The Walking Dead: Season 3 PT. 1 Recap

The season kicks off with Rick and the crew, with a very pregnant Lori, seeking refuge from house to house, hoping to establish a permanent camp. Growing weary and tired of running, hope seems to diminish until Rick and Daryl discover a nearby prison. Rick and the rest believe the prison can provide a safe haven for the survivors so the group sneak in and take out all the walkers that stand in their way but not without a few tragedies in the way. First off, Hershel gets bitten in the leg, which causes Rick to dismember it to prevent Hershel from turning. The men have to take care of business with a couple of prisoners that are human survivors, who cause trouble within the group with one wanting to kill Rick and the other wanting to cause a walker infestation in the prison. In the end, two prisoners (Oscar and Axel) are still living and Rick makes a deal that they take one part of a cell while Rick and the crew stay in theirs and will also share supplies.

The group ready to infiltrate the prison

Meanwhile, Andrea and her rescuer, Michonne are still fighting for survival and decide to continue on into the woods with Michonne's walker buddies in tow. They are in the woods when they come across a helicopter crash sight but before they can investigate, they can see a jeep approaching and hide behind some bushes. They observe the men from the jeep, keeping a low profile. Michonne's walker buddies are creating noise so Michonne decapitates both walkers so her and Andrea can remain silent. However, Merle sneaks up behind the two and they are kidnapped by him and a couple of other strange men. They are tied up in a vehicle and are taken to a paradise town named Woodbury. The town is led by a man who calls himself the Governor. Woodbury is a town Andrea has dreamed of which consists of a secure perimeter guarded by sentries, shelter, food, clothing and medicine. Woodbury has a population of 72 survivors and is a town that reminds everyone of what life was like before the infectious outbreak. But Michonne is VERY suspicious of the townsfolk, especially of the Governor. Michonne feels like Woodbury is more of a "setup" in a way to control the population. In the end, Michonne ends up  leaving Woodbury on her own call while Andrea stays behind. While Andrea is saddened that her friend left, she's also become very smitten and close with the Governor. But what Andrea doesn't realize is that the Governor is up to no good behind the scenes; he and his men attack a National Guard unit to get their supplies and equipment; the Governor keeps a hidden aquarium room with tanks full of walker...and human....heads but above all, he also hosts an event where Merle and a couple other guys fight in a ring surrounded by chained up walkers, hungry for human flesh and much to the crowds' delight. But none more disturbing or questioning than the Governor keeping his little girl Penny, a walker, imprisoned and treating her a if she was still human. One of the "sidekicks" of Woodbury that does play an important role is Milton, a scientist under the Governor's command who works hours experimenting on walkers determined to find out their behavioral patterns and to see if they have any correlations between their "living selves" and their "walker selves". One of these experiments includes a cancer-infected, dying man who willingly volunteers to be experimented on when he passes and turns to a walker (which ends in Andrea stabbing the patient in the head when he turns).

Welcome to Woodbury!

Prison time for Rick and the gang proves to be a tough challenge. Walkers still linger the prison halls as Andrew, a prisoner who surprisingly survives after Rick locks him out in a prison yard full of walkers, is creating chaos and a serious security breach in the prison where once again, walkers are slowly taking over the prison. Rick and the gang are prepared to take out the walkers when Andrew sneaks up with a hatchet, ready to kill Rick. During the confrontation, Oscar pulls out a gun at Rick. Andrew screams at Oscar to shoot Rick but Oscar kills Andrew instead and gives the gun back to Rick, proving his loyalty. During the walker raid, Lori goes into labor. Maggie and Carl carry her in a room where Lori tells Maggie to perform a C-section on her. Maggie refuses but Lori knows she will lose the baby and also her life will be lost. Maggie cuts open Lori's stomach and pulls out the baby...but the blood loss and trauma take Lori's life. Before leaving the room, Carl puts his mother's human body out of her misery so she doesn't turn. To make matters worse, Carol and T-Dog are in another part of the prison...when T-Dog gets bit and then later on, sacrifices himself to a group of walkers so Carol could flee.

Michonne escapes Woodbury but Merle and his men are on her trail. Michonne and the men confront each other in a brutal bloodbath that leaves one man decapitated, another stabbed, and Michonne being shot in the hip by Merle before escaping further into the woods...not to mention being covered by a new form of camoflauge against walkers, walker organs and blood. 

A mother and son's final moments

The rest of the gang are in the prison yard....only Carl, Maggie and the baby return. Rick knows immediately that Lori didn't make it and storms into the prison, going on a walker killing rampage. Rick suffers a mental breakdown and suffers hallucinations when he recieves a mysterious phone call from Lori and "other survivors". Fortunately, Rick snaps out of his hallucinations and meets his baby girl. Daryl makes it his mission to find Carol and finds her in a closet, dehydrated and exhausted. With the group reuniting and trying to band together, Maggie and Glenn decide to go to make another run....when they run into an angry Merle that takes them hostage before forcing Glenn into a vehicle and driving off to Woodbury. Michonne is in the distance, watching on......

Michonne takes the basket of items Glenn and Maggie filled up from the store and goes into the prison, a group of walkers around her. Rick and Carl notice the group of walkers and notice that Michonne is hobbling and hurt...and also carrying a basket of baby formula. The walkers then detect Michonne's blood and go against her. Michonne uses every ounce of her being to fight them off but not before collapsing, waiting for death. Carl and Rick save her and take her back to the cell to give her aid and to question her and Glenn and Maggie's wherabouts. She informs the group about Woodbury and the Governor. Rick, Daryl, Oscar and Michonne draw out a plan to sneak into Woodbury to rescue Maggie and Glenn. Daryl desperately wants to meet Merle and convince Rick that he can "talk things out" with Merle but Rick dismisses it and reminds Daryl that he is a valued member and needs to focus on saving Glenn and Maggie. 

Back in Woodbury, Maggie and Glenn are each being held in their own interrogation room. Merle goes into Glenn's room and proceeds to beat him to a bloody pulp for information and tops it off with locking up a live walker in the room with Glenn. Glenn barely survives his ordeal with the walker but ends up killing it. In the other room, the Governor sickingly seduces Maggie to pry information out of her. With Maggie and Glenn both refusing to talk, they put them both in the same room with the dead walker as the Governor decides what to do with them. Maggie and Glenn take the bones of the walker to use as stabbing tools. When Merle and one of his men open the door to the room, Maggie stabs one man and Glenn fights Merle but Glenn and Maggie become outnumbered by Merle's men.

Not too far away, Rick and the gang find a log cabin to hide in from a group of walkers chasing them but are met with a human survivor who is less-than-welcoming. The human tries to jump on Rick to kill him and escape but not before Michonne stabs him to death. The gang throw the dead man's body to the walkers from the front of the log cabin as the rest of the gang sneaks on in the back and by nightfall, they arrive outside of Woodbury. Michonne leads the way and sneaks them into a restaurant, where they take a citzen hostage and question him. While the men figure out their next move, Michonne sneaks off to the Governor's office.

Merle thinking he's Jack Bauer

In one of the interrogation rooms, Maggie and Glenn are on their knees, holding hands and waiting to be executed by the GOvernor and his men when Rick, Daryl and Oscar barge in to save the day. They rescue Maggie and Glenn and hide out in another location, preparing for war against Woodbury. Daryl provides cover as Rick and the rest enter a knarly shootout against Woodbury's security sentries before escaping. Sadly, tragedy strikes again as Oscar is shot to death.

Meanwhile, MIchonne goes into the Governor's aquarium room and is stunned by what she sees. She is even more stunned that she sees a little girl with a sack over her head, locked up in a cage and bound by a collar and chain. Thinking the girl is human, Michonne rushes to save the girl...but uncovers the sack to realize it's a walker. Before Michonne can finish her, the Governor rushes in with a gun, screaming at Michonne to not move. Michonne stabs Penny, putting her out of her walker misery. Infuriated, the Governor attacks Michonne, punching her and throwing her at the aquariums, causing the tanks to break and live walker heads to roll on the floor, waiting for a bite of human flesh. Michonne takes a piece of glass and stabs the Governor in the eye. Before Michonne can finish off the Governor, Andrea comes in with a gun pointed at Michonne, screaming at her to not touch him. Michonne, knowing full well Andrea won't kill her, leaves the room to join Rick and his crew.

War in Woodbury

Back at the prison, a new band of survivors infiltrate the prison; the survivors consist of two couples, including a woman who is severely bitten by a walker. Carl can hear the survivors and walkers. He leaves behind Hershel, Beth, the baby and Carol to investigate the halls and comes across the survivors fighting off the walkers. The survivors then turn their attention to Carl, stunned to see a child in their midst.. Carl leads the surivivors to a secure part of their cell but he also closes a cell door on them. He convinces them that they are safe and have supplies.

Tyrese, leading his own band of survivors 

Outside of Woodbury, Rick, Maggie, Glenn and Michonne reunite and after Rick has a few choice words for Michonne of her sneaking around, but then they realize that Daryl is still in the town. Michonne decides that they should go back into Woodbury to recover Daryl.

After the battle in Woodbury, the Governor calls together to people of the town to the arena where the zombie fights are held and gives a speech about how "terrorists" are now a strong threat against the wholesome town of Woodbury. It's there that the Governor accuses Merle of double-crossing him and tells the crowd that Merle is related to one of the "terrorists". Armed men bring out Daryl...both Merle and Daryl, now restrained and both prisoners of Woodbury, are stunned to come across one another. The Governor asks the crowd what he should do to them when the crowd chants "Kill them, kill them!". The episode ends with the Dixon brothers ready to face what seems like a deadly fate.....

Picture Credit: AMC
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