If last week's
season premiere of
The Walking Dead teased
the promise of a rebound from the choppy second season, this week's episode
pivots forward into more fruitful dramatic terrain. It articulates the growing
anxieties of the weary-minded members of the group, honing in on their struggle
to retain control in the midst of rising threats. This plays out in two central
scenarios amid the claustrophobic surroundings of the prison, where conditions
are graver and Hershel's (Scott Wilson) life is in jeopardy after being bit by
a walker. While Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), Carol
(Melissa McBride), and Glen (Steven Yeun) attend to Hershel with the dimming
hope that he'll survive the wound, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman
Reedus), and T-Dog (IronE Singleton) jostle with four prison inmates who've
been cocooned from the outside world and now lay claim to the facility.
The former thread consists mostly of the standard "hope and
reminisce" dialoguing between characters that's earned The Walking Dead some negative
criticism. However, Rick's encounter with the four inmates takes the series
into dangerous new territory. The inmates' intentions aren't quite clear,
though their ringleader openly engages Rick in an alpha-male battle of wills
that intensifies through the episode. Despite the threat of outsiders to the
group, Rick is forced to negotiate a compromise with the prison survivors
because they have access to food and also possess a better knowledge of the
facility.
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