TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 3 – “Prey”

By CARL CORTEZ / Contributing Editor

Posted: March 19th, 2013 / 08:25 AM

David Morrissey in THE WALKING DEAD - Season 3 - "Prey" | ©2013 AMC/Gene Page

Stars: Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Laurie Holden, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Chandler Riggs, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, Melissa Suzanne McBride, Scott Wilson, Emily Kinney, Dallas Roberts
Writer: Glen Mazzara, Evan Reilly
Director: Stefan Schwartz
Network: AMC, airs Sunday nights
Original Telecast: March 17, 2013

As THE WALKING DEAD enters the home stretch for Season 3, the series continues down its path in remaking the Governor (David Morrissey) into the horrible, villainous creation he is in the Robert Kirkman comics.

Sure some of the signposts are different, but the direction is definitely familiar.

“Prey” is one of those episodes that spends almost all of its time with the Governor and Woodbury. He continues with his plan to annihilate Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and all the prison residents in his attempt to torture Michonne (Danai Gurira) for killing his zombie daughter and taking his eye.

Meanwhile, Andrea (Laurie Holden) starts seeing who the Governor really is. He’s not interested in a truce with her former pals at the prison, he wants them dead at all costs with Michonne being the main prize.

Milton (Dallas Roberts) who has been so loyal to the Governor up until this point, decides to let Andrea know the secret of what’s going on – because he doesn’t want to see the innocent people at the prison die. He tells her to warn them and he betrays the Governor by burning the zombies he was going to use to infiltrate the prison.

Very cool stuff.

Perhaps one of the greatest sequences in the series to date is Andrea escaping Woodbury, only to have the Governor hot on her trail. It’s a combination “psychopath chasing an innocent woman” scenario we’ve seen in so many times in horror movies with the added threat of “zombies attack.” Superbly written by Glen Mazzara (please tell me again why is he has to leave as showrunner) and Evan Reilly and well directed Stefan Schwartz, it features some awesome suspense and a surprise twist at the end (SPOILER ALERT) where the Governor captures Andrea and takes her to his torture room.

The Governor also discovers Milton betrayed him, while Tyreese (Chad Coleman) and his group start to question The Governor’s sanity as well.

“Prey” definitely sets into motion the Governor’s crazy plan, and with two episodes to go, I hope there’s enough time to pay all of this off. The problem with serialized TV series, is they’ll spend so much of the season laying the groundwork for something cool and then they have to blow through a quarter of a season’s pay-off in one or two episodes. It’s usually never satisfying, but then again, THE WALKING DEAD has somehow managed to buck that trend (case in point Season 2’s explosive finale).

Clearly, there are many characters that won’t make it past the Woodbury/Prison fight and clearly the Governor has gone to a place of no return. THE WALKING DEAD mixes social commentary, zombie violence and horror movie conventions and wraps it up into a wholly satisfying mix in what has definitely been one of the best seasons to date of the series.

Related:Exclusive Photos from the WALKING DEAD at PaleyFest

Related: TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 3 – “The Suicide King”

Related: TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 3 – “When the Dead Come Knocking”

Related: TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 3 – “Hounded”

Related: TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 3 – “Say the Word”

Related: TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 3 – “Killer Within”

Related: TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 3 – “Walk with Me”

Related: Exclusive Photos from THE WALKING DEAD – Season 3 premiere

Related: TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 2 – “Sick”

Related: TV Review: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 2 – “Seed” – Season Premiere

Related: Exclusive Interview with Glen Mazarra on Season 3 and Season 2

Related: Exclusive Interview with Gale Anne Hurd on THE WALKING DEAD – Season 3