TV: The Walking Dead Season 3

The Walking Dead Season 3

Did Season 3 Sink its Teeth Deep Enough this Time?

***** ! CONTAINS SPOILERS ! *****

 

AT Season 2’s finale last year, the Walking Dead concluded with not a bang, but rather the priming of another round in anticipation of what was next for Rick Grimes and his group of survivors. Ending with an equally fiery as memorable walker barn fire, character deaths, pivotal plot reveal, introduction of comic book favourite Michonne, and the establishing of what fans termed ‘The Ricktatorship’, expectations were set excitingly high. So, in hindsight of season three, how did the series fare in comparison to its predecessors?

If you were to trawl the internet for fan reactions, you’d probably discover the general opinion is that the first half was in every way better than the second. Episode 1 started in top gear, our heroes bursting through a door into a house filled with walkers, and somehow maintained such a drive right up until the mid-season finale (minus, perhaps, the Woodbury- only episode 3). But, in much the same fashion as season 2, 3 had as many highs as it did lows. Highlight episodes included the likes of 1 (Seed), 2 (Sick), 4, (Killer Within), 12 (Clear) and 15 (This Sorrowful Life). Whereas season two stumbled like its undead inhabitants, three does so too, albeit in its latter stages. In short, the first half was killer, and the second, much to viewers’ disappointment, filler.

This is mostly due to some shaky writing that makes the show feel diluted in order to stretch to the 16- episode mark. But with Scott Gimple taking over as showrunner for the now- announced season four (he wrote the stronger parts this season), things may be looking up. This is consequential of Glen Mazzara’s leaving due to ‘creative differences’ with AMC, the details of which we may never know. Many fans, though, point to Mazzara’s writing as the reason for TWD’s drier spells – something season 4 will now undoubtedly reveal.

It’s worth taking a little time to reflect on the characters, since many have gone through notable and life- altering changes this season. The likes of Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus reprise their roles as the zombie killing badasses with backbone, but sees other characters forcibly adapt to the new world in order to survive – no longer are the walkers feared on every sighting. Rather, season three presents them as obstacles to be removed as opposed to a looming threat. Take for instance, the first episode, ‘Clear’, in which Rick states they are going to ‘take’ the prison by ‘going in, hand to hand’. Contrast this with the frailty of the group at Hershel’s farm in season two, when a walker was left to the tougher types to dispatch. Instead, every character watches their own back, sometimes even enjoying the bloodshed (Maggie asks “Did you see that?!” when driving a machete through a walker’s head). All this makes for stronger, more respectable, and most importantly, less annoying character qualities.

It goes without saying that Rick and Daryl are the standouts, but season three has given rise to other characters stealing the spotlight: namely, Danai Guirira’s Michonne, Michael Rooker’s Merle, Melissa McBride’s Carol, and David Morrissey’s the Governor (or Philip, which doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, in fairness). Michonne started out a little two dimensional, (through no fault of Guirira’s, but the writers’) but managed by the end to emerge as a likeable and humanistic character. Kudos is also overly due to McBride in her portrayal of Carol, a regular sufferer of misfortune, who shows that she can handle just about anything the script throws at her, and Michael Rooker, who provided Merle with a rollercoaster ride of emotional investment from viewers. Sometimes we hated him (beating and torturing Glenn, almost handing over Michonne to the Guv’na) but by the end of his story, we couldn’t help but feel the show had lost something great in Rooker’s departure. In Merle’s death we also saw Daryl’s raw, inner self, a world away from his temperamental origins in the series. And with it, Reedus proved to us he wasn’t just the cool, tough as nails Legolas equivalent, but a fine actor too. Season 3 also introduced comic book favourite Tyreese – but to mixed reception.

There’s always a risk in separating main characters and trailing them off into individual paths, and it showed – Woodbury’s story segments weren’t half as interesting as what was going on in the prison (ever), even though a handful of characters were devoted to it. Two episodes that exclusively dealt with Woodbury antics were in essence, boring, and made viewers well aware that they would be going two weeks without seeing the prison gang. Some more refined writing would have seen this fixed, in which one could imagine seeing the drama cut neatly between the two areas, therefore eliminating any wasted time and dialogue. The biggest victim this season was Andrea, however, whose character was so badly drawn out that her death in the finale was beyond predictable and into desirable for some. It didn’t help that the finale rested its weight on her death either, a big mistake when considering that in harsh reality it was difficult to feel sympathy for such a flawed character. (Why did she stay at Woodbury after learning that the Governor was a psychopath? Why would she trust him over Michonne, who she’s known for longer and owes her life to?) This is not to say that the finale fell short because it put all its chips on drama over action, just that it sacrificed a seemingly inevitable and hotly anticipated collision of forces for an un-affecting character send-off. There was much more impact in episode 4, ‘The Killer Within’, at the demise of T-Dog and Lori, whose death in particular had repercussions on the integrity of Rick, and subsequently the whole group.

This season also marked the return of Morgan, (Ep.12) albeit short lived, but allowed Lennie James to once again depict humanity when dealt a bad hand. In fact, more was felt for Morgan in 45 minutes than for Andrea in 16 hours. In fairness, the character flaws in TWD are due to nothing other than faults in writing, which a few times demonstrate a lack of conviction to plotlines or willing to go anywhere near as extreme as its comic book source material. Don’t get me wrong – David Morrissey’s Governor is a fantastic presence on screen, but is an alternate persona to Robert Kirkman’s original sadistic and vile tyrant completely. 

Where The Walking Dead is consistently strong is in the special effects department, headed by Greg Nicotero, veteran SFX head smasher, bone snapper, and blood splatterer, who also directs a few episodes this season. Major credits are due to the people who orchestrate the show’s famous kills, much to the pleasure of the slightly sadistic crowds (no judgement, I’m guilty) i.e. the make- up and costume departments who have provided many a memorable slaughtering (see a link at the bottom of this article for highlights, in GIFs). What The Walking Dead Season 3 leaves us with then, is the strongest material yet, which even with its flaws is one of the most watchable shows on TV. Whereas Season 2 left us with the promise of something intense to come, Season 3 leaves people questioning. AMC will have to step up its game to deliver a season more enthralling than 3’s greatest moments, and with Season 4 in capable hands, its quite possible that things are only going to get better.

VERDICT: Daring and debaucherous in equal measure, The Walking Dead reaches heights in its time previously untapped, even if it does suffer from the occasional dragging ankle. Indulging characters and thrilling action make up for past grievances to deliver bold and edgy television. ★★★★

Best Zombie kills, in GIFs: http://www.tv.com/news/looking-back-on-the-walking-dead-season-3-somewhere-between-alive-and-dead-plus-the-best-zombie-kills-in-gifs-136543933537/