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The Walking Dead 3.06 review.
THE ONE WHERE Merle hunts Michonne (but captures Glenn and Maggie instead), The Governor beds Andrea, and Rick talks to dead people.
VERDICT For all its bloody carnage, brought to us courtesy of Michonne and Merle, the highlight of this episode is Andrew Lincoln’s performance. Rick’s rage and anguish are immensely poignant.
For someone who’s read the comics, it’s difficult to judge whether the big reveal about who’s on the phone would have surprised anyone (in those, Rick carries a phone about with him for quite a while, using it to “talk” to his dead wife), but it seems so unlikely that a phone would still be functioning - and that someone would ring enough random numbers to eventually get an answer - that it’s hard to imagine too many of the audience buying the idea.
Still, that doesn’t really matter: as a device for getting Rick to open up and share the feelings he’s bottling up, it works pretty well. It’s also a neat touch to have Rick talking to Amy, Jim and Jacqui as well as his Lori - especially since they’re all played by the original actors. Bet they never expected to get another paycheck from The Walking Dead !
Elsewhere… what the hell is it with Andrea? The last guy she had sex with was Shane; now she’s hooking up with The Governor. To be fair, it’s not like there are that many available options when it comes to single men, but still… is she irresistibly drawn to psychopaths? Mind you, given that she’s developed a taste for killing herself, maybe that makes perfect sense.
NITPICKS I have to return to a previous grouse: why were the group so quick to jump to the conclusion that Carol was dead, when they hadn’t done a thorough search? I’m not really sure I buy the fact that Carol’s been stuck behind a door for days, either, when the only blockage seems to be a dead body. Wouldn’t it be possible to push that out of the way? (Hmm, there’s an experiment to try… ) And wouldn’t she have heard people’s voices outside at some point, and attracted their attention by banging on the door or crying out?
Also, isn’t it slightly odd that Michonne is only now discovering that zombies will ignore you if you’re smeared with their guys? Andrea certainly knows that, and you’d think it might have come up during all their months together. Or has this become one of those shows like Lost , where nobody ever thinks to pool useful information?
TH MALFU CTIONI G MIC OPHO E ROUTI E Did anyone else think of Norman Collier as the phone started cutting out on “Lori”? Just me, then?
BITERGRAMS You’ve gotta love Michonne’s unique way of leaving Merle a note, using zombie body parts. Leaves you wondering what other messages you could spell out that way. LEG IT, maybe? HANDS OFF? How about U R A COCK?
BEST LINE Merle: “She sent us a bitergram!”
Ian Berriman twitter.com/ianberriman
Read all our The Walking Dead season 3 reviews .
Read our The Walking Dead: The Road To Woodbury review .
Read our David Morrissey interview .
The Walking Dead airs in the UK on FX on Friday nights at 10pm.
