The Walking Dead, Episode 3.09: "The Suicide King"

After two months off, The Walking Dead returned tonight to kick off the final eight episodes of the third season. It's been an eventful, yet bizarre break, earmarked by two significant off-screen developments. First, bolstered by what's widely considered by fans and critics to be the best run of episodes in the show's history, the first half of Season 3 managed to become the fall's top-rated series among the crucial 18-to-49 ratings demo… even beating every program on the major networks. That's no small feat, and a major achievement for a basic cable series (or a sign that the Big 4 networks are heading down the crapper). But, the other big development during the break, which conveniently occurred right before Christmas, was that AMC had ousted showrunner Glen Mazzara, who took over the show after Frank Darabont's high-profile firing in the middle of Season 2. Given that Season 3, which has been fully under Mazzara's control, has been well-received to date, people have wondered what the heck's going on over at AMC, whether it be budget-consciousness, the network's rumored distaste for upcoming plot lines, or the need to continue shelling out big bucks to pay for Mad Men. No matter what, it's also the kind of development that I tend to try and see in the show itself… trying to find any evidence in the episodes themselves to help infer the off-screen drama… while at the same time fearing that the back half of Season 3 will end up being disappointing in any way.

Now, it's very possible that tonight's midseason premiere, "The Suicide King", might be a little bit uneventful for some viewers. But, from a macro perspective, this episode is all about moving characters around on The Walking Dead's chessboard, and setting up new interpersonal conflicts to help fuel the rest of the season. Let's start with the major event that ended the fall run: the long-awaited reunion of Daryl and Merle, whom the Governor has pitted against each other in a zombie-assisted Fight To The Death for all of Woodbury to see. Of course, the show isn't going to kill off a character in that fashion… which is why the sight of Rick and Maggie infiltrating the Woodbury Makeshift Colosseum and facilitating their escape is good to see. (If nothing else, it provided that shot of Daryl retrieving his bow and arrow in true bad-ass form.) And even though they get away, the cold opening closes with that kind of look on the Governor that emanates that type of "Everything's going according to plan" vibe.

Except it doesn't exactly go to plan. When the crew reunites with Glen and Michonne at the heroes' beloved Honda, a standoff for the ages occurs when Glen sees his captor Merle along with his group mates. As you can imagine, Merle isn't exactly welcomed back with open arms… as evidenced by the half-dozen "Shut up, Merle!" utterances and Rick ultimately knocking Merle unconscious. As much as the Guv would hope that Merle would integrate into the group and infiltrate the prison, Rick's not the welcoming type… which leads to Daryl leaving the group in order to be with his brother. It's intriguing, but in character: Daryl had long been looking for his brother, and as Carol puts it later in the episode, he's got a code to adhere by.

Speaking of welcome wagons, let's talk about Tyreese and his gang, who are still shoved aside in the cafeteria while they wait for Rick to come back and decide their ultimate status at the prison. As they prepare to bury Donna, the deceased group member from the midseason finale, there's talk of taking Carl and Carol down at the prison gate and taking over the prison… but Tyreese isn't going to do anything to upset the apple cart. Of course, Rick's touchy all throughout this episode: he's reluctant to speak to them initially, and at episode's end, he shuts Tyreese's pleas down, too. As Hershel says, "You're wrong on this. You've got to start giving people a chance." I appreciate the show's brief attempts to flesh out Tyreese's group, rather than depicting them solely as outsiders to our core group. Yes, we might be hitting some of the same beats that we've seen over the past two-and-a-half-years - namely, that each group is suspicious of the other - but it bodes well for how they'll be treated over these next seven episodes… if they stick around that long.

Also short on words tonight: The Governor, who's secluded himself in his apartment after the Woodbury firefight and the episode-opening invasion. Woodbury's citizens have formed an angry mob in response, and a number of people have packed up, wanting out of Woodbury's gates… and that's before the biters show up. You see, as Rick and the others escaped from town, some walkers managed to get in via an opening in the fence… leading to the seventh Woodbury casualty thus far. Andrea pleads with the Governor to get out there and lead again, but he's giving up to an extent, willing to let Woodbury fight for themselves instead of sheltering them in the creature comforts of a world gone by. Ultimately, Andrea takes it upon herself to give an Inspiring Speech to unite the team again, with the Governor watching from a distance.


With all the reuniting going on tonight, it only made sense for a lot of "reconnection"-type dramatic scenes… and the episode didn't skimp on that - the Beth/Carol scene (where Beth has emerged as a surrogate mother of sorts in the wake of Lori's death), the scene where Hershel tells Glen that he's like a son to him, and the quick acknowledgement of the loss of Oscar, who "went out like a fighter"! It's evident of the shifting roles and responsibilities of the group.

But the most interesting development tonight is Rick's further descent into insanity, exemplified not only by Rick's blanking out while holding Li'l Asskicker Grimes in his hands, but by the haunting vision of Lori - flowing white dress and all - while talking to Tyreese, which causes him to Lose His Shit and scare everyone off. This is the third episode out of the past four where Rick's had a bizarre moment - following his telephone conversations with dead people in "Hounded" and his firefight vision of Shane in "Made to Suffer", and I'm wondering what the endgame of this all is, not to mention how they'll continue to stretch this out over the last half of the season. Oddly enough, the two halves of the show - Woodbury and the prison - have now led to essentially, the same overall arc, with their respective leaders crumbling under the pressures and the overwhelming hopelessness. The big thing, then, is how Rick and the Governor handle the situation from here on out… and from a human drama perspective, I'm excited by this prospect the more I think about it.

Random notes:

• Tonight's director: Lesli Linka Glatter, a prolific TV director who's helmed many episodes of ER, The West Wing, and Mad Men. Her major film credit: 1995's adolescent comedy-drama Now and Then.
• Tonight's kill count: 16 walker kills, distributed nicely across the cast of characters. Maggie and Woodbury's own Martinez. But I think we can all agree that Glen's face-stomp of the pickup zombie was tonight's highlight. :-)
• Tonight's movie TV spots: G.I. Joe: Retaliation (which will hopefully be released next month), Warm Bodies (well, of course), Snitch (two Dwayne Johnson movie ads!), A Good Day to Die Hard (two Bruce Willis movie ads, too!), The Last Exorcism Part II (does that title even make sense?), Dark Skies, Beautiful Creatures, and Tuesday's Blu-ray release of Skyfall.
• I don't know if you noticed tonight, but tonight's episode of The Walking Dead netted its first TV-MA rating. The show's violence has often seemed more grisly than its TV-14 rating would allow… which incurred the wrath of the PTC during the two-month break. Oddly enough, I didn't really consider this to be a really violent episode… there's been worse, believe you me.
• Do you love those AMC reality shows? Well, you're getting a whole night of them now! (What, AMC wasn't willing to show four consecutive nights of Happy Gilmore instead of three? Boo!) But the lead-in to that lineup is intriguing: AMC will be replaying old episodes of The Walking Dead in black-and-white, in line with the graphic novel, starting this Thursday with the first two episodes. I know I'm setting my DVR, out of curiosity.
• Tonight on Talking Dead: It's an entire hour, with Hardwick, Steven Yeun, and fellow AMC employee Kevin Smith! It's certainly more leisurely… maybe a bit too much for my liking. But, I'm hopeful that they'll fill out the hour more thoroughly as time goes by.
• Along those lines: On March 7th, selected movie theaters will be showing the February 5th PaleyFest panel discussion on the show, also moderated by Chris Hardwick.
• I don't know about you, but I bet the United States Postal Service would recoup a large chunk of their losses if they'd start selling Li'l Asskicker letter tray cradles. ;-)
• Next week's AMC-supplied preview: