Recap
The end of season 2 left us wondering how they would survive after losing so many on the farm. The group is on the move, going house to house in search of shelter and what little food can be found. We get our first look at modified guns with silencers put on them. Carl is part of the group going head and shooting walkers while looking for food. Its been several months since the events on the farm and Lori is very pregnant.
Carl grabs a few cans of dog food, finding its all that was available and prepares to open it and eat it when Rick takes it away and refuses to let them sink down to eating dog food. Daryl kills the owl that was in the house and they eat that, though a small owl isn’t enough to feed that entire group. Looking at a map they are going to get pinned in. Over the past few months they have run into large herds of walkers and are concerned they will merge soon. While the others get ready to head out Daryl and Rick go hunting for some food.
Rick and Daryl stumble upon a prison, not many walkers in there and its the perfect place to keep put and safe from any that might stop by. They cut through the outside fence and begin mowing them down to set up the courtyard from their own. Daryl and Carol’s flirting continues as he stands watch overnight before they prepare to go deeper into the prison in the morning.
Back near the farm, we get our first real look at Michonne. She was the one who had 2 armless walkers chained at her command. She is also the one who found and saved Andrea at the end of season 2. She quickly walks into a pharmacy, grabs a few items and decapitate a walker inside before heading back to her hiding place. There we see Andrea hurt but alive. Michonne tells her they must get moving but Andrea wants her to just leave and not worry about her.
Rick and the others start to kill their way into the prison, running into a large group of former inmates and guards who have been stuck here for a while. After killing all of them, everyone moves into the first cell block they find and start taking rooms and settling in. Lori is having a hard time accepting her pregnancy. She is afraid she will die during birth and attack the child. She asks Hershel to put her and the baby down should they be walkers.
The group moves further into the prison to find food and clear it of any active walkers. During that trip they run into a huge group of walkers and Hershel is bitten in the leg by one. They run into a room and bar is shut while rick takes an axe and chops his leg off, the only way to save him and prevent him from turning. Just then, a few men pop out of the back room, survivors – inmates.
Review
Unlike the previous season, the opener for season 3 left me a bit underwhelmed. The story was a bit stale, a re-hash of the same zombie killing and surviving we have seen all of the previous 2 seasons without any major revelations. The Rick and Lori fighting is getting old, and they need to move away from it. I do like Carl’s move towards being more independent and less whining and more able to defend himself. His defiant nature will prove to be a problem later but its a progression for his character which is good.
The best part of this episode was Michonne and Andrea. Their stories will end up being some of the better arcs this season once we meet The Governor. I wish we had seen more of this in the first episode. From a visual effects and makeup standpoint, the walkers were done well as usual. The most outstanding portion was when the mask was pulled off the walker who was a former guard and its face peeled off. That was gross and new.
Lets hope they step up the game for next week and bring us more interesting stories to work with. Disagree with our thoughts? Sound off below and tell us what you did or didn’t like about this episode.
