The Walking Dead S03E05 Review: Zombie Gladiators

The Walking Dead, Season 3, Episode 5: Say the Word

We return to a far more slow-paced episode of The Walking Dead, though we do kinda need the breather after last episode's explosive events. A lot less does seem to happen in this episode, though, and other than some huge revelations about the Governor (which honestly people who pay more attention than I do to the Governor's dialogue in episode 3 probably would figure out sooner) it's basically just a bunch of reactionary aftermath scenes.

The biggest revelation, of course, is that the Governor has his zombie daughter tied up as he braves danger every day by treating his undead daughter like, well, a daughter. Albeit one that needs a burlap sack covered over her head every now and then. It's kind of messed up, but it's a common trope in zombie stories for this to happen, and arguably it's just the same thing that Hershel did last season, except in a more intimate way. 

Oh, and the latest layer in the oddities of Woodbury is their party, which involves, well, gladiatorial combat surrounded by chained-up zombies. Previous instances of Woodbury being unsettling has been mostly limited to things that are unseen (Governor's zombie daughter, the jar of disembodied heads) or happen outside (killing the military people) or are just instances of the Governor being a control freak. This is the first real sign to Andrea that something's really fucked up here. And, yeah, the Governor tries to put a nice spin on it. It's a way to make the people see that the zombies are not something to be afraid of once they're rendered harmless. The zombies have their teeth pulled out, so they won't turn Merle or his gladiatoral opponent. 

I still find Michonne really... underwhelming, so to speak. The bond between her and Andrea, while not really told (we're just told that 'seven months passed and these two are together') is shown pretty well from how they act around each other, but the fact that I still know jack shit about Michonne other than she's the silent badass type makes me honestly not really care all that much about her eventual fate. It is interesting seeing her little detective play, and she finally gets the fuck out of Woodbury but not without leaving Andrea behind, and not before a confrontation with the Governor that involves shoving a katana towards his throat. I'm still confused what is Michonne's motivation in releasing and killing the captive walkers. I mean, sure, it's creepy, and she has witnessed what the Governor is doing with his zombie daughter, but considering Michonne herself used two tied-up jawless walkers as what amounted to pets for 7 months, it's still, well, kinda weird. All the other stuff about trying to delay any attempts at leaving, and the general unsettlingness of Woodbury do end up convincing Michonne to leave and damn Andrea to this idyllic paradise, though.

Michonne being upset that Andrea doesn't leave with her is honestly kind of hilariously stupid considering all Michonne is telling Andrea is that 'this place is not what is seems like!' and vague nonsense like that instead of telling Andrea that, hey, they're locking up zombies and doing something weird with them. Or I dunno. Something that's not ultra-vague? No wonder Andrea chooses the Governor, who shows her all the pretty stuff in Woodbury. There's the odd question why the Governor is initially so intent at keeping Andrea and Michonne around, especially when Michonne is so obviously not wanting to be around people at all, but the dude's all mystery and shit, so.

No idea what the list of names in the Governor's notebook is supposed to be. I'm sure we'll know in due time.

Meanwhile, in the prison, things are a lot less revelationary. We've got a little sub-plot with Daryl and Maggie going off on a hunt for formula to feed Little Ass-Kicker (until we get a proper name, that's what I'm going to call the baby), we've got Rick absolutely breaking the fuck down as he basically loses his mind and going back into the prison and just stabbing and stabbing and stabbing the one lone zombie that he found in the stomach, which apparently ate Lori's body. A very disturbing scene, that's for sure -- but very sad too. They don't even have a body to bury anymore. It's a very effective scene, and the reaction he has when Glenn tries to comfort him -- lashing out and literally pushing Glenn away -- really shows a broken man. Glenn has a nice scene with Hershel where he confesses that in the wake of everything, wouldn't it be better to just kill all the prisoners when they first met? Of course, they didn't, and at least the two that are with them seem to be trying to make nice, so there's that. Carl doesn't have much scene, still kind of being in shock, but having him rattle off every single woman in their group that died as possible names for his little sister is quite chilling. 

Also, yeah, we don't see any Carol this episode, and the cast assumed she died. I still don't but that she's dead, though -- Walking Dead likes to show us pretty explicit deaths, and I would honestly be surprised if Carol really died last episode. That would've been one hella anticlimax, but I guess it's not the biggest loss we could have. 

The absolute stand-out this episode was Daryl, though, who steps up as leader while Rick goes on a rage and grief induced madness run through the prison. In addition to taking charge pretty quickly (and not being an ass about it), that final scene where he coos to Little Ass-Kicker and even being the one to feed her milk from the bottle, is very d'aww inducing. Yes, Daryl is a crossbow-wielding, dirty-mouthed bastard, but he's grown from that into a far more nuanced character with, well, a heart. That'll make the inevitable confrontation with his rotten douchefuck of a brother far more interesting, I think, and the scene cutting away from Merle being a psychotic fucker in gladitorial combat to the serene scene of Daryl putting a flower at Carol's grave is a well-done bit of juxtaposition. 

Overall, a pretty slow episode that doesn't really have much story to tell by itself, but it is well written and works well to bridge the previous episode and the next... and showing our heroes grieve is kind of needed after the shocking major character deaths we had in the previous one.