Downfall

Downfall is the fourth episode of Dawn of Light of season 1.

Plot
It starts off with the group burning the walkers, putting down the deceased survivors with a pickaxe and burying them while Rick (Andrew Lincoln) is trying to warn Morgan (Lennie James) away from the city. Andrea (Laurie Holden) cradles Amy's (Emma Bell) dead body next to the RV. Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) tries to comfort her but fails to convince Andrea to let them take Amy's body away and she leaves Andrea alone. Miles (Billy Burke) is about to put down Ed (Adam Minarovich) but Carol (Melissa McBride) says "I'll do it. He's my husband" and he hands her the pickaxe. She stabs him multiple times, initially in a hesitant but then furious manner, venting out the anger that she had kept inside of her for many years.

Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) sits beside Andrea to pay his respects for Amy's death. He tells her about his wife's battle with cancer, how he dragged her to every specialist even though she'd accepted her fate. Her death left him feeling angry and cheated. "Since she passed," he says, "You girls were the first people that I cared anything for." Andrea smiles and pulls out the mermaid necklace, wrapped in pink tissue paper. Today would have been Amy's birthday. She tells Dale how guilty she feels for having missed so many of Amy's birthdays. "She'd call all excited. I always said that I'd make it home, and I really always meant to. But I never made it past that phone call," she says. Dale tells her not to add guilt to how hard things are for her already. Andrea clasps the mermaid necklace around Amy's neck and Dale leaves her alone again. Amy then reanimates and Andrea says "I'm here now, Amy. I love you." Andrea pulls out her gun and shoots her reanimated sister in the head.

Jacqui (Jeryl Prescott) and Jim (Andrew Rothenberg) pile up bodies, and she notices blood on his shirt. He tries to convince her he just got some blood on him by moving bodies but she presses. "Please don't tell," he begs her, but Jacqui's too terrified not to. "A walker bit Jim," she announces, as Jim insists that he's fine, but he grabs a shovel to press the group away from him as they demand to see his stomach. T-Dog (IronE Singleton) runs up behind him and grabs his arms as Miles (Billy Burke) runs in and lifts his shirt, revealing a bite wound on his abdomen. "I'm okay," Jim says, with far less conviction.

The group is discussing what to do with Jim but Rick refuses to kill the living. Rick says that the CDC is Jim's best chance of living and they all agree to go to the CDC. Charlie is in her tent crying and Glenn comforts her. Charlie says she is afraid she'll lose her family and Glenn tells her that she will not lose her family. Charlie then kisses him and they break away. Glenn then kisses her and they have sex.

Rick, Shane, and Dale depart to sweep the forest for walkers. Alone, Shane tries to convince Rick to change his mind about the CDC. "I've gotta do what's best for my family. If it was your family, you'd feel differently," Rick says. This offends Shane. "I kept them safe," he snaps at Rick. "Looked out for them like they were my own." Rick tries to calm him down. "You're hearing it wrong," he says, as they're interrupted by a sound in the bush and draw their guns. Rick walks forward, and from a distance, Shane's aim lands on Rick. He holds it there for just a few seconds, glaring, his breath heavy, but he hears a sound and his focus breaks. He drops the gun and then notices Dale's been watching him. "Jesus," whispers Dale. Shane shrugs it off, musing that they need to get reflective vests for the woods.

Back at camp, Shane announces that he thinks they should trust Rick's instincts, and those that agree will be leaving for the CDC in the morning. As the group is preparing to leave, Shane is giving instructions on how to stay with the caravan when Morales announces that his family won't be joining the group. They have family in Birmingham and want to be with their people. "I gotta do what's best for my family," he says. Rick hands Morales a .357 with Shane's terse assumption that the rest of them will fare no better out there, anyway, and they part ways. Everyone says their goodbyes to the Morales family and the group leaves the campsite behind for good, Glenn with the map and Jim's fever worsening in the bedroom of the RV.

En route to the CDC, the RV's radiator hose bursts. While Shane and T-Dog drive ahead to find replacement parts, Rick checks on Jim, who is in agony. "My bones are like glass. Every little bump - this ride's killing me. Leave me here," Jim says. "I'm done." Rick suggests he's delirious, but Jim insists his head is clear: "I want to be with my family" he says. They say their goodbyes to Jim and the group departs.