Don’t Suffer Alone

Review of The Walking Dead 308 “Made to Suffer”
reviewer: RC Murphy

If the scene inside the homes of our loyal brigadiers was anything like the inside of the Zombie Survival Crew command center before the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead aired…you have my sympathies. We were all on edge—anticipating and dreading the hour to come. Last year’s mid-season finale left even the strongest zombie slayer in tears. It set a very high bar for what we wanted to see from season three. And you know what? It delivered. By forty minutes into the show, it felt like we’d run a marathon right alongside Team Prison and Team Woodbury. But wait; there is a new team in town—Tyrese and his small band of survivors.

This episode in particular had a lot of interesting pairings throughout. We’ll go through a few of them while covering the wild ride of episode 308.

Caution: There may be spoilers below!

Carl, Tyrese, and Sasha

Tyrese hit the screen swinging for the fences. His first moments were strong, gruesome, and showed us exactly the flavor of survivor he is. He is a leader cut from similar cloth as Rick when Rick first joined up with the group at the quarry. The road through the Zombiepocalypse is not an easy one. How on earth is Tyrese capable of still caring at a level Rick abandoned during their time at the farm—when he was trapped in the bar and had to kill to save himself, Glenn, and Hershel? Carl recognized this quality in Tyrese, not when he first found his group in the boiler room of the prison fighting for their lives, but when Tyrese told him they take care of their own dead. Carl has fashioned himself to be the same sort of leader. He does what is necessary to spare the people he’s taken it upon himself to keep safe. Carl is fully prepared to bury his father and take charge—not out of malice, but a sense of duty. Someone has to ensure the safety of the women and Hershel. Whether or not Carl and Tyrese will get along, it is hard to say. Tyrese did step up to Carl’s defense when the very vocal Sasha tore into him. She is a wild card, demanding respect and trust blindly from the people they meet along the way. Obviously she has not run into the sort of vile people Team Prison has.

The Governor, Andrea, and Michonne

This is a pairing we’ve seen before on The Walking Dead. However, the last time these three shared screen time, it was not nearly as intense. The Governor had more time to pour his crazy-laced Flavor-aid down Andrea’s throat before this confrontation. She’s bought into his lies hook, line, and sinker…until she actively catches him trying to keep her out of the firefight by giving her house-call duty. It is hard to tell if Andrea was just being petulant or if she smelled a hint of the real Governor peeking out in his panic to contain the situation. It was very apparent, in the time they’d been set up as a town, the Governor and his men had always been the aggressors in altercations with the living they deemed as enemies. This lack of true defense know-how leads him to react in a way, which has become, unfortunately, typically American. The Governor calls Rick and his group terrorists, using fear to rile his people up enough to give him permission to run them down fox-hunt style. He will eat up Woodbury’s resources, resources gathered to keep them alive and safe from the zombies beating down their doors, trying to get revenge for what has been done to him personally—all in the name of justice. Yee haw! Michonne had the right idea—cut the snake off at the head. Sure, the Governor has lieutenants to take his place, but they don’t have the appeal he does. Something about him always struck her as wrong. Boy did she find out why when she stumbled into his Man Cave and discovered Penny, the biter daughter he’s been keeping locked up like an asylum patient, and the infamous fish tanks o’ heads. The fight between Michonne and the Governor was long anticipated and did not disappoint. At certain points, it seemed as though Michonne would join the heads in the tanks. When Andrea came to see what was going on, the tension between her and Michonne was dang near another body standing between them. How rattled is Andrea’s faith in the Governor now?

Ow, sorry, I need a break. There is something in my eye. Okay, who is next?

Rick and Shane

You’re not reading that wrong. Just when we thought Rick had gotten over his issues with his former best friend, they come roaring back. This time in the form of a visual hallucination—far more startling than the auditory hallucinations he suffered after Lori’s death. It was so out of the blue, so staggering, I did not know how to react. Shane is dead, really dead. Bullet in the brainpan dead. The guy Rick mistook for Shane looked nothing like him. Were we wrong to think Rick was mentally capable of taking the reigns back from Daryl?

Daryl and Merle

Since fans found out Merle was returning to The Walking Dead as more than a hallucination of Daryl’s behalf, they’ve been clamoring for a Dixon Reunion. In my head, I saw it as the brothers sitting down to stew some squirrels and share a couple warm beers, telling of their best walker kills. Unfortunately, the writers for the show aren’t nearly as nice as I am (looking at you, Mr. Kirkman). First off, the Merle Daryl knew back when he left the quarry to grab supplies at the department store is long gone. This is a more refined Merle, clean and given a purpose in life—help the Governor save the human race no matter what. Heavy emphasis on No Matter What. Merle has some sense; he didn’t blindly chase after Michonne and reported her dead, instead. Admittedly, he was distracted by Glenn and Maggie and learning the location of their new safe haven. That distraction became his downfall in Team Woodbury. Unfortunately, his strange fixation on finding Daryl is what leads to their reunion. Both were bound and dragged before the people of the town to pass judgment—are they terrorists or will they be set free? The Governor used them as a scapegoat to cover his backside. That is good leadership.

Now for the really bad news…we have to wait until February 10th 2013 at 9:00 PM e/p to find out what will happen to Merle and Daryl.

If you get The Walking Dead withdrawals, AMC will be running all three seasons, up to episode 308, of the show on New Years Eve and New Years Day. Keep an eye on Twitter, some of your ZSC commanders may live-tweet a few of the episodes.

What do you think will happen to Daryl and Merle? Let us know in the comments below.