Mr. Harvey WALKS With The DEAD.

Season 3, Episode 10 “Home”

[photos: Gene Page/AMC]

Well, it’s just me today kids.

Just me. Nobody else.

Allllll alone.

Allllllllllllll aaaallllloooooonnnne.

Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Mr. Harvey, alas, without our Mr. Adair this week. We didn’t have our usual AMC’s THE WALKING DEAD viewing party Sunday, as both of us were attending a film premiere… one of mine in fact. It went quite well, thanks for asking. So! Schedules being what they are, and the arrival of the snowstorm that has hit us here in the Midwest, and the absence of Mr. Smith, our Master of the Tweet, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me, and me alone, in this much delayed edition of our reviews.

Sorry. I shall endeavour to entertain.

As always, the following contains SPOILERS and questionable behaviour, and the opinions of opinionated people, or, in this case, a people. Hiya. Consider yourself warned.

Here is where Dustin would give us some predictions, but I think it’s safe to say that we’ll see Rick get worse crazy, Andrea be awful, and a lot of talking that leads nowhere, but hey, let’s live in hope, shall we?

Onward!

We open with a recap of last week, and things aren’t starting off well, because we get to hear part of Andrea’s terrible speech again. Oh joy.

Ok, episode proper…

While keeping watch, Rick sees Ghost Lori out in the graveyard, but when he gets there, she’s gone. He sees her again, outside the fence, and goes to her, having something of a creepy reunion. He has an audience in Michonne, watching from a distance, who sees Rick talking to the empty air. She, of course, will maintain tradition and not say anything useful to anyone about this.

In Woodbury, Andrea is visited by the Governor, who is all nice to her in a completely manipulative fashion. He even praises her horrible speech, which should be an alarm bell, but this is Andrea after all. He is all “I’ve screwed up, I’m sorry, I’ve ruined everything, only you can save us now”, which hey, makes perfect sense as Andrea is a recent arrival and everyone in town barely knows her, and oh hey, her old friends are the ones who just attacked the town… of course she’s the leader Woodbury needs. Andrea continues her awfulness by appearing to think this makes any kind of sense at all, and not seeing that the Governor is up to something. Oh Laurie Holden, how I wish they were writing your character worth your talent. But no, they’re not.

We then jump to Merle and Daryl, off on their bonding trip, where it’s pretty clear that Daryl is less than thrilled with Merle, blood or no. Oddly enough, Merle seems to have a problem with scavenging supplies from nearby houses, calling it “looting”. Wha’? That’s where you draw the line, Merle? He then tells Daryl that by now, the Governor is probably killing all of Team Zombie at the prison, but hey, no worries, right, because fishing. Really.

Back at the prison, Glenn is having his own bit of crazy, or at least crazed, not that we can blame him. His experience at the hand of Merle and what the Governor did to Maggie have made him quite focused on both the security of the prison, and wanting to kill the Governor. Michonne actually opens her mouth to back up Glenn, and everyone is stunned. Glenn says they should sneak back into Woodbury and assassinate the Governor, saying no one would know they were coming. Hershel points out that no one knew they were coming the first time, and that went oh so well, didn’t it? He thinks they should run, but Glenn points out that they have a baby now, and Hershel is in no position to run, literally. Maggie storms out, and Glenn and Carl decide to go find the hole Tyreese and Co. came through.

Returning to Woodbury, Milton continues to display his lack of survival skills, and lets the Governor sneak up on him while he does an alpha wave/meditation thing. It leads to a conversation that is so full of alarm bells that if Milton hasn’t figured out that Governor is unhinged then he’s a moron. From asking if Milton would take a bullet for him (hint: say yes to the crazy man, Milton), to saying that he needs Milton to keep an eye on “untrustworthy” Andrea, if there was any doubt that the earlier conversation with Andrea was nonsense, well, consider it banished.

And that’s Andrea’s cue, where she finds that far from the town needing her, she can’t get straight answers about where the Governor is, from the guards on the wall, to a CLEARLY LYING Milton. Seriously, it’s like Andrea just believes whatever anyone tells her, even when she knows they’re lying. If that makes no sense, it’s because this makes no sense.

At the prison, it’s obvious that the previously safe parts of the prison aren’t that safe anymore, with walkers inside again. Team Zombie talks and argues, with Glenn deciding to scout the far end of the prison with Maggie. She, on the other hand, is having none of it, and the talk that both have been avoiding sort of happens, and Maggie tells Glenn what the Governor did to her. When he asks if she was raped, she tells him no, but then defends her actions by pointing out that she had just listened to Glenn being tortured… both of them are scarred by those events, and both of them still don’t know how to talk to the other the right way. It’s sad… they both are hurting, both reacting in extreme, if understandable ways, and it’s tearing them apart.

Carol, continuing to be pretty damn awesome, and Axel begin setting up a barricade on one of the walkways outside, and Axel finally comes clean about why he’s in prison. It seems that instead of it being about drugs, Axel is really in for robbery, and a pretty stupid one at that. He’s hoping that there won’t be a gun fight, since he’s only ever used a toy gun. In an oddly sweet moment, Carol shows him how to use one, and cements my fear that Axel isn’t long for this world… he’s a little too likable, so I’m pretty sure he’s toast.

Back with the Dixons, Merle is kind of a jerk to no one’s surprise, when they come across a family under attack by walkers. Over Merle’s protests, Daryl wades into the fight and takes out a bunch of the walkers, even crushing one’s head in the hatch of the car. Pretty sure that wouldn’t work, but it’s pretty cool. Daryl finally steps in, and helps mop up the dead, before trying to loot the family’s supplies. That’s apparently OK. Shockingly, because the family is Hispanic, Merle is all racist, but Daryl isn’t having it, and pulls his crossbow on his brother, sending the family on their way.

With Daryl storming off into the woods, Merle scrambles to keep up, and we finally get the Dixon Brothers’ Worldview Fight that has been coming since Michael Rooker returned to the show. Of course we know Merle is an “every man for himself” kind of guy, but here Daryl makes it clear that he IS part of Team Zombie, and belongs with them. Merle gets an earful about how repugnant he his, with Daryl holding nothing back. Naturally, it ends in violence, as they begin to fight, but when Daryl’s shirt is torn and his back is revealed… well.

Their father was an incredibly abusive man, and Daryl carries the quite literal scars of that abuse on his back. Seeing them, and revealing that he didn’t know about the level of abuse, brings Merle up short. It seems that Merle left when Daryl was a child, and the way Merle says “I had to,  I would have killed him otherwise”… Look. Merle is scum. He is a reprehensible human being. But the writers have done something interesting here, giving us two abused children who grew into two very different men.  Daryl does care about other people, he will help those in need without expecting anything in return, and he’s just as much a product of that abuse as Merle is. And Michael Rooker is an excellent actor, giving us the horrid Merle, who can still be shocked and pained to see what his little brother endured, and someone who left an abusive situation BEFORE he killed the abuser. Merle, it doth appear, has layers. Still can’t stand him, but at least he’s more than just a racist ass.

Daryl, though, has had enough. He starts to head back to the prison to rejoin his friends, and Merle points out that since he tried to kill Michonne and tortured Glenn, he can’t join him. Daryl tells him that even though he’s the one walking away, Merle is “The one leaving. Again.” Alone, Merle follows behind.

At the prison, Hershel tries to talk to Glenn, to try and diffuse some of the rage that is driving him. But even though he makes a dent, Glenn drives away.

Beth brings the wee Grimes child to Maggie, and the sisters have  a moment… a little therapy?

Meanwhile in the crazy world of Rick, he’s outside the fence when he hears Hershel call his name. Hershel tries to get Rick to come back inside, telling him, as Mr. Smith predicted last week, that they need him, “More than ever.” Oh writers, cliché much? Still, surprisingly, Rick is both aware that he’s hallucinating, and willing to talk about it. He knows Lori isn’t real, but he feels like there must be a reason that he’s seeing her. You know, aside from the constant stress and responsibility of trying to keep Team Zombie alive. And sometimes failing. And that his wife is dead, killed by his own son to end her suffering. Other than that, there must be a reason.

Hershel tries, but Rick is committed to his vision quest, and says he needs time. Of course he also tells Hershel he’s not seeing Lori right now, and based on, oh, pretty much everything he does in the scene it’s clear that’s not at all true.

Watching all of this from the prison is Axel and Carol, and Axel sympathizes with Rick, and talks about how he was doing better in prison than the outside world. Unfortunately, that’s the last thing he’ll talk about since a bullet blows his brains out as the Governor and his men attack the prison. Yep. Told ya he wasn’t long for the world.

As the assault rains down on Team Zombie, Rick pulls himself together, but he and everyone else is outgunned. Carol is particularly vulnerable in the yard, but Axel’s body serves as a shield long enough for Maggie to come from inside with more guns and once Carol is clear, they are able to target some of their attackers. Maggie brings down one and another is taken out, but I can’t tell who killed him, but the respite is VERY short-lived as the Governor brings out part two of his plan… a bread truck full of walkers.

Yeah, he’s awful.

So he has one of his men, suitably armored up, drive this truck through the gate and once inside, he opens the doors and runs, releasing the zombies into the yard. Then, because it’s basically the kind of attack you can just walk away from, he takes off, leaving our heroes to become zombie chow, and passing a returning Glenn. Everyone rallies, Glenn tears into the yard with the truck to rescue Hershel and Michonne, but did I mention that the repeated gunfire is drawing even more walkers? And Rick is outside the fence? I didn’t? ‘Cause yeah, he is.

Oh, and he’s out of ammo.

He tries, using his pistol as a club, but pretty quickly he’s up against the fence with zombies at his throat, when suddenly it’s crossbow bolt through the brain time, and Daryl and Merle burst out of the forest in true old school cavalry fashion to save him. Quickly the walkers are dispatched, and it’s clear that Rick is glad to see Daryl. As for Merle, well…

Inside the gate, the rest of the team group together, with even Maggie and Glenn drawing close as they see that their secure little world is now far from it, and all the work they did since they arrived at the prison is undone. And Rick and the Dixon Bros. look in from outside, at the dozens of walkers between them and their friends.

Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnn!!!

Ok, the last 10 minutes? Really intense. It brings Daryl back, amps up the risk, and escalates the battle between the Governor and Team Zombie. Very cool. But it also raises a few questions, although not the ones the writers ever seem to worry about. Like just where were Daryl and Merle earlier? Really damn close I guess, because it wasn’t that long ago they were out in the middle of the woods, not at all close to the prison, and walking away from it. Do they just have a crappy sense of direction, or are they in the same woods of variable size that Sophia was supposedly lost in?

And really? Tyreese and Company are that far away now? Well, until the writers require them to pop up again, because we know that they aren’t gone for good, don’t we?

More importantly? So we’ve established that the interior of the prison isn’t secure anymore, right? And of course, it’s not at all advisable to bring one to a gunfight, but really… who is watching the baby?

And there you have it folks, my delayed and oh so solitary review of this weeks episode. Just in time for the new one. Sigh. But worry not… Dustin and Curtis will return to join me, and Dustin and I will be watching the adventures of Team Zombie instead of the Academy Awards, so we can get back on schedule.

Until then, remember. If Andrea is sleeping with a character? Shoot him. It’ll save everyone a lot of grief.

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[Official Show Site at AMC]     [Previous recap: “The Suicide King”]