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“Seed”

 

The tagline for this season is “Fight the dead.  Fear the living.”  While that could apply to many situations from the past two seasons, I was really curious how it would play out for this season.  Did I get an answer?  Boy howdy.  Considering it was only the first episode, I’m guessing it’s gonna be a hell of a roller coaster this season.  Bring it on! 

Please be aware that this is a recap and not a review.  If you haven’t watched last night’s episode yet (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?!), don’t read this post. I get all sorts of spoilery up in here. You have been warned.

We get a quick refresher from last season, which can be wrapped up as such: “This is a not a democracy.”  No, it’s a Rickocracy and he’s the Ricktator.  So if you’re letting him lead, then fall in line. 

The current episode opens on a super close-up of a zombified eye (btw, Microsoft Word does not recognize the word “zombified”) The guys, including an armed (with an odd silencer, the likes of which I’ve never seen before) Carl, are clearing a house.  When the walkers are piled up and the house is seemingly safe, the women folk enter and we see that Lori is pretty far along in her pregnancy.  This is the moment when I wonder why they’re at this random house instead of at the prison.  I will just have to sit tight and let this play out.  I have no patience!  Anywhoodle, Carl is about to dig into some canned dog food but Rick snatches it away from him.  Geeze, they’re not animals!  Rick would rather let them go hungry than resort to eating dog food.  Yikes.  This Ricktatorship is strict.  Darryl is plucking the feathers off of an owl he shot upstairs (sorry, Ukie) and it’s now that I realize how quiet it’s been.  The guns are all fitted with silencers.  The walkers were  pretty quiet when they were dispatched.  There are no words spoken for the first 6 minutes of the episode.  Really.  I timed it.  T-Dawg spots some walkers approaching the house, the group packs up and takes off. 

ROLL TITLES!  Ooo, the title sequence has different images.  Nice.

The gang stops their mini-caravan to look at a map.  They’re tired of going house to house and Rick doesn’t want Lori giving birth in a car.  Rick and Darryl happen upon the prison and you can see the decision being made on Rick’s face.  His plan is to clear the outer yard (which is still protected by fence while not being on the inside of the actual prison) of walkers and make camp there.  Everyone takes a high post to pick off the walkers while Rick makes a run for the guard gate.  I’m impressed with their shooting skills, even though Carl almost shoots off Rick’s foot.  Heh.  The plan works and everyone sits around a campfire eating some unknown substance while Darryl stands watch on an overturned bus.  Carol joins him and complains about soreness from shotgun kickback.  Darryl offers to rub it for her and, because I’m juvenile, I start signing Darryl and Carol sitting in a tree.  K-I-S-S-I-N-G!  Carol, who is finally allowed to smile and have a sense of humor, flirts with Darryl while making fun of him and his hesitation to have any physical contact with her. 

Rick’s now not satisfied with the camping idea and wants more.  He’s confident in their abilities to take out the ambling guards and prisoners so they can find a spot inside the prison.  It doesn’t matter but I’m confident in their abilities too.  I bet there’s a cozy little cell block somewhere they can make home.

MICHONNE!!!  Girl is good with a katana but we don’t get nearly enough of her skills.  Plus where are her “pets?” I want more!  See?  There's that lack of patience again.  I just love this show so very much!

There are some seriously gross walkers in this one.  Rick takes a helmet/mask off of one and the face gets peeled off with the mask.  Ew.  Speaking of, the group makes their move to the inner grounds of the prison and find some guards in full riot gear.  Bashing the head in of a walker with a sturdy helmet is tough, y’all.  Maggie figures out you can totally stab a zombie up through their jaw and that’s how they get rid of those guys.  Cool. 

They make it inside and clear out a few of the locked-up zombie prisoners.  Everyone is picking their own cell.  Hershel’s blond daughter finds her and Carl follows her into the cell.  He’s checking out the top bunk when Hershel walks into squash that before it gets anywhere.  Um, isn’t Carl, like, 9? Everyone relaxes a bit in their cells but not Rick.  No, he’s still got the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

Back to Michonne! and…Andrea!  Wow, Andrea has looked better.  She’s ill and begs Michonne! to leave her there and move on.  Andrea will only cause her problems, etc.  Michonne! isn’t hearing it so she, Andrea and the “pets” move on.  I know where they’re gonna end up!  They’ll run into some more of those living they’re supposed to fear.

Lori’s talking to Hershel about how she thinks she’s lost the baby.  It hasn’t moved in a while so she’s convinced it’s stillborn.  If they’re infected it’s probably infected too.  So logically speaking, it would start eating her from the inside.  She should totally read Twilight ‘cause Bella had almost the same problem.  Dude, I hadn’t even thought of that possibility.  I was thinking more about what a pain in the ass a baby would be when you’re on the run from a population infected with some whacked out virus that makes you die, come back and want to eat other people.  But a dead-ish baby trying to eat you from the inside?  That sucks.

Rick and the usual suspects (Darryl, Glenn, Maggie, T-Dawg) plus a bonus Hershel head off to search the rest of the prison.  It’s pretty grim and looks like something from a horror movie.  They’re suddenly trapped by walkers and cut off from Glenn and Maggie (Gleggie?  Mann? I need to work on their portmanteau.) and Hershel gets bit.  It’s not pretty.  The walker, who had been relaxing quietly by himself, took a huge bite out of Hershel’s calf.  They drag him into a cafeteria and, without missing a beat, Rick removes his belt, ties off Hershel’s leg and pulls out a relatively clean looking ax.  He just starts chopping away at Hershel’s leg.  YIKES!!!  I’m glad they show how utterly difficult it must be to chop through bone (I wouldn’t know from personal experience) because Rick is just hacking, hacking, hacking at poor Hershel’s leg.  EW. EW. EW.  Then the show just jumps a whole ‘nother level.  The camera cuts to the kitchen and there are guys standing there watching this whole scene. At first one might think they’re infected prisoners, but no.  THEY’RE ALIVE!  Also, they’re kind of horrified by the leg hacking and/or surprised to see some other live folks.

The end!

Man this is just the best show ever!  I feel sorry for the poor schmucks with Dish Network.