The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 6 Watch Online Free
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The Walking Dead needed to step back and take a breather after the events of last week’s ‘Killer Within‘ – if for no other reason than to allow the losses suffered by Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) group a chance to be addressed. There’s still plenty to be done in the episode, though; Andrea (Laurie Holden) tries to convince Michonne (Danai Gurira) that her fears about the Governor (David Morrissey) and Woodbury are unfounded, while everyone back at the prison rallies together to make things safer while keeping their new ray of hope from being extinguished.
The most intriguing aspect of ‘Say the Word’ is the strikingly silent Rick, who has splintered off from the group to perhaps find some closure in his wife’s sudden death. Rick wanders the cellblock, delivering second-deathblows to anything that shuffles toward him, and at one point even tosses Glenn (Steven Yeun) aside with little more compassion than he has shown the walkers. It’s likely because this is Rick that we’re talking about, and the loss he’s suffered is a major one, but his decent into (temporary?) madness is one of the more convincing looks into grief and loss that The Walking Dead has managed to convey in any season so far. It also does a nice job of exposing the emotional fragility of a man who has lost so much for a group of people who have, at one time or another, doubted his ability to keep them safe. It’s a daunting task and the burden has clearly taken its toll.
Woodbury is like nothing else in The Walking Dead’s universe. During the cold opening of this week’s episode, all the playing children, grilling food, and people partying seemed like a flashback akin to the second season’s Lori revelations, but no! This is Woodbury; there are zombies outside the walls, armed guards, and a taste of the old way of life. That’s what Andrea loves about it; it’s also what Michonne distrusts about the place.
Andrew Lincoln has really picked up the ball and run with it this week. That’s two weeks in a row he’s had a lot of difficult stuff to do. Last week, there was his big emotional breakdown that capped things off, and this week we get to see Rick’s further degeneration into the depths of madness that were hinted at for him way back in the first season when he used his walkie-talkies to try to communicate to Morgan. While it didn’t work then – Morgan has yet to show up again – it did make Rick feel better. Without that support system in place now, Rick uses a different method of getting his head right once more, and that’s to storm off into a zombie-infested prison with an axe.
Once again, the special effects of the show are a highlight, and with special effects genius Greg Nicotero behind the camera, they get used to full effect. There are a couple of stand-out zombie sequences this week, with bladed weapons getting used with brutal effectiveness by Rick and Michonne. Michonne taking her katana to zombies will never get old, if only because Nicotero and company use such creativity in just how the bodies will be split and cleaved. The Rick hallway shot in particular was stellar, but Nicotero has some technique as well. He did the highly regarded webisodes for the show, and it’s obvious he’s got a flair for the visual that allows him to make some clever camera movements and downright brilliant shot compositions.
There’s also some great tension in certain moments tonight, particularly when Daryl and Maggie go off to look for baby formula. It’s nice to see how the characters in our familiar group are responding to the change in situation. They’ve lost multiple group members in a short time; that’s the kind of trauma that can provoke some intense reactions, particularly after eight months of successfully keeping together and alive during the winter. Daryl and, to a lesser extent, Maggie respond to the multiple deaths and the baby’s birth by putting themselves at risk for the greater good. Glenn does the same thing in a different sense as he wanders into the prison to find a hatchet-crazed Rick. Neither of these is a smart decision, but at least Norman Reedus gets to tap into Daryl’s emotional well in a few important scenes, particularly when he’s reminded of his failure to find Sophia.
Still, it feels like Michonne and Andrea are going nowhere fast, despite a solid script from Angela Kang. Michonne finds more validation for her suspicions, and Andrea gets to see that Michonne was wisely suspicious of Woodbury for good reason as she watches some unusual local customs. Despite Michonne’s explorations and Andrea’s presence at the local’s entertaining Fight Club, the real creepy reveal was saved for the audience (at least for now) and it’s nice to see just how much the television series returned to the comic source this week, at least for some very important plot points they felt compelled to include after wide divergence from Robert Kirkman’s world.
Multiple threads have been changed or dropped, but when the comic book fans are waiting and hoping for the stuff we know and love, it tends to show up. It may be on a different time line, but it’s generally there. I can only wonder just how far The Walking Dead will push the boundaries of good taste (and cable television) when it comes to the Woodbury crew. The show seems to be able to get away with a lot as far as gore and language goes, but just how much actual horror will they be able to tap into?
That’s the delicate balancing act the show is getting right this season. When characters die, it means something this time around, unlike a lot of deaths from the second season. No one is safe anymore. The Walking Dead has racked up quite a body count, as Carl mentioned when he ran down a list of potential baby names, but it’s the moments without someone dying that have really improved. The threats to the group are more real now than ever, from the omnipresent zombie hordes to the prisoners and to one of Woodbury’s Merle-centric research teams.
While the focus is really on Rick and the Governor, there’s quite a bit going on in ‘Say The Word’ – like Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) on the search for baby formula, and Glenn admitting to Hershel (Scott Wilson) that he wished they’d killed all the prisoners at first glance. He even says this within earshot of Oscar (Vincent Ward) and Axel (Lew Temple), who’re helping out by digging graves for those who were lost last episode. (On that note, it looks as though the survivors are counting Carol (Melissa McBride) among the casualties, but there’s something fishy about her disappearance, so it might be too soon to count her out just yet.)
What lies at the core of the episode is the growing comparison between Rick and the Governor – since they’re both just “trying to do right by the people [they] care about.” As a result, Rick seems well on his way to complete psychosis, while Michonne (courtesy of the increasingly crazy notes she finds) becomes convinced that the Governor is, by now, fixed firmly in his own lunacy – a fact that was well established by Phillip’s need to keep around a wall of fish tanks filled with human heads and a zombified daughter whose hair he still takes the time to brush. While Michonne required little evidence to encourage her to leave, it took more convincing for Andrea to look past the apparent safety and security of Woodbury and see what kind of world the Governor is building. And now it may be too late for her to leave it all behind.
There’s an underlying menace to both men right now; one has seemingly lost control, while one has given over to his insanity, and in doing so, managed to seize a great deal of control. It’s hard to tell which one is more dangerous at the moment, but judging from the fact that he pals around with Merle (Michael Rooker) and considers walkers a viable addition to some already lowbrow entertainment, the early money may be on the Governor.
Once we find out just who is on the phone with Rick, though, it might be time to adjust our bets.
