The Walking Dead, Episode 3.04: "Killer Within"

Last night, I was with my college-aged brother and a couple of his buddies, and The Walking Dead came up in conversation. One of said buddies asked, "Did you watch last week's episode?" "Yeah," I said. "I thought it was pretty cool." He responded, "It sucked! There were, like, only 5 zombies in the entire episode!" Now, granted, not every episode can have zombie fun… after all, this is as much a survival drama as it is a horror showcase. Nonetheless, here's an episode that works very, very hard to bring walkers back into play, by way of destroying the peace and security of our wonderful prison… not to mention the very structure of our group. But we'll get to that last part later.

First, let's quickly backtrack to Woodbury, where we keep the suspicion vibe about the Governor going right where we left off, as Michonne finds bullet holes and blood on the newly acquired Army trucks. This leads to the first of several sweet-talking sequences from the Guv'ner tonight, as he tries to have a soldier like her stay on board. The major thread in Woodbury tonight, though, deals with Andrea providing Merle with information on Hershel's farm, in an effort to help Merle reunite with Daryl. This leads to a stellar conversation between the Governor and Merle, set against a makeshift driving range placed right on the town border. Merle asks permission to leave Woodbury to find Daryl.. and the Governor tries to instill doubt with every sentence he utters. I loved this scene because it's a true battle between the two most powerful men in the town… and yet Merle has very little pull against the Governor. Granted, the Governor offers his assistance if Merle can get some solid intel… but it plays off more like a stalling action than anything. Still, the show has set up the elements needed to help dovetail the two disparate halves of our show back together.

The prison occupies most of tonight's episode, thanks primarily to the walkers' human-assisted overrun of the grounds. The brief cold open sets up the chaos effectively: an unidentified person cuts the prison gate's chains loose, and lures walker in with a freshly-killed deer. When the walkers come crashing through the prison courtyard - and ultimately, in our heroes' cell block - suspicion immediately turns to the two prisoners left over from Episode 2, Axel and Oscar. After all, they can't stand the living conditions in the cell block that Rick has kept them to - seeing their fellow former prisoners as corpses is too disturbing to bear. But, Rick won't hear it - there's very little room for trust outside the gang. But, as it turns out, it was neither of them: it was actually Andrew, the prisoner that Rick had locked out and said, "You'd better run." Rick, Daryl and Oscar find him by the generators when they attempt to shut them down to shut off the blaring horns… but Andrew shoots down Oscar, and then gives up his gun, in a bold attempt to secure trust from Rick.

But that's not the only casualties tonight… not by a long shot. For starters, let's talk about T-Dog's unfortunate bite that he incurred during the opening walker attack. As T-Dog and Carol scurry around the corridors of the prison, the two find themselves surrounded by walkers… but T-Dog makes a heroic sacrifice and lets himself get chewed up by zombies in order to let Carol escape. Farewell, T-Dog… we shall miss you.

Meanwhile, Lori, Maggie and Carl, who are also scurrying around the corridors, encounter a perfectly-timed complication: Lori's going into labor! It's certainly a chaotic time for this to happen; fortunately, our trio camps out in the boiler room to bring the new baby into the world, despite not having Hershel around… or even Carol, who practiced on a corpse for this last week. Lori attempts to push… but blood comes out… and that's when the episode makes its tragic turn. Lori says she's not losing this baby, and that's why she asks Maggie to cut her open and get the baby out, even if it means she'll die in the process. And thus begins the devastating final act of the episode, as Maggie copes to make the incision. But when Lori says her final words to Carl - "You are going to beat this world!" - it's some of the most gut-wrenching work this show's ever produced.

But it's not just the tear-jerking content that makes this scene. After the cut is made, there's the haunting 15 seconds or so where Maggie has the newborn baby in her hands and the baby hasn't cried… for those few moments, you fear the worst has happened. But the baby's alive, and Maggie says they have to go… but Carl is adamant about finishing the job, lest she turn. The sheer sadness of the situation - "She's my mom", Carl says - combined with the cold, silent way Carl exits the boiler room after the gunshot - makes for a moment of television that only this show could accomplish. (The juxtaposition of Rick's talk with Carl - "No more kid stuff" - brings it all home.)

The final scene provides an oddly effective bookend to the episode, as the baby's cry silences Rick's commanding in the courtyard. For a moment, the peaceful quiet that we heard just prior to the start of the walker riot has returned… but at an immense cost. And to see a show like The Walking Dead kill off its characters in an uncompromisingly brutal fashion is affirming to the storytelling intentions of the series. Yes, it whittles down the cast quite a bit… but this is a show where every day is a matter of life or death, and those risks need to be reinforced in the storytelling. And for that, "Killer Within" earns its place as the best episode of the season thus far.

Random notes:

• Tonight's top kill: I thought Daryl's stab to the skull was going to be the winner… until it was followed mere seconds later by Glen's slicing of a skull in half like a cantaloupe!
• Tonight's director: Oddly enough, it's Guy Ferland, the same director from last week's episode. Rare is it where a director helms back-to-back episodes of a series (24 excepted), but here we are.
• Tonight's kill count: 3 humans, 24 walkers. Top killer: Rick, with 6+ walkers.
• Tonight's movie promos: Only a couple were shown tonight: Skyfall (An exclusive look at Javier Bardem's villain! Oooooh!), and the impressive-looking Hitchcock.
• Glen and Maggie, sitting in a prison watchtower… K-I-S-S-I-N-G...
• It was a cheesy effect, but I liked the editing of the Governor's final golf club hit leading directly into Rick's zombie head shot in the cell block.
• Another effective filmmaking effect in this episode: the reveal of the walkers in the prison when the camera rotates around Carl.
• FYI, we are halfway through the first half of Season 3. New episodes will air until December 2nd, and then the show will take a break until the week after the Super Bowl (just like last season).
• Next week: Glen and the prisoners be digging some graves, in this preview clip: