The Walking Dead S03E07 Review: Random Hermit

The Walking Dead, Season 3, Episode 7: When the Dead Come Knocking

More of a buildup episode to the inevitable clash between Rick's people and the Governor's, this time around both sides learn about, well, the existence and the general situation of the other camp, which kind of sets it firmly that, yeah, Rick was hallucinating the whole telephone scene last episode and it's not the Governor, Merle or Andrea behind the calls. Rick's a lot saner now, thankfully... and apparently a lot less paranoid. Betcha Oscar and Axel feel kind of shitty considering the treatment they went through, while Michonne, randomly showing up at their doorstep, only get a brief weapon confiscation and get some relatively unconditional trust. Granted, she did show up at the prison holding Glenn and Maggie's stuff, making her a lot more trustworthy than a bunch of former prisoners, but still, I get why they did that. They showed some cursory paranoia -- a brief flash of aggressiveness from Rick when he realizes Glenn and Maggie were taken, pressing Michonne's wound, locking her in a cell... granted, Rick has a lot of reason to be suspicious about. Just like how Andrea can't understand what Michonne is angry about in previous episodes, here she wouldn't even say her name or why she came until really pressed by Rick. I'm not sure if she's meant to be super-dense, or just an extreme case of distrust... but eh. She's growing less and less likable, to be honest.

The meeting with Michonne was fast but not as rushed as it could've been, and when it comes down to it, I'd rather we go with the urgency of the situation, since at the end of the episode the small strike-force of Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Oscar have traversed the distance between the prison and Woodbury. In between here and there, they end up meeting this random living hermit in a shack in the woods who apparently doesn't even know that there's a zombie apocalypse and is just pissing himself at the random group of people who showed up in his house with guns. The panicked old man ends up finding a sword through his chest courtesy of an ever-angry Michonne, and his body is used by Strike Force Rick to distract the zombies long enough for them to escape. Man, what a random scene, that bit with the hermit. 

Meanwhile, there's a fair amount of things happening in Woodbury, the most striking being the interrogation-torture scene of Glenn and Maggie. Glenn's torture takes up the majority of the screentime, with Merle, having a bone to pick with one of the people who left him behind, taking great pleasure in beating the shit out of Glenn in a room that's close enough that Maggie can hear her boyfriend's tortured screams. We don't actually see the physical torture, but when we cut back to Glenn his face is preeeeetty fucked up and bleeding. And easily topping it off is Merle pulling a walker and setting it loose to menace Glenn while he's tied down to a chair. It's a brutal bit of torture as Glenn is forced to defend himself with anything he can lay his hands on while also trying to break free, and while he survives the one zombie, he's still a prisoner in a very, very bad situation. 

We later see Merle report the lack of information he got from Glenn, and before he gets started on Maggie, the Governor goes down to get his hands dirty. It's a chilling, really, because it really seems that the Governor was trying to play the good cop card. He's certainly a lot more friendly than Merle, and he starts off by freeing Maggie from her bonds and being personable, noting how they were going to return the two of them to their people. Of course, Maggie smartly refuses to cooperate (remember what happened to the soldier who believed in the Governor's lies a couple of episodes ago?) which ends up causing the Governor to do something that's a wholly different brand of evil compared to fucking up Glenn's face or locking him in with a zombie.

The Governor makes Maggie strip off her shirt and bra, leaving her in a state of vulnerability and shame, and as much as Maggie tries to keep a facade of strength and defiance it's clear that the poor girl is scared shitless. The Governor gets close and slams Maggie's face on the table and the threat of rape is pretty clear. The Governor doesn't go that far (though if it was Merle I'm pretty sure he wouldn't hold anything back from actually going through with it) but the psychological aspect of the torture is there. Maggie still tries to be defiant, telling him to do his worst -- while being obviously afraid -- and it's no wonder that she eventually spills the beans. It did take the Governor and Merle dragging her, still half-naked, in front of the beat-up Glenn and threatening to kill her boyfriend to make her spill, though.

Meanwhile, while all this torture and zombie-fighting and forced stripping is going on, Andrea is allowed some autonomy from the Governor, this time accompanying the Governor's science dude Milton (who we had some scenes with before, but never enough of a focus to give him much personality beyond 'science guy') as Milton tries to investigate a terminal old man before his death, trying to see if any part of the soul or personality is retained after death. Milton makes it pretty clear that he's never seen the turning process first-hand, and credit where credit's due, Andrea was pretty quick in stabbing the old man zombie in the head before he can lunge at the naive Milton.

Obviously all this ties with the Governor's obsession with his now-zombified daughter, and his expression when Andrea told him that it's a futile cause, added with his irritation over the 'ten people managed to take down the prison' thing, makes Governor not a particularly happy man. He's planning to send Merle and a group to scout the prison... which at the moment only really has Carl and maybe Axel as the only fighters -- the rest of their group is a cripple, a baby and a panicky lady.

Oh, and Little Ass-Kicker finally gets a proper name in Judith, courtesy of Carl. 

Not a lot really felt like it happened, as it's just moving pieces that are inevitably going to clash towards each other. The Andrea scenes are a lot stronger here than they were when she's just being charmed by the Governor, but her scenes are really mostly filler and a demonstration as to how the Woodbury society works, and the bit with the hobo hermit in the cabin was bizarre, weirdly brutal and came out of nowhere. And Michonne still irritates me. But other than that, it's a pretty okay installment in a season that's a lot stronger than its predecessors.