After months of anticipation, the third season of The Walking Dead premiered last night. It lived up to the wait and set up the rest of the season.
The episode began with the group trying to clear “walkers” out of a house. It was a five-minute sequence that involved no dialogue but was effective to get viewers up to date.
As the group entered the house, the scene gave the viewers a way to see how some characters have changed. Carl is visibly more mature, as he looks older and also is carrying a gun, which usually means maturity in most cases. Hershel walked in looking older with longer white hair and white facial hair.
The most noticeable difference came in the pregnant form of Lori, who is near the point of delivering her baby. She is in no shape to be on the run from zombies in the first place, let alone eight months pregnant.
It is revealed through conversation that the group made it through winter, so this season picks up in the spring. The group has just been going from house to house trying to get enough supplies to stay alive.
The most powerful part of the opening scene came when Carl had found some cat food in a cabinet and was beginning to open the can. Rick picked it up and threw it against a wall, which showed how he would not let his group stoop to the level of an animal, even if it would mean eating food.
The setting for the season was set not too long into the episode, when Rick and Daryl saw the prison. This was teased at the end of last season and was a treat for those who read the comics.
When they arrived at the prison, the yard was filled with walkers. They quickly cleared the field with their ridiculously accurate aim to make the prison yard secure. The next step was to clear the inside of the building, which led to some trouble.
The first clearance of the building involved only one wing, and was done relatively easily. Rick found the group a block of cells to sleep in, which provided safety from any possible walkers that were not seen.
While all of this is happening, another storyline is taking place as Andrea and newly-introduced Michonne are on their own. They too have been together over the winter, but Andrea appears to be extremely sick, struggling to get by.
Michonne keeps herself and Andrea secure with her “pets,” which consist of two armless and jawless walkers on a chain. Those who read the comics understand how this works for her and could not be more excited to have Michonne put on the show.
The end of the episode was very well done, both by the writers and the actors themselves. It is easy to take the story arc from the comics and apply it to the show, but aside from the setting there are numerous differences between the show and the comics. This is surely done to keep all viewers guessing.
A group consisting of Rick, Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, Daryl, and T-Dog are attempting to clear the rest of the prison when they encounter a large group of walkers. Glenn and Maggie get split up in the dark prison, and the rest of the group tries to search for them. This is when trouble hits, as Hershel attempts to step right over a walker who grabs his leg.
The scene goes from bad to worse for the group when the walker bites Hershel’s leg. The room is secure after the walker is killed, but Hershel is infected. Rick decides that to help keep Hershel alive, he needs to amputate his leg from below the knee.
What followed was one of the most gruesome scenes on cable television in a very long time. Rick chopped away at Hershel’s leg until it did in fact come off. Hershel passed out while the rest of the group attempted to stop the bleeding.
Comic book fans all over likely freaked out when they saw what happened next. Prisoners from the prison came up to a window and saw the group huddling around Hershel. After a small standoff, the episode ended.
The Next Episode
Next week’s episode will surely confront two issues. The first will be meeting the prisoners, and seeing what kind of people they are. The other will be if Hershel survives or does in fact die. He is a major asset to the group, and Rick will do all he can to keep him alive as he is the one who would assist Lori in child birth. He would be in no shape to help, but he would still be in a state of mind to give advice.
Next week will bring the answers to the many questions fans will ask. Until then leave your comments on this post with anything Walking Dead related – anything from your hate of Lori to how the show is relating to the comics will do just fine.
About Steve Kubitza
It was a can of dog* food. :)
Isn’t it more likely that he didn’t want Carl to open the cat food because the strong smell would attract walkers?
That is a possibility, but I truly feel that the lack of dialogue was done to leave it open to interpretation. The anger in Rick’s face also looked like he was upset that Carl would resort to pet food.
Why is T-dog still fat? Shouldn’t he be thin if they hardly eat?