Who else was as excited as I was about the Season 3 premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead? Is it just wrong to love the undead this much? Well, my hubby seems to think so.....
In tribute of this fabulous show, I will be posting my weekly recap on each episode. And because we all can't get enough of the show, the very first recap is a two-for-one deal!
Episode 1: Seed
We start this episode with the discovery that our fave zombie-hunting crew are just a little bit older and quite a bit more wiser! They have established a 'taunt and kill' regime that is proving valuable for the livelihood of the group and (final-time) deadly to the undead. It's disturbing to see young Carl (Chandler Riggs) in the midst of all this killing, but I guess if you were in this situation, morals and general society standards fly out the window pretty quickly. I just hope the poor young actor who plays Carl is not scarred for life.
Speaking of children, a very noticeably pregnant Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) is now beginning to ponder the wisdom of bringing another child into the post-apocalyptic world they now live in. It's too late to go back, but as she voices her concerns with Hershel (Scott Wilson), the group's veterinarian medical consultant, we discover just how sickening it may get. What if that baby dies before being born? Considering everyone is infected with the zombie virus, will the little critter re-animate and attack it's own mother from the inside? Also, consider the fact that the baby may survive childbirth, but Lori may not. What happens then? Lori pleads for Hershel to give her the final death if this happens, before she attacks her own child. Of course, there was no mention of what would happen if Lori dies while she is pregnant and the baby still lives on. Only time will tell, I guess....
So what's happened to poor Andrea (Laurie Holden), I hear you ask? We find her (very briefly) with another woman called Michonne (Danai Gurira). This woman travels with two undead who are chained and have missing limbs and lower jaws. She does this in a bid to keep her living scent masked by that of the undead zombies - what an ingenious idea! Poor Andrea is sick though and Michonne must find aspirin for her.
The group have found a prison It's a safe haven in a deadly world. They just have to get in and kill all the zombies first! It takes the whole episode to do this. Once they are inside the prison they discover they are not alone. After Hershel is attacked and bitten on the ankle by a zombie, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) takes only a split second to amputate his leg in an effort to save the man's life. I wonder if it will work? And we end this episode with the visuals of living humans peering out at the group from behind a wire window after they hear all the commotion of the amputation.
Will these people be good or bad, considering the place they are trapped in?
Episode 2: Sick
So who are these new people? It's obvious they're inmates from the go-get. Some of them nastier than others. It's very clear, in this episode, that the writers are trying to show that age old problem that arises in post-apocalyptic worlds: who do you trust? It is portrayed in a very black and white scenario. There is no grey areas, no reason to feel empathy for these inmates who have been trapped in hell for a whole year without any idea of what the outside world is like. There is simply Rick (Andrew Lincoln) who mistrusts them and Darryl (Norman Reedus) who wants to kill them. To make a long story short, Daryl wins in that battle of wits, but only because the inmate 'leader' Tomas (Nick Gomez) attempts to 'accidently' kill Rick when they are fighting zombies en masse. Rick retaliates by a machete chop to the head and then chases down another inmate who appears overly sympathetic to Tomas. The inmate is trapped in with some zombies and Rick locks him in there and walks away. My haven't times changed! The Ricktatorship is now in full swing!
As a result of this 'battle' for supremacy, only two inmates are left. Rick and Daryl let them have their very own cell block and help themselves to half of the remaining food. They also openly threaten to kill the inmates if they come anywhere near the rest of their group.
It is touch and go for poor Hershel (Scott Wilson) for a while there, but Carl (Chandler Riggs) finds some medical supplies and kills a couple of zombies in a bid to help him. This results in a very unhappy Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) - oh, so she'll let him kill them in a pack, but not alone? Hershel almost dies anyway, but after Lori gives him mouth-to-mouth, he manages to survive - this is lucky for Glenn (Steven Yuen) who was tasked with the possibility of having to kill the zombified remains of his girlfriend's dad!
Now, while they are all assuming that Hershel will become a zombie, Carol (Melissa McBride) prepares herself for becoming the main medical hack guru. This means that her and Glen catch and kill a zombie (hang on, why didn't they just use one of the finally dead ones lying around?) and she practises hacking it open, just in case Lori needs a C-section during delivery. This scene is creepy enough - and then it appears that someone else is watching Carol, while hidden away in the trees surrounding the prison.
It seems they forgot about poor Andrea in this episode.....
So, what did you think of the return of The Walking Dead?
And while you're waiting for episode 3 to hit the screens, why not check out Emeline and the Mutants or Zombie Apocalypse Now!?
(Photo Credits: AMC Inc.)
