The Walking Dead: Every Season 3 Episode Ranked Worst To Best

The Walking Dead's third season picks up about eight months after the collapse of the Greene farm and Shane's death. Rick has taken control of the Survivors, Lori is close to giving birth, and the group have no prospects for a safe future.

In a lot of ways, the third season is where The Walking Dead as we know it was born. With Shane gone, focus shifted to the wider threats of the new world, the show's budget was mercifully increased, and the violence and drama was ramped up tenfold.

With Glen Mazzara acting as showrunner for his second and final season, the series here introduces the evil Governor, the Woodbury community, a radically changed Merle Dixon, and Rick and Lori's daughter Judith. It's mainline plot remains one of the show's most harrowing and bleak.

As frequently thrilling and action-heavy as it may be, though, the season is not without its flaws, some of which have only become more glaring as time has gone on, and keep the season from realising its full potential.

With that in mind, here are all 16 episodes of The Walking Dead's violent third season ranked worst to best.

Following the carnage of the previous episode, Say the Word takes a step back and decides to do some damage control for the remaining Survivors. Michonne elects to leave Woodbury, failing to fall under The Governor's spell, and Rick suffers a major breakdown over the death of Lori.

Though there are moments of excellence trapped amongst the issues - including Daryl and Maggie's team-up to get food for baby Judith and Glenn's trauma over the loss of close friend T-Dog - the episode is unable to overcome the mundanity of the slow Woodbury arc, or Rick's seriously over-the-top slip into madness.

Between Andrew Lincoln's overly melodramatic performance and its surreal phone call ending, Say the Word is a major dud that struggles to justify its existence or make good on previous developments.