5. Made To Suffer Season 3, Episode 8
Season 3 was all about the brewing conflict between the idyllic town of Woodbury and the group at the prison, and all of that came to a head in the mid-season finale, Made to Suffer. The episode before this established that Rick and a few others are headed to Woodbury to rescue Glenn and Maggie from the clutches of the Governor. So much happened in this episode that its surprising that it told a very cohesive story that didnt collapse on itself. Rick and the others infiltrated Woodbury with the help of Michonne and quickly rescued Glenn and Maggie before they were taken away. Theyre escape from Woodbury also provided an ambitious set piece, as lots of gunfire was exchanged between humans; a very rare occurrence in The Walking Dead up to this point. It was a very exciting sequence that provided enough thrills for the entire episode, but this was only the half of it. Michonne has also come back to Woodbury to exact revenge on the Governor for having her hunted down. Instead of finding him however, she finds his infected daughter, Penny, locked in a cage. Michonne kills Penny right in front of the Governor, effectively breaking his last connection to humanity and making him into the true tyrant that he is. The resulting fight between the two visceral and intense, delivering the same energy it had when it unfolded in the comics. This milestone of an episode marked the first strike on the long war that was the focal point of the show. New players were introduced, such as the much hoped for debut of comic favorite Tyreese, and old ones were repositioned. Andrea finally saw that she may be on the wrong side of the wall, and Daryl is captured by the Governor and forced into a long awaited but deadly reunion with his brother Merle. Lots of wheels were turned in this episode, and it didnt hurt that Robert Kirkman himself wrote it.