The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 3: Walk With Me

The return of Merle

The episode began with a helicopter crash landing walking distance from Andrea and Michonne.  (Now we don't know if this was the same helicopter that Rick and the zombies saw but for now we will assume that it is.)  While Michonne is looking for survivors they are interrupted by a couple of cars driving up.   They hide and watch the Governor and his crew put the surviving pilot in one of their cars and stab the heads of the other dead soldiers.  Michonne and Andrea are surprised and disturbed by this action.  As the group is ready to leave Michonne's zombie pets become restless and start making noise so Michonne chops off their heads.  Bye bye pets, we hardly knew ye. From behind Andrea we hear a noise and lo and behold, Merle Dixon.  Not only is Merle alive but he has an awesome bayonet where his hand once was.  A zombie stumbles up behind and him and gets Merle's bayonet to the head.  Merle didn't even turn around.  Bad ass must run in the Dixon blood line.


Welcome to Woodbury

The ladies are taken by the group in one of their cars and are blindfolded as they make the journey to Woodbury.  Andrea is seen to by a doctor.  They have to armed guards watching them the entire time.  Michonne is not happy that their weapons were taken away.  She doesn't trust these strangers.  I agree with her.  Merle comes in for a little "chat" with his old pal Andrea.  She tells him that Rick and Daryl went back to Atlanta to look for him, the deaths of all those in the group that Merle knew, and how Daryl had stepped it up and become a useful member of the group.  Merle seemed proud of Daryl and was sorry to hear that Amy died.  These feelings seemed genuine.  I noticed that Merle and Andrea have a couple of shared experiences: both were left behind by their group, and both have lost a sibling (Merle only temporarily). 

Andrea seemed to be playing nice with Merle because she remembers him as a dangerous man and now she is in his territory with his people and no weapons of her own.  The Governor then comes in and explains to them that when anyone dies they automatically become zombies, bite or no bite.  This is shocking news to them, but they are better off knowing.  The Governor then takes them on a little tour of the town.  He shows them how they protect the town by erecting giant walls and mounting a guard to keep walkers out.  I kept wondering if those walls could hold back a herd.  They didn't mention running into any of them.  The Governor kept insisting that they stay, for the sake of Andrea's health, and Michonne kept insisting that they get their weapons back.  We learn that Woodbury is a town of 73 (soon to be 74) residents.  Everything seems rather idyllic for a zombiepocalypse, a little too idyllic.


Something's rotten in the town of Woodbury

The next day we are introduced to Woodbury's mad scientist, Milton.  He is experimenting on Michonne's pets.  Without jaws and arms they no longer seem to feel the urge to eat and have become docile.  The pets also provide camouflage for survivors.  They mask the smell of the living.  I wonder if they could make it safely past a zombie herd with them?  Could this be how they survived for so long on their own?  The Governor is impressed, which does not seem like something you want.  We also see the Governor speak to the surviving helicopter pilot.  We find out that he is part of a military group that had their own protected settlement.  But one day a walker got in and all hell broke loose.  The group split up but there are still some of his army buddies out there.  The Governor promises to look for them and bring them back.

Andrea and Michonne have breakfast with the Governor and Milton.  Milton is trying to pump them for information on the pets.  Michonne isn't having any of it and keeps mute (staring at her katana sword that is currently residing in the Governor's trophy case).  Milton persists and concludes (correctly) that Michonne knew the pets.  Andrea is acting very friendly the entire time.  I can't quite tell if she is doing this to appease the Governor like she did with Merle or if she is doing it so they can stay in Woodbury.  After breakfast Michonne and Andrea have a little fight.  Andrea accuses Michonne of keeping her life story of a secret while Andrea has told her everything.  Andrea wants to stay in Woodbury but Michonne can't wait to leave.  I would follow Michonne's lead.  Andrea isn't exactly the best judge of character.  She fell for Shane after all.

The Governor goes out to find the helicopter pilot's army buddies.  He finds them and drives up holding out a white flag.  He tells them that he has their friend and he will take them to him.  I saw this next scene coming a mile away.  He then pulls out his gun and starts shooting the soldiers.  Out of the surrounding area come Merle and the rest of the posse aiding in the massacre.  One soldier survives and tried to make a run for it.  The Governor coldly shoots him and has a young member of his posse go out and stab him in the head to make sure he stays dead.  I believe he saw them as a threat.  These are heavily armed and trained military personnel.  He didn't want to risk losing control of Woodbury to them.  When the posse gets back to Woodbury with new vehicles and weapons, the Governor makes a speech about finding the soldiers dead because they didn't have a safe place like Woodbury to call home.  The crowd cheers. 

Later that night we get a glimpse of Governor's life.  He has a nice house and a lady friend to share his bed with.  He holds a drink in his hand and stops to look at a photograph.  It is of him and a woman and girl who we can assume were his wife and daughter pre-zombiepocalypse.  He unlocks a door and enters a room that has a chair in the middle of it.  He sits and looks down for a moment.  He then looks up.  At first we can't see what he is looking at in this secret room, then the camera pans to show us.  It is an eerie collection of zombie heads piled up in glass cases.  What the what?!  It looks like a creepy version of TVs for sale at Best Buy.  We see Michonne's pets and the pilot's head are part of this collection.  This dude is ten kinds of crazy.

Final thoughts:

- Milton is super weird.  They kept bringing up the fact that he drinks tea.  It makes me wonder what is in his tea.  Executive producer David Alpert mentioned on the Talking Dead that he is loosely based on one of the writers that always comes to work dressed up and drinks tea.  I still think the tea was mentioned too many times for it to be a coincidence.  Only time will tell if I'm wrong or right.

- The power that the Governor has over the citizens is interesting.  When we first meet Milton he is arguing with Merle.  The Governor comes in and stops the argument.  Even bad ass Merle seems intimidated by the Governor.  This only makes the Governor extra creepy and scary in my book.