The Walking Dead Recap- Season 3, Episodes 1 to 8

“The Walking Dead” will be back on AMC this Sunday night. My bottle of antacids by my side, I will give a quick review of Part One of Season 3, which introduced us to new characters and sadly, took some away.

Held to the edge of our seats, by each week’s heart pounding episode, we watched as Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group took over and secured a prison facility, while battling walkers every inch of the way. In the process, Hershel (Scott Wilson) was bitten and his leg amputated to keep him alive. Rick uneasily accepted the criminals that were living inside the prison, only to kill several of them later on, leaving Axil (Lew Temple) and Oscar (Vincent Ward) as the only surviving convicts, which Rick and the group grudgingly tolerate. Meet me after the jump.

Revenge and Death

Andrew, (Markice Moore) the convict that Rick had sacrificed to the walkers in a fit of anger, enables a herd of walkers to break into a secured area and attack the group. During this battle, T-Dog (IronE Singleton) is bitten and later in the show, he and Carol (Melissa McBride) are outnumbered by walkers. To add to this confusion, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) goes into labor, but there are problems. Lori is bleeding and in danger of losing the baby so she coerces Maggie (Lauren Cohan) into doing a caesarian procedure. But Maggie is not a doctor and to everyone’s shock, Lori dies and if that weren’t bad enough, Carl (Chandler Riggs) is left with the job of shooting his mom before she changes. The newest member of the group is a baby girl who is named “Little ass kicker” by Daryl and later “Judith” by her brother, Carl.

The Governor

While this is going on, we learn that Michonne (Danai Gurira) along with her two pets and Andrea (Laurie Holden) have survived the last eight months on their own, but when they go to investigate a helicopter crash, they are captured by Merle (Michael Rooker) who takes them back to the town of Woodbury, where we meet the diabolical Governor (David Morrissey) and Milton (Dallas Roberts). Michonne does not trust the Governor and rightly so, but Andrea seems to go gaga over a man who keeps his zombie daughter, Penny (Kylie Anne Szymanski) locked in a closet and collects heads in fish tanks. This man is bad news, but for Andrea, love is blind. The Governor is interested in Andrea’s former friends and wants to know where they are and Merle wants to find his brother, Daryl (Norman Reedus). Michonne leaves the town, but Merle and his friends go hunting for her.

Allies

While Michonne uses a new form of texting (she arranges zombie body parts) to send a message to Merle, Rick is going through an emotional psychosis and speaks to the afterworld via telephone. Maggie and Glenn (Steven Yeun) go searching for baby formula for “Little Ass Kicker” and are captured by Merle. The injured Michonne witnesses the capture of Glenn and Maggie and decides to bring the formula back to the prison, but she is attacked by walkers. Luckily, she didn’t have to send another body text and was rescued by Rick and the others.

Grand Finale

Okay, time to catch our breath…whew! You’ll need it for this part. Michonne is cared for by the group and witnesses their reaction over the good news that Carol is alive. Michonne tells Rick about Maggie and Glenn’s capture and offers to take them to Woodbury. Glenn is badly beaten by Merle and offered as a snack to a walker, but Glenn is crafty and survives the attack. Maggie, fearing for Glenn’s life, tells the Governor about the prison. Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Oscar sneak into Woodbury to rescue Glenn and Maggie. While our team is riding to the rescue, we get to meet a new group of survivors who find the prison. Tyreese (Chad Coleman) and his group are locked up by Carl until he can figure out what to do with them.

Rick and the group reach Woodbury and with Michonne’s help, sneak into town and rescue Glenn and Maggie. But Michonne then goes off on her own mission. At the Governor’s home, she finds and kills Penny and gets into a fight to the death battle with the Governor which causes him to lose his right eye.

Episode 8 ended with Daryl captured and Merle accused of being a traitor. Will Daryl and Merle survive in the arena of death? Will Andrea realize she’s in love with a psychopath? Will the prison be attacked by the Governor’s men? Will Tyreese and his group cause problems? Will I need more antacids?

“The Walking Dead” Season 3, episode 9: “The Suicide King” premieres this Sunday on AMC at 9 PM EST