31 Days Of Horror 2013: Reviewing Season 3 of “The Walking Dead”

I’ve missed you, my little zombie snacks and I sure as hell missed Rick and the gang. We met new friends; old friends (Morgan); had a baby; saw dead people, and lost friends. We witnessed Rick tangle with the Governor in a dance of death, but although they survived it gangnam style; others did not. A hard hitting condensed version of season three, after the jump.

Team Prison

When Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his team flee Hershel’s farm, they misplace Andrea. But, Andrea finds a new friend. Rick finds a prison filled with zombified inmates. If there’s one thing zombies hate more than the lack of available brains to eat, it’s getting kicked out of their digs! In the course of house cleaning, Hershel is bitten and survives, and we meet the five surviving prisoners.

 

The leader of the prisoners, Tomas (Nick Gomez), has plans to eliminate Rick. But in the ensuing battle with zombies, T-dog (Iron E Singleton) and Big Tiny (Theodus Crane) are bitten, and Rick is forced to kill Tomas in a brutal machete attack. He throws another prisoner, Andrew (Markice Moore), to the zombies for siding with Thomas, leaving only two prisoners, Axil (Leu Temple) and Oscar (Vincent Ward) with the team. This season was the beginning of Rick’s descent into madness, but, we also watch Daryl (Norman Reedus) move up as second in command; Hershel (Scott Wilson) become adviser; Glenn (Steven Yeun) become the “go to guy.” If you need supplies, weapons, or a pregnancy testing kit, you got it; send Glenn.

Team Ladies

Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) is pregnant and surrounded by zombies. Crying babies and zombies don’t mix, but Carol (Melissa McBride) practices cesarean surgery on a female zombie, to prepare for the delivery. Maggie (Lauren Cohan) moves up to reconnaissance and helps Glenn search for food and supplies.

Michonne

Michonne (Danai Gurira) is an ass kicking, katana wielding heroine. She and her pet zombies save Andrea (Laurie Holden) and survive on their own, until the Governor and Merle show up. Michonne and Andrea are taken to Woodbury, but Michonne has no intention of staying and tries to convince Andrea to leave.

Tyreese

Tyreese (Chad Coleman) and his group arrive at the prison, but when Rick forces them to leave, they head to Woodbury. At the end of the season, Tyreese and his sister are back at the prison with the surviving townsfolk of Woodbury. Hope to see more of Tyreese in season 4.

The Governor

The Governor (David Morrissey) rules the town of Woodbury with an iron fist, along with Milton (Dallas Roberts) the town doc, and Merle Dixon (Michael Rooker) the enforcer. The Governor is a psychopath with an unusual collection of human heads in his fish tanks and a zombie daughter, Penny, locked in a cage. While investigating a helicopter crash, the Governor and Merle discover Michonne and Andrea hiding in the bushes. Although Michonne sees right through the Governor’s slick ways, Andrea falls in love. Michonne finally escapes with Merle hot on her trail. She uses zombie body parts to send Merle a message; hello zombiegram.

Babies and Ghosts

The zombie attack in which T-dog and Big Tiny die and Carol goes missing, was caused by Andrew as revenge. Lori is trapped in a room and goes into labor with only Maggie (who knows nothing about birthing no babies) and Carl (who knows even less). Maggie is forced to do a caesarean, and poor Carl is left with the job of killing mom after she dies. This episode was hard to watch, very hard. Poor Carl (Chandler Riggs) was brutally yanked from what splinters of childhood still existed inside him; on the bright side we were introduced to Carl’s sister; little ass kicker!

Rick searches for his wife only to learn to his horror, that she became a zombie tidbit. For the next few episodes we were treated to Rick doing a version of Sixth Sense with multiple visions of Lori the ghost. On the bright side, Daryl finds Carol and she and Beth (Emily Kinney) care for baby Judith. Yes, they finally gave the kid a name.

Maggie and Glenn

Maggie and Glenn are captured by Merle and taken to Woodbury, but Michonne witnesses this event. Glenn is beaten by Merle and offered to a hungry zombie; Maggie is almost raped by the Governor. Michonne, who leads Team Prison to Maggie and Glenn, kills Penny, and injures the Governor. She rocks!

Milton

At first, I wasn’t sure if Milton was a psychopath like the Governor, but he turned out to be pretty decent. He and Andrea become friends and in trying to protect her from the Governor, Milton is killed; Andrea is locked in the room with him.

Merle

He’s a bad man, but he loves his little brother. The Governor turns on him; pits him and Daryl against zombies in the arena, but luckily they’re rescued by Team Prison. Merle and Daryl leave the team and go off on their own, but later return to the prison and save Rick. When Merle becomes a zombie thanks to the Governor, it’s Daryl who has to kill him.

Governor vs. Rick

Season three was really about the two leaders and how they dealt with their people. Where Rick only wanted his family and friends to survive as best as possible; the Governor wanted total control. In the sit down meeting between Rick and the Governor, a price was put on Michonne’s head. I sweated out the remaining episodes wondering if Rick would betray Michonne. But, when the Governor betrayed his own people; the tide turned, and when Rick and the gang sent the Governor running for the hills, I jumped out of my chair and cheered.

Conclusion

We survived another season of zombies, but no one was prepared for Lori and Andrea’s death. Thanks to the excellent talent of everyone connected to the show, “The Walking Dead” is still the best show on TV  The new season premieres on October 13^th and I’ll be looking for you my little zombie snacks. In the meantime, you can pick up the Complete Third Season, out from Anchor Bay Canada, here.