The Walking Dead - S03E12 Clear (2013)

Review

Rick, Carl, and surprisingly Michonne head on out to Rick's old home town in an attempt to pick up more guns and ammunition from the Police station. Michonne is along for the ride as Rick is unsure what she'll do if given a chance to even the score with Merle. The group find the police armoury has been raided and there's only a single cartridge left. Rick decides they should head into town as he was the dude who wrote up the permits for weapons kept behind counters in the local community. They discover the township has been turned into a fortified camp and there's a whole outdoor cook out of zombie corpses. They come under fire from an unknown assailant, with Rick and Michonne unable to out manoeuvre the hidden gun man. With Rick in the line of fire Carl steps up to the plate and shoots their unknown adversary at point blank range. Rick finds he knows the gunman and the dude was wearing kevlar armour, hence Carl hasn't killed him.

While Rick sets about trying to talk some sense into an old friend, who has more than a mob of Roos bounding around the top paddock, Carl and Michonne head out into the town ostensibly to get some baby gear for Judith. Carl has an ulterior motive, which Michonne catches onto, and the pair form a bound as they raid a local bar for a photo Carl wants. Rick gets the guns, his old friend goes back to his personal reality, and Michonne looks to have established her place in the group.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, apparently everyone on the internet trying to find pictures of J. Law's boobs, we're dispensing with normal services and bringing a double serve of The Walking Dead this week, which is cool as we love us some Walking Dead. With season four now on the review pile and season five only weeks from screening it was time to get the lead out anyway. Our apologises for fans of Penny Dreadful, we'll catch up with the Victorian Scooby gang just as soon as technical services are back to normal.

Is it just me or are these reviews getting boring? Will attempt to liven things up from next one

Clear cuts back the normal multi-character viewpoint of a Walking Dead episode to just a few, adds an ounce of drama, and demonstrates there's a whole bunch of other people out in the post-apocalyptic wilderness than just the folks at either the prison or Woodbury. The episode for mine also demonstrates how tight knit Rick's group has become with a hiker left to his own devices and Michonne not yet being accepted as a member of the group. It's an exclusive club folks, though considering the Governor is a clear and present danger I would have thought Rick would be more than keen to enlist some able bodied outsiders to help defend the prison. One point no one seems to have picked up on is the hiker's apparent death, not shown, is directly attributable to Rick who has clearly forgotten his duty to defend and serve. Is Rick moving further away from his pre-apocalypse outlook or is he still struggling with Lori's death?

Anyways the episode has Rick confronting his old friend Morgan, the black dude that rescued him in episode one of season one. Morgan has lost his son, which has pretty much shattered Morgan's sanity due to the fact that his son fell victim to his Zombified wife who Morgan was unable to shoot when he had the opportunity. Morgan has been spending his time gainfully collection munitions, culling the local zombie population, and writing various slogans on his walls. It's only with great difficulty that Rick gets Morgan to recognise him and then the reception is nothing like what he might have expected. Morgan views Rick as a dead man walking and warns Rick that he needs to take Carl and just drive away to some unknown destination else they are not going to survive for long. Morgan states that it isn't the strong that are going to inherit the Earth; it's the weak who survive on the fringes. The important part of the encounter for mine is that Rick see's what he has become in Morgan, and this is going to for once and all knock him out of his funk and get him back in the game at a crucial time.

If we ever needed an indication that Carl is getting on with his life then this episode delivered it. Not only did the youngest Grimes take action when it was needed but he had his own agenda, which importantly wasn't self centered. Surprisingly this is one character that looks ready to survive the apocalypse by taking the required actions when called to do so. While I find the character of Carl irritating in the graphic novels actor Chandler Riggs has me on board in the television series. Riggs provides the hard edge that the character needs but also the humanity that Rick and other characters are apparently jettisoning. At the end of the episode Carl remarks to Rick that Michonne is one of them, in stark contrast I would image to the hiker who is pretty much left as fodder for any walkers in the vicinity. For her part Michonne remains enigmatic, clearly there are some common grounds between herself and Rick, but Michonne remains a mystery though like Carl is a born survivor.

Surprisingly in this episode Michonne bonds with Carl while putting him in his place. Late in the episode Carl makes that remark to Rick which is a hearty endorsement that should see everyone's favourite sword women remain a vital cog in the survivor group. Underlining this tacit acceptance, Rick is still to make a call. Michonne still hasn't been entirely accepted, the prison group are under virtual siege from Woodbury, trust is a hard commodity to earn for outsiders. I did have a problem with Rick leaving the largely unlamented hiker to his fate, Rick has clearly reach some new level of awareness but is starting to lose sympathy as he becomes more hard nosed. One of the great ideas behind The Walking Dead is our central characters trying to hold onto their humanity in the face of an increasingly brutal world, Dale for sure would not be impressed with Rick's actions on the road during this episode.

Besides the whole Michonne bonding with Carl thing and Rick confronting a former friend who has found a different approach to surviving the apocalypse the episode provided a sort of intermission from the major plot arc of the season. I'm nearly always cool with a season doing this, something slightly different nearly always makes for interesting viewing, and the Writers here nail an episode that shows some poignancy in what could otherwise be simply an action drenched season. Carl has evolved as a character, like he does in the graphic novels, Rick is a much harder character, and Michonne has found her place in the world. Not a bad result given the episode is simply a road trip for the trio. I'm up for further episodes this season focusing on the other major characters, and perhaps a couple of the minor characters being developed. Though I guess we still have the whole Governor thing to deal with and of course Andrea finally coming to her senses, though to be honest the character has been badly drawn this season.

I've been at pains for the past year pointing out to people that zombie outings are less about the "walking dead" and more about the survivors, if there is ever a sub-genre in the horror mansion that underlines dramatic moves then surprisingly the zombie one is the most likely to raise its hand. Clear underlines this wonderful well, there are plenty of zombie shenanigans but this is more to underline plot points than being the central focus of the episode. Rick has revisited his past, and found he still retains some humanity, Carl is turning into a bad arse, and Michonne is gradually adopting a role in the group. Sure I'm looking forward to a major confrontation between Woodbury and the Prison, but heck I'm also grooving to episodes that take some time out of the busy schedule of getting to that confrontation. Clear is one of the best episodes of season three, it's likely to turn sometime viewers into hard core fans. Check it out; this is what The Walking Dead is all about!