*Spoiler Alert: Do not read this post or the comment section if you have not seen the show. Also, for those who have read the comics, please do not discuss plot elements not revealed on the show.*
Weird episode this week. This was the first show of the season that I wasn’t crazy about…
Rick’s axe-rampage was believable and I enjoyed, however the scene in the room where Lori died was poorly done. I assume most viewers were as confused as me at first. Rick appeared to find a bullet and I immediately thought Carl had shot the ground instead of Lori. Then with no body and zombie sounds coming from nearby, I was positive that zombie Lori was in the room. No, it was just the zombie that apparently ate all of her (bones too? really?) The lock of Lori’s hair poking out of his mouth was really too gross even for me. Then Rick started stabbing its belly after he killed it. WTF?
The scenes with the baby were nice. Darryl has almost become too good of a guy in my opinion, but he’s so likable it’s impossible to be mad. Or maybe he just has a soft spot for kids after all he did to try to locate Sophia. Assuming he meets his doom like everyone else sooner or later, I’m going to take that one hard. Darryl reminds me of some of the guys I grew up with. Redneck as hell but they would jump in front of a train for their friends.
The scenes in Woodbury were still a bit uncomfortable but I assume that is the intent. The governor is so darn creepy and manipulative, but the scene with Penny makes you think he is just ‘complicated’. Michionne continues to have all of her suspicions confirmed but apparently can’t find the words to articulate basic ideas to Andrea. They part ways, probably for the best. Andrea’s apparent horror in the arena at the realization of what she has done was a good moment. She is still a character I feel myself inclined to dislike.
As I said, this one was weird for me with parts I genuinely didn’t like very much, but they had to slow the pacing down at some point.
Highlight: Michionne doing her thing on the captive walkers. That’s the badass we know from the comics.
Low-point 1: The zombie that ate Lori.
Low-point 2: The tense few moments at the daycare where I kept expecting them to find a zombie baby crawling around.
Mike,
I felt the same way when the episode ended. Unrewarded.
I actually had to fast forward when Rick took the knife to the zombie to “recover” Lori. I assumed he was looking for his wedding ring or something. Now there would be one heck of a set of good memories….
The whole idea of a zombie baby is massively disturbing. The ultimate creep out.Report
“Hey, we’re going to risk our fighters because…uhh…we can!” The GovernorReport
Sam – are you talking about the fight? Did you miss the part where the governor said it was staged?Report
Again, it’s the issue of taking entirely needless risks that I object to.Report
Among other things, it appears that they (maybe) removed the teeth from the walkers used in the arena.Report
But zombie capture & toothectomy is itself risky.
Plus even with toothless zombies, one of the fighters could break a limb or get concussed or whatever duering the fight – IRL, boxers get killed sometimes too.
I don’t think it changes Sam’s essential point that it’s pretty dumb to risk the well-being of your fighters, on straight entertainment for the masses.
A much better use of the zombies would be to capture a few and use them in that same arena for training *everyone* who is able-bodied in zombie fighting/killing techniques. That is practical enough that it *might* be worth the risk, and would achieve the same ends (morale-boosting/confidence-building/even entertainment for the observers).Report
Ironically the way Woodbury’s arena was depicted is actually a huge step down in moral horror from how it was in the comics. I would presume the show’s producers wanted to introduce more moral ambiguity to the Woodbury side.Report
Was it some gladiatorial battle to the death?Report
In the comics *comic spoiler* the Woodbury residents would throw humans into the arena to battle each other to the death with walkers chained around the perimeter very much with their teeth intact. Very much more bread and circuses than the TV shows version.Report
Did that solar/windmill contraption serve any function other that zombie-lure/bait for the pit/trap?
Given that we know zombies are attracted to motion/sound, setting some of these up away from your camp, and going around to clear them periodically, could be a good way to keep a relatively zombie-free few miles.
Although you could end up attracting a herd, which would be bad.
Also, I know Michonne is supposed to be “bad-ass”, but IMO she is simply an idiot if she chooses to release and fight multiple zombies, when that katana could fit through the gaps in the cage and she could dispatch them with no risk to herself. I don’t care how good a fighter she is, choosing to fight multiple enemies at once increases the odds that you might make one small, stupid fatal mistake. It’s not like there is any issue of “honor” when it comes to killing the undead; efficiency and safety are the only concerns.Report
I think Michionne let them out because she wanted to blow off some steam. The look of satisfaction on her face was pretty evident. Killing them was probably a natural high for her. I don’t think it was simply to eliminate walkers. She wanted the rush of doing it.Report
Oh no doubt. Still stupid though.Report
Is Carol dead? I was in and out of the room; I know they dug her a grave, but did she definitely die?Report
I bet she is the one on the phone.Report
I don’t know about any of you but the killing of XXX annoyed me enormously this episode. She’d just started getting some character and they didn’t even bother killing her on screen. If this is a setup for “Is she dead or isn’t she?” I’m going to be mightily annoyed.
I agree with Roger; the idea of zombie children/babies was enormously powerful and unnerving and frankly I was a tch irritated with all the setup ultimately resulting in a possum.
I guess I was alone in that I found Ricks sorrow/rampage tiresome and boring. Yes yes Rick, you’re sad and I’m down with that but did the show have to waste so much time on zombie killing porn? The scene in the boiler room was not only annoying but also stupid. What zombie have we ever seen that eats an entire person? Nor, for that matter, would Lori fit in one zombie belly.Report
Re: the ambiguous death of XXX: it’d be pretty hilarious if she showed up alive and all pissed off that they dug a grave without even looking for her, and Darryl was all like, hey, I’m not falling for the whole “spend all season searching for someone who’s already a zombie” thing again.Report
Also, time-wise it seems like it was probably only a couple of hours before Rick got to Lori. To eat her whole body, bones and all? Who thought that seemed plausible?
As for Carol – no way is she dead. You all have to watch the previews for the following week! Daryl finds a knife somewhere in the prison and says, “This is Carol’s knife.” He’ll go looking for her I bet. She’s alive and hiding somewhere I am sure.Report
Awful thought – not just Carol, but Carol and Lori are both alove.
Remember that Rick found the bullet – so, Carl chickened out. He didn’t shoot Lori.
After he and Maggie bailed, Carol found Lori, and was able to use her zombie-learned surgical skills to patch Lori up, and drag her to safety too. Hence, no Lori body either.Report
alove=alive.
Please, no Carol/Lori slashfic.Report
Cool, I like it.Report
Sorry Glyph. I’m already putting the finishing touches on the first edition of “Wildfire: A Women’s Prison Adventure.”Report
Did it seem, for just a second there, that Andrea and Michonne were going to kiss last night?
No?
Just me?
There seemed a lot of unspoken history that they were referring to in their 8-month period together – though whether that long look that passed between them was “smoldering”, or just Michonne’s usual “glower”, was unclear.
Michonne gets an A in katana-ship, but an F in interpersonal communications.Report
Also no comment regarding the phone ringing? I guess none of us are surprised to see that the one thing that survived the zombie apocalypse was the telemarketers.Report
“Hey, we won a free vacation in someplace called “Woodbury”! We just have to listen to a pitch for timeshare condos there!”
“Eh, forget it, it’s really hard to get out of those things.”Report
Brilliant! +10 more points for Glyphendor.Report