The Story: Prison food must taste better than raw owl.
A few thoughts (with SPOILERS): 1. More & better action. – TWD has always done action well. Even with all the crap I (and others) have laid on this TV series, it has never struggled with action. In fact, I don’t think it has had an unsteady action sequence during the entire series. Perhaps the creators of this series are realizing what they have in this show and are just going with the flow? On the other hand, I recall being pretty pleased with the action in the Season 2 premier too, and look what happened after that. We could easily see Season 3 slip into a repeat of Season 2 if you substitute The Prison for Herschel’s Farm.
All of the action, from the clearing of the prison courtyard, to the appearance of the armored zombies (especially the gas-mask zombie), to the creepy and suspenseful scenes inside the dark prison were really nicely done. The show should just stick with what it’s talent can do well.
2. Good news! The story from the comics! – Sure, there are some differences from the comics, but it was nice to see them using some major plot points: The Prison, the prisoners, the riot gear, Michonne’s chained zombies, the bitten leg/amputation (even if it was a different character), even the look of the cell block looked like the comic…
It isn’t so much that the TV show MUST adhere to the comic series, but the comic series is pretty darn good. There are good stories in there and the TV show’s creators should avail themselves of them. It makes sense to view the comics as version 1.0 of the story: keep the good stuff and then consider what else could have happened. It’s nice to see the TV show doing that.
3. Trouble when the action slows. – There is reason to be optimistic about this season as showrunner Glen Mazzara doesn’t have to clean up any messes from Frank Darabont this year. FRESH SLATE! And it does seem that Mazzara kinda gets that he has a pretty good zombie/action/horror show on his hands. But, they can’t quite let go of AMC’s tagline: “Story matters.” This show just goes to hell in a handbasket every time the action stops and the characters start to talk. Rick remains dull. Lori remains shrill/whiny/bitchy. Hershel is still kinda aw-shucks. And WTF?!?!? was the deal with the campfire sing-along? Seriously–WTF?!?!? I worry about the direction of any series that chooses to include the campfire singalong. I mean, someone watched that raw footage and said, “That’s great. Let’s keep it. Speaking of that, you know what else would be awesome? Let’s put a vocal music over some of our quiet scenes too!”
4. Jury is out on Michonne. – I dunno… Maybe it’s because I’ve read 100+ issues of the comic series and know who Michonne is, but I’m not sure I like what they’re doing here. For one thing, I don’t like this concept that she’s a bad-ass ninja. I liked the comic story that she is nothing but an attorney who happened across a katana. I really don’t want to see her being cold, meditative and taking out zombies like she was a weapons instructor at her local dojo. Again, it doesn’t have to be “just like the comics,” but I’m seriously not sure I like this direction. There is a reason her character is beloved from the comics and it isn’t because she showed up knowing kung-fu.
5. Jump in time – There is good and bad with the 6-7 month jump in time. I guess it does explain why Carl looks old enough to shave, but I do wonder why they didn’t just replace the actor. I mean, it isn’t like there would have been a riot in fandom if there was a new actor playing Carl. The better thing about the time jump is where all of the characters are. Now they are all 6-7 months removed from Herschel’s Farm and the lousy Season 2. At this point, more time has elapsed between Seasons 2 and 3 than we’ve seen depicted in the TV show since the zombies arrived. So, the characters all seem more competent and that helps the show become a little more action-based. I mean, in one year T-Dog has gone from pathetically cutting his arm on a car door to being a prime member of the Jailhouse Zombie Brigade. On the other hand, I do feel like I’m missing a huge chunk of time. Really? Nobody died over the last few months? Herschel didn’t even shove Carl toward a zombie for making googly eyes at Beth? They didn’t pick up anyone new? And, if they’re just driving in circles (as T-Dog said) why haven’t they run into Michonne and Andrea. They ARE driving around in a caravan and you’d expect Andrea to recognize a Hyundai that she has had sex in.
Conclusion: A pretty good episode. Hopefully the creators have realized that they have a good horror/action/zombie show and just go with it. There were worrying signs every time the characters stopped stabbing and began to talk.
Grade: B+
– Dean Stell
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