Photo Credit: AMC
I’m one of these people who strongly believes in Karma. If you do something mean-spirited, it will come back on you ten times over. Boy, if there ever were an example of that, tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead was it.
Rumors about tonight’s episode “Killer Within” have been circulating all week long. Most of us already knew that someone was going to sound the lockdown alarms and cause the prison to be overrun by a herd. We just didn’t know who did it, why, and who would die as a result. At the beginning of the episode, we see bait being set and the locks on the gates being broken. We can’t see who is doing it, but we can see the person’s shoes. For those who are familiar at all with prisons, you should quickly recognize those shoes as prison-issue. So one of our prisoners is the bad guy, but why? Axel (Lew Temple) and Oscar (Vincent Ward) really seem like good guys, just trying to survive and not wanting to hurt anybody. Do we have another prisoner we haven’t met yet? Hmmm…
Who turns out to be the perpetrator is a stroke of brilliance on the writers part. Rick (Andrew Lincoln), all I have to say is if you are going to lead a man to his death, you better make sure he’s dead because he may come back and bite you in the ass. When we see Rick leaving Andrew (Markice Moore) to be devoured by a group of walkers in “Sick”, we all assumed he was dead. But, the little squirt survives somehow and comes back with a vengeance – literally. Honestly, I can’t say that I blame him. If I were left for dead like that, I’d probably want a little payback too. Not to mention, the prison was theirs to begin with, and it was time to take it back.
In the end, Andrew does get his pound of flesh, and we lose some dear characters. T-Dog (Iron E. Singleton) is bitten, and instead of letting the disease take its course, he throws himself at a group of walkers to save Carol’s (Melissa McBride) life. If you know some of the storylines in the comics, you’ll know that T-Dog’s fate tonight was very similar to Carol’s fate in the comic book series. I really love how the writers are switching around the characters and how each of them dies. First, we had Hershel (Scott Wilson) being bitten and having his leg amputated. This was the fate of Dale in the comics. Now, we have T-Dog getting the fate that was destined for Carol. This is just superb writing because it keeps all of us guessing, and it goes to show you that you can’t count on the Kirkman comics as a “script” for this series. Regardless, I am going to miss T-Dog. He really didn’t have much of a role since day one, but he was a good guy with a good heart.
The next death wasn’t as surprising, and I don’t know about the rest of the fandom, but I fully expected it. In the comic book series, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) as well as her baby dies after being shot in a prison assault. But, with the prison being overrun tonight and Lori already almost at full-term, most of us probably guessed that Lori and possibly the baby wouldn’t survive. The scene where Rick realizes that his wife is gone and that he can never make amends is particularly touching. Andrew Lincoln, my hat’s off to you because you did a mind-blowing job. God have mercy, I have been pissed at Rick for the past couple of episodes, but I honestly felt sorry for him. That really sucked, man.
So, T-Dog (and quite possibly Carol) is gone now, and Rick’s wife is dead. Now what? I think it’s going to be interesting if this changes Rick at all. I’m sorry, I’m sure I’m going to get egg all over my face for this comment, but Rick brought this all on himself. If Rick hadn’t been so calloused to send Andrew to his death (or at least tried to), none of this would have ever happened. T-Dog would still be alive and quite possibly Lori would have survived childbirth too. This is something he’ll have to live with for the rest of his life, and I’m hoping now he may have a different perspective on who to help and who to let die.
Back at the Woodbury camp, it appears that Merle (Michael Rooker) is bound and determined to set out and look for his brother, with Andrea (Laurie Holden) surprisingly willing to help. This partnership does feel a little strange, as the last time we saw these two characters together was in season one, with Merle calling Andrea “sugar tits”, and Andrea saying she’d rather die than hook up with Merle. Now, they have this peculiar bond after being left behind by the same group of people. It’s going to be interesting once these two groups finally are brought back together. Either everybody’s going to hug and make up, or all hell’s going to break loose.
All in all, this was a fantastic episode. I used to think that there was no way the season 2 finale could ever be topped, but I was wrong because the writers certainly outdid themselves tonight. With an episode of this caliber and it being only episode number 4, I can’t wait for what the remainder of the season has in store.
