As a sister site to the infamous Blood Brothers: Film Reviews, The TV Cult is dedicated to the best (or worst, depending on your tastes) of cult television. Episode reviews for the greatest of current cult TV along with reviews for series released on home video, this is the first and last stop for those interested in how genre work fondles the television portion of the media circus.
It's amazing how the last five minutes of tonight's episode went a long way towards changing my impression of this week's episode. Prior to then, we had a lot of conflict-driven drama, but nothing really new or inspired… as if we were stalling for time again. For example, we had more of Rick's wacky visions this week… on one hand, I like Rick's talk with Hershel, where he tried to snap Rick out of it; however, Rick's "I'm not finished" response didn't inspire much confidence as to resolving it soon. We also got Merle and Daryl battling it out about whether to go back to the prison or not, where the anger that Merle's been building up since Season 1 bursts out. (But at least, we got that impressive bridge set piece in the meantime.) Although I didn't get the hokiness of splitting the brothers up if they were going to show up at the prison together. (But then again, did you want to keep either Daryl or Merle away from the main action? Nah…)
But what made that final action sequence great was not only how everyone came together to combat the Governor's Truck Full O' Walkers, but how it managed to knock Rick out of his visions, and brought Merle and Daryl into the prison fold - much more quickly than I had anticipated, mind you. My only question is: I wonder how long we'll go between last night's invasion trial run (as Robert Kirkman described it in tonight's Talking Dead) and the real assault.
I did like the enhanced focus on Glen tonight: the Glen/Maggie aftermath was to be expected, but I liked Glen's attempt to step up and become a leader in the wake of the loss of Daryl (and the loss of Rick's mind). On the other hand, the enhanced focus on Axel the inmate backfired… I should've seen that coming. (It also didn't help that Carol decided to use Axel's corpse as a barrier during the gunfire. Poor Axel!)
Meanwhile, in Woodbury, the Governor does some additional preparations for invading the prison, by trying to sway Andrea to step up as a leader of town… while at the same time putting Milton on Andrea Watch, because he "doesn't know where her loyalties lie". And, given how the show's trying to get all the action back to the prison - as hinted by bringing the Dixon brothers back in the gates - Andrea's going to make it over to the prison sooner than later.
Random notes:
For those keeping track at home, Lori has appeared alive in 4 episodes this season, and dead in 3 episodes - her appearances this week and last, plus the phone episode. I will be impressed if Sarah Wayne Calles manages to show up in the vast majority of this season's episodes without actually being alive. :-)
Ooh, Chris Hardwick didn't do tonight's hash tag segment! I know these bits caused lots of anger among the Internet commentariat, because of how his loud excitement soured some otherwise-effective act breaks. (Per his words on tonight's Talking Dead, he was called "worse than Hitler!") Oh well… good luck delivering those hashtags, AMC Announcer Guy!
Tonight's movie trailers: Dead Man Down, THREE (!!!) commercials for Dark Skies, The Last Exorcism Part II, Snitch, and 21 and Over.
Tonight's kill count: An insanely high count tonight: 31 walkers, 12 of which were killed by Daryl. Plus, we lost 2 humans: Axel and the shooter in the guard tower.
Kill of the night: The hatchback. No contest. Combined with the headslam-to-the-window and the (after-the-fact) headsmash-by-tire, I've gotta wonder how many more denouements-by-automobile we could've had in that segment!
Tonight on Talking Dead: Special guests Robert Kirkman, True Blood's Alcide, Joe Mangianello (whose fandom of the graphic novel we can credit to SNL's Taran Kiliam!), and surprise guest Lew Temple, a.k.a. Axel himself… who demonstrated that his mustache was epically real. :-)
Next week:The Walking Dead goes up against the Oscars… in a perfect world, the death reels for the Oscars and the Talking Dead episode will air simultaneously. ;-) Here's AMC's clip from the Story Sync feed:
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. ;-)
Now this was a midseason finale. Penned by The Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman himself, tonight's episode was action-packed, taut and tight, with many plot elements coming to a head - not to mention gobs of ripe potential for the second half of Season 3. It's a fine way to cap off what might be the show's strongest half-season yet.
The episode begins somewhat audaciously, at least within the scope of a TV finale: by adding in an entirely new group of survivors, led by Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman, whom you may know best as Cutty from The Wire) and Sasha. I immediately got a Lost Season 2 vibe, when that series introduced the Tailies (Ana Lucia, Libby and Mr. Eko, among others)… if I had to give a name to Tyreese's crew, it would have to be "The Shovels" (after their weapon of choice). To the show's credit, they tried to give as much semblance to the idea that their adventures have carried just as much drama as Rick's Gang. And in that cold open, we get just enough plot potential for the Shovels: one of their own has been bitten, and they've just so happened to find the prison, which was presented in a wondrous wide shot of them entering the damaged wreckage of one of the prison cell blocks.
Once they get deeper into the prison, the show makes an intriguing, yet effective choice, in having Carl be the chief representative of our group. It's Carl that goes in after the Shovels once the screams start, who goes in and takes down a walker to help the Shovels escape their latest attack. And when Carl brings them into the block, he's the one who's adamant that they take their wounded member out… and given Tyreese's instrument of choice, I shall refer to this primarily as "Hammer Time". Finally, it's Carl who locks them up in the cell block. It's a stunning display of leadership and courage… and it's a testament to how the writers have managed to plausibly and effectively develop Carl these past eight episodes.
Tonight was also strong in the payoff department, as a number of the Governor's secrets were finally exposed… or, at least, to our main characters, that is. As soon as the Governor decided to sing a lullaby to his beloved zombie daughter, a part of me started hoping, "Please let this be the second consecutive mid-season finale in which a little walker girl dies!" And, as luck would have it, we got just that, as Michonne discovered the Governor's Secret Room of Heads in Fish Tanks… and ultimately, little Penny. Let's give credit where credit was due: that extended fight between Michonne and the Governor was twelve kinds of awesome, wasn't it? First, there's the way it started - with Michonne sliding her katana through Penny's mouth, invoking the Guv'ner's rage. Then, there was the Guv slamming Michonne's head into one of the fish tanks… causing the undead walker heads to roll around during the face-off. And then, Michonne was nice enough to slam that shard of glass in the Governor's right eye (which, let's face it, didn't seem to be affecting the Governor much by episode's end). And then, just as Michonne's about to finish the Guv off, here comes Andrea who pulls out her gun, sees Michonne off… and then views the zombie heads and Penny in full view. That sheer combination of revelations and unbridled rage was a tremendous and efficient way for this show to Get. Things. Done. Let's watch some of that scene again, shall we?
Of course, for Michonne to have her fun time at the Governor's apartment, that meant she had to disband with Rick and the gang as they worked to get Glen and Maggie out of Woodbury. I did appreciate how the show didn't dawdle around: by the beginning of the third segment, there's Rick tossing out smoke bombs and extracting the couple from Team Merle. (Not only that, but we got to see Glen and Maggie wield some nice bone shivs, too!) This leads to an epic firefight in the streets of Woodbury - a bit of a surprise, in that the show's major action sequences tonight had very little to do with zombies altogether. The one awkward misstep was how the show worked overtime to prevent Andrea from recognizing Rick, Daryl, et al… by having the Governor keep her from helping shoot 'em down, from obscuring most of them during the smoke-filled firefight (save for the Token Prisoner, who unpredictably got bumped off during the shootout), and by holding the revelation of any familiar face (Michonne excepted) until the final scene, in which the Governor reunites Merle with the captured Daryl in front of the Woodbury community. (The Governor was quite apt to throw out the T-word - "terrorists!" - when describing Rick's infiltration tonight.)
So where do we go from here? Well, having our two bands of survivors should lead to more interesting face-offs, especially once Team Rick makes it back to the prison… when they're not rushing to prevent the Woodbury army from invading the prison and taking them out. And, of course, there's the dubious fate of Merle and Daryl, who are finally reunited (but not feeling so good). Sure, the crowd says, "Kill 'em!", but there's no way that we're getting rid of our beloved Dixon brothers anytime soon. But now begins the hard part: waiting for all this to resolve itself. Like last year, AMC is taking an extended midseason break, and won't bring the show back until after the Super Bowl… which means we won't see the next episode until February 10th. With that in mind, thank you very much for reading our Walking Dead Season 3 coverage thus far… and we'll see you in 2013!
Tonight's kill count: 5 humans and 13 walkers… and in his first episode, Tyreese notches top honors, with 5 walkers slayed!
Tonight's movie TV spots: We got oodles of previews tonight: Zero Dark Thirty, The Hobbit, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Django Unchained, Warm Bodies, Jack Reacher, The Last Stand, and Mama.
After 27 episodes, I've gotta say that the opening title sequence and theme is still one of my current TV favorites. Can you think of any other show opening that tops it… in the sense that you'll actually sit through it every episode instead of skipping past it on your DVR? I sure can't.
Last week, we were treated to those wacky Freakshow promos… and now, AMC is blessing us with Immortalized, a reality TV series all about taxidermy. Wow, they're really going to the bizarro well… and given the network's newly strengthened commitment to reality television (including a dedicated Thursday-night all-reality lineup), this is only going to get worse. But if this is what it takes to bankroll future seasons of AMC's scripted shows, so be it…
So, Kevin Smith got Stan Lee to show up on Comic Book Men, eh? As overexposed as Stan seems to be these days, at least Kevin Smith has a well-documented history with the man.
So you're not a lesbian, Carol? But you got the short hair! My, my… this is interesting!
If you're so inclined, AMC advertised a Walking Dead marathon on New Year's Even and New Year's Day, which will include all 27 episodes thus far. We'll probably get an extended preview of Season 3.5 sometime during then… at least that's my guess.
As mentioned on tonight's Talking Dead, the Chris Hardwick talk show series will directly follow the premiere airing of each week's Walking Dead episode when it returns on February 10th. In addition, Talking Dead will now be extended to a full hour each week. Exciting, eh?
Next time: Here's a brief, and largely inconsequential, scene from episode 9, which takes place immediately after tonight's final scene:
Since I'm still recouperating from the long Thanksgiving weekend, I'll keep my remarks brief tonight… and to be quite honest, I don't have much profound stuff to write about, because this was very much a setup episode for next week's Woodbury action extravaganza. When even the inevitable Rick-versus-Michonne face-off takes a backseat to the quest to find Glen and Maggie, you know we're in too deep to slow down.
With the very first scene of the episode - the "Merle interrogates/tortures Glen" setup - I was afraid that this whole thread tonight was going to be kind of rote… and I say that having watched 8 seasons of extravagant torture as a 24 fan. :-) But then, here comes Merle later on, tossing a walker into Glen's room with Glen duct-taped to a wooden chair… and I was enthralled. That's the beauty of a show like The Walking Dead: that its writers can take old tropes and infuse them with a unique zombie-laced mentality. As for the Governor's strip-based torture of Maggie, as disturbing a scene as it was, I probably should've been more creeped out than I was… but that's because I was too distracted by the blatant continuity error involving Maggie's bra straps. (Seriously, how that made it past post-production, I don't know…)
Back to Rick versus Michonne: This could've been an entire episode's worth of juicy story material, and I had almost expected it to be that way. But, with Maggie and Glen in danger, the show had to work to distill pretty much every "Can we trust her?" bit that the show's flung at us the past two-and-a-half seasons into as the first third of the episode. At least we got that initial scene of Michonne proving her skills to Rick… even though, just like the Governor, Rick had to deprive Michonne of her sweet, sweet sword. The Hyundai-sponsored trip to Woodbury felt a little bit like filler, especially the trip to Token Old Guy's Random House In The Woods. But I guess they had to pad it out, just so that they could tease us with the shots of Rick and Company hiding just outside the Woodbury patrol wall.
The science experiment sidebar, in which Milton (with Andrea's help) attempts to see if a person retains their human memories after turning into a walker, was intriguing (in that Lost-like mysterious way). But I loved how it quickly turned into a way to flesh out Milton, who, as we found out, hasn't really had that much exposure to walkers to begin with… and whom certainly got a taste of it when Andrea saved his butt. Even if it wasn't much of a revelation, it was still nice to burrow into the inner mechanisms of a walker, albeit briefly. (And it saved us from another episode full of Andrea/Governor lovey-dovey stuff… so that's a plus!)
And now, we wait for next week's big midseason finale, which I can only assume will be a big action-fest like Season 2's "the farm goes down" season-ending extravaganza. If nothing else, we've got a pretty clear plan of action, so hopefully AMC will break the piggybank to let us see Woodbury turn to toast. :-) See you then!
Random notes:
Tonight's director: Longtime TV director Daniel Sackheim, who made his Walking Dead debut this week. His credits include early episodes of Law & Order and The X-Files. He has no film directing credits to his name, although he has a producer credit on the first X-Files movie.
Tonight's kill count: 1 human, 15 walkers. Rick won tonight with 7 walkers to his name.
Kill of the night: I'm going to have to give it to Andrea's takedown of Mr. Coleman. That was insanely swift… and a fun way to cap that plot.
Tonight's movie ads:Django Unchained, The Expendables 2 on Blu-ray, Jack Reacher, and Zero Dark Thirty.
So, umm, Freakshow, huh? Way to stay classy, AMC. And here I thought that they couldn't get any more bizarre than Small Town Security…
I'd like to have Merle bake a cake for me… with pink frosting! That machete arm would come in pretty handy in the kitchen (pun not intended).
As brief and rushed as it was, it was beneficial to get a good Rick/Carl scene before Rick took off to Woodbury… complete with the naming of our newest Grimes, Judith. The Rick/Carol reunion was a nice touch, too.
Rick and Carl should've listened to Daryl: I personally think "Ass-Kicker Grimes" would've been a great baby name.
I loved the wide shot of Rick's vehicle driving away as Carl, Hershel, and the others watch them depart. Yay for striking camera angles!
Believe it or not, there are only two episodes of The Walking Dead left in 2012. That can only mean one thing: the show has to start heading toward a mid-season endgame to help wrap things up (and provide fuel for the second half of Season 3). Last year, you'll recall, the endgame ultimately centered around the Barn Full O' Walkers, which ended up circling around to Sophia's disappearance. For Season 3, the basic endgame is simple: the prison and Woodbury groups have to converge in some fashion, with the likelihood that the second half of the season will focus on having all our characters together, duking it out for power and so forth. In that sense, this week's episode of The Walking Dead, "Hounded", started laying the groundwork to unite the show's two halves, and that alone makes me very excited to see how the next two weeks play out. Granted, it took us the majority of the episode to get to that point (and until then, the episode's scattered nature was a bit reminiscent of last week)… but we can still be optimistic!
Let's begin with the evening's biggest slap-your-forehead moment: As soon as Maggie and Glen got out of the vehicle at Baby Formula Central and smooched, you probably screamed at the TV, "Well, they're screwed!" And as luck would have it, there's Merle right there, to provide some convenient conflict and to capture the couple. However, I'm afraid that if it wasn't Merle that showed up, I'd be even more upset… but again, this scene is important to dovetailing the two main threads. And it set up the even cooler payoff in the final scene, in which Michonne (formula in hand!) walks up to the prison fence and sees Rick. (It served as a great final payoff for Michonne being covered in guts, and her eventual discovery that they camouflaged her scent.)
Before I get too far into tonight's write-up, I have to give some appreciation for Michael Rooker's presence this season. As great as Michonne and the Governor have been to watch in this season thus far, there's something so gleefully enjoyable about Rooker's sleazy performance… and the fact that he has A BAYONET FOR A HAND only serve to catapult him into the "Iconic TV Character" stratosphere. And fortunately, since the Governor was too busy trying to bed Andrea last night, Merle got to take center stage… first in the hunt for Michonne, then with the "we ain't gonna let them turn" head stabs of the other deceased team members and the swift takedown of Cargulio (or, as Merle calls him, "the other guy"), and finally with the capturing of Glen and Maggie. (Speaking of the Governor… well, at least they got the hook-up part out of the way. The show's been telegraphing their inevitable couple-ness for several episodes now. Now, to wait until Andrea has to - again - decide between the comfort of Woodbury and the Guv'ner or the fun world of fightin' walkers!)
And then there's Rick's wacky vision quest, or however you want to call it… which, I'll admit, I wasn't too keen on. You'd think that suspension of disbelief wouldn't matter much on a series revolving around the zombie apocalypse… but when the "It's me, Lori!" reveal came, I couldn't help but feel like it was a misstep… which was a shame, because up until that point, I liked the sadness and desperation in Andrew Lincoln's acting work, especially during the first phone call and his "We're dying here" speech. At least everything was contained to voiceovers, and not Actual Magical Visions of Dead People. (And if we're going to bring back former cast members for audio cameos… why not Shane? Or was he being spited for sticking with Team Darabont?)
And in the midst of all of this, there was plenty of room for some minor moments: the scene where Hershel consoles Rick in the boiler room; the mesmerizing single-take scene between Daryl and Carl in the hallways (brought to you by Virginia Slims!); and the powerful reunion of Daryl and Carol. Let's give credit for not dragging our Carol's disappearance like they did Sophia's… that would've been a rote mid-season capper! But what wonders will next week bring us, what with all the wonderful new character combinations? I'm a bit afraid that we won't get much done, simply because we'll be having too much fun having Michonne and Rick face off, or Glen and Maggie versus the Governor. But again, we've only got two episodes before a 2-month break, so let's hope for an all-around exciting hour!
Random notes:
Tonight's director: Dan Attias, who's served as a veteran TV director for over 25 years, and who's been a major director of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Big Love. This is Attias' first episode of The Walking Dead; however, he does have some horror experience: his only feature film to date is 1985's Stephen King'sSilver Bullet.
Tonight's kill count: 3 humans and 5 walkers. Michonne leads the chart, with 1 walker and 2 humans.
Tonight's movie promos: Red Dawn 2K12, Killing Them Softly, Hitchcock, and This is 40.
Norman Reedus' Zombie Apocalypse Playlist:
Motorhead - "In the Year of the Wolf"
Sonic Youth - "Dirty Boots"
Minor Threat - "Filler"
Neil Young - "Rockin' in the Free World"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Simple Man"
Iggy Pop - "The Passenger"
Shall we prepare for a shocking rise in biter-grams nationwide after this week's show?
I could sure use some flannel slippers… you know, for the end of the day! And relaxin'!
Next week: Here's a clip that picks up right where we left off last night… Enjoy!
After last week's high-mark episode, I was a bit prepared for a bit of an emotional cool down. After all, in episodic television, series cannot and do not stay at a fever pitch… it's just not sensible. But, what baffled me about tonight's episode was that it was, surprisingly, not focused. Instead, it chose to meander through a number of separate and somewhat minor plot threads. But, when you toss out this week's major revelation in the cold open - that the Governor still harbors his undead daughter, Penny - and you end the hour with a bit of an anti-climactic reveal - that The Episode's Big Secret is essentially a zombie-tinged gladiator match starring Merle - you can't help but be a bit disappointed.
But if nothing else, we at least got some movement on the one plot element that started to drag - the "Shall we go?"/"Shall we stay?" tug-of-war between Andrea and Michonne. Now that Michonne has actually left - with her sword! - the Woodbury civility that's held her back can be shed, and we can actually see her more in her element…. which we got to see a bit of in the enjoyable "target practice" scene, in which Michonne slices and dices her way through the walkers for the night's wrestling festivities. (That scene must've eaten up a good chunk of the show's CGI budget… or maybe AMC's willing to loosen up the purse strings, now that The Walking Dead is getting better ratings than most network series.) Heck, let's watch that scene again!
Oh, and then there's the zombie gladiator stuff… which merits a little bit of fun, if only to see Michael Rooker kicking ass, which is pretty cool. (As was Merle's bayonet-hand-stab-to-the-head in the earlier scene when he and his crew went to collect some new recruits for the fight.) Still, it's a little nonsensical, as Andrea rightly calls the Guv'ner out on… despite the intimate relationship play that he's trying to pull.
Meanwhile, over at Le Prison, the order of the day is to get some formula for the baby. It's a relatively straightforward B-plot, as Maggie and Daryl - ahem, make that PONCHO DARYL!!! - raid an abandoned daycare and come across their biggest enemy to date… a possum! Okay, that's an exaggeration… but still, not much tension tonight. We also learned, via Carl, that his baby sister has no name as of yet, although the first name of every dead or missing female to date is up for consideration. Shall we start placing bets on which one will be selected?
And then, there's Rick and his post-shock quest to find Lori's body… or something. This is a hard plot thread to gauge, if only because there's no real focus to it, outside of the primal, scattered, and emotional state of Rick… which leads to some gone-bananas slaying in the prison corridors, a tense scene with Glen (who tries to reason with Rick), and a head-shot/stomach-stabbing of a gorging walker in the ill-fated boiler room. Ending it with an out-of-the-blue phone call that seemed straight out of the Lost playbook didn't help matters, either. Hopefully, next week will provide a good payoff for that… and maybe a more cohesive episode as well.
Random notes:
This week's director: It's none other than Greg Nicotero, the key mastermind behind the show's makeup effects. This is his second episode at the helm… and in addition, he's directed both series of Walking Dead webisodes, Season 2's "Torn Apart" and Season 3's "Cold Storage".
Tonight's kill count: No humans (whew!) and 12-plus walkers, 6 of which were taken out by Michonne.
Tonight's kill of the night: Definitely Michonne's head stomping… further proving that she doesn't need her sword to kick some butt!
Just a heads-up: Next week's write-up might be posted later in the evening than usual (or, worst-case scenario, Monday night), due to personal obligations. But something will be posted eventually! With that in mind, here's the preview clip for next week:
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:
