The Walking Dead Review: “The Suicide King”

The Walking Dead have has returned!

Title: “The Suicide King”

Cast and Crew

Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter
Written by Evan Reilly

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes
Danai Gurira as Michonne
Laurie Holden as Andrea
David Morrissey as the Governor
Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee
Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene
Norman Reedus as Darryl Dixon
Michael Rooker as Merle Dixon
Scott Wilson as Herschel Greene
Melissa Suzanne McBride as Carol Peletier
Emily Kinney as Beth Greene
Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes
Vincent Ward as Oscar
Lew Temple as Axel
Dallas Roberts as Milton
Chad Coleman as Chase Tyreese
Sonequa Martin-Green as Sasha
Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes

Additional cast and crew information may be found here.

Premise

Our heroes rescue Darryl, but Merle comes along. Tensions rise, people split from the main survivor group while others want to join, Woodbury breaks apart, and the leaders of both groups continue descending into madness.

Michonne continually fails to provide useful answers and helpful information.

High Point

The show returns with significant, potentially interesting conflicts. Darryl, in his a beguiling but somewhat comprehensible move, chooses Merle over his new family (Merle also acts more like his old, dickish self. Either the writing’s bad or he was only pretending to have grown more tolerant and humane). Glenn has some issues. Andrea tries to be a leader. The two groups at the prison try to come to some terms. Michonne—what the heck’s with Michonne, anyway?

Low Point

Woodbury. We get an impressive look at the zombies breaching the perimeter, followed by a group of survivors who react to the imminent danger, one they’ve faced many times– one they should be predicting after the departure of Rick’s group– in a quite slow and awkward manner. Instead, they spend their time yelling like the unwashed mob in a bad sandal epic.

The Scores

Originality: 3/6

Effects: 6/6

Story: 4/6 The story features many important developments. Although no one can say how people will react under extraordinary circumstances, I feel a continuation of last season’s tendency to have the plot drive the characters instead of the characters driving the plot.

Acting: 5/6 The main cast continues to give strong performances. Steven Yeun and Chandler Riggs, in particular, have really grown as performers. The mob back at Woodbury, on the other hand, felt like…. See Low Points.

Emotional Response: 5/6 Hey, it’s good to have The Walking Dead back.

Production: 6/6

Overall: 5/6

In total, “The Suicide King” receives 34/42

Final Comments

Can someone just freakin’ shoot Merle already?