The Walking Dead 3.6 Review, “Hounded”

By Felix Vasquez jr. /

rating: 4

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The episode of "Hounded" belongs to our ol' pal Merle and his worst nightmare: Michonne. Sure, Rick Grimes is being mentally destroyed by a lone ringing phone in the basement of the prison, listening to the voices of a group of people interrogating Rick who seemingly know the details of his life, inexplicably, the whole of the show is basically about Merle and his conflict with Michonne. Michonne is basically Merle's worst nightmare. She's a strong, independent, stubborn, quick, skilled warrior who happens to be a woman and is African American. It's almost everything he ever detested before civilization fell. Oh, the irony. Now he has to basically contend with this warrior of the apocalypse after Michonne decides to go out in to the wasteland, abandoning Woodbury. As we expected, Michonne is not going to be left off the hook, and the Governor sends his men to hunt her down and murder her. The Governor wants her sword as a trophy. But that is basically put to a halt when Merle and his boys go looking for Michonne in the woods, and she provides them with a hysterical message involving body parts that ends in blood shed and splatter. What we see with Merle is basically how he operated in the past life. After most of his best men are sliced and diced by Michonne, he is met with a soldier named Gargulio who is reluctant to continue the hunt for Michonne, and Merle basically manipulates him in to going after her, in spite of his fear. When Gargulio and Merle fail to take down Michonne, Gargulio is insistent on reporting everything to the Governor, but Merle simply won't have it. This is likely how he kept Daryl Dixon in line for so many years. His violent rebuffing of Gargulio's orders signal that Merle is not only working for his meals at Woodbury but is a loyal dog to the Governor. While the Governor himself is doing his job in helping Andrea live in blissful ignorance, diddling her and bedding her, allowing her to forget Michonne and the rest of her friends, Merle is outside basically doing the dirty deeds, and being the good little soldier. Andrea is so incredibly unaware of how much danger she is in, and what the Governor will do once she's wasted her resources and information to him, but alas, I'm more than willing to see this yuppy version of Andrea die a painful death at this point. She is no warrior. She's a yuppy. She'd be living in Fiddler's Green giving Kaufman handies in "Land of the Dead" while Michonne would be down with Cholo and Riley Denbo looking for saltines and tylenol in the wasteland. For shame, you yuppy. Merle is just that villain you love to hate and Michael Rooker returns with a vengeance. Rooker is just so skilled in playing slimy bastards, and as Merle he's crafty, slick, and quick. After finishing his search for Michonne, forces collide when Maggie and Glenn raid a store for baby formula and are confronted with Merle. From a distance Michonne watches, and lord almighty, the fates are coming in to play. One plot hole in the episode that made me scratch my head: If Michonne kept her two zombies on a leash in an effort to keep herself camouflaged, why is she so shocked that the zombie guts on her body kept her invisible from a passing horde out on the red zone? Did she just keep those two zombies as ambiance or company? What's the deal? Rick's confrontation with his lone phone is a desperate glimpse at a man who has no confidence in himself. Andrew Lincoln's grappling and anxious reliance on the phone is incredible, as is Hershel's patronizing of Rick, allowing him to linger on his own mental devices. Even after securing the prison and being given supplies, he still is convinced he group is going to die any day now and he's been interrogated by a group of people over the phone, all of whom know too much about him. If you listen closely, you can clearly understand who or whom are talking to Rick, it's just a matter of the unveil. And it's a gripping one. Meanwhile, Daryl and Carl bond over their hunt of the cell blocks over mothers come and gone, and there's a huge reveal not only for Daryl, but for Rick who finally accepts his role as leader once again, knowing now what he has to do, and then is greeted with a brand new development in the final scene that threatens to further test his mental stability. Leading in to December 2nd finale, "The Walking Dead" is soon going to clash opposing forces, and blood will soon be shed.