a woman that she met in a camp. John sees one of his pistols hidden behind Naomi's back and snatches it. Naomi argues that they need the gun for protection, but John sternly refuses to use firearms.

John and Naomi kill all the infected on the bridge then drive the jeep in front of the gap. An infected attacks John in the driver's seat. Naomi screams at him to use his gun. John refuses to shoot and, after a near-deadly struggle, stabs the infected instead. He continues to stab it repeatedly until the blood splatters cover both of them.

Back at the cabin, while they are cleaning the blood off themselves, Naomi angrily points out that John almost died because of his refusal to shoot the dead. After he says that guns don't do anyone any good, she realizes that his dislike isn't just for shooting the dead, but for guns all together. John explains that when he was a cop, he fatally shot a robber in the leg. He says that he moved to a new town after everyone started calling him a hero.

Infected surround the jeep on the bridge, jostling the infected corpse inside and knocking the jeep into neutral. Tons of infected fall off the bridge into the river.

John and Naomi hear infected piling up in the creek. They go outside to see around twenty dead walking towards the cabin and begin slaying the infected. Naomi becomes overrun by infected. John gets his guns and saves her life by sharpshooting the infected.

Naomi thanks John and calls him an honorable person, telling him he is a hero to her even if he doesn't believe he's one to himself. John gives her a pistol to take with her on the road.

Naomi joins John on the couch to watch a movie. John moves to go outside but she starts to question why he won't look at her. She asks why he's avoiding her. "I love you," he says and asks her not to leave. They kiss.

John wakes up the next morning and finds that Naomi is gone. He sees a message written with Scrabble tiles: "I love you too I'm sorry."

In the present, John looks at the Scrabble tiles in a small box. Morgan sits beside John and assures him that Naomi loved him. He reminds John that they are part of the world and should not waste any more time. John holsters Naomi's pistol and walks down the road with Morgan.