Reviewed by Rich Jepson, cult TV enthusiast and author of 24: Terrorism Through Television.

WARNING – FULL SPOILERS

NOOOOOOO! T-DOGGGGGGG!

I knew something bad was going to happen to him because he spoke more than once in this episode –why put in the effort to develop him now just to kill him half way through the episode? Was this TWD’s writers having the last laugh with this character or was it a ‘too little, too late’ attempt and trying to build some empathy for him before his demise. Either way T-Dog is no more and I know most people, like me, would have reacted the same way Rick did when he found out that Lori had passed away – didn’t you?

So it turns out that the person spying on Carol last week was the prisoner Rick had left begging for his life in the courtyard from the second episode. In what was another good episode opener we see that this prisoner is pretty clever and came up with an intelligent scheme to try and rid the prison of it’s latest residents. Obviously this didn’t work and instead caused havoc within the group. The group lost two but gained three from this attack with the other two prisoners proving themselves in the chaos of the assault.

Lori’s death was a huge shock and one that few would have predicted at this early stage of the season. Her scene with Carl was sentimental and truly saddening and felt like a much-improved version of Hershel’s near death experience from a few weeks ago. Carl’s lack of emotion as he left the room showed a lot of darkness and could be the signal of a dark turn for the character.

Meanwhile over in Woodbury, Michonne gave the Governor a grilling over the military trucks that his group salvaged from last week’s attack. This was an intriguing scene and it’s interesting to note who the Governor manages to deflect questioning and lie his way through the situation. Andrea has become quite taken with him and given her past track record of men, looks like she’s not planning on moving away from Woodbury just yet. Merle appears to be the only character that could bring the two camps together if he goes looking for Daryl, especially now that he has a lead from the map Andrea gave him.

Back over at the prison, Rick’s reaction in the final scene was simply breathtaking – his passive aggressive, tear filled performance was compelling and touching to watch. For a show that deals with fictional creatures such as zombies, Andrew Lincoln’s performance illustrated that the acting talent within this series can be placed up there with the best of them.

It’s hard to believe this is only the 4th episode of the show and already we’ve lost some huge names from the group. Carol’s also missing but will no doubt turn up alive and well in the next episode. The momentum must surely shift to Woodbury and with Merle or Michonne if these two narratives are going to collide in the near future.

9/10

Scene of the Episode: Where is she? – The reality of the nightmare that the group is living was brought into the spotlight with Lori’s death and Rick’s reaction was sublime. Andrew Lincoln managed to convey Rick’s grief in a disturbingly realistic way and in doing so stated just why he was chosen to bring this infamous comic book character to life.