The Walking Dead, Episode 3.03: "Walk with Me"

Tonight's installment of The Walking Dead is a bit gutsy for the show…and no, I'm not talking about the guts of that National Guard soldier who was split in half. This, the 19th episode of the series, is the first that doesn't feature the core pack of survivors at all. Instead, we get an entire hour with Andrea and Michonne, after the brief few moments with them in the season premiere. Now, a strong setup episode for this pairing would be plenty interesting in itself… but by stacking the introduction of The Governor and Woodbury on top of this, and by reintroducing Michael Rooker's beloved character Merle to the show in full force, this makes for a jam-packed episode that never flags.

The episode starts with a helicopter crash, which catches the eyes of Andrea and Michonne… but when they hop on over to check it out, they soon see the Governor and his cronies show up to evaluate the aftermath. Of the two soldiers in the helicopter, one solider's still relatively intact, and the other? Well… he's in halfsies, in an astonishingly gory shot. (Seriously, are there any limitations to the blood and guts that this show can get away with? TV-14-LV my patootie…) Before you know it, Team Woodbury takes out a few zombies at the crash site (Baseball bat to the skull for the win!)… and Michonne makes the ultimate sacrifice to keep her and Andrea alive: by decapitating her two 'pets'. (This scene quickly answered one of the burning questions I had for this season: How was AMC going to afford a season's worth of visual effects to remove Michonne's pets' arms? Yay, budget consciousness!)

Speaking of missing limbs: Merle's back!!! Just knowing that Michael Rooker is on board as a regular cast member this season is exciting enough for me… and his entrance during the crash site sequence with HIS BUTTKICKING STABBY BAYONET HAND made me just giddy! The episode makes the wise choice to give us some quality Merle time, as he delivers a nice soliloquy to the two ladies in the Woodbury infirmary. (We also get a fleeting shot of Merle's arm stump, to appease our taste for lost body parts.) Plus, Merle nets the quote of the night during his speech, when talking about who he can trust these days: "I think I'd piss my pants if some stranger come walking up with his mitts in his pockets!"

But as we soon find out, this man without a right hand is, in fact, the right-hand man for The Governor, whom fans have been eagerly waiting to see on the series. He's played on the show by David Morrissey, a frequent British TV actor (including The Red Riding Trilogy and the original UK version of State of Play), but who's also had some experience in assorted genre films, including Centurion, The Reaping and, most infamously, the male lead in 2006's Basic Instinct 2. (Remember that movie? That's a thing that happened!) Right away, he sets the tone for the character: a slick sweet-talker of a leader who's definitely up to no good. Sure, he's managed to put together a seemingly peaceful community where people can return to some sense of normalcy. But then again, he's not too keen on giving Andrea and Michonne back their weapons or letting them leave… and he's perfectly willing to take down 10 or so National Guardsmen to get their weapons, food, and supplies. Oh, and then there's that pesky secret lab, complete with Milton, the Reserved Yet Still Creepy Mad Scientist. (Note to self: Don't invite Milton to breakfast. How he turns grub time into a fact-finding mission is just off-putting!) And let's not forget the end-of-episode secret room, replete with 22 heads in tanks… including those of Michonne's pets and the captured soldier. (The Governor is just trying to put together his own version of Futurama, right? Right?)

Now, I should iterate that I'm not a reader of the comic… I'm going into this show cold, without any knowledge of what the Governor's ultimate plans are. (If you are a comic reader, though, be sure to scroll down to the very bottom of this post.) But with such a setup, of course there's going to be plenty of conflict in play… but right now, it's mostly between Andrea and Michonne. As of right now, Andrea is pretty fond of Woodbury, and the comfort it provides: After 8 months of wandering, the setting is relieving, to say the least. Michonne doesn't necessarily agree… after all, you really think you can keep her away from her beloved sword? There's a little bit of conflict between the Governor and Andrea in that final scene, as she quickly learns that the Governor's not one to let his guard down, even to reveal his real name. Give it time, though, and this will certainly blossom into something much more intimidating.

But in the end, the great thing about tonight's episode is that it means we're going to have two strong sets of stories/settings to switch between, in the prison and Woodbury… which is especially important, given we have an expanded 16-episode season to fill out. This is new territory for the series, in terms of balancing plots… but if nothing else, the chances of pointless filler in Season 3 has plummeted significantly. And given we have two magnetic new characters in The Governor and Michonne to help drive this second plot, this is certainly going to be something much more exciting and interesting than "the B-plot" of Season 3. Heck, I wonder if this is going to make the prison stuff pale by comparison. :-) But that's where next week's balancing act will come into play.

Random notes:

• Tonight's director: Guy Ferland, a frequent director from the late, great series The Shield. He has only one major movie credit to his name: 2004's Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. This is his fourth episode of the series: among his previous episodes was the first-season finale.
• Tonight's movie ads: The Man with the Iron Fists, Flight, Skyfall (a Q-centric TV spot!), and Life of Pi.
• Best make-up effect of the night: As already stated, the split-in-half solder wins by a landslide… although I did also like the show of the Governor's fingers inside the mouth of Michonne's pet's decapitated (yet still active) head.
• Tonight's kill count, courtesy of Story Sync: 9 humans and 9 walkers. Merle leads with 4 walker kills!
• Next week: How will the show be able to juggle the prison and Woodbury stories? Well, we'll just have to see… to tide you over until then, here's a prison scene from next week's episode:

Bonus Fun Time! Thanks to the miraculous power of my DVR, I've transcribed the commercial break card from the 29-minute mark of the episode for your pleasure. So, here are Robert Kirkman's 5 favorite changes from the comic book to the TV series:


5) Morgan's wife. Showing her in the show was such a powerful and emotional scene that I simply never even considered! I suck!
4) Herd attacking Hershel's farm. In the comic Hershel put a gun to Rick's head and said, "You guys can't live here!" and Rick gathered everyone up and they left. No barn burning, no thousands of walkers attacking, no leaving Andrea for dead.
3) Sophia was in the barn! Spoiler alert… after 103 issues of the comic book… Sophia is alive and well! Her death in the show has affected all of the characters in meaningful ways.
2) Rick kills Shane. In the comic, Shane brings Rick out to the woods to kill him-- and before he can do it CARL shoots Shane in the neck. In the show, when Rick knifes him it's such a dramatic payoff, it's really the moment where Rick emerges as someone who will do whatever has to be done to survive… even kill his best friend
1) Daryl Friggin' Dixon. He's not even in the comic, folks.

The Walking Dead, Episode 3.02: "Sick"

Based solely on where we left off last week - with Hershel being bitten and Rick slicing off his leg like there was no tomorrow - and the title of this week's episode, I was all prepared for a big death episode for our beloved Hershel. And then, it didn't happen at all. In fact, the greatest pleasure of tonight's episode of The Walking Dead was its various shifts of power, and how the balance of life and death swung from one end to the other throughout the hour. In the end, we the audience were kept on our toes, and this season notches its second great episode this season.

Let's talk about our merry band of prisoners first. One of my concerns going into tonight's episode was that we were simply going to rehash a lot of the conflict material that we already burned through when Rick, Shane and company first landed on Hershel's farm at the beginning of Season 2… and even more so, that the show was going to linger on this conflict for quite some time. Boy, was I wrong on that count… but we'll get to that. But for most of the episode, you had to wonder who was going to win out: Rick or Tomas. It's a magnificent power struggle: At first, you think, "Well, it's the prisoners' prison; Rick doesn't stand a chance."… especially during the courtyard negotiations that quickly grow stale. But then, we find that not only do the prisoners have no idea what's been going outside the walls of the cafeteria - which they've been locked in for TEN MONTHS - but also that they have no idea how to successfully take walkers down (even after receiving an excellent crash course from Rick and Daryl). But then Tomas and company set aside their prison riot violence and truly get the hang of the head kills… destroying our gang's tactical advantage. And then, when Big Tiny gets scratched, Tomas takes him OUT and gets it done. (That wide shot of Big Tiny's corpse… sheesh, AMC is getting pretty permissive on the gore this year!)

And then comes the mass slaughter by the laundromat to repossess the second cell block for the prisoners. Tomas "accidentally" trying to take Rick out in the process is one thing, but Rick's response - immediately killing Tomas by way of a machete to the head - was nothing short of brutal, in one of those "Holy [bleep]!" moments that has you jumping off your couch and shouting at the TV. Those are the kinds of moments a TV fan lives for. If that wasn't enough, Rick manages to lock out another prisoner to his certain death before that final commercial break… effectively whittling down our 5-prisoner group to just 2 by episode's end. That's swift justice! But then again, when your wife gives us full permission to do what's necessary, why not? After all, in Lori's eyes, Rick isn't a killer… but given what we've seen in episodes past, is he?

This leaves Hershel's fight for life as the B-plot, but it still manages to explore some intriguing territory, as the female members of the group struggle with what to do. Last week showed us the efficiency of the group after months of banding together, and if anything, this week shows us exactly what life sacrifices our group is willing to make… and how rash and easy it is to make said decisions. Maggie's fine with letting Hershel go; Beth isn't ready (after all, Hershel saved her life last year); Carol feels responsible to take on Hershel's responsibilities in bringing Lori's baby into the world (as shown by her desire to practice on a walker corpse); and Carl… well, that final shot before the commercial break of him pointing his gun at Hershel says it all. (I've gotta admit, the way they're handling Carl and his accelerated maturity this season is one of the more tantalizing character bits this season. Killing two walkers with ease to break into the infirmary and get supplies… that's dang impressive.) Nonetheless, I did appreciate the show's restraint in *not* killing Hershel off just yet… but all those practical and visual effects to hide Scott Wilson's leg are going to break the bank eventually, so we'll have to see how long the show holds off on the kill.

But what I loved the most about this episode - and what inspires the most hope about this season - is just how swift the storytelling is, and how quickly it burns through material that could easily have been stretched out for several episodes. I almost think that this is the writing staff's way of saying to us, "You think we're gonna stretch this stuff out, like we did with Sophia and the farm? Nuh-uh! We're getting down to business!" If that's the case - and if the show can reasonably sustain this pace - then we're in for a roller coaster ride. And considering what we're due for in next week's show, I'm somewhat optimistic that they'll be able to pull it off.

Random notes:

• Let's get the big news out of the way first: AMC is no longer "not available on Dish"!!! Our long national nightmare is over… at least I won't be inundated any longer while watching one of AMC's shows.
• Tonight's director is Billy Gierhart, a longtime TV camera operator who's transitioned into directing. He's helmed episodes of The Shield, Sons of Anarchy, and Breakout Kings, among others. This is his third Walking Dead episode to date… and if IMDB is correct, he'll be directing the mid-season finale in December.
• This week's kill tallies: 3 humans, 30+ walkers. Rick and Tomas both notched 1 human and 5 walkers a piece.
• What are we having to eat today, T-Dog? "Canned beef, canned corn… canned cans!"
• I was kind of disappointed that Lori didn't head down to the infirmary herself… if only because she already knows the lay of the land.
• Walker of the week: The handcuff zombie, who's more than willing to rip his arm apart to get rid of those pesky cuffs, as we see at the 0:47 mark of this clip:
• Next week: Looks like we're getting a Michonne-centric hour… and more! Here's a very brief peek from the cold opening:

The Walking Dead, Episode 3.01: "Seed"

If there's one way to sum up what we know about the third season of The Walking Dead, it's "fan service". In the last few minutes of Season 2's finale, we were teased with the addition of Michonne and the prison - two elements of the comic book that fans have been eagerly awaiting to see on the series. On top of that, AMC has made no effort to hide the addition of The Governor (played by David Morrissey) to Season 3's cast… allowing for a potentially transformative year of the series (and one that should hopefully quite the show's most vocal detractors). On that end, tonight's season premiere was a reinvigorating hour chock-full of zombie action, while carefully setting up the board for this year's character arcs.

First, let's talk about that cold opening, in which our band of heroes rummage through the latest in a series of houses, looking for food, supplies, and anything of note. The complete lack of dialogue in this 5-minute sequence is impressive, allowing all sorts of plot developments - Lori's pregnancy progress; the lack of food, as evident in Carl's hankerin' for dog food and Daryl munching on an owl; Carl's increased proficiency with guns, not to mention his big honking silencer - to be expressed solely via visuals, while still allowing for a few good zombie kills in the process.

After the first commercial break - and the shiny new opening credits sequence - we get a quick info dump: winter has already come, and our gang has been nomadically roving from house to house with little success. It sets the stakes just enough so that, by the 10-minute mark, when Rick and Daryl finally find the prison they were oh-so-close to in the Season 2 finale, you can understand why everyone's easily on board with getting into the prison yards. Food, medicine, shelter, fields to plant the titular seed of the episode, and a heavily fortified, enclosed space… what's not to like, considering what they've been through and what they're currently dealing with? (Of course, there are some caveats to this… several of which manifest themselves before the hour's end.) However, I do think it's a wee bit ridiculous, given how close they were to the prison last season, that they didn't happen to find it sometime during the winter… I wish they had justified that a bit better.

And from there, the episode pretty much wrote itself: our heroes get past the prison fences, Rick shuts the prison gates camp out for the night, spend the next day getting into the prison while blasting off walkers in the process, and work their way into a safe cell block. For those who bemoaned the inert nature of last season's relaxed "down on the farm" mentality, the forward momentum in this first hour is nothing short of fun to watch. Plus, we got oodles of action sequences in the process, eschewing the tension of last season's "horror on the highway" set piece with kills, kills, and additional kills. (I especially like the subtle special effects incorporated into the wide shots… it speaks to the weathering of us viewers that every kill on the show these days don't have to be thrust into our faces.) Plus, we got to see walkers in prison riot gear! How cool was that? (The makeup award of the night went to the riot gear guard whose face skin peeled right off when Rick removed his mask… followed immediately by Rick splitting his skull in half like a coconut.) The only qualm - and it's a minor one - is that it's too bad that Frank Darabont is no longer with the show, since he has some experience with prisons. Nonetheless, the show certainly appears to be doing the prison setting just fine so far.

The tricky part of tonight's episode, from a writing perspective, was how to slip in all sorts of character beats amidst all this action. We got some major pieces into play: Lori's growing fears about delivering the baby, presented in a tender scene between her and Herschel; the developing relationships between Glen & Maggie, Daryl & Carol (hey, that rhymes!), and even Carl and Beth; and Carl's increased maturity and responsibilities. (Seriously, Carl rocking that silencer still gets to me.)

One thing that surprised me about tonight's show was just how little we saw of Michonne and Andrea, given how ecstatic the fans have been waiting to see her in action. For starters, we didn't see Michonne at all until the half-hour mark… and even then, it was the exact same scene that we saw in July's hour-long Talking Dead advertisement for the new season. We did get one additional scene between the two, which basically sets up that Andrea's not feeling well, that Andrea has managed to save Michonne's butt quite a bit during the winter (well, that will make for an interesting flashback episode!), and that Michonne isn't going to leave Andrea behind. I guess with all of tonight's fun at the prison, that didn't leave much time for the B-story, which is understandable… but I can only hope that their scenes will take on a bit more significance in the weeks ahead, if only for the hardcore fans' sake. If what I've heard from advance reviews of Season 3 is true, these two ladies don't even appear in next week's episode… which may not make certain viewers happy.

But then again, given all the balls that The Walking Dead put into play at the end of tonight's episode, that may not be a problem after all. Not only are plenty of walker inmates are still scurrying about in the prison, but Herschel got bit by one of 'em, too… leading to a heck of a scene in which Rick hacks off Herschel's leg with no pretense whatsoever. (Have the walkers gotten to AMC's Standards and Practices department? That's the only way that scene could've made it to air, right?) Oh, and there's a band of prisoner survivors to contend with! "Holy shit" indeed… and with that, see you next week!

Random notes:

• As AMC did with the back half of Season 2 (and this summer's run of Breaking Bad), the network has brought back their fun Story Sync feature, which provides trivia during the initial airing of each new episode. The main Story Sync page can be found here.
• Tonight's episode director is Ernest Dickerson, who started out as Spike Lee's cinematographer, then went on to direct his own movies such as Juice, Surviving the Game, Bulletproof, and the Snoop-Dogg-as-a-back-from-the-dead-1970s-gangster horror flick Bones. This is the sixth episode of The Walking Dead that he's directed thus far.
• Number of zombies killed in tonight's episode: at least 56, according to the Story Sync. Rick alone notched at least 19 kills.
• Number of times "NOT AVAILABLE ON DISH" was mentioned tonight: Only 2… one for Fear Fest (hosted by Kevin Smith), and one for Comic Book Men (also with Kevin Smith). AMC's putting all their eggs in the Silent Bob basket, eh?
• The Season 2 Blu-ray/DVD set is well worth your while, if only for the illuminating look at the chaos behind the season premiere. Long story short: Much of the footage was unusable, especially the first 15 minutes of the episode, which was replaced by the awkwardly-edited scene with Rick on the walkie-talkie. So, the first episode was chopped down to about a half-hour and combined with episode 2 to create the 90-minute season premiere.
• Wow, there were a lot of movie ads on tonight's show: Skyfall, Seven Psychopaths, Cloud Atlas, Paranormal Activity 4, and Alex Cross. Plus, we got zombie-themed ads for Microsoft Windows 8 (???) and RunForYourLives.com.
• Tonight's episode was brought to you by SMEAT!
• Let's talk about Talking Dead: CHRIS HARDWICK IS SHOUTING!!! OUCH!!! As much as I enjoy listening to his Nerdist podcasts, there is something as 'being too excited'. (Tonight's guests: showrunner/episode writer Glen Mazzara, and Michonne herself, Dania Gurira.)
• Next week: What to do with a victim like Herschel? Well, see for yourself, in AMC's preview clip for the next episode: