Season 3: Prisons, Governors, and Phone Calls from Zombie Heaven

[Haleth]

I had never seen the show (always meant to check it out) and got hooked when I came across the marathon. I DVRed as much as I could and filled in the rest with disks from the library. I'm half thru season 3 and will be up to date by the return of the show. In the meantime I'm sharpening my Samurai sword so I can join the party.

[kikismom]

I had never seen the show (always meant to check it out) and got hooked when I came across the marathon. I DVRed as much as I could and filled in the rest with disks from the library. I'm half thru season 3 and will be up to date by the return of the show. In the meantime I'm sharpening my Samurai sword so I can join the party.

That is great! Hope you'll have a little spare time before the back 8 of season 5 to catch up on the snark here too.

We also live chat during the show...it gets pretty good for a virtual viewing party.

Glad to have a new voice added; don't be shy about commenting on anything you've been baffled by so far! ( we've seen some of these episodes a couple dozen times and still see something new each time.)

Welcome!

[Haleth]

I have one more episode in season 3 and as much as I'm enjoying it, it certainly seems very familiar. Losties vs Others, anyone? Sorry, Phil, you are no Ben Linus.

[AngelaHunter]

They rubbed me the wrong way when they were too busy "coming" to help move the vehicles, even though they'd spent the night in the tower, according to Rick.

 

Glenn looks like he'd be a premature ejaculator. Probably took all night to get it right!

[kikismom]

I would have been happy if they had just surfaced long enough to notice the bright flashlight right up at the fence as rats were being fed to walkers.

[ghoulina]

Yea, some watch they had going on at that place. A child is able to sneak out of her cell, her cell block, and get all the way down the fence, where she's feeding walkers. I'd go so far as to say that's worse than Dale levels of ineptitude. 

[AngelaHunter]

I'd go so far as to say that's worse than Dale levels of ineptitude.

 

It even surpasses the Lori "Where's Carl?" Grimes level of childcare.

[Nashville]

They rubbed me the wrong way when they were too busy "coming" to help move the vehicles, even though they'd spent the night in the tower, according to Rick. 

Wel, as long as they were rubbing each other the RIGHT way....

;)

[Haleth]

Another nitpick from season 3 (and I'm sorry, I really don't mean to nitpick because I'm obsessed with this show), Rick and the gang are driving around in the wilderness for 1.5 years yet the prison is just down the road from the Grimes' house?  (Wouldn't Rick have known the prison was there?  He seemed surprised to see it.)  I mean I loved Clear.  Lennie James can do no wrong AFAIC and he broke my heart. But shouldn't our merry band of wanderers have been further along than that?  I get it, they stayed at the farm for months, but still.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Haleth

[kikismom]

all

Another nitpick from season 3 (and I'm sorry, I really don't mean to nitpick because I'm obsessed with this show), Rick and the gang are driving around in the wilderness for 1.5 years yet the prison is just down the road from the Grimes' house?  (Wouldn't Rick have known the prison was there?  He seemed surprised to see it.)  I mean I loved Clear.  Lennie James can do no wrong AFAIC and he broke my heart. But shouldn't our merry band of wanderers have been further along than that?  I get it, they stayed at the farm for months, but still.

Regardless of where he lived, being a sheriff he should have known where all the prisons are. But they go back and forth to Atlanta,ffor 4 and and a half years, talk about having traveled in circles for 7 months, and I have said it before I'm calling it again the white doorway with the faded peeling paint in the promo looks just like the doorway they came through at the start of season 3.

When that show "Under The Dome" came out I thought it's already been done on AMC.

[Iguessnot]

I was watching episode 3:16 and Carl is justifying his killing of the governor's soldier to Rick. He tells Rick that because he didn't shoot Andrew he returned and killed Lori. Since Lori died in childbirth, what was Carl talking about? 

[ghoulina]

Andrew was the one who released the walkers back into their secured area of the prison. I guess that Carl sees all that mayhem as causing Lori to go into labor right then and there. It also caused her to be separated from both Hershel and Carol, the ones who were planning to help her deliver. I'm kind of a mind that Lori probably would have died in labor anyhow, but given that we also lost T-Dogg and it was just a bad, bad day - I'm pretty mad that Rick didn't kill Andrew when he had the chance either.

[AngelaHunter]

Hi, Haleth, and welcome to the madhouse. *waves*

 

(Wouldn't Rick have known the prison was there?  He seemed surprised to see it.)

 

Yes, we would kind of expect a cop to know where a rather large prison is located, especially since it seemed to be quite nearby.

Edited January 10, 2015 by AngelaHunter

[Bongo Fury]

Another nitpick from season 3 (and I'm sorry, I really don't mean to nitpick because I'm obsessed with this show), Rick and the gang are driving around in the wilderness for 1.5 years yet the prison is just down the road from the Grimes' house?  (Wouldn't Rick have known the prison was there?  He seemed surprised to see it.)  I mean I loved Clear.  Lennie James can do no wrong AFAIC and he broke my heart. But shouldn't our merry band of wanderers have been further along than that?  I get it, they stayed at the farm for months, but still.

 

The Grimes family is from eastern Tennessee. So they started out 100+ miles from Atlanta. And the prison is SW of Atlanta.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Bongo Fury

[Iguessnot]

Andrew was the one who released the walkers back into their secured area of the prison. I guess that Carl sees all that mayhem as causing Lori to go into labor right then and there. It also caused her to be separated from both Hershel and Carol, the ones who were planning to help her deliver. I'm kind of a mind that Lori probably would have died in labor anyhow, but given that we also lost T-Dogg and it was just a bad, bad day - I'm pretty mad that Rick didn't kill Andrew when he had the chance either.

Although I attempted to record this latest marathon, the early season 3 episodes got a quick early delete before I got to them. Last I remembered of Andrew was when Rick closed the door on him. I found a wikia search that listed Andrew's later appearances, so I'll definitely have to go back and firm up the story line in the shifting sands of my feeble mind. 

[Haleth]

The Grimes family is from eastern Tennessee. So they started out 100+ miles from Atlanta. And the prison is SW of Atlanta.

Then how/why did Rick drive aaaall the way back to his hometown to look for guns? That makes even less sense than driving in circles for 1.5 years. Edited January 10, 2015 by Haleth

[kikismom]

The Grimes family is from eastern Tennessee. So they started out 100+ miles from Atlanta. And the prison is SW of Atlanta.

 

 

Then how/why did Rick drive aaaall the way back to his hometown to look for guns?

In the comic,

the Grimes family is from Cynthiana, Ky. (So is Robert Kirkman.) In the television show, the Grimes family lives in the fictional King County GA

Which must be a pretty small county if the sheriff still rides around on patrol with a deputy.

[NurseGiGi]

Kikismom, I thought Rick was a deputy.  Isn't that what he told Morgan in the pilot?

 

Yeah, I still don't understand why they have traveling around in the same area.  And have actually happened across quite a few groups within that small area.  I need to watch season 3 again.  I just hate to relive the Woodbury story/Andrea stupidity again.

[kikismom]

Kikismom, I thought Rick was a deputy.  Isn't that what he told Morgan in the pilot?

You are absolutely right! My mistake :-D!

 

I agree about watching the Woodbury/Andrea arc---I'm almost phobic about those episodes.

The Grady Hospital episodes I watched and I think replayed once? I just can't again.

[ghoulina]

I tried rewatching Slabtown. I really did. I just couldn't. I agree with whoever it was that said that arc made the Gov arc suddenly seem watchable.

[RedheadZombie]

I tried rewatching Slabtown. I really did. I just couldn't. I agree with whoever it was that said that arc made the Gov arc suddenly seem watchable.

 

Completely agree, although I didn't mind Woodbury the first go round.  The only thing that got me through Slabtown was the hope that the episode would go somewhere.  I can't watch it again.  I'd even re-watch Brian walking down the street with a Forrest Gump beard and old western music playing.

[CletusMusashi]

In my opinion, S2 was the last predominately good season.

However, S3 was the last predominately interesting season.

That's not to say that S2 wasn't interesting. Only to say that, once you scratch the admittedly rather flashy surface, there isn't as much to S3 as one initially assumes.

However, at least it had none of the weird borefest episodes that they started trying to sneak in on us later on.

Spoiler Alert for Season 4:

Carl loses a shoe and eats pudding.

Edited January 13, 2015 by CletusMusashi

[ghoulina]

See, and I think season 4 was wonderful. I enjoyed almost every episode. I'd rank season 4 and 1 as my favorites, with season 2 coming in behind them. I'll have to wait until this one is over before I decide if it's worse than season 3. Season 3 wasn't horrible. When I was watching it the first time, I mostly enjoyed it. It had some very strong episodes, IMO - Seed, Clear, This Sorrowful Life. But when I do marathons, I find myself skipping quite a few episodes. Once you know how it pans out, a lot of them become quite pointless.

[mandolin]

I was just rewatching Seed (3x01), when Carol takes Daryl food when he's on top of the bus on watch because he otherwise won't eat, he says, "Lil Shane's got quite the appetite." And Carol says, "Don't be mean. (pause) Rick's gotten us farther than Shane ever could, I'll give him that."

 

I always thought Lil Shane was Lori's baby, but the way Carol says that, are they referring to Rick as Lil Shane? Huh.

[editorgrrl]

Daryl was snarking about the questionable paternity of the future Lil Asskicker. (Lori was eating for two, and Daryl called her unborn baby "Lil Shane.")

[ghoulina]

Lol, at first I thought he was calling Carl "Little Shane". But then I realized he must have meant the baby. 

[Pete Martell]

See, and I think season 4 was wonderful. I enjoyed almost every episode. I'd rank season 4 and 1 as my favorites, with season 2 coming in behind them. I'll have to wait until this one is over before I decide if it's worse than season 3. Season 3 wasn't horrible. When I was watching it the first time, I mostly enjoyed it. It had some very strong episodes, IMO - Seed, Clear, This Sorrowful Life. But when I do marathons, I find myself skipping quite a few episodes. Once you know how it pans out, a lot of them become quite pointless.

 

Other than "Clear" and a few strong individual scenes, I tend to put away most of season 3 after "Killer Within." I never cared about Merle, never cared about The Governor, and a lot of the rest was mostly repeating a lot of the same scenes over and over, and building to a plot they had no way of resolving (The Governor's attack on the prison). I've never seen a show go "oops! never mind!" the way that season 3 finale did. What a mess. Other than the beautifully filmed last shot of the finale and the scene where Rick reconnects with Michonne and tells Lori goodbye, I'm not sure I could stomach any of it again. They were extremely, extremely lucky that viewers did not desert the show.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Pete Martell

[Spartan Girl]

Watching "I Ain't a Judas." God, I hate Andrea. She had some nerve trying to blame Michonne for "poisoning" the group against her, when it was her own stupidity that did it for her. And not ONE WORD of an apology for pulling a gun on her or even an acknowledgement that she was right about the Governor all along? At this point, she's worse than Lori.

[Enero]

Watching "I Ain't a Judas." God, I hate Andrea. She had some nerve trying to blame Michonne for "poisoning" the group against her, when it was her own stupidity that did it for her. And not ONE WORD of an apology for pulling a gun on her or even an acknowledgement that she was right about the Governor all along? At this point, she's worse than Lori.

Agreed. I was also very annoyed to learn that she'd told the Governor about the Rick/Lori/Shane fiasco and how Judith was the result of that. Argh. Just so frustrating. What would possess her to tell something so utterly private to this man that was clearly Rick's enemy. SMH.

Regarding my overall view of S3, it wasn't perfect but I enjoyed it mostly because we got the introduction of Michonne and as a result got more of her than I think we've gotten in any other season.

[Nashville]

Watching "I Ain't a Judas." God, I hate Andrea. She had some nerve trying to blame Michonne for "poisoning" the group against her, when it was her own stupidity that did it for her. And not ONE WORD of an apology for pulling a gun on her or even an acknowledgement that she was right about the Governor all along? At this point, she's worse than Lori.

LIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKE

<deep breath>

LIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKELIKE....

[Persnickety1]

I just recently re-watched this season on DVD.  

 

I'd almost forgotten why I came to despise Andrea, but now I remember.

 

She was like one of those fair-weather friends in high school who was your best bud until she snagged a boyfriend, then no longer had time to take your calls or actually get together with you in person...until there was an inevitable breakup, then she wanted to return to the fold, so to speak.

 

Andrea was totally "dick-matized" by the governor and sold out every one of her CDB friends and Michonne for a warm bed and some weenie.  I honestly believed she would have stood back and watched the governor maim, torture, or even kill Michonne rather than risk her ridiculous "first lady" status in Woodbury.  

 

Hers was one of the few deaths on this show that I was actively rooting for.  Well, hers and Laurie's.  I found them both pretty much equally vile.  

Edited April 13, 2016 by Persnickety1

[Mreid]

I just started binge watching this show a week ago and Im already on season 3 I love it!!!

[ghoulina]

Hers was one of the few deaths on this show that I was actively rooting for.  Well, hers and Laurie's.  I found them both pretty much equally vile.

 

I never hated Lori, but she did bug at times. Andrea, I couldn't stand from day one and that never changed. At least Lori realized her flaws and tried to change in season 3, Andrea never did. 

 

When Andrea was dying and said, "I just didn't want anyone to get killed" (paraphrasing), I wanted to let out a big ol Phil McGraw - "How's that working out for ya?"

 

She was simply not capable of self reflection. All of her abandoning her friends for the Guv aside, it was her constant need to prove herself that drove me nuts. She wanted to act like some well seasoned, gun toting militia member and nearly got people in her group killed because of it. She had no interest in working as a team, she had to be a big shot and right where the action was. It was maddening. 

[AngelaHunter]

Quote

All of her abandoning her friends for the Guv aside

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I didn't see her abandoning her friends. I saw her as wandering in a wilderness, hungry, cold, in constant danger and very ill. Suddenly she's in a real town, with food, hot water, medicine, soft beds and an attractive man who looks at her with desire and admiration. Then there's Michonne, who for reasons that Andrea can't understand, is snarling and scowling cryptically about how this place isn't what it seems, but gives absolutely no logical reason at all, strangely keeping anything she'd learned a big secret from Andrea.  

What would I do? I guess I'd be as disloyal and selfish as Andrea, and pick Woodbury and my life over spending more time huddled in the forest to freeze and starve and maybe be eaten by zombies, in order to be blindly loyal to Michonne, who hates Woodbury and the Gov, because, well who knows? She never said. 

[ghoulina]

I agree that Michonne did not make it clear enough what her issue with the Guv/Woodbury was, and I might have been temped to stay as well. But later it became quite clear that there were problems. CDB would have been willing to bring her back into the fold, she could have killed Philip in his sleep and stopped a lot of the craziness, but she just kept going along with him. 

But, as you can see with my above post, that wasn't my main issue with her. That's why I said, "all that aside" - because I do realize there would be a strong desire for comfort and security. But even within the walls of Woodbury, she was the same old Andrea. Always trying to prove herself, never content with the responsibilities she was given. It grated. Badly. 

[Enero]

On 5/9/2016 at 11:55 AM, ghoulina said:

I agree that Michonne did not make it clear enough what her issue with the Guv/Woodbury was, and I might have been temped to stay as well. But later it became quite clear that there were problems. CDB would have been willing to bring her back into the fold, she could have killed Philip in his sleep and stopped a lot of the craziness, but she just kept going along with him. 

But, as you can see with my above post, that wasn't my main issue with her. That's why I said, "all that aside" - because I do realize there would be a strong desire for comfort and security. But even within the walls of Woodbury, she was the same old Andrea. Always trying to prove herself, never content with the responsibilities she was given. It grated. Badly. 

Agreed.  I will never understand why she went back to Woodbury after learning that the Governor tried to kill Michonne, violated Maggie and shot up the prison.  She had one more chance to go with CDB after Rick and the Governor met in Arrow on the Doorpost, but she instead went back to Woodbury then the next day decided she needed to get out of there and thus made a run for it. It was stupid. She failed of course in her attempt to runaway and her fate was then sealed. I couldn't decide if her choices were contrived plotting by the writers or her being an idiot and a victim of her own hubris

 

On 5/8/2016 at 6:36 PM, AngelaHunter said:

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I didn't see her abandoning her friends. I saw her as wandering in a wilderness, hungry, cold, in constant danger and very ill. Suddenly she's in a real town, with food, hot water, medicine, soft beds and an attractive man who looks at her with desire and admiration. Then there's Michonne, who for reasons that Andrea can't understand, is snarling and scowling cryptically about how this place isn't what it seems, but gives absolutely no logical reason at all, strangely keeping anything she'd learned a big secret from Andrea.  

What would I do? I guess I'd be as disloyal and selfish as Andrea, and pick Woodbury and my life over spending more time huddled in the forest to freeze and starve and maybe be eaten by zombies, in order to be blindly loyal to Michonne, who hates Woodbury and the Gov, because, well who knows? She never said. 

Well I think the bond between Andrea and Michonne started to sever as soon as they entered Woodbury. Andrea was pretty sore about Michonne not opening up, telling her who the pets were etc. She even told Michonne "I feel like I hardly know you." That was Andrea's out. Even though Michonne saved her, took care of her. Hell she wouldn't have survived to make it to Woodbury without Michonne. She didn't feel like she knew her and thus ultimately didn't trust her.  She showed that on several occasions most notably, when she didn't leave Woodbury with Michonne and accused her of convincing CBD that the Governor was bad.  With regards to Michonne and her vagueness, yes she could've said more but would Andrea have believed her? The minute Andrea stepped foot in Woodbury she was enthralled by the Governor. So much so that she failed to see that he had no intentions of giving them their weapons back or letting them go. He told them he would return their weapons, give them food and ammunition and even a car to go on their way the next morning. However, when Michonne asked for her weapon back etc. he refused. This is one of many reasons why Michonne didn't trust the Governor. Compare that to how she responded to Rick when she came upon the prison and there's a vast difference. Yes. She was cold to him, but he kept his word. He patched her up and he returned her weapon. I think that along with the her seeing the bond between CBD when they discovered Carol was okay, caused her to slowly lower her walls to them. 

Edited May 12, 2016 by Enero

[Nashville]

On May 12, 2016 at 9:18 AM, Enero said:

Well I think the bond between Andrea and Michonne started to sever as soon as they entered Woodbury. Andrea was pretty sore about Michonne not opening up, telling her who the pets were etc. She even told Michonne "I feel like I hardly know you." That was Andrea's out. Even though Michonne saved her, took care of her. Hell she wouldn't have survived to make it to Woodbury without Michonne. She didn't feel like she knew her and thus ultimately didn't trust her.  She showed that on several occasions most notably, when she didn't leave Woodbury with Michonne and accused her of convincing CBD that the Governor was bad.  With regards to Michonne and her vagueness, yes she could've said more but would Andrea have believed her? The minute Andrea stepped foot in Woodbury she was enthralled by the Governor. So much so that she failed to see that he had no intentions of giving them their weapons back or letting them go. He told them he would return their weapons, give them food and ammunition and even a car to go on their way the next morning. However, when Michonne asked for her weapon back etc. he refused. This is one of many reasons why Michonne didn't trust the Governor. Compare that to how she responded to Rick when she came upon the prison and there's a vast difference. Yes. She was cold to him, but he kept his word. He patched her up and he returned her weapon. I think that along with the her seeing the bond between CBD when they discovered Carol was okay, caused her to slowly lower her walls to them. 

This above all else.  Andrea's hubris is unbelievable.  If Michonne had simply turned her head when she saw Andrea's panicked post-Farm rush through the woods, Andrea would've been dead within a week - taken by fever, or undergoing whatever tortuous process involves conversion to zombie shit.  Instead Michonne chooses to rescue Andrea, nurses this person Michonne "hardly knows" through sickness - and what is her reward?  It's for Andrea to go Mean Girl on her as soon as they get to Woodbury:

• Leaving Michonne in her dust to go skipping off and play with her New BFFs.
• Whenever Michonne does try to express misgivings - which she could have articulated better - Andrea tries to convince Michonne she herself is the problem, and the Woodberries (and the Gub in particular) are just peachy.  
• Andrea wanted a place like Woodbury (its surface appearance, anyway) to be real - so when Andrea found it she immediately decided it WAS real, slapped on the rose-colored glasses, and wouldn't hear a word against it.  Never mind any/all evidence to the contrary (the withholding of their own weapons), or the attitude Andrea labels as Michonne's unfounded paranoia is what helped keep Andrea's ass alive to make it to Woodbury in the first place.

Andrea was always convinced she was The Smartest Person In the Room® - once again, despite all evidence to the contrary.

[BooksRule]

I just finished watching the season 3 AMC marathon.  I hadn't seen it in a while.  Some thoughts:

I don't like Andrea any better than before.  The only tiny bit of sympathy I had for her was when she and Michonne first entered Woodbury and Andrea wanted to stay.  I can understand wanting security, food, cleanliness, etc. but as soon as she realized that something was off, she should have left.  That's when my sympathy went away.  And, even though I knew how it would end, I still yelled at her when she was using her feet to try to grab the pliers and STOPPED so that she could have a conversation with the dying Milton.  'Talk while you work, idiot!'  (When poor Milton said 'you should hurry', I sensed an unspoken 'idiot' in his voice.)

I liked the way Hershel's attitude towards Glen had changed over time.  He had gone from referring to Glen as 'that Asian boy' to calling him the 'son he never had'.  I loved the little smile he had when Glen left the cell after telling him that he was going to marry Maggie.

'Clear' never was one of my particular favorites (although I liked it okay), but I thought it was really good.  I felt so bad for Morgan (especially when he was talking about the walkie-talkie.  'You were never there!')  I also liked that we saw the beginnings of a spark between Rick and Michonne.  And, 'Clear' gave us this exchange:  Rick: "We're eating the man's food now?"  Michonne (crunch, crunch):  "Mat says 'Welcome'."

Finally, Carl was really acting like a real snot by the end of the season, wasn't he?

[Nashville]

In re-watching S3, I realized I’d forgotten just how full of herself Andrea was.

Andrea had her head so far up her own ass, she resembled a human Möbius strip.

[AngelaHunter]

On 2/5/2018 at 2:39 AM, Nashville said:

In re-watching S3, I realized I’d forgotten just how full of herself Andrea was.

I admit I liked her, but also found hysterically funny something in a review I read, probably on the old TwoP forum. It concerned Andrea barging in when Rick and the Gov were having their big sit-down. The Gov dismisses her and the reviewer said something like, "One or both of them might not leave that building alive, but the bright side is that neither will have to spend his last moments on earth with Andrea."

[Iju]

i'm on S5 but i watched S2 with my sister (she hadn't seen it) and i was just thinking of how much rick annoyed me. i don't even know why he was chosen to be the main character. at first, i thought the story would be like rick being a normal person and being lurched into this horror world and scrambling to survive, all the while watching and learning from others of what to do. that seemed interesting. and S1 really made it look like that. but when he reunited with his family that's when everything fell apart. rick, who barely knows a single thing about zombie and how they work, suddenly becomes the leader of the entire group, all because he's back with lori and carl. there's no explanation why shane is suddenly kicked down since everyone was doing fine. and yes i know he was obsessed with lori and carl, but he also protected the group (beating up carol's husband). but whatever that's leading off.

i have a lot of mixed feelings about this season. but so far this and 1 are my favourites. the one thing that angered me throughout the entire arc is that they were trying to set up some sort of life at the prison when i was convinced for a few episodes that they were planning to stay and while and move on.....because who would be that stupid to think they can stay somewhere for long when the whole reason why they found the prison is because their home wasn't safe? i didn't understand how they were like "welp that didn't work...this totally will!" you don't NEED to show me twice. this world isn't safe enough to hang out in one place for a long time, let alone for the rest of your life. so the entire time i was watching it, i was nearly pulling my hair out on how the show was so deadset on making it look like they could live in the prison when it SO obvious it would never work out. it was a waste of storytelling.

then there's rick. mixed feelings on him too. he's enjoyable enough in the beginning, and i was 1/2% away from crying when he broke down when lori died. (it's so damn unfair she was eaten anyway. the show doesn't give a shit what character dies man. 😭😭) i could understand him for the most part, but when the gov becomes involved i started to become bitter to the rick taste. in S2, i knew rick made wrong choice after wrong choice, but for some reason i couldn't get mad at him. maybe it was his naivete, his gentle, subtle innocence. idk. but whatever feelings i could struggle to make up for rick man did S3 provide. i was SO tired of rick being unable to make the simplest of damn decisions. it's not cute anymore. it's annoying. and i think the show is doing this on purpose considering that this is the very flaw that shane hounded him on in the previous season, but doesn't change that it annoyed me so much. carl jumps into rick about it as well, but more on that later. 

then for the plot, andrea is suddenly stupid for who knows why. yes, i hated her just as a lot of you did with her tyranny with the gov, but i had a different heart when she finally had the wool pulled away from her eyes and did everything to fix what she had done. i'm really glad that she changed in the end, although i'm not upset with her death. with all the mess she made, i think it's justified not only her dying but the way she died. it was only fair, the chick had it coming. 

now the good parts. carl. my darling carl. i had already had my heart set on him in S2 when he tried his best to mature faster and be a useful member of the group. he did do that stupid kiddy mistake of messing around with the walker, but he matured almost instantly after that - he couldn't afford to do anything like that ever again. then poor boy was forced to shoot his mother and that really evolved him. the entire, and i mean ENTIRE season he knocked it out the park. i don't know if there's more than one writer working on carl, but they LOVE him and i love them for it. now on what i had said in my rick rant, i thought it was so on point and very fair that he told his own father off on how undecided he is and because of that, lives were lost. i'm not blaming rick for his breakdown, but it's not his place to act like anyone else trying to make things better is so terrible now, when he had chance after chance to make things better.

hershel - he was my no 1 most hated character in S2 and somehow he's enjoyable to watch in S3. and that in itself is an achievement. i'm assuming that it's not just me and a lot of people hated him so the writers had to work through hell and high waters to make him able to be seen to the public eye. i have no more qualms with him and i was actually so bitter i couldn't hate him anymore i hated him just for the sake of it. in the end i couldn't go through with it.

daryl - he was already my favourite character since i saw him, i believe. he only improves with every episode. i never had an qualms with him and i still don't. i believe i never will, too. carl took his place as no 1 but he's pretty high on my list. as a person who is extremely close with my family i completely felt for him when he gave up everything for merle. speaking of-

i honestly forgot all about merle until he appeared again. when he showed his face i actually cheered. i loved how raw and unlikable he was. i don't know why. i loved that no matter how dirty and rotten he'd gotten he still would do anything for his brother, and as soon as he found out he was alive he was willing to quit everything to find him. i'm a sucker for that. in some ways i like them better than sam and dean winchester. what i also liked about him and daryl was their relationship is that i saw myself almost exactly in this situation i currently have with my older brother. thing is, daryl is the only one who understands merle and why he does what he does because he was him. but now he's changing and wants merle to change with him, but he also knows how hard it is. that's why he's so compassionate to him when everyone else isn't. for how troublesome merle is, daryl still stands by what he said: "No him, no me." merle is a sympathetic character in my own opinion because he was a "bad guy" only because he believed he was, which is related to his previous abuse growing up. in the end, he grew from his ignorance and mistakes, and his death gutted me. he will always remain with me even being in S5.

final notes are, i didn't hate lori and found her as a great mother and not strong woman but a strong character. she was one of the most likable characters in S2 that kept me hanging on with that terrible, awful, foggy story. i didn't even think she would die tbh. i hated maggie for going up the stairs and ignoring carl when he begged "Please she's my mom" when lori had already told her to do it in the first place. i wouldn't watch this season fully because of their stupid obsession with the prison and the whole andrea problem but i would probably skip around for the badass carl and daryl parts.

[Spartan Girl]

On 8/27/2014 at 10:59 AM, mandolin said:

I think Lori does see that she made (many, many) mistakes, and while she tells Rick that she's been a bad wife and mother, I don't think her admitting that necessarily equates to her trying to be better from that point on. Every time in early season 3 when she thanks Rick for something, it seems almost condescending. "I appreciate what you're doing...we all do, but..." Always a "but" with her. "We need to talk about things, Rick." Lori! Let the man get a secure place to live.

This, and Rick saw right through it. His eye-roll and “you say this now…” response to Lori saying that she knew he was doing what he thought was right was pretty justified after the Shane fallout. If that was her “apology” it was too little, too late.

I don’t care if she was horrified by Shane’s death or the fact that Carl put him down as a Walker. Rick was defending himself and Carl was defending his dad. She could have avoided all this by letting Shane leave when he wanted to, but noooooooo…