Walking Dead Discussion Thread: S3 E6, “Hounded”
*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.*
Well Rick’s break with sanity seems to have been short-lived. I like how the writers expanded on the Lori-on-the-telephone premise from the comic books to include other departed Survivors. The conversation with Lori seems to have provided him some kind of closure and by the end of the show he appears to be back on track.
I’ll just say for the record that I was positive Carol wasn’t dead and I’m glad they didn’t drag that one out too much like they did with Sophia.
The Governor / Merle dynamic is very interesting. The Governor has already proven to be capable of great violence but at this point it can still be rationalized based on his need to protect the power structure in Woodbury. Merle’s craziness is of the unpredictable variety and he showed last night he has his own agenda and is willing to lie to The Governor when necessary.
I will also say that if they kill off Maggie or Glenn I’m going to be pissed. The world still needs a little bit of romance.
Andrea slept with The Governor. Shocking. Just shocking…
Michionne’s appearance at the fence was pretty awesome. It felt like two people who are going to have their futures linked together meeting for the first time. It also highlights the stupidity of the Survivors not using the zombie guts technique all the time. Rick and Glenn discovered it way back in the first season. They should be painting everything with that stuff. Cars, buildings, clothes. I think I might literally go so far as to make a suit of zombie skin clothing.
I will also say that Daryl’s conversation with Carl was well-done. Then he finds Carol. They are turning this guy into the über hero. It’s no wonder why he is such a fan favorite.
“They should be painting everything with that stuff.”
While they should definitely use it when they know they’re going into Walker-infested areas…how long could you stand it if everything around you smelled of rotting flesh? How long could you keep repainting stuff with guts after every rain before you ate a bullet?
MikeReport
Michonne’s arrival at the gates was badass. The rest of the show sucked, but that single scene was very, very impressive.Report
Sam,
You watching the show seems like some kind of exercise in self-abuse.Report
That’s precisely what it is. I keep waiting for it to be better.
Also, I don’t need MUCH to keep coming back for more. Michonne’s arrival was sufficient to keep me focused, just as Sofia’s death was last season. When the show is done well (rarely), it really shines.Report
I sorta thought it was a well rounded episode. The Governor/Andrea was yick but the rest? Pretty good. Also the telephone sequence is, if anything, better than how it was presented in the comic in my opinion. Also Michonne’s survival/arrival and how they connected Woodbury to the prison? All pretty good in my mind.Report
Oh and yes Daryl and Carl was excellent. Daryl’s really fleshing out into a wonderful character.Report
Can anyone explain why Merle was all, “get up, remaining henchman! We’ve gotta chase Michonne!”, then he was all, “we can’t chase her, she’s heading into the Red Zone, it’s too dangerous, we should just head home and lie about it and I will shoot you in the face when you disagree!”…and then HE FOLLOWS MICHONNE INTO THE RED ZONE ANYWAY?
Also, do we ever get any backstory on Michonne that explains how she is such a ninja? Dropping from a tree, armed only with a sword, into the middle of an armed group in broad daylight and (mostly) getting away with it is pretty…lucky.
I thought Herschel handled crazy Rick fairly well. After hearing there was no dial tone, he just sort of humored him.Report
I don’t think Merle’s actions made much sense.
I’m not sure if Michionne’s backstory is coming on the show. They don’t really seem to do backstories. I don’t think this is much of a spoiler but she had a background in fencing according to the comic book. Of course I don’t know how that translates to a katana, but whatever. Most of the skills she probably just developed from a long time of surviving on her own.Report
Fencing and katana fighting are totally, totally different animals. One is heavy, slow, and slashing, the other is (mainly) point fighting, and quick as silver.
Also the degree of (expected and useful) armor is different…Report
Take it from some of us comic book readers that the way they’re introducing the Prison group to Woodbury is likely much tamer on the show than it was in the book*. Then again with Glenn and Maggie being captured maybe the grossness hasn’t been averted but merely delayed.
*Suffice it to say Michonne enjoyed her visit to Woodbury a ~lot~ less in the comics.Report
You never get in the car, Glenn. Never.
I know they’re trying to weave in elements of the comic book (which I haven’t read, but I grok the general outline), but I just don’t buy that scene.
If I’m Glenn, and Merle has a gun to Maggie’s head, I say as calmly as possible, “Look, Merle, I told you we’d go tell your brother where you were. You know I’m an honest guy, so you know I’ll come through on that. But I know that you can occasionally fall back on getting violent to get your way in the short term, and the last time you tried that you got handcuffed to a rail and it didn’t turn out well for anybody. So this time, you’ve got a chance to make another choice. This ends when you put that gun down and we empty out the magazine and get in the car and drive 20 yards down the road and drop the ammo out the window so that you have something for self-protection until Daryl gets here, or it ends with you shooting Maggie and me shooting you.”
Because there is no freakin’ way I’m disarming myself and letting Merle take Maggie into that car without me being able to do something about whatever is going to happen after that. No way.Report
Patrick,
Even if Merle shoots her, in the time it would take for Glenn to draw a bead on Merle he could easily shift the gun and shoot Glenn. If Glenn tries to drag the standoff out, Merle is likely to just shoot him. He has Maggie for a shield in either situation which means that Glenn is going to be slow to react for fear of hitting her. Merle can be much faster with his shot.
What I am more curious about is Merle’s motivations for grabbing them. It’s not just about Darryl. I don’t know if it’s a hope to find their group and get more weapons or something else.Report
Mike, I believe the main point is that Merle wants 2 things. He wants:
A: to find his brother and
B: to deliver a bunch of payback to those he blames for the loss of his hand.
Going along with Glenn gives Merle A but not B and for a man as suspicious as Merle he likely thinks that retuning with Glen to the group could quite possibly result in him losing more than just his hand. Certainly if Mearl was leading Glenn’s group and Glenn brought back someone who had as much bad blood with him as Mearl has with Rick and T-Dog Mearl would definitely off him on the spot.
No, to obtain B Mearl needs to go back to Glenns group with force which means he needs the Governors’ help. The Governor has already stated that he won’t give Mearl any help unless he has concrete evidence Darryl is alive and where he is. Bringing Maggie and Glenn back to Woodbury gives Mearl his best shot at achieving A and B with the least amount of risk to himself.Report
You’re right, you don’t standoff like that, Mike.
But you give up the gun and get in the car, and you’ve just given a demonstrated psychopath carte blanche to do whatever he wants to you and Maggie. That’s a worse option than just about anything you try to do; run around the corner of the car so that Merle can’t draw a bead on you, or even try to shoot him.Report
If you actually think you’d be that calm and rational in a gun stand-off, I have to ask where you acquired such steely self-control and bizarre eloquence?
MikeReport
Are you kidding? I’d probably crap my pants.Report
Make no mistake about it… Daryl is indeed developing into the uber-hero, but at just the right place in the plot where the writers are evidently about to have him clash with his abusive big bro. That ain’t gonna be pretty. Merle will know just which buttons to push (as all of us with older siblings know) and now Daryl will have something to fight for.
I also thought that was weird that Merle ended up where Michonne was even though he stated his plans of heading the other way… but maybe Merle was just making a case for looking out for himself by retreating, since he was running out of henchmen for katana fodder. It was not about fear so much as it was self-preservation.
I also did have a small moment of pleasant surprise when realized Rick was fully on board the crazy train there for a bit, and while i was glad it didn’t drag on, it was a bit convenient that it resolved in only one episode.Report