Maggie and Beth also provide a fairly spot on portrayal of what the zombie lifestyle is doing to people, exploited by their father’s questionable health. Maggie, having spent more time out with Glenn killing walkers and getting her hands dirty, has prepared herself for the worst concerning Hershel’s condition, whereas the younger and more innocent Beth remains optimistic, not having seen the horrors others have.
Death is almost welcome in this world, being an escape from the daily cruelty, and the over exposure to walking corpses desensitizes characters to the concept of death, showing us different sides amongst characters we once knew. It’s actually a little refreshing to have some hope left in The Walking Dead, as even Carl has turned from playful child to hardened World War Z foot-soldier.
As for Rick and Lori’s relationship, it’s much of the same, and honestly I’m getting a little sick of it.
To me, it’s almost like a bad soap opera, setting up these confrontations between the two which shows a full conversation while barely even facing one another. Sure, Lori certainly wasn’t wife of the year and really screwed the proverbial pooch, but I think these extenuating circumstances permit a re-evaluation in anger.
As Lori jests, what is Rick going to do, hire a lawyer and divorce her? I’m officially ready to let bygones be bygones and see Rick put his emotions in the past, because I’m getting tired of the whole passive aggressive fighting thing. Rick at least made physical contact tonight, resting a caring hand on Lori’s shoulder while expressing the group’s thanks for saving Hershel, but still using the word “we” in reference to the group as a whole, and not expressing any emotions directly from himself. This shows he’s still not ready to move on, letting that tornado of emotion rage inside of him. But say he does move on and accepts Lori back in full, would we still have the same uber-alpha male leading the survivors? Are those emotions the driving force behind a brand new Rick?
Well, I don’t think we’ll be finding any of those question out next week, as there was no screen time tonight for Michonne, Andrea, The Governor, or Merle Dixon for that matter. Me thinks those peeping eyes watching Carol have something to do with The Governor’s compound, possibly a scout of some kind, and the trailer for next week suggests Michonne and Andrea will be the first to get a taste of David Morrissey’s interpretation of The Governor. Expect a heavy dose of our female duo next episode, as their missing presence this week most likely was in preparation for a katana heavy episode next week.
Either way, with two episodes down, I’m rather pleased in the direction Season 3 is taking. So far we’ve had new cast members, more gore than the first three-quarters of Season 2, and some real interesting character work which is showing us new faces of long time characters. Bringing the thunder early, The Walking Dead marches one episode closer to the looming horrors that await our survivors while holding out in their newly acquired prison fortress.