Monday, November 26, 2012

The Walking Dead Season Three, Episode Seven: When the Dead Come Knocking

Glenn is tied to a chair and Merle tells him that he didn't mean him any harm and that he was an asshole, just like he was on the rooftop in Atlanta. Glen tries to tell Merle that they went back for him.  Merle calls T Dog a spearchucker and asks where T Dog is.  Merle then asks about the rest of the group but Glenn does not answer, so Merle suggests that Maggie will help him out.  Maggie is locked in a similar room by herself. She can hear everything that is going on.  Merle tells Glenn that he likes that he does not scare easily and then holds a knife under Glenn's nose as a threat to cut it off.  When Merle lets go, Glen head butts him, which earns Glenn several punches as Merle asks over and over again where the camp is.

At the prison Rick is staring at Michonne who is standing at the gate. The zombies are beginning to take notice of her and so she pulls out her katana and starts to kill them.  Finally, Carl asks Rick if they should help her. Michonne falls to the ground and passes out, but before zombies can eat her, Carl shoots them. Rick opens the gate and goes out to get Michonne and Carl grabs the baby formula. Rick picks up Michonne and carries her into the prison and lies her on the cement ground, though he tells the group that she is not coming in the cell blocks.  When Michonne comes to, she reaches for her katana and Ricks kicks it out of the way promising not to hurt her.  Ricks asks Michonne her name but she does not answer him. Rick tells Michonne that she will be locked in and that her wound will be treated.  Michonne tells Rick that she didn't ask for his help but Rick answers, "it doesn't matter," and leaves.

Darryl takes Rick to see Carol and they embrace.  Apparently, Carol fought her way into a cell and then passed out dehydrated.  Rick starts to cry and Carol tells him that she is sorry.  Carol then takes the baby from Beth, as Michonne looks on.

Back at Woodbury, Philip answers a knock on the door and Milton informs him that Mr. Coleman is ready. Andrea is getting dressed and Philip tells her that he could use her help.

Rick goes back to Michonne and tells her that they will tend to her wounds and then send her on her way. Michonne tells them that the supplies were dropped by a young Asian guy and a pretty girl.  Rick grabs Michonne's wounded leg and she makes it clear that he is not to touch her.  Rick points out that she came there for a reason and so Michonne tells them that she believes that they were taken to Woodbury, which is run by the Governor and his paramilitary group.

Glenn has been beaten to pulp and Merle tells him that he is a lot tougher than he remembers.  Once again, Merle asks where everyone is hiding and Glenn says that it is only a matter of time until the group comes looking for him.  Merle is not impressed and says that there are too many of them. 

Hershel treats Michonne's wounds and the group gathers to discuss the situation. Oscar asks how they can trust Michonne and everyone agrees to go after them. Michonne is up on her feet and asks if the place was over run and if they cleared the place out by themselves and Beth answers that it was and they did.  Rick pulls Carl aside to talk about shooting Laurie and says that no one should have to go through that.  Carl asks Rick how long he will be gone and Rick tells him that if anything happens to get everyone locked in the cells and keep them all safe.  He instructs Carl to take care of his sister. As Rick goes to leave, Carl says that Darryl has been calling the baby asskicker and so Rick asks what they should really call her and Carl suggests naming her Judith after his third grade teacher.  With that Carl, Rick Darryl, Oscar, and Michonne get into the car and head for Woodbury.

Philip takes Andrea into an area where a Mr. Coleman is lying on a bed being fed ice chips by Milton. Philip leaves telling Andrea that Milton will bring her up to speed. Milton starts to question Coleman as Andrea watches.  Something sketchy is going on here.

Glenn is still restrained and this time, Merle enters the room with a walker and asks where the group is.  Merle tells Glenn that after eating him that the walker will be hungry again in an hour. When Glenn doesn't answer, Merle releases the walker and closes the door.  Glenn kicks the walker in the stomach and manages to get to a standing position, while still tied to the chair  Glenn manages to smash the chair and use the leg to kill the walker. I don't know about you but I was worried.  I thought that might have been it for Glenn.

It seems the plan is to let Coleman die and reanimate, so that they can find out if there is anything left of him when he does.  Coleman volunteered to be the test subject, as he was dying of prostrate cancer and they had no way to treat him.  It's Andrea's job to kill him once he becomes a zombie.  Andrea says that when people turn they become monsters.  Andrea asks Milton if he has seen this before and he says no. Coleman passes and together Milton and Andrea strap him to the bed.

Merle meets with Philip and says that Glenn won't say where his people are.  Merle admits that they know Andrea and Philip decides to go and talk to Maggie.  Maggie is still tied to a chair when Philip enters the room.  Philip uses a knife to free her hands and then asks if he can sit.  Philip says that they will take her back to her group and that this was all just a misunderstanding. Maggie asks to talk to Glenn but Philip says no and that her people are dangerous because they handcuffed Merle to a roof and left him there.  When Maggie does not give up the location of her group, Philip orders her to stand up and take off her shirt.  Maggie says no and Philip tells her to take off her shirt or he will bring Glenn's hand in there.  Maggie takes off her shirt and Philip tells her to continue and so she removes her bra as he watches.  Philip stands, takes off his belt and walks over to Maggie. Philip grabs Maggie and forces her down on the table, but she tells him,"do whatever you're going to do and then go to hell."

Rick pulls the car off the road and they all get out.  Michonne says that they have patrols and so they are better off on foot from here on in.  They begin to walk through a forested area. Rick thanks Darryl saying that he knows what he did for him and the baby, while he was working things out. Darryl simply replies, "that's what we do."  A group of walkers comes out and the group starts fighting hand to hand but realise that there are too many of them and so they run to a cabin.   The cabin is quickly surrounded by walkers.  They find an armed man lying on a bed and he instructs the group to leave.  The man threatens to call the cops and Rick says that he is a cop.  Rick drops his weapon and the man demands that Rick show his badge.  Rick knocks the gun out of his hand and they grapple but the man gets loose.  As he starts to open the door, Michonne kills him with her Katana.  They open the door, throw the man outside and escape out the back. 

Coleman starts to reanimate and Milton starts asking him questions but Coleman is only interested in eating.  Milton wants to try without his restraints but Andrea says no.  Milton releases them anyway and when Coleman lunges, Maggie puts a knife through his head.


This time, Merle enters the room with Philip and a topless Maggie.  Philip holds up a gun and puts it to Glen's head and Maggie gives up the groups location.  Philip asks how many of them there are, Maggie says ten.  Philip puts his hands around Maggie and she flinches away, as he says that everything is going to be okay. Philip then pushes Maggie towards Glenn and leaves.  Philip then has a meeting with Merle and Milton, who doubts Maggie's story.  Philip tells Merle he wonders where his loyalties lie because his brother is out there right now.  Merle says that his loyalties lie here and so Philip sends people off to scout the prison.

Andrea returns to Philip's and tells him that she kept her word that she would return. Andrea grabs a decanter and pours herself a drink.  When Philip asks, Andrea says that Coleman died.  Andrea puts her head on Philip's chest as he tells her that it's alright and that everything is over now. He uses the exact same words with Andrea that he did with Maggie.

I thought that this was a great episode!  We got some great character development. If it wasn't clear before, Carl has most certainly left his childhood behind. Though he did ask Rick about helping Michonne, he didn't wait for an answer and immediately started shooting walkers.  He did the right thing, while Rick only watched.  Rick also intrusted him to keep the rest of the group safe in his absence.  Though this showed Carl's maturity it also helped to make Beth and Carol look helpless.  Essentially it is up to Carl as the last remaining able bodied male to keep the women and children safe.

I was personally relieved that we didn't get treated to a brutal rape of Maggie.  We have seen a lot of death on The Walking Dead but the brutality of rape by Philip would have been too much to bear. Even in the face of this potentially brutal assault, Maggie did not give in.  She only broke when Glenn was threatened.   I loved seeing Glen not giving in.  In the past, he has mostly been used as walker bait and we did have that moment in season two, where Glenn froze while of course Rick was working on an escape plan.  This scene showed Glenn's potential and in my mind, an example that he is tough and could be a leader.

As for Merle and Darryl, clearly things are coming to a head.  As expected, Merle continues to be very racist the problem is that this is not offset by the characters of colour. Yes, we did get some awesome Glenn time but at the same time, Oscar said two sentences last night.  He really has become nothing more than a replacement for T Dog. I was super pissed when he asked if they could trust Michonne, considering how he was treated by the group when they first came to the prison.  Really? They have turned Michonne into the asskicker that we have become accustomed to from the comics but they still have yet to invest her with any personality beyond giving dirty looks.  I did like that she told Rick not to touch her but she quickly fell in line and led them to Woodbury though she was so clearly hurt.  Rick most certainly did not give a damn about her injuries and was content to let the walker eat her until Carl acted.

As for Andrea, at this point, I am ready for her character to die. The Andrea on the show is nothing like the Andrea from the comics and I am absolutely sick of her.  Each time I see her cuddled in Philip's arms, I get absolutely disgusted.  Yes, she showed good judgement in telling Milton not to unstrap the walker but before that, when was the last time she made a good decision?  Her character is nothing but a disappointment.