the walking dead season 3 liveblog! episode one: seed.

8:45 - willkommen!  bienvenue!  welcome!

(link)

haha, psych!  we're not reviewing dexter - this liveblog is for the season premiere of the walking dead!

(link)

we're here starting our first full season of liveblogging the walking dead. be excited - we kicked things off doing the season finale last year, and we're very excited about the developments of this season. stay tuned with us as we learn all about what directions the characters head in this year! will the writers follow the comics? will (rick make) lori keep the baby? will anyone miss shane? will carl stay in the damn house?

why won't this boy stay in the house?

8:55 - turn off your phone! dim the lights! get the umm, whatever you drink or eat! tonite's episode is brought to you by Muskoka Mad Tom India Pale Ale, Maudite and various David's Teas. Yes. Beer and Tea. We're like that. and we're excited! Hit the jump to watch the episode with us!



9:00 - Remember last season? Wasn't it awesome? Everyone's infected! Lori's pregnant! Shane's dead! Uh Oh! Walkers!

9:01 - awesome opening shot on a walker's eye. the group busts in, t-dog and daryl, then carl and rick. walkers are dead and they search the house. it's tense, and nerve-wracking! rick and daryl almost have a showdown, and carl runs into an old walker that he wastes, no questions asked. he's haaard now.


9:02 - t-dog goes upstairs alone, cause that's always the best idea! daryl follows him and finds an owl. sadly, it seems to be dinner.

9:03 - ascertaining the house is safe and clear, the group moves in. it's obviously a decent amount of time later. carl has a gun and hershel is oooold.

9:04 - carl gathers dog food, everyone settles in. huzzah. hershel is sad. everyone is quiet. the scene is rather heavy as people prepare to eat owl and dog food.

9:05 - out the window there is a tonne of walkers. the entire group empties out, weapons in hand. including t-dog's spear? maggie gets an axe. everyone hops in their cars as some bear mcreary tunes drop and the show kicks up, walkers in tow!

9:09 - the group is plotting their route. carl is hard. rick wants to go west. hershel hassles him, 'cause it seems lori is going to give birth any day now.

9:10 - rick and daryl walking along happen upon the prison. drink. rick's police instincts are so happy. so am i, watching inmate walkers.

lori really is pregnant.

they rip through some fence, and they're between fences and walkers. it's rough, and a little daunting.

9:11 - rick is super happy. he thinks they can wipe out these few walkers and make this prison his own. he sends daryl, hershel, carol and carl to towers to snipe them as glen, t-dog, maggie and beth fight them through the fences. rick and lori run through the yard.

9:12 - lots of gore here, and walkers killed in various fashions. notable mention to carl's cool, accurate shooting, and rick's badass walker-running. good ol' poppa cop.

very night of the living dead '90s remake, with lori just pushing them off.

9:14 - the group is having very little problem disposing of these walkers. everyone seems to have improved a great deal at shooting, and there's tons of ammo to go around. even lori can shoot! she's more than just a mother. rick's gun is great.

9:15 - they survey their kills, and everyone is happy. these people get super content with killing. especially glen, taking out the fucker on the ground. any way, everyone is suuuper happy to have a home now. commercials, yay.

9:18 - it's nighttime now, and the group is camping out in the yard out front of the prison.
"mmm, just like mom used to make," says glen at the camp fire.

t-dog is more interested in moving bodies away from water.
hershel is more interested in planting some tomatoes.
rick is more interested in patrolling the fence to make sure no walkers can get in.

"this'll be a good place to have the baby. safe." beth says.

it seem's they're willing to hold out in the yard?

9:20 - daryl and carol discuss rick and his leadership vis-a-vis his killing of shane before daryl gives her shoulder a massage. interesting i guess.

"that's pretty romatic. wanna screw around?" carol asks daryl.

i think he shoots her down.
that's umm, kinda wimpy of the writing.  i for one (we for two?) would like to see that happen.

9:22 - now it's family sing-a-long time around the fire, and carol and daryl return. boourns.

of course maggie joins in, singing nicely.

rick returns to the fire and a super grown-up carl. this kid's a good actor, i guess.

9:23 - this song's religious, isn't it? forgive my ignorance.

the walkers doing circuits along the fence is spooky.  like ragdoll kitties, only dead!  it's a pretty sharp contrast to how healthy everyone in the group still looks.  but i guess that's consistent inattention to detail?

9:24 - the girls stop singing and rick decides to tell everyone to go to bed, because they have a "big day tomorrow." he plans on getting inside.

"most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners..."

he thinks supplies, and maybe rations would be inside. weapons. food. medicine. he thinks the place could be a gold mine. hershel says they're low on ammo, and i wonder why they shot the fuck out of so many walkers earlier?

"these assholes don't stand a chance." rick says... of the walkers i think? what a jerk. would you call a lion or a shark an asshole?

would you shoot the children for laughing?

9:25 - lori corners rick. she thinks they should hang out in the yard for a while, and let people recuperate.  they have a heated conversation about the baby, and birthing, etc. rick seems pretty ignorant to like, y'know the safety of his wife and unborn child. he tells her to talk to hershel. yeah, you guys know hershel - the veterinarian that barely saved his son's life last season? yeah. that dude.

9:30 - inside a store, some walkers lurk. so some lurkers lurk? anyway, michonne cuts the shit out of the three out of them, decapitating all, and gets her medicine.

9:30 - the group tears open the gate and makes a run for it.

oh my shit! walker riot cops! so scary! oh, wow.
glen figures it out.
what do you do? they have extra armour!!

any way, the group is getting cornered, but they continue to hack stab and kill away.
maggie gets a nice stab on one of the SWAT Walkers, and she gets super happy.

 perry!  perry!  i got the bloodlust.

"see that?" she asks

anyway, shit is getting hectic.
there are some pretty cool melee kills in this scene in general. knives, spears, tire irons, woo!

9:32 - bodies everywhere. holy shit.

seems like everyone made it, safely.
they discuss the safety of the prison inside, noting some of the walkers were clearly civilian.

rick decides they've gone to far to hole up, and must press on to the inside.

9:34 - they get in and things are eerily quiet, and quite nicely shot.

the group makes the rounds and finds some grizzly scenes, and some keys, but few walkers this early on.

9:35 - they press on, finding more and more dead guards, and inmates. it's super creepy and quiet... i dig the lack of score, and yet... where's bear?

9:36 - they find some cells with walkers locked up. interesting.
daryl and t-dog take care of it.

9:36 - they decide they can move into this cell block for now. in the morning they'll seek out the cafeteria and infirmary. tonight they'll sleep in cells. except daryl.

"i won't sleep in no cage. i'll be up on the perch."

9:37 - some weird moments between carl, beth and hershel.

then glen is checking maggie for scratches.

daryl gets comfy on his perch, and rick walks around.

everyone is all bloody.
what the shit. that can't be sanitary.

9:38 - rick sits in the hallway, seemingly lost... commercialz!

9:43 - we're back with michonne. she's entering sportsman's deer cooler with her two confidants, who well, we've met before. she runs to the back where she's stashed andrea.

"what are you doing out here?" she asks andrea.

apparently the meds from earlier were for andrea.
we approve of the michonne casting.

andrea's pretty sick it seems.

"how is it out there," she asks michonne.
"same, it's quiet." michonne says.
"you're lying."
"we should be gone in a few days."

she goes on to tell michonne she should leave, but michonne won't.
andrea doesn't want michonne dying for her. they have some terse words.

michonne is kind though, and willing to wait a few days for andrea.

why can't those two happen? why?

 

9:46 - outback the deer cooler, they walk through some lumber and out into the woods.

9:47 - back in prison, the gang rounds up weapons and, umm, gross riot gear from walkers they've offed. carol's calling hershel off now, because lori is worried about the baby. she thinks the baby is infected, and dead and a walker in there. that's pretty terrifying.

9:48 - "if i come back, what if i attack it?" she asks. she's concerned about being a mother in this world. this poor woman. this is the shit rick told her to discuss with hershel. this lady is hard. so is herhsel. these people are so tough.

anyway, she tells hershel to kill her or rick, or anyone that goes walker and gets at the baby. 

now she's complaing about carl's incoming adolescent rage. blah blah blah. then she's sad about rick, and shane, and the way it all played out.

9:49 - back downstairs, the men suit up with riot gear.

rick tells carl to stay back.

"you're kidding," carl says.

there's some more weird carl/beth shipping, and rick tells carl that "if anything happens, you'll be the last man standing."

then they go to commercial, 'cause, well, y'know.

9:55 - so we're back, and everyone has a flashlight, and it's like, classic zombie movie meets cartoon flashlight scene.

 

they paint directions on the walls.

9:56 - as they continue painting arrows on the wall to find the way back we find many, many dismembered bodies.

ooh no! around the corner, there's like, a mini-horde, and they're hungry. hungry, hungry prisoners.

the group makes a run for it and gets back to a door for safety, but they may have trapped themselves.

9:57 - rick decides they must go back! but which way?!

...isn't this why they painted arrows? and wouldn't the corpses provide landmarks?

oh now - maggie and glen and are seperated from thr group! so is hershel!

9:58 - hershel walks past a sitting walker... it awakens and bites his ankle! he blasts it away, but he's too late! the noise reconnects everyone, but hershel is certainly bitten!

9:59 - the group manages to drag him out, and t-dog is holding the door.

9:59 - woooow! rick decides that the only way to stop the infecting is the cut off the bottom of hershel's leg.
holy shit! holy shit, that's what a dude says, because some people saw this happen! right after rick finishes turning hershel's leg into a stump, some people who appear to be inmates rise up from the back of the scene.

"holy shit"

yep, that's what the dude said.

that's the end of it.
a pretty good opener, but a little slow and not really establishing too, too much. however, it wasn't terrible, so we enjoyed it almost as much as rick now seems to enjoy killing.  plus hey!  t-dog had more than one line this episode!  maybe they're learning after all.