As a reminder you probably shouldn’t read this until after watching the new episode as it will be filled with spoilers.
Fans of bleakness and zombie death are glad to have The Walking Dead back. There were two especially exciting parts about the season finale last year. The badass woman with the sword and zombie-pets, and the reveal of the prison. Those two things were featured very prominently in this episode.
The cold open was one of the best parts of the episode, the utter bleakness that went on as every character showed total unity and badass-itude. No one spoke, they just moved as a unit, Carl especially looked great, having no fear as he shot a zombie. But then all they could find was dog food and all that did was piss of Rick before they had to move on.
This episode really showed Rick unraveling, we were off for about six months or so, they’ve all survived the winter probably moving from house to house and never really getting anywhere. He hasn’t been able to lead them to a safe haven and it must be tearing his brain apart.
The gang made their way to the prison and then we had what was probably the bloodiest episode of this show we’ve ever had. They must have killed 50-60 zombies in total and that includes the elusive riot gear zombie as well as the one of a kind oxygen tank zombie. Did anyone notice that one? He was in like radioactive gear or something? That may be a little tidbit into what is going to happen this season.
We had only a small portion of the crazy sword lady who’s name was revealed in the credits and online and such as Michonne. She just went to get medicine for Andrea who isn’t doing too well but from what we could gather of their small conversation apparently she did save Michonne’s life a couple times during the winter.
The entire jail sequence felt a lot like a video game, if I were playing that game I think I would have absolutely loved it. There were also a couple of good really small interactions that showed some of the love going on. Carl and the girl having a slight flirtation, Carol and Daryl having a little sexual relationship, Glenn and his lady being nice and together. But probably the best bit of dialogue was the little pregnancy what if my baby is a zombie bit.
But really what sealed the deal was the last five minutes. I really dislike when they veer from normal zombies and decide to have a sleeping zombie but they needed to have something unexpected happen and poor Hershel gets bit in the foot, which leads to the most brutal scene of Rick cutting off Hershel’s leg. Unlike zombie flesh which is easy to break, getting through that bone took a couple of whacks and then just when we think we’ve got some more zombies, we’ve got actual inmates in the asylum! Yay for new blood! I’m excited to see how these maybe criminals end up interacting with the gang.
What did you think of tonight’s episode? It’s sounding like a lot of people really enjoyed this one.