I've never been a huge fan of AMC's The Walking Dead, a tv show about zombies, survivors, and what it takes to hold onto your humanity as the world falls apart. The first two seasons were interesting, and the show became known for it's surprise kills of popular characters. I'll admit I did enjoy the first 2 seasons, but it's in the show's third season where The Walking Dead finally gets significantly better.
Like the seasons before it, Season 3 still focuses mainly on character drama with zombies occasionally interrupting the proceedings. The characterizations are still strong (Steven Yuen as Glenn, Norman Reedus as Daryl, and Andrew Lincoln as Rick are still my favs), and characters that used to be annoying really step it up, like Carl (Chandler Riggs), who becomes quite the bad-ass this season. However, the main reason this season rocked my couch so hard is because the main storyline this time around is that of a small, protected town named Woodbury and the mysterious man known as The Governor (David Morrissey) who runs the place.
The Governor is, in my opinion, the show's strongest character to date. He starts out likeable enough, but as the season treks onwards more of his true character is revealed until we are left with vastly different feelings towards him. The Governor starts out as a nice guy, is slowly revealed to be bad but with understandable intentions, then he goes nuts and becomes a complete monster. David Morrissey does a top notch performance as the unhinged Governor, giving him more than enough layers so he's not your typical bad guy. His arc is pretty thrilling, and it would seem that we may get more of his story in the 4th season.
The Governor's arc, also becomes Woodbury's. The town of Woodbury on the outside seems like a utopia in the middle of a zombie wasteland. It's well protected by a bunch of military wanna-be's (who are also run by The Governor. With military types involved this time around you would expect a lot of gun play and action scenes, and luckily we get more then our fair share of this, thank God!), it seems peaceful and happy, and people generally tend to live longer in the town. However, there is a mystery surrounding the town and it's citizens and the town continually morphs and degrades throughout the season until it is a pretty scary place. In a way, Woodbury is an extension of The Governor and his psyche: On the outside it seems well-meaning and peaceful, but underneath it's dark, violent, and mysterious.
The 2nd arc of the story is that of Rick and his group, who have taken over a prison which at first glance seems to be a safe reprieve, but holds more than it's fair share of dangers and challenges inside. This arc is fairly interesting, but The Woodbury/Governor arc is so much stronger and engaging that every time the show switched back to the prison I was left anxiously waiting for Woodbury or The Governor to come back. In a way, the strength of the Woodbury/Governor arc can be counted as a weakness because it outshines most everything else this season.
The show also introduced a few new, notable characters including Michonne (Dania Gurira), Milton (Dallas Roberts), and Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) and his small group. Michonne is a katana weilding woman who seems to be fairly intense and is a tough person to read, Milton is the scientific adviser and friend to the Governor (Milton gets a small but fun and satisfying arc here, really loved his character), and Tyreese is the well-meaning and friendly leader of a tiny group that stumbles into the prison for a brief encounter with Rick and friends before journeying onward to Woodbury. It's clear that the show is nowhere near done with Michonne and Tyeese and his small group, and I'm looking forward to see what arcs they will be dealt in later seasons. We are also introduced once again to Merle (Michael Rooker), brother to Darryl. He has also holed up in Woodbury, and has become the unofficial leader of the wanna-be military that protects the town. Merle is an asshole, just like we remember him being, but is given a really good arc that has a great ending (could Merle be given a shot at redemption, you'll have to watch and see). There's also the re-introduction of Morgan from Season 1, and the way the show deals with his character is beautiful and so so so perfect.
While, there are still a few minor problems with this season (still a lot of drama, but you won't notice it as much since a good deal has to do with Woodbury and The Governor. Not a whole lot of zombie action, though what's there is satisfying enough I suppose. Not a lot of good surprise deaths here, so that's kind of disappointing), Season 3 of The Walking Dead is still the best season of this show so far, and with Season 4 seeming to tease the continuation of The Governor/Woodbury arc, let's hope that it's only going to get better from here on out.
4.5 STARS
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