The Walking Dead Season 3

[the G-man]

Fresh meat for the hungry hordes

• If early episodes are any indication, Season 3 will provide a glorious payoff for those EST-ian weeks down on the farm. The action opens months later, which we see almost immediately from the size of Lori's pregnant belly and, more important, the air of grim resignation that has fallen over the troops.
  
  Finally discovering the prison we saw on the horizon in the finale (it's not clear what took them so long), Rick and friends set about taking out the zombies "living" there with a methodical ferocity that makes slaughter look like factory work. Because that is what it has become.
  
  Any thought that the plague will run its course or that the walkers will die of starvation is gone; killing zombies is just part of life, like scavenging for food and keeping the water supply uncontaminated. Love and hope may still bloom, but the only sense of humor left on the planet appears to belong to Daryl (Norman Reedus), whose job seems to be preserving these important parts of humanity in the same way Irish monks preserved writing during the Dark Ages.

Looking forward to it even if I probably won't watch it until tomorrow.

[Mutenroshi]

Can't wait!

[Cutter John]

Just an observation after reading G-Mans description. the thing thats always bothered me in these apocalyptic stories that whenever human society appear on the verge of extinction due to zombies, plague, etc (see also Children of Men). That the first things humans do instead of working together is to go militant, break up into small tribes, and get to work killing one another off at an even faster rate. Its as if human beings just can't wait to go rushing back to the stone age.

[the G-man]

Isn't that human evolution and/or survival however?

Before civilization flourished, humans formed tribes, acted warlike, etc. As things got better, the race got more civilized.

Even today, the most "warlike" and "tribal" regions of the earth tend to be where things are rotten and dangerous.

Perhaps the whole point is that the "tribal warlike" phase is a necessary, albeit evil, one in building a society from rubble.

[Gotham Central]

Cutter John wrote:

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Just an observation after reading G-Mans description. the thing thats always bothered me in these apocalyptic stories that whenever human society appear on the verge of extinction due to zombies, plague, etc (see also Children of Men). That the first things humans do instead of working together is to go militant, break up into small tribes, and get to work killing one another off at an even faster rate. Its as if human beings just can't wait to go rushing back to the stone age.

Unfortunately history has taught us that this is exactly what would happen. The perfect example was post Katrina New Orleans. It did not take very long for things to completely fall apart in the absense of a central authority.

One of the downsides of promoting individualism is the fact that in a crunch people immediately start thinking about themselves.

This is a particularly bad habit in the US and other places that have tended to hostile to the very idea of promoting the virtue of communal needs. That's why, come even a hint of the apocalypse the US will be one of the first places to fall apart. We are a fractious society that has long sense abandoned the idea of "the common good."

It would be interesting to see how these stories would play out in places like Japan where there is more of a communal spirit/social consciousness. How would a society where old people volunteer to go into a damaged nuclear power plant in order to spare the lives of younger workers...how would they deal with the walking dead?

[Gotham Central]

WOW! Now that was an opener!

Looks like someone saw the reaction to the lack of walkers last season and said lets not do that again.

[shivkala]

Well, this was my first time watching the show first-run, after finishing up season 2 on Friday thanks to Netflix. I didn't have the same reaction to season 2 as some others, since I watched the episodes back to back, but this was a really good premiere, though I would have liked to have seen more Michone and Andrea.

[Cutter John]

Gotham Central wrote:

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WOW! Now that was an opener!

Looks like someone saw the reaction to the lack of walkers last season and said lets not do that again.

Thing is though they did that last season too. Added a hefty dose of zombie action to the first episode to hook everyone in. Then things just ground to a halt by episode 3.

I'm not one of the ones who hated season 2, but things did kinda fall into a rut by mid series.

[sojourner]

I just hope they didn't blow the whole season's budget for zombie makeup on this one episode.

[wissaboo]

I loved the episode. Loved the passage of time and the difference in characters. Especially in Carl. The change in Lori and Rick's relationship is pretty interesting too.

I for one never complained about a lack of zombies. How boring would the show be if we knew they were going to be fighting swarms of zombies every week? It's better if we don't know where and when they are going to show up.

the executive producer was on Talking Dead tonight. He wrote the episode and said that the prison set was built before he wrote it and he walked through the set to decide how Rick would go about taking it.

[Enterprise is Great]

I think that more zombies were killed in the season 3 premiere than in the entirety of the previous 2 seasons. If not it sure seemed that way.

Poor Herschel...good thing I was not eating during that!

[Cutter John]

A bit bummed about Herschel. In the first episode too. Victim of the old zombie playing dead trick. It makes you wonder if they're all as mindless as they appear to be.

But definitely a good start. One gets the feeling that the creative team heard viewers complaints about Carl and decided to fix him accordingly. Actually it was good to see how everyone has learned to work and fight together as a team.

wissaBOO - I don't want the show to be non-stop zombie fights. But too many episodes were just one dramatic "We need to have a talk about...." scene after another. It got tiresome after awhile.

[Gotham Central]

Enterprise is Great wrote:

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I think that more zombies were killed in the season 3 premiere than in the entirety of the previous 2 seasons. If not it sure seemed that way.

Poor Herschel...good thing I was not eating during that!

Damn that thing with Hershel was graphic! I don't think that I've ever turned away from anything shown on TV...but I flinched big time on that.

[Scout101]

Cutter John wrote:

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A bit bummed about Herschel. In the first episode too. Victim of the old zombie playing dead trick. It makes you wonder if they're all as mindless as they appear to be.

Our characters, or the zombies?

seriously, though, fell for the 'zombie playing dead' trick? Hasn't he ever watched tv? Was expecting it when Rick took the keys, as well. How about a courtesy stab when you walk by one, just for reassurance? Doesn't cost you anything, lets you keep a leg (although the cross in the promo for next week implies that didn't work out great).

Good episode, although questionable tactics. Before rushing into the prison (once they took the field), why not just lure more of them to the fence, and stab most that way? They seemed excited to rush in and do it while under attack. After that, they should have ALL had a shield, as well. When the enemy can only fight hand to hand, having a riot shield seems like an obvious call. And then in the hallways; why are we fighting in the dark tunnels, and sneaking around? Get to a nice big room nearby (with an escape, or a watchtower), and just make noise. We've shown they will come to you, let them do it. Don't sneak around waiting to be ambushed...

[DarthTom]

Wow, amazing episode. I didn't see the Herschel incident coming at all. Anyone see what the ratings were last night? I wonder if without Dish Networks 12 million subscribers if that will impact the show's ratings compared with last year?