‘The Walking Dead’ 3.11 Recap: “You’re Slippin’, Rick”

My heart just isn’t in it anymore. I realize that plenty of people still love this show, but somewhere between the tedious stay at the farm and the painful hunkering in the prison, ‘The Walking Dead’ lost me. Boredom has taken over. I have a hard time caring about anyone in the land of the living dead.

Season 3 brought promises of a change. Watching Rick and his band hoof it on the farm was anything but exciting. We needed a shake-up, and we got it when the farm was overrun by Walkers, causing the group to flee. They wandered for the winter from town to town, before finding the prison. Now it’s just the farm all over again, but with bars and more chain link.

All too often, I find myself wondering why we couldn’t have gotten the story in between the seasons. All our intrepid heroes have done is switched one place for another, only this time there’s no idyllic scenery to look at, just gray walls, gray bars and gray matter. Watching them wander from town to town, surviving, would’ve been more engaging than what’s going on now. At least, that’s my thought.

Perhaps the problem stems from me never forming a real emotional connection with any of the characters. I was enthused with the first season, because, hell, it was zombies. Maybe I thought I’d connected with the characters then when, in reality, I was just overjoyed at the prospect of weekly zombie killing on television. Now the show’s shallow characterizations are coming back to haunt it. Who felt bad when Lori finally checked out? Not me. All I could think about was all the ridiculously dumb decisions she’d made before that. It was a miracle she hadn’t died until then.

When zombie killing couldn’t carry the show anymore, a new antagonist had to be introduced. Enter the Governor, a scenery chewing comic book villain complete with eye patch and snarl. He makes me long for the days of Ben Linus. Linus would wipe the floor with the Governor in a battle of wits. The Governor’s all machismo and bravado. He’s never been all that intimidating, and he’s only served to bring forth crazy Rick. At least Shane played against Rick’s better nature. The two of them constantly battled for everything.

Watching this week’s episode, I couldn’t muster any real appreciation for the show anymore. It’s gone stale for me – a watchable but utterly forgettable travail of misery, prison bars and crushed skulls.

Andrea visiting the prison was a decent twist, but as is the case with this show, it was a whole lot of bluster for nothing. It’s getting harder and harder to manufacture enthusiasm for this show, especially with crazy Rick at the helm.

2 comments

  1. This episode was obviously more about setting things up for the next few episodes than about anything actually… you know, happening. Because not much did. I haven’t watched the Talking Dead episode that followed this yet. How did they find enough stuff to talk about for an hour?

    Andrea’s still a dumbass. If she couldn’t bring herself to kill him, she should have stabbed the Governor in the other eye.

  2. I watched TALKING DEAD last night…they primarily talked about Andrea and if the Governor let her go to the prison to test her loyalties or to gather more information about Rick and the gang. Also, the actress that plays Beth stopped by (cute!). 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *