TV REVIEW: FTN reviews The Walking Dead SO3EO12 Clear

Though not a lot happened on this past week’s Walking Dead, what did happen was pretty big, so lets get to it.

This week the focus was on Rick, Michonne and Carl as they make the supply run that Rick mentioned at the end of the previous week’s show. They find themselves driving down a deserted highway when they come upon a hitchhiker who begs them to stop, to which they reply by pushing down on the gas pedal, leaving the hitchhiker in the dust. This was a pretty cold move, but it reflects the time that they are in. They have met a lot of untrustworthy people so, though I felt bad for the hitchhiker, I completely understood. After heading to Rick’s old police station and finding the armory bare, they push on into town to raid local businesses in the hopes that the owners fled without their weapons.

Once they reach town they find it protected with a myriad of booby traps and a lone man shooting at them from a rooftop, who orders them to drop their weapons. They maneuver around him and Carl manages to shoot him in the side, putting him down. Rick gives Carl a worried look, but Carl says he’s okay with having to shoot a person, something he seems to be getting comfortable with after having to shoot Shane and Lori. Anyone who saw Saturday Night Live the night before would have “I kill people, but I’m 12, so I’m okay with it” going through their heads. The big surprise comes when it turns out the lone gunman is none other Morgan, the man who first helped Rick when he woke up in the hospital in the first season of the show. Morgan was a good man who was protecting his son when he met Rick, it was also revealed at the time that Morgan’s wife was now a walker, but Morgan couldn’t bring himself to put her down, instead he would watch her mill about town. Morgan was wearing body armor, so Carl’s shot didn’t kill him, but did put him out for a quite a while.

They carry Morgan up to his apartment and it turns out that not only did Morgan lose his son, as seen written on the wall, but its also evident that all the loss Morgan has experienced has drive him insane as well. Carl and Michonne go to explore the town while Rick waits for Morgan to come to. Carl and Michonne find themselves in a bit of trouble as Carl tries to recover the only picture left of his family, which was pretty touching, the big thing here is we finally get some character development for Michonne. Up until now she has been pretty guarded and hasn’t really had much to say other than a few sentences here and there. Rick made a decision earlier to finally let Michonne into the group for now, which made Carl more comfortable with her, and that has led to her opening up a bit. We see her save a piece of art, which told us though she has bad taste in art, she also used to be a happy person before everything happened. This also tells us that her battle-hardened exterior is a direct result of the world they live in, and it was nice to see her share a joke with Carl over the art piece she kept.

Morgan wakes up and attacks Rick at first, getting him with a knife to the shoulder, but he eventually does recognize Rick from what must feel like oh so long ago. Rick tells Morgan about everything he has been through and why he couldn’t come back for Morgan and his son once he found safety. Morgan then goes on to explain what happened to his son, which pretty much sums the reason for his madness. Walkers trapped them and it turned out the walker who got his son was none other than his wife. If he had put her down in the first season when Rick told him to, his son might be alive still. I know if that had happened to me, I don’t know how I would mentally recover from that, so Morgan’s condition makes a lot of sense. Rick tries to convince Morgan to come back to the prison with them, but its to no avail. Morgan also figures if they needed as much weaponry as they took, that they are probably beefing with someone else, and it seems Morgan doesn’t want any part of that. For a guy teetering on madness, that was a pretty astute observation.

As the group starts to head home, Rick and Carl chat about Michonne, to which Rick tells Carl that she may be one of them yet. Finally, she is gaining acceptance in the group, I just hope it lasts as I love her character and Rick could use all the help he could get with the Governor and Woodbury still threatening their livelihood. Michonne also opens up to Rick that she knows he sees dead people and that she used to do the same with her dead boyfriend. Yet another piece of the Michonne puzzle, as she opens up and gives us a little less than a sliver of her life previous to the walker invasion.

Overall this was a very strong episode. Even though the main storyline takes a break this week, getting to know Michonne a little bit more, and even see her laugh a bit, was great. I’m hoping we get more of that before the season is up. Finding out Morgan is still out there was also a big deal, I was happy we got to catch up with him, even if things have gone downhill for him. I am hoping that he will change his mind and decide to seek Rick out at some point as well. Though it wasn’t a super excellent heart pounding episode, the development and character focus was very strong.

4 out of 5 nerds

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