The Grady Paradox, Pt. 1: "Slabtown" timeline + Anomalies
As we have recently learned that Seth Hoffman had "more story to tell" in season 4-6 than that which we got on screen, I've returned to these seasons to revisit what I (and certainly the rest of us in TD) know to be missing stuff. Or, more aptly, the sense that something is there, particularly with regards to the Grady setting, but with no way to see it or prove it. It's just this vague notion that, around the edges, there's far more lurking than we realized. In the past, TDers (myself included) have speculated that the CRM was in some way involved in the Grady enterprise. The steady flow of food and supplies, plus certain strong hints in Dawn's dialogue, seem to suggest that whatever they're doing there, they're not really doing it alone. There's also the suggestion that Dr. Edwards has possibly found a way to treat Wildfire, which we believe relates to the theory that Beth was bitten and recovered before "Slabtown." And are these two things connected? What about Beth's bizarre death episode? Is that somehow related, too?
This series of "timeline" posts is meant to take us through what I'm calling the Grady Paradox, ie: At Grady, it feels like almost nothing happens, and yet, so much changes, that we are almost certainly missing something, some giant piece of the puzzle, which is so significant, it haunts Team Delusional dreams. Most TDers I've talked to cite feeling a general uneasiness about Grady, especially "Slabtown," like there's something tptb is hiding from us, but they're hiding it in plain sight. What is the answer? Well, the series of posts will not give us that. But what it will do is communicate that certain lines of questioning TD swears by have provable merit. Those lines include: How long was Beth at Grady before she woke up? Was Beth treated for Wildfire? Is there an external story being told here, between the lines, and through implication, that we just cannot see? And where does that story live in the bits and pieces that we can see?
In my first post, I want to take us through a probable timeline for "Slabtown." This is important context for my second post, which will take us through the probable timeline all the way from "Still" to "The Distance." Even though the passage of time feels mostly amorphous in "Slabtown," especially upon the initial or casual viewing, if you watch closely, there are strong, definitive signals that one can use to map exactly how many days pass between Beth's awakening and Carol's arrival. In fact, I've noticed that "Slabtown" uses more oblique, but fully trackable and logically sound time stamps than almost any episode in the series. I'm talking about clues in the lighting, the wardrobe, the make-up, the dialogue, the set, the props, and the acting. Every little thing in the mis-en-scene of "Slabtown" is talking to us about the interconnectivity of scenes, the cause and effect of actions, and and the steady progression of time.
Let's begin:
Day 1
Beth wakes up on the morning of the first day. After her conversation with Dawn and Edwards, she walks the halls a little with Edwards, learns the ropes, and then the first thing she does is go to get breakfast. Notice that in the shots with Gorman, she has two trays. One tray with a blue cup, which is full, and the other tray a yellow cup, which is mostly empty.
These cups are doing work. After Gorman threatens to take inventory of Beth's food, she leaves the tray with the yellow cup behind. This, we realize, was her tray. Beth = Yellow. She brings only the tray with the blue cup to Edwards's in his office. This is his tray. Beth isn't recorded by Gorman as having taken any breakfast that day. This will come back later.
Re: above. Beth's walk down the hall is also the moment that we learn Joan is missing. Who is Joan? We don't know yet. Re: below. We also learn that Joan was supposed to be on laundry duty today, and Noah has been tasked with doing the job in her place. This, too, will come back later.
Sidenote: It's important that these these things will come back later, because by creating a sequence of logical cause and effect, and logical transfer of information and objects, the writers are actually creating a very logical timeframe in which all of this is taking place. This is important in an episode that takes place almost entirely indoors, with characters who are always dressed more or less the same, and a setting which is both maze-like but also somehow repetitive and mundane, like something straight out of the backrooms. Without these logistical markers, the episode feels disorienting, fragmented, and bizarre, an obvious projection of Beth's disoriented point of view.
Next: While Beth is with Edwards in his office, Dawn comes in. She says, "We got another one." This is Dr. Trevitt, though we don't know he's a doctor yet, and this is also the first time we see Officer Shepherd, who was clearly with O'Donnell that morning, bringing him in. Once again, this will come back later.
During the ensuing skirmish over whether Trevitt is a waste of resources, Dawn slaps Beth in the face, separating her stitches, and getting fresh blood on her scrubs. In the very next shot, we'll get a close-up of the gauze in a pink tray. This way, we can see just how much blood Beth lost from the cut on her cheek. But the gauze in the pink tray is also important, because it is dirty, and it will come back later.
In the very next scene, as Edwards patches Beth up, we learn that "Dawn likes things neat." This is a most important rule of the episode, as it generally assures us that if things get dirty, they can't stay dirty for long. Edwards also mentions specifically in this scene that Noah left her a new shirt, because, remember, Noah is on laundry duty. We know this from before. It's a logical progression of background information. You can watch most episodes of TWD and you will not see this kind of meticulous attention paid to random side characters doing chores. That's because it's usually not necessary to frame up reality the way that it is in an episode like "Slabtown."
This is also when Beth finds the green lollipop in her pocket (this will come back later)...
...and we get a nice close-up of the newly stitched cut on her face (just a reference, as Beth's injuries are important).
It's immediately after Edwards leaves Beth's room that, together, they observe an agitated young woman being hauled in from the outside. This, we learn right away, is Joan. Gorman tells Edwards that Dawn needs him "now." Beth follows. When Beth helps with Joan at first, notice that her cast is clean, and, thanks to Noah, so are her scrubs. Dr. Edwards amputates Joan's arm below the elbow, and this proceeds to stain Beth's scrubs. Yet another reference to laundry will next lead Beth to...
...Noah, who she technically hasn't met yet. Because after the ordeal, Beth has to change her scrubs again. Her cast is also bloodied up a little when she goes to the laundry station. That's where Noah is. Because Noah... is on laundry duty! Notice how the story never forgets.
This is when Noah introduces himself as "the lollipop guild," or the guy who planted that lollipop in her last clean shirt. He says he thought she "could use pick-me-up after this morning." This is our first major timestamp of the episode: Since we saw Beth find the lollipop in the fresh shirt from Noah right after the ordeal with Trevitt, we can be assured that it's still the same day.
Now, maybe this seems obvious to some people, but I'm willing to bet that most viewers are not paying attention to the passage of time. Before I went back to locate the framework for this episode, I, myself, had no idea how many days went by over the course of "Slabtown." For a long time, I wrote it off as a simply mystery. But upon further examination, I've learned that the signs are actually all right there. We just have to know how to read them.
Now, there will be two more time stamps in the next scene, which will double down on the assurance that this is all taking place on the same day. First, we see Beth in a janitorial closet, making a bleach solution (this will come back later). Then, Dawn comes in to tell Shepherd that she can take it from here, because Shepherd has "already pulled a double." Since we saw Shepherd that morning with Trevitt, then it seems safe to assume that one night shift (at the end of which Shepherd found Trevitt and brought him in) and one day shift (during which Joan was brought in) has passed. So we're most likely in evening, or dinner time, of the first day.
Dawn then says that she knows Beth skipped breakfast that morning. This, we know to be true, because we saw her skip breakfast. She left her tray behind after the unpleasant confrontation with Gorman that very morning. This is a logistical confirmation of observed knowledge. It creates a steady, trackable sequence of events throughout the day. "Slabtown" is a superb example of story memory, and the next example of this will be... the bleach.
Because after this scene, Beth will presumably take the bleach solution and goes to mop up in Joan's room. Cause/effect. At this point, Joan asks Beth to keep singing. They talk. With this scene, I would argue that the day comes to a close.
Why do I think the day has come to a close with Joan? Because, that's what it feels like. The room is dark and lamp-lit, and the hospital is quiet. Beth just had dinner with Dawn in the supply closet, and now she's mopping up at the end of the day. Then, in the next scene, Beth is in her own room as light pours through the windows. The transition clearly implies night to day.
Day 2
Now, it's the morning or afternoon of the second day. Beth is leaning over a small plastic basin, trying to clean what I believe to be her heart necklace. Though it's hard to see in the screenshot, if you watch the scene closely, you can see the thicker black fabric, as well as the black cord that it's connected to. It sounds like she's trying to scrape something off of the fabric and off of the charm, but she's struggling, because Beth is right handed, and her cast is inhibiting the use of her right hand.
Side note: This scene is interesting, because it communicates that Beth has access to some of her belongings. This could include her clothes as well as her journal. We don't know why she's cleaning her necklace in this scene. She doesn't seem to be wearing it during the ordeal with Joan, which is when she would have been at her bloodiest. So, perhaps it got dirty at some point after she lost Daryl? That said, the rag she's using here is pretty bloody. The water looks bloody, too, as it seems to muss up her cast considerably. What is going on here?
There's no explanation for this, at least not that we see. In fact, this scene sort of reminds me of that weird scene in "Find Me," when Daryl puts a large piece of wax paper on a stump, then removes his knife from its sheathe, and sets the sheathe and the knife on top of the paper in a seemingly organized fashion. We have no idea why he does this. We are clearly missing context, as he doesn't appear to have any discernible goal in mind, but the activity itself obviously holds internal logic for Daryl, and it also coordinates with the acquisition of a new scar over his left eye. So, in this, it just really feels like we're missing something.
Anyway. After trying to clean the necklace, Beth seems overwhelmed and saddened, so she goes to find the lollipop as a "pick-me-up." What's great about this is that the writers had the presence of mind to save it. So not only do we get a nice characterizing moment for Beth (she chose to save the lollipop for a rainy day), but we also get this nice moment of continuity between the previous day and today. But this is when Gorman comes in, and it's learned that he was likely spying on Beth when she hid the lollipop under her mattress the day before. That's creepy. The larger theme of surveillance is on full display in "Slabtown." Was he looking through her window? Or are there cameras on the rooms? We obviously have no indication of cameras; however, all we know is that he was watching her. Anyway, Edwards comes in to "save the day," and then he takes Beth down to the ground floor to see the walkers, and then onto the roof to tell her a story.
Side note: Consider that the stuff with Gorman, while disturbing, is misdirection. Like most of the actions of the officers, it doesn't really matter to the greater plot. It's just subterfuge, distraction. It gets us looking left, when what really matters moves right. By making some of the officers seem evil (like Gorman and O'Donnell) and some seem good (like Shepherd and Lamson), the writers create a false dichotomy to confuse the viewer over who they should be "rooting for." In reality, good and evil don't matter at Grady, because the system is too mercenary and too malfunctioning for either to prevail. In fact, the only dichotomy that matters at Grady, as far as we can see, is that of the officers vs. Dawn. "Good" and "evil" alike, they all want her out of power, but nobody will act.
On this note, the questions we should be asking are: What do the good officers gain by appeasing Dawn and allowing the abuse to go unchecked? What would all the officers lose if they openly opposed her or conducted a coup? Based on their actions, all of the officers, including Lamson, seem more or less content with the current situation, or at the very least unwilling to speak up. When do we see Shepherd or Lamson sticking up for Joan or Beth or Noah or Percy? Never. In fact, not once do we see any of the officers express genuine remorse or concern over the abusive environment for the wards, and in terms of standing up to Dawn, it takes intruders and a hostage situation to finally get Shepherd and Lacari to act at all. And even then, Lamson, who they want to put in charge, dies in his attempt to "smooth things over" with Dawn. To smooth things over with Dawn. He's afraid of her, re: "She's under it, and you've been out here too long. You'll die. You're all gonna—"
Neither Shepherd nor Lamson, nor Lacari seem willing to do what has to be done about Dawn until Rick forces the issue. Because then, barring death, they literally have no other choice. In fact, the only officer who successfully seeks out and stands up to Dawn on his own is... O'Donnell, and he's supposed to be one of the evil ones!
So, what is at stake here? What do the officers want? Better yet, what does Dawn want? What does she gain by allowing a few bad officers to abuse her wards, truly? What would she lose if she lost their support and cooperation? In the scene with Beth and Joan, Joan says to Beth, "She can control them, but she doesn't, because it's easier. Because she's a coward [...] I guess it's easy to make a deal with the devil when you're not the one paying the price." Now, we know who's paying the price in this scenario: Joan, the wards. But who, in this scenario, is the devil? Gorman? Aside from the way he intimidates Beth and Joan, Gorman seems entirely powerless at Grady. He is even ousted by Edwards during his interaction with Beth and the lollipop. He can't be the devil. The devil acts. Meanwhile, Gorman is waiting around for someone new to come along and take Dawn's place, but he has no plans to do it himself. He's just, quite literally, a stooge. So who is in control here? Who is the devil, and what is the deal?
This is actually anomalous, because not only does it go completely unanswered, but one could also argue that it goes almost entirely unacknowledged by the audience at large. Nobody can suss out the motivations at Grady, because barring some greater scheme, perhaps some greater prize that's in it for Dawn, and the officers by proxy, the motivations at Grady do not make sense. And so the audience defaults to the things they understand, ie: Gorman and O'Donnell = bad, because they are abusers. Dawn = bad, because she hurts Beth. Meanwhile, Lamson and Shepherd = good, because they help Rick. But forget the fact that even Rick himself is kind of a bad guy in season 5, because anything else is too convoluted even to consider. And this is by plan, mind you. I'm not blaming the GA. I'm saying that the writing here really is just very sneaky, and we don't know why.
ANYWAY.
Back to the timeline: After telling his sob story about the boy with napalm burns, Edwards then tells Beth she ought to go "look in on Mr. Trevitt and call it a day," implying it's getting late. He instructs her to give Trevitt 75mg of Clozapine, a powerful antipsychotic which can cause seizures. He should have said Clonazepam, a benzodiazepine, which is a nervous system depressant and meant to do the exact opposite.
After Trevitt dies, it's at this moment that we learn Edwards is a total fucking Judas, and it's one of the most disorienting moments of the entire series. We realize that, just like Beth, we have been lulled into a false sense of security by Edwards, thinking he's a good guy when he's truly just as bad as the rest of them, maybe even worse. When Dawn takes Noah away to prove her point, Beth tries to go after him, but Edwards holds her back. Notice that her cast looks more or less the same as it has since Joan. This is important.
Because the very next shot opens with a close-up on Beth's cast, now considerably bloodier than it was before. What happened? It's possible this happened while they "dealt" with Trevitt, ie: dumped his body down the elevator shaft. That said, the last time we saw Edwards do this, he didn't even touch the body, just dumped it over the ledge off the gurney. So what gives with all this blood? Basically, we don't know what happened. Like the dirty necklace, and like the officer dynamic at Grady, this is another anomaly that goes unexplained.
At this point, Dawn comes into Beth's room. They argue, then Dawn leaves. According to the clock on the wall, it's about 7:30. This is the first clock we've seen since the beginning of the episode and the only clock that actually helps us tell time. The light outside, plus Edwards's earlier suggestion that Beth "call it a day," suggests sundown. It is 7:30pm.
Day 3
The next scene, based on Noah's demeanor and the light outside, is obviously the next morning, or the morning of the third day. Beth and Noah talk about Dawn. Noah tells Beth that he thinks Dawn needed Trevitt for something, which is why she was so mad. He reminds her that Dawn "is trapped, too." This is another interesting anomaly that sort of goes to my discussion above about motivations. If Dawn is trapped, then by who? Is this a metaphor? Or is Noah talking about something else? They then discuss the escape plan in what appears to be a room outfitted as a makeshift greenhouse.
They put their plan into motion that very day. Noah lures Dawn away while Beth goes for the key. She learns that Trevitt was an oncologist, and after discovering that Joan has torn her stitches out and bled to death on Dawn's office floor, she's caught by Gorman, who she kills, very resourcefully. The plan plays out in the bright light of day.
Noah gets away, but Beth is caught and brought inside where Dawn presumably beats her to a pulp as the shot cuts to black.
In the next scene, there is much to consider. Beth's cast has been changed, Beth's injuries, and Edwards's note that Beth is "healing quickly," as well as the adjacent timeline with Daryl, Carol, and Noah, communicate that we've progressed to the next day.
Day 4
It's now the afternoon of the fourth day. At this point, we're also given a very interesting parallel shot of the pink tray and the gauze. Only this time, the gauze is new, and everything is clean, and there's emphasis on the scissors, which we'll later see Beth take in her plan to kill Edwards in revenge (but she doesn't use them, ie: they become Chekhov's Scissors, like a loaded gun that must go off). Also, I want to add that I don't believe more than a single night has passed since Beth's beating, just based on the visuals per her injuries, as well as the nature of her conversation with Edwards, which suggests it's their first since she discovered Trevitt's true identity.
Now, the Carol timestamp: Note that the Carol timestamp is paramount to understanding the timeline for the rest of 5a. It helps us to understand how long Beth has been at Grady, how Beth's timeline lines up with Daryl's, and how much time passes between "Slabtown" and "Coda." I'll talk more about this in my next post.
So, based on all of this information, we can reasonably surmise that between the time that Beth wakes up and the time that Carol arrives at Grady, it's been 4 days and 3 nights:
Day 1: Beth wakes up. Trevitt arrives. Dawn slaps Beth in the face. Beth changes her scrubs and finds the lollipop. Joan arrives. Beth changes her scrubs again. Beth meets Noah. Beth talks to Dawn. Beth talks to Joan.
Day 2: Beth washes her necklace in her room. Gorman shows up and has her lollipop. Edwards defuses. Edwards takes Beth to the ground floor, then up to the roof to talk. Edwards tells Beth to "call it a day" and inject Trevitt with "75mg of Clozapine." Trevitt dies. Dawn beats up Noah.
Day 3: Beth and Noah discuss their escape plan in the greenhouse. They put their plan into motion. Beth kills Gorman. Beth and Noah escape through the elevator shaft. Beth is caught, but Noah is free. Dawn beats up Beth, giving her a black eye.
Day 4: Edwards tells Beth she's "healing quickly." Beth accuses Edwards of betrayal. Beth considers killing Edwards with the scissors. Carol arrives.
Some anomalies, too, that I'd like us to keep in mind:
The parallel pink-tray-with-gauze shots communicate a progression from dirty, bloody, and used to clean, white, and new.
Beth is trying to clean her necklace for some reason with a bloody rag in a small basin full of bloody water.
Beth's cast gets inexplicably bloodier between the ordeal with Trevitt and her conversation with Dawn.
Noah comments that he thinks Dawn is "trapped, too," and that she needed Trevitt for something important.
Beth's progression of facial injuries: right cheek cut (cleanly stitched), right cheek cut (newly opened, red, and swollen), left black eye (fresh), left side forehead cut (fresh). We will go back over Beth's injuries in a later post.
Chekhov's Scissors: Our first visual teaching moment on Beth's line "Use everything you can use," or the storytelling rule of Chekhov's Gun, ie: When Beth turns the scissors into a potential weapon, they essentially become a loaded gun that doesn't go off. She *uses* the scissors in "Coda" to stab Dawn in the shoulder (a choice that we still don't really understand), completing the rule; however, in "Coda," we have Chekhov's actual gun, ie: Dawn's gun, which goes flying down the elevator shaft. When we see Dawn "shoot Beth," this technically completes the rule; however, it cannot be the same gun in her holster that went down the shaft. Also, the physics of the scene do not allow for Dawn to be the shooter. Therefore, who shot Beth? How did they get ahold of Dawn's gun? What actually happened?
My next post (which is actually already written!!) will take us through my theory on the entire timeline between "Alone" and "The Distance," via indirect time stamps and observed lunar cycles. Note that all these posts are meant to do is PROVE that there is MISSING TIME and MISSING INFORMATION all throughout Beth's arc in seasons 4-5. It's my belief that the writers are purposely creating many strong indicators of this missing time, but they're easily missed by the GA due to rampant gaslighting, subterfuge, and misdirection in the plot. By proving this foundational theory, all of our other theories revolving around post-Grady events in Atlanta, become that much more credible. 💫
