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Following the events of last episode, it was expected that The Walking Dead would slow down just a little bit. I mean, that tends to happen after the death of many regulars—you kind of need an episode to digest things a little, to relax a little bit after such a hectic string of events. Well…”relax” is a subjective term when it comes to The Walking Dead. It was a slow episode though, despite a choice number of zombie kills.

Not a lot really happened though, at least action wise. There was some positive moment over on the Woodbury side though, as the gap between Andrea and Michonne widened. We all know Michonne is right to assume that Woodbury is bad, but hey, disagreeing Andrea is par for the course with The Walking Dead. Whatever the case, I find the bond between these two interesting, although I wish the show would have shown us a little more of the two together before Woodbury.

The opening scene with the Governor and his zombie daughter Penny was pretty damn creepy, as was the closing scene of the bizarre zombie fights. The Governor explains the origins of the fights as a way to “blow off steam”, but its so damn bizarre that I just have to imagine there’s something else going on there. If it would just be the people fighting each other or fighting the zombies then it would be a little less strange…but both? Andrea’s look of pure horror at the event was appropriate, that much is for sure.

Meanwhile at the prison, two concurrent storylines were going on at the same time; Rick was going all crazy and slaughtering a ton of zombies, as Darryl and Maggie traveled to get formula for the new born (and still unnamed) baby. I had problems with both of these plots for two vastly different reasons. The Maggie and Darryl one just didn’t have a lot going on, and a seemingly complex goal of attaining formula for the baby was solved way too simply. Well pairing Darryl and Maggie together was interesting, this storyline really went nowhere.

Meanwhile Rick’s storyline had the opposite effect; it went too far. Not that I don’t think Rick would react to Lori’s death in anger. For the character, it made sense. But overall, his rampage was effective UNTIL the moment Glenn intervened. I don’t know if it was Lincoln’s performance or what, but I just didn’t feel like that was something Rick would ever do, even when being succumbed by pain and rage. I just felt disconnected with him after that point, and I don’t think the sequence had the emotional impact it was going for.

So once again, I wouldn’t say that “Say the Word” word did too much in terms of plot, nor was it as action packed as last week’s “Killer Within.” But then again, very few episodes of television are, and for being essentially a filler episode, it served its purpose. Hopefully that “WTF?” cliffhanger of the ringing phone will lead to a more exciting adventure for next week.

Loose Ends:

Michonne looks all misplaced amongst those happy partying people.

Darryl took charge really fast in the time of crisis. Maybe he would be a better job as leader than Rick. At the very least, he wouldn’t have any attachments that he would go freaking bonkers over losing.

That said, leaving the flower on (assumingly) Carol’s grave was a touching moment for the episode.

Merle is such a hick…plays roughly with his pet, doesn’t he?

Speaking of hick moments, you have to love Darryl’s “Hello dinner!” after killing the possum. That’s our Darryl!

The name Sophie bothered Darryl…apparently some wounds don’t heal.

Even though I didn’t dig Rick in this episode, his anger at the zombie who ate Lori was great, as was the way he killed him.

The first rule of zombie fight club? Tell EVERYONE about zombie fight club—it makes people feel better!

-Matthew