ZOMBIES: RECAP - "S**t pops off early" in 'The Walking Dead: Say the Word, Ep. 5, Season 3

by Bowie Ibarra

Because I was going to let 'The Walking Dead:  Say the Word' start on DVR so I could fast-forward through commercials, here is the first text from one of the resident weapons experts for ZBF.com:

Weapons Expert - HOLY S**T!!!!!
ZombieBloodFights.com - Let me guess.  Walking Dead.  I'm about to watch.  No spoilers.
WE - s**t is popping off already!!!!
ZBF.com - Rock!  I'm going to finish watching 'Payback' and watch the DVR.
WE - Wooly's gone apeshit!!!!!  Hooah!!!

And that's how I was lead into the episode.

PARTY IN WOODBURY!  PARTY IN WOODBURY!

First off, was I the only one that thought the opening moments featuring the party in Woodbury featured the Ghost of Lori?  LOL!

Anyway, the scientist presents Andrea with a cup of cold water that the ghost of Lori handed to him.  She's impressed, but its using energy resources he could be using for his experiments.

Conspicuously absent from the morning activities is the Governor, who is combing the hair of a little girl who is sitting at his feet back in his house.  They are listening to an interpretation of Chopin's 'Etude No. 3 in E', known popularly as 'Tristesse'.  'Tristesse' is French for 'Sadness', similar to 'Triste' in Spanish, which means the same thing.  It's one of my most favorite classical pieces.

 The trouble is, the girl is a zombie.  Since Governor Philip said his daughter had survived the initial zpoc, he meant he kept his dead daughter around to keep him company.  When she gets out of hand, he places a bag over her head and preps to lock her away, telling her, 'Daddy still loves you'.  But did Michone just watch what was happening down on the street below?

Moments later, the governor gets on his porch for another inspirational speech to the people of Woodbury, claiming it all started with 'nine people in an apartment', to where they were today.  Everyone holds up their glasses of iced water in honor of all those that came before, looking a bit like they are, indeed, 'drinking the kool-aid' of the Governor.

While all the stump-speech hubbub is going on, Michone sneaks into the Governor's house to get her Hanzo sword.  While she's there, she snoops around, seeing the pic of Philip's family, a strange book with a list of names ending in 'Penny' before a series of pages with hash marks.

But before Michone can investigate movement behind a door, the Governor, scientist, and Merle return.  The scientist wants to stop the Woodbury City Faire to finish an experiment he started.  But since it will take him 6-10 days, the Gov. shoots down the idea.  Before they leave, Michone has already ninja'd her way out of the house.

She shows up in the back of a warehouse where she finds captive ghouls.  She promptly releases and dispatches them with her Hanzo sword.  Thought we get some CGI action, the visceral Nicotero effects are on display with a head-stomp by Michone.  That's when some dude shows up to feed the zeds and drops his grub when he sees her.

I need to emphasize that again:  A dude shows up to feed the zeds.

Feed the zeds?  Feed them what?

So Michone has to go to the principal's office.  She tries to get under the Governor's skin to get kicked out to no avail.  She even tries to bring up 'Penny', but the Governor keeps a poker face at the mention.  He won't let her leave for whatever reason, and tries to recruit her again to be a part of his Woodbury Death Squad.  But before he knows it, she uses her ninja skills to take the sword from his hands and almost kills him.  She spares him and walks out.

The Governor tries to get Andrea to talk Michone into staying to no avail.  She tells him she slaughterd some captured zeds, making Andrea wonder for a moment.  Andrea tries to make Michone stay, but its no use.  She is let out of Woodbury on her own, leaving Andrea behind.

Meanwhile, The Governor's death squad goes to a secret location that has a strange device that attracts zeds and makes them fall into a trap.  The squad, led by Merle, recover the zeds like lobsters in a trap, find worthy candidates, and start pulling their teeth.

Night falls over the secured town (similar, but different than the secured town in 'Down the Road: On the Last Day'), and the Woodbury Jamboree culminates in one of the most glorious moments in ZDay TV History:

ZOMBIE BLOOD FIGHTS!!!

That's right!  The Governor has been providing the proverbial Roman 'Bread and Circus' for the people of Woodbury.  He gave them a day of food, iced beverages, and now the circus.

ZOMBIE BLOOD FIGHTS, BABY!  WOOHOOO!!

Here's how it plays out:  About six zeds are chained up in a circle, creating a fight space for the two competitors, Merle, and another dude with some pretty good hands.  Merle salutes Greg Nicotero's teacher, Tom Savini, with some one-armed push-ups before the fight begins.

Apparently, Merle took some kind of Tae-Kwon-Do class, because he hits his opponent with a spin kick before he responds with some kind of Capoeira/Eddie Gordo kick, and the two mix it up while trying to stay away from the chained (but toothless) zombies.

The whole event doesn't sit well with Andrea, who says the whole thing is sick.  But the governor says Woodbury 'needs entertainment' to 'make the people feel better about themselves'.  Then, echoing the philosophy of Roman gladiator battles for the ancient public, the Governor says it helps the people to 'not be afraid', very much like witnessing gladiator combat was supposed to desensitize the public to the brutality of war.

Bread and Circus in Woodbury during the zpoc, folks.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE PRISON....

Rick is still a mess as the WD Crew learns the baby is fine, but needs formula.  Daryle puts on his 'Man with No Name' poncho and takes Maggie on his Hog to find formula.

As that's going down, Rick snaps like a rubber band and goes on a (my fantasy) rampage through the prison.

Glenn occupies his time by digging a grave.  He lets the prisoners dig two others before going in to look for Rick.

Big Mistake.

When Glenn tries to talk Rick down, Rick assaults him and roams deeper into the prison.

Rick snaps like a rubber band as baby needs formula.  Daryl, Maggie, and Glenn make a formula run.  Glenn ends up digging three graves and lets the prisoners help as he goes off to find Rick.  When he finds Rick, he's in the zone and assaults Glenn.  It's clear to Glenn Rick isn't ready to leave, and he goes deeper into the prison.

Daryl and Maggie infiltrate an old nursery school and find formula. Also, a possum.

Daryl and Maggie returns to feed the baby. And while Carl rattles off the worst names in the world for the baby (read: the names of everyone from their WD crew who has died gruesome deaths.  Good job making everyone remember the gruesome fates of so many friends, little kid), the WD Black Angel Daryl bottle feeds the baby, and every one of 'Dixon's Vixens' in the world ovulates.

The next morning, Daryl leaves a 'Cherokee flower' for Carol's grave, though we have yet to see her remains and did not see her buried.

While the awkward moment of Carl bringing up the dead females of the group and Daryl feeding the bebe, Rick has found Lori's death bed.  The floor is bloody, and he finds the knife that cut her open.  But there is no sign of her.  It seems zeds dragged off her remains (?), and he finds the bullet Carl shot (?).

He also sees a zed fattened up from eating a lot of Lori.  Rick moves to the zed with the knife to cut him open.  After blasting its brain out by sticking his gun in its mouth and pulling the trigger, he moves to cut the zed open, but ends up stabbing it multiple times in its full belly.

After their tender moment, Rick takes a seat and spends the night in the room.  That's when the phone rings.

The phone rings?  WTF.

Rick answers it....

And that's the end of the episode.  Until next time, thanks for dropping by.  Please comment, like, share, and follow, because zombies, blood, and fights rock!

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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.

ZOMBIES: Recap - The Walking Dead kicks its fans square in the crotch with 'Killer Within', Ep. 4, Season 3

by Bowie Ibarra

Thank you for taking a moment from icing your crotch from the severe Krav Maga-style kick to the nads delivered courtesy of 'The Walking Dead'.  This season has been pretty amazing so far, and this one takes it to the limit and then goes further than anyone expected.  Here's the ZombieBloodFights.com take on one of the most horrifying episodes yet.

Brought to you by the Hyundai Zombie Death Dealer, Dodge Ram, and classic Chevy Suburban

THE LATEST WOODBURY NEWS

Meanwhile, back at the secured town of Woodbury, very much like the secured town of Beeville in 'Down the Road: On the Last Day', Michone takes a closer look at the vehicles and resources brought into town the day before.  She notices the bullet holes and blood on the vehicle when The Governor appears, trying to keep her and Andrea from leaving.  But he also pitches her a position as a recruit into his fire team/death squad, appealing to her survival and fighting skills.  She's not buying in, and walks back to her room with Andrea.

Michone takes a map and tries to form a plan with Andrea to run to the coast.  But Andrea is not sold on leaving.

Andrea leaves Michone and finds Merle, sharing the location of the farm where his brother is at.  She asks him if the Governor is to be trusted.  Since the Governor saved his life, his answer is yes and he leaves.

But he goes to visit the Governor and asks permission to go out and find his brother with Andrea's info.  Merle wants to take a team or go alone, but the Governor says he is needed here.  In fact, he puts the whole safety of the town on his shoulders.  But he says if more concrete info is found, the Governor would go with him.

Andrea visits the Governor back at his place and talks about her plans for leaving.  They share some whiskey and talk about themselves.  Andrea talks about the family she had lost.  The Governor reveals his wife died in a car accident before the zpoc hit, and his daughter survived.  Sounds fishy to me.  In the end, the Governor makes goo-goo eyes at Andrea and tries to keep her there with his silky voice and subtextual language.  Andrea is lured in by his snake charm, but pulls away and bails on the meeting.  Andrea leaves, but not before the Governor reveals his name as Phillip.

Also, no kiss out the door.  Now why would he do something like that with that kind of golden ticket for some sugar?

That's when Andrea returns to Michone and recommends staying just a few days more.  Michone is not happy with that.

THE HUGE DEVELOPMENT AT THE PRISON

The show opens with a mysterious person breaking out of the prison, setting dead deer as some kind of bait to lure zombies into the prison.  It looks like one of the prisoners.

While that's going down, members of the WD Crew are fortifying the prison.  Well, apart from Glenn and Maggie, who have spent the night and early morning banging it out in the guard tower.  After joining their friends, they find the two prisoners, Axel and Oscar, who were given a cell block have moved from their cell, claiming they hate being there.  Rick says they'll give them some supplies for a week to give them a start in the zombie wasteland.  One of the prisoners tries to make friends with Daryl to no avail and to the ridicule of his fellow prisoner.

Good old Herschel has grown tired of laying in bed and wants to go for a breath of fresh air.  The girls take him for a walk outside as they see the men come back in from gathering supplies and resources outside the prison.  Both groups are separated from each other by the series of prison gates, but are still close enough to share a moment, including Rick and Lori.

But a peculiar camera pan of Herschel, Carl, and the ladies begins, starting with Lori and an empty background.  And as per that suspicion, by the end of the pan with Carl, the zeds have somehow returned to the interior of the prison, and the panic sets in.  Herschel and his daughter find a secure spot, Lori, Carl, and Maggie are cut off and find another spot.  Rick and his team have to negotiate the locked gates to get to them.

 

But even inside the prison, Lori and gang find the interior to be overrun.

That's when the alarm goes off.  Rick and the others think the prisoners did it, but they're just as stumped as well, even with a gun to their faces.

As Rick and the others make their way in, T-Dogg gets bit trying to resecure a section of the prison.  Carol follows for an assist.  But it doesn't take long for them to get cornered.  In a final gesture of courage, T-Dogg sacrifices himself to give Carol a chance to escape.  And we get a great shot of some of the work of Greg Nicotero.

Lori, Maggie, and Carl find a hiding spot in a boiler room.  It's a pretty urgent need as Lori is having contractions from the stress.  It's baby time.

Rick and his team reach the alarm room and are jumped by the little guy that Rick locked out two episodes back.  He survived and caused the mayhem.  After a struggle, Rick and the little guy are held at gunpoint by Oscar.  Just when Rick thinks he's going to be blasted, he takes out the little guy and passes the gun over.

Lori knows she's going to have to have the baby, and the only way she will be delivering the baby is by c-section.  Maggie is going to have to use Carl's dirty knife for the procedure, and after she says a heartfelt goodbye to her son, powering him up one last time for the future, Maggie digs in with a great shot of the cut featuring more great work from Nicotero.  Maggie takes the baby from Lori's stomach into her grimy hands as Carl chooses to stay behind to put her mom down.  There's a great piano and violin-laden flashback back at the barn where daddy Rick tells Carl the shits going to get real and he's got to be ready for it.

And with that, he puts down his own mother and follows Maggie back out.

Rick and his team find the remains of T-Dogg, and also Carol's scarf.  When they return outside, they discover the news of Lori's birth as Maggie and Carl arrive.  With no Lori in sight, Rick and the WD crew know the answer.  And in a powerful moment, Rick, the backbone of the WD Crew, breaks down.  Rick had been distant from Lori, and they hadn't got along as best as they could.  They never had a chance to work things out.

But the big news now is how are they going to feed the baby and keep it quiet?

If there was one episode that highlighted how much you should tell those you care about what they mean to you, this was it.

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Enjoy the blog?  Share it with your friends using the 'Facebook', 'Blogger' and 'Twitter' buttons below.

Leave a comment below using your Google+ or Blogger account.

Follow Bowie on Twitter @wingback20

Follow Bowie's Facebook page.

Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuester.  His latest zombie story, The Fall of Austin, tells the story of military, police, convicts, and citizens of the Texas capitol as they deal with the zpoc.

You can network with Bowie and read about his Tex-Mexploitation stories at his personal website, ZombieBloodFights.com.