The Walking Dead 3.5 Review, “Say the Word”
rating: 4.5
Massive spoilers in this review It's explained in "The Zombie Survival Guide" that a zombie has no nutritional value for consuming human beings and that they will literally eat and eat until their stomachs burst from the seams. To add insult to injury from Lori dying during birth, she is literally eaten whole by a random walker. When Rick confronts the stray walker, it's eaten so much of Lori's corpse that it can barely movie and resembles a full term pregnant human woman. Rick's descent in to madness has become very similar to the Governor's own. If you read "Rise of the Governor," they both almost deal with the exact same conflicts, just not always at the same time. They both had hope, they were both thrust in to the zombie apocalypse, and they both had a lot to lose. Except now Rick goes on a war path throughout the prison, while the Governor, who builds himself as a progressive free thinking man of the zombie apocalypse has revealed he's just like everyone else. When we open on the Governor he's combing the hair of his young daughter Penny and riles her up when he chips a piece of scalp from her rotting head. Much like everyone else, the Governor has convinced himself Penny may just be going through a stage and he manages to coddle and tend to her like a child having a tantrum, in spite of her efforts to gnaw at his arm. There are many elements they're now including in the comic that are showing up but in different form. The hatred between the Governor and Michonne is still there, but she's become a fly in his soup, following him around and corrupting the serenity of the facade that is Woodbury, Rick's dramatic tirade through the corridors of the prison with his axe is very similar to Tyreese's gymnasium explosion in the comics, and of course, Rick gets "the call" at the end of the episode, signalling the introduction of one of the comic books' most heartbreaking plot device ever conceived.
The dynamic between Michonne and the Governor is still the same as the comics, but in a much different tone. Where as the governor was more a nomad brutalizing a woman, here it's a non-believer trying to break free from a cult. I've decided I dislike TV Andrea, as she's a gullible and weak individual who has yet to harden and become the Amazon woman we know from the comics. She's so willing to betray her friends and everything she believes in just to retain a sense of normality, it's utterly cowardly.
The dilemma for the group becomes a matter of giving food to the newborn baby of Lori's. Where life was fragile in civilization, it's absolutely top priority now that the world has ended. With barely any food for the group, the newborn baby is starving and at risk of being malnourished. Now Daryl and Maggie go on the road to find food for the child as it cries out. Rick's journey in to the prison becomes a journey in to his own madness, as he battles the dead on his own and refuses to turn back. He even violently rebuffs Glenn's offer to take him back to the group.
Rick almost has to confirm for himself that Lori has died. Andrew Lincoln and David Morrissey's performances have been amazing this season, and the pair of gentlemen have provided dual looks in to madness and insanity in a world where hope is slim and normality is just a facade.
The fate of Carol is still up in the air, and the Governor reveals in the finale that not only is he in denial, but he's also just another nomad with his own delusions of grandeur poking the lions and distracting his citizens with violence while he is free to do whatever he wants on the belief that he's accomplishing a goal. What goal, we're not sure just yet, but he will not be diverted. With Michonne out on the loose, we'll have to see what he hopes to gain.