Review: The Walking Dead S3E08 “Made to Suffer”

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Arleigh

“I’m afraid of terrorists who want what we have.” — Philip “The Governor” Blake

[spoilers within]

We’ve finally reached the mid-season finale of season 3 of The Walking Dead. It’s one that changes the dynamics on both groups we’ve come to know through this season’s first half. The season has been a tale of two cities. We have the one with the imposing prison where Rick and his people have chosen to use as their safe haven though losing a couple of their own in the process of doing so. On the other side is the almost-idyllic town of Woodbury where it’s leader in the Governor plots to keep his charges safe but also unaware of what truly transpires before his charming smile. It’s not just about the differences between the two groups of survivors but between the men who lead them.

“Made to Suffer” begins with a new group of survivors in a forest being attacked by a number of zombies. It’s a small group of five and we learn quickly enough the name of the group’s leader. It’s a name that’s been speculated on since the start of the show over two year ago. There were rumors that the writers had decided that the character might not ever make it to the show since it was already starting to bulge around the edges with some many names both main and supporting. While the secret about this character (who was an integral part of the comic book for almost five years) appearing on the show was revealed a couple weeks ago tonight saw the first appearance of Tyreese to the merry band of survivors.

The introduction of Tyreese should make for an interesting second half to this season as we get another Alpha Male to compete for the leadership role on the show that already has Rick and the Governor. For the moment Tyreese and his small group of survivors must contend with a much more resourceful leader-in-training in Carl who has been left behind to protect the other half of the group in the prison while Rick and his group went onto Woodbury.

Tonight’s episode was all about the confrontation between Prison vs Woodbury that’s been building up all throughout this first half of the third season. The fact that the writers made this confrontation not last through most of the third season is another sign that this season is more about keeping the story on the move instead of stopping to contemplate on the nature of the new world and its affect on those left behind. This narrative style of less is more has done wonders in making the show regain the tension that was built during the truncated first season, but was almost wasted in the sophomore effort.

With the Rick group sneaking into Woodbury to rescue Maggie and Glenn we get to finally see how the two competing groups would stack up when put up against each other. To say that Rick and his people look to be the better survivors would be an understatement. As we’ve learned throughout this first half of season 3 Rick has honed his band of survivors into an efficient group of killing machines. They move in precise, military-like manner to the point that even the Governor could see it and knew they were outclassed despite his group’s numerical superiority. It’s a testament to the hardship Rick and his people had to go through during the months between season 2 and 3 out in the wilderness in a day-to-day survival mode. It’s made his group hardened veterans with no weak links. On the other hand, the Governor has kept such a tight grip on power and information flow with the survivors in Woodbury that most were ill-equipped to deal with any attack of sufficient force.

One cannot say that Rick’s own methods were better than the Governor’s but the difference between the two seem to be that where the former sheriff’s deputy acted like a dictator in his own way he also kept everyone in the loop with what he wanted to do. The same couldn’t be said about the Governor who seemed to keep most everyone except for a handful of confederates at arm’s length. Even one of his most trusted lieutenant’s in Merle he didn’t fully trust. This differences between these two leaders meant a successful, albeit a costly one, rescue operation by episode’s end.

By the end of the episode we also find out that things might not be right with Rick mentally as we were led to believe after his bout with the prison telephone. The weight of leadership looks to be creating strains on Rick that could prove detrimental to the survival of those he cares about as we await the season’s return in a couple months. We also learn that the Governor doesn’t stand betrayal too easily as we see his reaction to the return of Michonne and the aftermath of that return. Both leaders are now set to suffer the consequences of their two groups meeting up. Rick losing two of his people (though as we see at the cliffhanger ending to the episode that there’s still hope for a fan favorite to survive) and the Governor losing whatever grip on humanity he might have had with the true death to his zombie daughter Penny.

This mid-season finale has been everything the season has been remaking the show to be. It’s been fast, thrilling and bare bones. We still don’t know too much about some of the side characters on the show, but we get glimpses to their changes through actions rather than long-winded expository scenes that weighted down the second season. Tonight’s episode shed a light on characters and their motivations and most of it through dialogue-free sequences. Even the speech made by the Governor in the end showed a lot about this man’s personality and done so without making it sound like it was for the audiences benefit and not to move the story forward.

It’s going to be a long two month wait, but as we’ve seen with the show’s fans even during a maddening and frustrating season 2 it’s a fan-base that will come back and come back hungry for more of The Walking Dead. The question now is whether this prison vs Woodbury story arc will finish this second half of the season or will we continue to see the prison as a setting for the show beyond season 3.

Notes

Tonight’s episode was directed by series regular Billy Gierhart and written by series producer and creator of the comic book, Robert Kirkman.
Welcome Tyreese and his ever-present claw-hammer.
A name from the comics but used on a throwaway character (same as the comic) appear in the cold opening: Donna.
Now we have an idea why the prison doesn’t seem to be running out of zombies even after the initial clear out by Rick and his people then after Rick’s Killpocalypse rampage during episode 5.
Glenn definitely is made of sterner stuff this season and has a MacGuyver streak in him by creating makeshft shivs out of a zombies splintered forearm bones.
Axel is still an unknown factor on the show despite helping Rick and his group earlier in the season, but his interaction with both Beth and Carol was both creepy and hilarious.
Carl doesn’t like Axel making the moves on his woman.
Nice move by Mazzara and the producers to bring back Jon Bernthal to make a brief, but important cameo, in tonight’s episode as Shane.
Despite being outnumbered it’s really interesting to note how much more dangerous Rick’s group when compared to the Governor and his Woodbury Bunch. Even the Governor admits that his people are survivors and not military who he thinks Rick and his people are.
Carl is becoming more and more like Rick: Taking charge though he doesn’t seem to want to and looking at the world through a pragmatist’s eyes.
Even Tyreese can see that Carl is more man than boy now. Carl has improved and gotten a major reset this season while another character like Andrea just continues to stump the writers.
Fight between Michonne and the Governor was even better than the one between Rick and Shane from season 2 and that’s saying something considering those two’s fight was one brutal of a fight.
We end the episode with a side profile view of the Governor’s face that’s literally a cover artwork from the comic book.
Zombie Kill Count of tonight’s episode: 12.

Past Season 3 Episode Review

Review: The Walking Dead S3E07 “When the Dead Come Knocking”

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Arleigh

“I’ll call the cops!” — unnamed hermit

[some spoilers within]

We’re getting close to the halfway point of season 3 of the Walking Dead. It’s been a season of many surprises and most of it coming from what looks like a soft reset by the show’s newest showrunner Glen Mazzara. He and his writers seem to be on a mission to fix the myriad of problems and issues the show ended up showing during it’s first full-length season with it’s second one. We don’t get as many prolonged quiet and slow moments that sucked any sort of momentum the show’s episodes would gather. We’ve also seen episodes this season that seemed much tighter in a narrative sense. No more dangling subplots that would stretch over several episodes. There was a concern that the fate of Carol would remained unanswered after the game-changer fourth episode of the season, but the writers didn’t stretch out the mystery as we saw it answered during last week’s episode.

Last week we saw a moment in the show that somewhat mirrors the original comic book source as Merle was able to take both Glenn and Maggie hostage and back to Woodbury. Something similar happens in the comic book, but other than Glen being the common participant in both iterations the show’s writer continue to mine the original source but do so in their own way and giving the moment more of an emotional impact moving forward than the original ever had. So, we find two of Rick’s group in dire straits while finding a surprise newcomer just outside the prison fence.

Tonight’s episode, “When the Dead Come Knocking”, and it marks the show’s penultimate entry this season before the mid-season finale that looks to pit the season’s two groups of survivors against each other. While we don’t actually see the two groups finally confront each other we get a lot of pieces being moved across the show’s board that the mid-season finale should be quite an apocalyptic event.

We do get a lot of Michonne finally doing more than glower at everyone around her and get hints at some personal issues that might be something leftover from before the zombie apocalypse. Her reaction to Rick grabbing her arm spoke volumes and why she was so intent to keeping Andrea with her. Her distrust of men could mean many things, but the fact that she’s willing to help Rick get his people back from the Governor speaks volume to Rick as a leader. Where the Governor charmed and cajoled and promised Michonne that she was free to go the same didn’t happen with Rick. He was literally quite the opposite. He bullied, demanded and promised her nothing but confinement until her motives could be better ascertained. While she might not be trust Rick right now it looks like Michonne prefers his no-BS way of doing things to the disingenuous one by the Governor.

It’s the difference between how Rick deals with strangers and how the Governor does things when in the same situation that tonight’s episode focuses on. While Rick has become hardened by his time in this new world of zombies since awakening from his coma he still seems to retain a semblance of the humanity that he’s been trying to leave behind in an attempt to keep his people alive. We’ve seen Rick do some unforgivable things this season, but we still hope that he doesn’t go full-on Col. Kurtz. It’s Rick’s attempts to balance cold-hearted pragmatism with his sense of right and wrong idealism that has made this character much more complex than it’s comic book counterpart.

On the other side we have the Governor who continues to pull the wool over Andrea’s eyes who still fails to see that the haven she has decided to stay in is quite rotten to the core and it all starts with it’s “benevolent” leader. We see less and less of his charming side and more of the sociopath he’s turning out to be. Tonight helps cements the idea that the Governor never came back from whatever abyss he went through in the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. He has stayed there in the justification that what he does he does so for the greater good of everyone. Yet, we see how even his inner circle of fighters and muscle fear him. It doesn’t help that the Governor was more than willing to use the prospect of rape to get what he wants.

So, we have this season’s two leaders on a trajectory, especially after tonight’s episode, to finally meet. On one side we have Rick who has gone through his own brand of hell on earth and seem to have come out the other side just as resolute, but still with some compassion to keep his humanity intact. On the other is the Governor who looks like Rick’s opposite mirror image. A man willing to do the worst and beyond if it means he keeps what he thinks is his.

There was some decent moments in tonight’s episode and most of it involved Glenn and Maggie as we saw just how far the two were willing to go to keep the information the Governor wants from him. It took an entire episode of the two lovebirds (and by now, especially after tonight we should finally realize the survivors really do love each other) to finally crack and it’s interesting to see who it was of the two who finally spilled the beans and for the reason why they finally broke. It was some fine work by both Steven Yeun (who got his Hulk out moment as he goes one-on-one with a zombie while tied down) and Lauren Cohan (who also had to go through some major indignities that made tonight’s episode very difficult to watch). Even David Morrissey shined with his performance tonight as the Governor even if it meant watching him attempt some very awful things to his two new “guests”.

“When the Dead Come Knocking” is quite an apt title as the episode ends on a cliffhanger note with Rick, Michonne, Daryl and Oscar arriving outside the walls of Woodbury. The title could mean their arrival means more zombies will be following them to cause havoc on both sides. Or it could mean that death has come in the form of Rick’s group and it’s finally come for the Governor and his people. Either way one looks at it the mid-season episode next week look to be epic and a bloodbath waiting to happen.

Notes

Tonight’s episode was directed and written by two newcomers to the series with Dan Sackheim and Frank Rezulli respectively.
Things are not going to be looking good for our erstwhile hero Glenn Rhee. His character has definitely grown some since his appearance way back in Season 1. The tough times he and the rest of the group has had to live through looks to have toughen him up some.
Michael Rooker continues to be quite a surprise this season. He might have dialed back some of his redneck, racist histrionics from season 1 but he still gives off that same aura but a bit more wilier.
Love how Daryl has become Carl’s big brother this season. Makes one wonder what those two went through together in the time between season 2 and this season.
While still not the best child actor the scene between Chandler Riggs and Andrew Lincoln was a nice poignant moment between father and son concerning Lori and Lil’ Asskicker aka Judith.
Andrea makes an appearance several times tonight and each and every time the air seems to get sucked out of the room and the episode slows down. Even the potential that is Milton in these scenes seem to be lessened because of her in the same scenes.
Glenn just went all straight warrior on that zombie. He may not be the biggest in the group but he sure can fight.
As I thought it would be it looks like Maggie’s role in being a prisoner in Woodbury takes the place of another character’s in the same situation in the comics.
With all the zombie killing and the deaths of characters in this show’s three seasons the scene between Maggie and the Governor might have been the hardest to watch.
Interesting how nonchalant Rick and his people have become when its just a lone zombie bearing down on them.
Oscar looks to be fitting in well as T-Dog’s replacement in the group. Though I love his reaction when he realized what Rick, Daryl and Michonne were going to do with the unnamed LaMOE (Last Man On Earth) whose cabin they group escaped a big group of zombies to.
I this episode might have been the very first time we saw the zombies swarm and devour a body (outside of poor Secretariat in the pilot episode) in full daylight. The gore on the show whenever someone gets eaten seems to always occur in low light or night time.
Funniest moment in tonight’s episode: man being devoured by a horde of zombies then the show cuts to a KFC commercial.
If people think the relationship between Glenn and Maggie is one of convenience should have it changed after tonight’s episode.
For all his charms and good looks it looks like the Governor might have just earned himself the undying hatred of many of the show’s fans with tonight’s episode as we see more and more of his sociopathic tendencies.
Despite Daryl having become Rick’s right-hand man through it all it will be interesting to see which side he will pick when he finally meets up with Merle again next episode. As the saying goes, “Blood is blood.”
Zombie Kill Count of tonight’s episode: 17.

Past Season 3 Episode Review

Review: The Walking Dead S3E06 “Hounded”

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Arleigh

“Eat. Drink. Be Merry. Tomorrow we die.” — Phillip “The Governor” Blake

We’re now over a third of the way throughseason 3 of The Walking Dead. The season began in such a fast pace that it almost as if the writers were trying to exorcise the demons of the very deliberate and pastorial season 2. The question that now arose was whether the writers will be able to keep the fast pace going through most of the season. There was bound to be some slow spots through the 16-episode run for this season, but the series seems to have avoided it, so far.

“Hounded” marks the sixth episode this season. Last week’s episode was a break from the action and this break continues with tonight’s episode. We get a pre-credits opening of Merle leading a small group of Woodbury tough guys on a hunt to find newcomer and resident badass Michonne. It would seem her suspicions about the Governor and the “idyllic” Woodbury was right on the nose. Before we can say “look it’s Evil Glenn” the Merle quartet was suddenly down two men, but Michonne gets winged by a Merle shot for her troubles.

After the intro credits we find ourselves back in the prison with Rick as he’s speaking to the voice on the phone which ended last week’s episode in a cliffhanger. Everything Rick ever wanted since the first season he hears from the female voice on the phone. A haven that’s safe from zombies, raiders and internal struggles. It’s a call from paradise that Rick has wanted for his family since he reunited with them midway through season 1.

The episode concentrates on these two paralleling storylines with some visits back in Woodbury to see how Andrea continues to fall under the Governor’s spell and just reminding everyone why she’s now the most hated character on the show now that Lori has exited. It’s these Andrea scenes that seem to slow tonight’s episode even more than it already has. It doesn’t help that the writers haven’t been able to find a way to course-correct the character after two season’s worth of a bungled job. Maybe it’s a character that’s broken beyond fixing or the actress portraying her (Laurie Holden) who always comes off in every scene as being too cocky for her own good. There’s still time to get this character turned around, but with Mazzara and company already making good on correcting the show’s past season mistakes both in it’s storytelling and in underused and underdeveloped character I don’t see much hope that Andrea will survive the season (plus she seems to be the last of the original Darabont veteran troupe hired for the show initially).

We find that the hounding of Michonne by Merle mirrors the hounding of Rick by those on the other side of the phone. While the former was one storyline that was a literal hounding the latter was a psychological one as Rick realizes that those he has been speaking to were not as he thought they were. We see Rick finally have the proper breakdown into grief at Lori’s death that the previous episode didn’t even attempt to do. We hear him confess his regret for not being able to keep his family safe and finally admitting that he still loved his wife and would do anything to get her back to tell her that.

It’s a lot to process and the episode suffered because of it. The scenes back in Woodbury did nothing other than make Andrea look even worst as she finally succumbs to the Governor’s charms. It’s this inconsistency in her character that has made her such a frustrating character to believe in. One moment she’s regretting not listening to Michonne then the next moment she’s in with the Governor. These scenes took away from the two storylines that dominated tonight’s episode. With just those two the episode was already stretched thin as it was.

So, tonight’s episode might have been a lot of set-up for what looks to be the long-awaited confrontation between Team Rick and Team Governor, but it also looks like it’s the third season’s first truly weak episode. We don’t learn anything new about any of the character old and new. We do get reminded that some of the show’s past mistakes still linger and keeps it from really taking off. So, the question about whether the writers will be able to keep season 3’s pace of quality tv has been answered. It’s just one episode but it highlighted just how much improvement the show still has to go. Fortunately, we’re not getting a sense that the writers intend to keep subplots from dragging along (the Sophia and Greene Farm being great examples of pacing killers). Now it’s time to see if the Mazzara Crew can get back on track with the final two episode of the season before it goes on a winter break.

Notes

Tonight’s episode was directed by series newcomer Dan Attias and written by series regular Scott M. Gimple.
Evil Glenn, we hardly knew you and now you’re gone.
Andrea just will continue to be the new target of hate for fans of the show. She just seems to always have smug look on her face even when she has no reason to be smug about.
Her skill in killing the zombie outside the wall did show that she’s probably one of the better killers in Woodbury outside of Merle and the Governor himself.
Hershel looks to be taking over as the voice of conscience for Rick. He looks to be taking on the role in the show that was originally taken by our dear departed Dale Horvath.
Rick must’ve really gone on a major killpocalypse in the prison in the previous episode if things were clear enough for Hershel to limp his way through safely.
Merle builds the kid’s courage up and just as easily takes it away with a bullet.
The Maggie and Glenn duo continue to be a very cute thing in a show that’s very lacking in the cute department.
Maggie continues to be this show’s version of the comic book Andrea which means she’s the team’s female badass until Michonne comes along.
Interesting how the show continues to deviate from the comic book’s narrative but still manages to create new scenes reminiscent of what was on that path not taken.
Nice how Glenn stays consistent with how he treats outsiders after mentioning in last week’s episode that the group should be very wary of anyone that’s not part of the group.
It seems like the show is setting things up to have a Dixon Brother showdown.
Nice to see the writers making sure that subplots introduced this season that has a chance to slow things down considerably get some sort of resolution: missing Carol and mysterious phone call.
Not many zombie kills this week, but the magicians over at KNB EFX still managed to make what kills there were memorable: zombie stomach sliced open and out slides out the goods.
Zombie Kill Count of tonight’s episode: 5

Past Season 3 Episode Review

Review: The Walking Dead S3E05 “Say the Word”

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Arleigh

“People need entertainment.” — Phillip “The Governor” Blake

Wow has been the most heard, read and seen word regarding last week’s episode of The Walking Dead. While “Killer Within” had some flaws the episode overall continued season 3’s streak of quality tv since the season premiere. Gone, but still not forgotten, were the long philosophical debates about humanity and civilization in the face of overwhelming horror. In its place has been what fans and critics had been waiting for. A show that really showed the dangers and dog eat dog world of a zombie apocalypse.

It’s always been a criticism that the show had unlimited potential to explore just how people would react and be changed (or not) in a world overrun by the living dead. The show this season still asks those questions, but lets the behavior of the characters and the situation they’re in speak for themselves. This season has minimized extended expositional scenes while improving on the show’s pacing. The change in the show’s pace has been the highlight of the season as the show just continues to propel forward at breakneck speed though there’s now fear that new showrunner Mazzara and his writers might not be able to sustain such a pace with still 12 episodes left in the season. Sooner or later the show might have to slow down if just to give fans a breather.

Things don’t seem to look like they’ll be slowing down anytime soon as we find Rick unable to cope with his wife’s death and knowing it was his son, Carl, who had to make sure Lori didn’t come back. It’s not a good place we see Rick go into both literally and figuratively as he takes his trusty hatchet and enters the prison to take out his grief on whatever zombies might be still left inside. The refuge the prison was suppose to be for him and his people haven’t turned out to b safe. With two of the group’s people gone and a third missing it falls on Rick’s right-hand man in Daryl to take charge of the situation to make sure they don’t lose anyone else.

Over at Woodsbury we find Michonne finding more and more hints that the town and the Governor are not what they seem. It doesn’t help that the episode’s opening sequence has the unquestioned leader of the town keeping what looks like his undead daughter as if she’s still alive and he can’t let her go. We’re getting a sense of the insanity lurking behind the charismatic facade the Governor puts up in front of his people yet the episode also subtly brings up the question whether the people in Woodsbury even care if their leader is batshit insane as long as they’re kept safe. The scene close to the end of the episode inside the town as the Governor provides entertainment for his people shows just how much a scared population will tolerate as long as they’re kept safe.

Even though we don’t hear one word uttered by Rick in tonight’s episode (ironic considering the episode’s title) we’re able to get a glimpse into the path Rick is treading right now. People have been wondering whether Rick will turn out to be just like the Governor. Become a leader who will abandon whatever humanity and moral principles he has left to keep his people safe. Tonight we’re close to seeing just how much Rick has gone through to try and keep his family safe yet the realization that his best (which at times means doing the worst things) was not good enough. He’s snapped and his trip inside the prison was very Kurtz-like. He’s now entered the proverbial abyss and the audience gets to see Rick prowling those dark hallways in an attempt to exorcise the demons he’s now been saddled with.

While tonight’s episode lacked some of the heavy action we’ve seen from this season, so far, it more than made it up casting a light on the mental state of the show’s two leaders. The episode ends with the two leaders now seen in better light. The Governor looks to have already gone through what Rick is going through now and come out on the other side not just amoral but with a functioning insanity that allows him to keep control of his town and it’s people. Rick looks to still be on that path that could turn him into something like the Governor. Time and the rest of the season will tell whether Rick can come out of the other side of his grief-induced insanity devoid of any humanity or finding himself back out of the wilderness and into the light, so to speak.

NOTES

I understand AMC wants to make money off the show especially since it looks like they’ve upped the show’s budget (two locations and all), but the channel is close to the tipping point (if they haven’t already gone past it) of having way too many commercials.
Tonight’s episode has Greg Nicotero back in the director’s chair with Angela Kang writing.
The cold opening of the episode could easily have been a flashback to better times until Andrea showed up. With Lori gone it looks like Andrea will now have to bear the brunt of most-hated character on the show.
Enter the Governor’s young daughter. Things really are not fine in Woodsbury or with the Governor.
Great to see how Daryl was able to take charge of the group for the sake of the baby when he noticed Rick was still not in his right mind. In the past two seasons this situation could easily have extended for far too long as people tried to decide what to do.
Rick is on a killtacular killing spree and who can blame the guy.
Andrea has definitely tasted the Governor’s kool-aid while Michonne just wants her sword back and out of what she suspects and believes is one fucked up situation.
Scene with the Governor’s notebook had a nice touch a la The Shining.
Michonne looked like she needed a cigarette after that little exercise in the yard.
Nice quite moment between Maggie’s men.
One could almost sense how Andrea is pretty much working on Michonne’s last good nerve and doesn’t even know it.
Rick looks to be in a very bad place, but he seems to be clearing things out in the hallways quite nicely.
Mazzara must’ve made his writers watch Day of the Dead because we get another homage to that classic Romero with the wrangling scene.
Daryl Dixon: Badass Nanny on top of everything else.
Lori’s body seem to have disappeared. Whether it’s in the stomach of the zombie in the room Rick comes across or is now walking in the prison is the question.
The Governor must be a student of history because he knows exactly what the mob wants and it’s games.
Andrea always seem to have the bad habit of realizing things too late.
The telephone (something fans of the comics will know well) makes its appearance sooner than expected but after seeing what Rick goes through in lately it’s understandable.
Zombie Kill Count of tonight’s episode: 12.

Review: The Walking Dead S3E04 “Killer Within”

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Arleigh

“No more kids stuff. People are gonna die. I’m gonna die. Mom. There’s no way you can ever be ready for it.” — Rick Grimes

[spoilers within]

This third season of The Walking Dead has been hitting 3 for 3 when it came to quality episodes. The surprising part is that the season is three episodes in. Last week we had an episode where Rick and the prison group never appeared. It was a well-done introduction for the new characters that will have a major impact on the series. With tonight’s episode, aptly named “Killer Within”, we return to Rick and the prison as they start to settle in their new safe haven (as safe as any place can be in a zombie apocalyptic world).

Tonight’s episode begins with a mysterious individual who seems to be up to no good within the confines of the prison fences. We see this person (all we see is that he’s dressed like a prisoner) using the carcass of a deer (or was it a wolf) t lure zombies into the prison and also taking an axe to the chains and lock that kept the gate secured. It’s an ominous beginning to an episode that would see a major reshuffling of the show’s cast of characters. To say that tonight’s episode was shocking would be an understatement. It was full of what fans and critics had been saying last season lacked. It had action pretty much through half the episode’s running time not to mention even the quieter scenes in the beginning of the prison segment and back at Woodbury led to something instead of just filling up airtime.

The mystery of the “killer within” of the episode’s title was kept a secret until pretty much close to the end of the episode. It was quite surprising to finally find out who it was who had opened up the gates to the prison and turned on the prison alarm which was ringing the dinner bell to zombies within the prison and those still outside the fences. There’s some leaps of logic that someone watching tonight’s episode would need to get past as to how this “killer” was able to survive so long since episode two without being noticed, but the positives of tonight’s episode outweighed any failures in logic that one noticed.

With tonight’s episode we got to see how much Rick and Carl has changed since the end of the second season and this season. What exactly happened to the group during the 7-8 months they had been out in the Georgia wilds trying to survive day-to-day until they happened upon the prison. The writers have been very silent about whether there would be some flashback sequences that showed how the group survived the Fall and Winter. All we’ve seen this season was how those months out in the wilds had turned the group into a well-oiled survival machine that had one leader and everyone with a role they’d accepted and played. The fact that the group suffered no casualties during the time-off between season 2 and the start of season 3 showed that maybe being on the move was the best thing. They’ve just moved into the prison and started cleaning the place up and now two (maybe three) of their group has died.

One of the things which stood out the most with tonight’s episode is how much Carl has come to be just like his father this season. Last season, Carl had become a joke to the audience with is penchant to avoid his adult handlers and go off running into danger. His behavior and actions even led to the group losing one of their own late in season 2. Carl before this season was almost as if the writers had no idea how to write up a child character in a zombie apocalyptic world. One moment Carl was this helpless and naive child then the next he would act and talk tough like Rick or Shane. Both sides of Carl last season didn’t ring true, but we saw hints of changes to the character in the last two episodes. We see the result of the change in the show’s leadership and mission statement for season 3. Chandler Riggs has improved as an actor which goes to show that good writing will bring out the best in even the least experienced performer. While we find out who the killer within was the episode’s title could easily mean the arrival of a harder Carl who could be on the dark path to turning out to be a killer.

As for Rick, we see another instance where he seems to have left his idealism behind and accepted the fact that ruthless pragmatism was the new golden rule of this zombie apocalyptic world. He looks at strangers not with an open-mind or whether these new people would become helpful members of his group. No, Rick has taken an insular view of the world. If you’re not part of his group then you’re a danger waiting to happen whether that suspicion has credence or not. This mindset has kept his group alive since they left the farm after season 2 but it has also made him harder, colder and more ruthless to those in the outside looking in and, more importantly, even to some within his group.

Will tonight’s events finally become the final straw that breks Rick both emotionally and mentally or will it galvanize him even more to protecting his own and damn to everyone else. This Ricktatorship has suffered it’s first casualties and it should open up a whole new world of storylines moving forward. Idealistic Rick became a frustrating character to root for in the second season, but there’s also the danger of a despot Rick this season becoming too much on the other side of the personality spectrum. It will be up to Mazzara and his talented group of writers to balance Rick as a character where he still has some sense of the white hat sheriff’s deputy, but at the same time also knowing that he cannot let that very idealism endanger him and his people.

As an audience we’ve come to expect a season to spread out how much action and tense moments a drama series has the length of a season, but the writers of this series seem to be making up for all the “go nowhere” episodes of season two with a vengeance. I’ve been saying since the beginning of this season that we’re finally seeing the series’ take on the narrative style of it’s newest showrunner in Glen Mazzara who came up writing some of the best episodes of the FX cop drama The Shield over seven seasons. He and his writers seem to understandthat in a world as savage and cruel as the one in The Walking Dead having episodes where nothing happens outside of character debating and philosophizing about the nature of civilization and humanity wouldn’t make for very dramatic tv. the question that comes up now is whether the show will be able to sustain this streak of very good episodes over the length of season three.

NOTES

Tonight’s episode was directed by Guy Ferland and written by series newcomer Sang Kyu Kim.
Some levity involving Glenn and Maggie didn’t last the episode which looks to be the most nihilistic of the series to date.
Michonne may not be as chatty as Andrea this season, but she’s made her words count when she has spoken. Also very observant of not just her surroundings but her situation.
We come across a situation regarding strangers and their fate. Last season the group, especially Rick, would’ve debated all episode long and maybe into the next one about how to deal with the strangers. Another sign that this season has become a sort of reset for the series with Rick (with some help from Daryl) deciding not to change the agreement he has with the surviving prisoners.
Look between Rick and Lori before all hell broke loose looked like things may be thawing between the two.
Good to see the writers not making Hershel go through a bout of self-pity. He even made good use of the crutches when things got real stressful.
This now marks the third stressful and action-packed episode inside the prison. Writers have definitely taken to heart about the lack of action and tension that plagued Season 2.
Carl has definitely become a mini-badass like his father.
It had to happen and the sequence leading up to T-Dog finally getting bit was handled quite well. There was no mysterious zombie suddenly popping out of nowhere to chomp down on his shoulder. When he moved to close the gate one could see just before the scene switched away a zombie come into the frame and move up towards T-Dog who had his back turned.
Part of me thinks that disagreeing with Rick’s decisions is like people saying “NO” to Jack Bauer. It’s a sure way to get yourself killed either by Rick or some other way.
This season really hasn’t made Andrea a sympathetic character. I’m wondering if the writers have a new role for her in contrasts to how she was in the comics. I can definitely see her turning on the group and joining the Governor.
The Governor definitely has a way with him when it comes to getting his way. Andrea seems to be buying what he’s been selling her and even Merle seems off his game around him.
It’ll be quite a turn of events if this season we end up getting Merle rejoining the group as a helpful member while Andrea becomes the Judas.
We learn that the Governor’s first name is Phillip and that he has a young daughter. We also get to see him channel his inner James Bond villain with a scene of him doing practice golf swings at the zombies beyond Woodbury’s walls.
Carl’s reaction when Maggie told Lori to take her pant’s off was classic.
T-Dog went out a hero and his final scene was a nice shout out to a similar throat-rip scene from Day of the Dead (the original one).
We finally find out the answer to whether Andrew the prisoner who Rick left locked in the prison yard with the zombies died or lived.
Sarah Wayne Callies performance as Lori in tonight’s episode was some of her best to date.
For all the talk on Twitter about zombie babies I like to remind people that the best zombie baby ever comes courtesy of Peter Jackson.
We hear the shot but we never truly saw Lori die by Carl’s hand. Here’s to hoping the writers are not trying to pull a fast one on the audience.
Carl definitely turned a corner in tonight’s episode. This season we’ve seen that Carl’s become more useful and mindful that his past behavior had some fatal consequences. It’s not until tonight that we see Carl lose that final vestiges of his childhood behind and become the child-soldier Rick and his group need him to be.
For all his cold distancing from Lori we see that Rick still loved Lori in the end. Talk about heart-wrenching scene from Andrew Lincoln.
I have to give it up to Sarah Wayne Callies, Chandler Riggs, Lauren Cohan and Andrew Lincoln for bringing their A-game and more for tonight’s episode.
The monologue towards the end that really got to this hardened horror fan: “You’re gonna be fine, you’re gonna beat this world. You are smart, and you are strong, and you are so brave. You promise me you’ll always do what’s right. It’s so easy to do the wrong thing in this world. You promise me you’ll always do what’s right. It’s so easy to do the wrong thing in this world. So, if it feels wrong, don’t do it. Alright? If it feels easy, don’t do it, don’t let the world spoil you. You’re so good. My sweet boy. The best thing I ever did. I love you.” — Lori Grimes
Zombie Kill Count for tonight’s episode: 32.