The Walking Dead Rewatch – Season 3, Episode 5 (Say The Word)

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK.

After the high intensisty of the last episode, Say The Word mellows things down a bit but still throws things at us to let us not forget. Firstly, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) is off the reservation, grief stricken. He goes into the prison to clear walkers and when Glenn (Steven Yeun) comes to help him he is thrown up against the wall. Rick heads to the boiler room where Lori’s body is gone, a fat walker sits tired and full bellied. There is no way he could have eaten her, bones an all? Rick collapses. A telephone rings.

The telephone stuff was quite good in the comics. It’ll be fun to see how well it plays out in comparison but essentially, it’s Rick’s way of dealing with the loss of his wife. It’s all in his head.

Outside, the inmates help dig graves and Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) visit a school to scavenge for baby supplies. There’s a lot there, including a crib, but they came on the motorbike so for now it’s only formula and clothes they can take. Oh, and a possum. When they get back, it’s Daryl who feeds the baby, such a paternal figure. He asks if they’ve got a name for it yet, but they don’t. So Daryl calls her “Lil’ Asskicker”.

In Woodbury, Michonne (Danai Gurira) finds some shifty goings on. The Governor (David Morrisey) had been keeping a notebook, but after the name ‘Penny’ it’s just scribbles. Outside, some walkers are being kept captive, Michonne soon puts an end to them but is caught and given a one to one with the boss. He wants to recruit her, but Michonne wants to leave.

Andrea (Laurie Holden) thinks Michonne is crazy, so they do a little test to see if they’ll be let out the gates. They are, which splits them up as Michonne wants out but Andrea quite likes it here. There is a festival going on at Woodbury and the evening’s entertainment is a fight pit, surrounded by walkers. Andrea thinks she’s seen enough but the Governor convinces her to stay when he admits it’s all for show and the walkers don’t have any teeth.

There are lots of violent zombie smashes here and the curtain appears to be opening up on Woodbury, but otherwise not a lot else is going on. Carol (Melissa McBride) is still missing and she now has her own grave that Daryl lays a Cherokee Rose at. Callback!

Overall Rating: 7

The Walking Dead Rewatch – Season 3, Episode 4 (Killer Within)

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK.

Let’s start with the quieter stuff, Woodbury. Andrea (Laurie Holden) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) are planning on leaving. Andrea give Merle (Michael Rooker) some information on where his brother may be and Michonne questions the good intentions of the Governor (David Morrisey). The Governor will later have a private meeting with Andrea and slightly accuse her of giving Merle hope that means he will probably run off and telling her his real name in some sort of seduction. After, Andrea is quite keen on convincing Michonne to stay another day or two.

Back at the prison and something suspicious is going, the gate locks have been cut and walkers are being lured in. Things are looking positive for the survivors. Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) are getting frisky in the guard tower, Hershel (Scott Wilson) is up and about and defences are being set up.

The inmates want to be part of this good thing going on. They don’t like being alone with the dead in their block and want to help. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) is outright refusing this and gives them the option of staying in their cell block or trying their luck on the road. They choose the road so are given supplies and put into a holding by the fence whilst some more clear up is done.

Hershel steps outside and everyone is happy, even Rick seems to be smiling at Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies). When out of nowhere, walkers appear and a scuffle ensues. The group is split up and as some try to take sanctuary inside, they only find more walkers! To make matters worse, the prison alarm starts to sound! Rick takes the inmates to the generator to stop it.

All this is too much for Lori, who, trapped with Maggie and Carl (Chandler Riggs) starts to go into labour! Not now Lori!! They find some sanctuary in a boiler room but Lori is bleeding, she needs an emergency C-Section. Performed by Maggie (despite all of Carol’s (Melissa McBride) practice) with Carl’s knife. Lori knows she’s going to die. She shares an emotional farewell with Carl and it really chokes you up. If you’re not crying, do you have a soul?

The baby is delivered and there is only one thing left to do. Reminiscent of Old Yeller, Carl does the only thing he can do. Put his mother down before she turns. Absolutely gut-wrenching.

Meanwhile, T-Dogg (Tyrone Singleton) is bit! He will later go on to sacrifice his decomposing body to save Carol where he gets his throat ripped out in a disgustingly beautiful way. This death seems a bit pointless. Sure, in the fracas of the walker attack, someone probably needed to take a bite, but with Lori giving birth in the same episode, everyone will remember Lori, nobody will remember T-Dogg. Sorry T.

At the generator and who should appear, the one causing all the trouble, it’s Andrew (Markice Moore), who didn’t get eaten alive by walkers a few episodes ago! He wants revenge on Rick but in the altercation, it’s Oscar (Vincent M. Ward) who finds himself with the gun. He chooses Rick and puts Andrew down.

Outside, the group reconvenes having found T-Dogg’s corpse and Carol’s scarf – they think she’s dead too. There is no sign of Lori, Carl or Maggie so Rick is about to head back in when stepping out appear Carl, Maggie and a baby. No Lori. No need for words. Rick breaks down, Carl and Maggie are already in tears. Tragic.

What an episode! It had everything. Probably the best episode the series’ has had yet. Such tragedy for Lori and T-Dogg but with a glimmer of hope in that the baby survived. More suspicions arise over in Woodbury too which might bring these two groups closer together which in turn may cause even more of a fractious consolidation than this episode.

Overall Rating: 9.5

The Walking Dead Ends in 2022

On September 9th, The Walking Dead announced that the main series would be concluding with an over-sized 24-episode eleventh and final season.

It’s not exactly shocking news. Despite the once lofty ideals that the series could run forever, there has been a lot of grumbling that the series would end after season 12. With season 11 getting 24 episodes, almost double that of a normal season, it’s as if it is ending with a twelfth season but they just felt they didn’t want to admit it.

Also unsurprising, the series has mostly been following the comic book series and as it is near the conclusion of the comic-arc, so should the television series end. Unfortunately, there have been too many big changes in the television series that means the comic-book ending must live on only in the comics (Carl and Rick gone) which will ultimately mean the TV show has to end in another and better way. When this show has gone on to try and tell its own story with these characters before, it has fallen flat. Hopefully it won’t disappoint for it’s grand finale.

But although The Walking Dead is to end, the world of the walking dead lives on. Fear The Walking Dead isn’t set to end anytime soon – a show that in its last two seasons has really come into its own and provided pure entertainment. The new Walking Dead show – The Walking Dead: World Beyond – is set to debut this year AND there are the Rick Grimes movies to look forward to, so we’re not going to be without zombie content.

Perhaps the most shocking piece of information to come out of this is that a brand new spin-off series is coming in 2023 which will follow the lives of Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus). This brings us hope that the pair will survive the main series – they should, they are the most badass couple on the show. But also fills us with a little apprehension. Despite being the show’s power couple and the two having an unbreakable bond – having the pair in a spin-off raises the idea that the pair may become something more. Relationships between the two should not enter the romantic. That is what keeps these two alive.

Finally, there is going to be an episodic anthology series too – ‘Tales of the Walking Dead’ which sounds like the idea they have wanted to do for a while and bring back old characters. We might see more of Shane’s backstory, Abraham and Eugene. Perhaps even Glenn – although actor Steven Yeun has said he’ll never return. Maybe we’ll get to see what else happens in the comic book Negan Lives told on the big screen?

So whilst The Walking Dead is coming to an end, The Walking Dead franchise lives on and appears to be stronger than ever.

I’d like to thank everyone who has worked on or in The Walking Dead, it has been my guilty pleasure for so long now and I’m glad to be a part of the world however insignificant. It does mean this website might need to branch out…

We are The Walking Dead.

The Walking Dead Rewatch – Season 3, Episode 3 (Walk With Me)

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK.

We take a detour from the prison to catch up with Andrea (Laurie Holden) and (what I think is the first time we actually get to hear her name) Michonne (Danai Gurira) who have spotted a helicopter crash and go to investigate. When some other people turn up to do the same thing, Andrea and Michonne are found hiding by an old friend. It’s Merle (Michael Rooker)! And he’s back to bring some of his own brand of devilishness back to the series.

The pair are taken back to Merle’s compound, known as Woodbury. Woodbury is run by a man known as the Governor (David Morrissey) and Michonne takes an instant dislike to him, Andrea seems kind of smitten. We get the traditional setup, introduction to some of the main crew but Michonne’s initial gut reaction was right. Whilst Woodbury seems idilyic on the surface, there is something peculiar going on behind closed doors.

The resident doctor, Milton (Dallas Roberts), seems to think there is still something human left within walkers and is doing experiments on them to try and find it. He grills the girls over the two walkers Michonne kept with her but she is keeping tight lipped as ever.

The Governor heads out to find the helicopter pilot’s crew who he promised the pilot he’d bring back alive. But after a little bait, it’s time for the switch, and Woodbury kill all the soldiers of the pilot’s crew and take their supplies. Back at Woodbury, the Governor tells everyone that the camp had been overrun with walkers and they were too late to save them. Andrea thinks the Governor a knight in shining armour and asks for his real name, which he refuses to give.

After, he heads home, looks at a picture of what presumably were his wife and child and heads into a back room to stare at a bunch of fish tanks. Nothing unusual there…but the tanks are filled with zombie heads including Michonne’s protection and the head of the pilot!

As with all setup episodes this one did lull in places but the mystery surrounding the Governor at the end really piqued interest and having Merle back is fantastic for the show – even though his stump hasn’t cleared up much a year later.

The Governor in the comics is much darker and twisted than the TV version and honestly, the comic arc with the Governor was one of my favourite’s. However, it would never transition to TV and so we have a more PG-13 friendly version. We’ll have to keep watching to see what else they change.

Overall Rating: 8

The Walking Dead Rewatch – Season 3, Episode 2 (Sick)

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK.

Jumping right in where Seed left off, Sick immediately returns to the intensity and ferocity of the cafeteria where Rick (Andrew Lincoln) chops off Hershel’s (Scott Wilson) leg. They have a new audience, some inmates, who jack up the tension even more, especially Tomas (Nick Gomez) who has no idea who he’s messing with.

The episode deals with these new faces pretty swiftly. Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) wants to know if they’re safe with the inmates around, Rick alludes he could just kill them – like Lori asked him to do with Shane – and the two continue to wear their personal issues on their sleeve. Rick and crew agree to help the inmates clear out a cell block they can live in, having explained how the world has ended and about dispatching the dead. All the while there is a bubbling pot under Tomas that is about to explode.

And so it does, when the rabble arrive at the laundry room, Tomas sees an opportunity and tries to get Rick bitten as well as slashes at him. Rick has had enough of his trouble so puts an end to it quickly. It’s all pretty dramatic stuff and signals a new era that the survivors are in. It’s not just the dead they have to be aware of anymore.

Elsewhere, Carol (Melissa McBride) wants a zombie to practice giving a C-Section to as Lori is due to give birth any day now. As she cuts open the body, from outside the fence, someone is watching her. Mystery. The only other thing going on is Hershel’s recovery. Maggie (Lauren Cohan) isn’t sure he’s going to survive, but is mighty relieved when he does.

Another good episode, keeping up the drama even if the new characters were really just chum for the dead. The comic plays out an angle with the inmates that is much darker than the series, but that is ignored here. Probably for the best.

Overall Rating: 8.5