Every time something’s looking up, The Walking Dead just shoots it down. “Killer Within” starts with an unknown character leaving a trail of breadcrumbs...or in this case, deer parts, to the gate of the prison, and then cuts the lock off. So you start the episode with a feeling of warning...
This is counteracted by what is, in my opinion, one of the greatest scenes so far in The Walking Dead. It is a scene of happiness. Rick and Gang are polishing up their new home, cleaning up the yard, etc. Mr. Mustache and Other Guy are leaving for the road. Hershel is mobile, using his crutches to mosey about. Glenn and Maggie even get some boinking time in the guard tower. Perhaps most important is the rare glance of what looks like hope, perhaps even affection, between Rick and Lori.
Then the writers give the audience the middle finger, and everything goes to hell. Walkers come up behind Hershel, Lori, Carol, T-Dog, Beth, Maggie, and Carl. Not just one or two, but like a bazillion, which is a technical term. Rick, Daryl, and Glenn are outside the gates, so they can’t get to them quickly. Hershel and Beth escape one direction, Lori, Carl, and Maggie another, while T-Dog and Carol are stuck. Unfortunately, this is the end for our friend T-Dog: he gets bit, and not just a little. He eventually sacrifices himself in order to save Carol, whose fate is unknown.
Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Mr. Mustache and the Other Guy (turns out their names are Axel and Oscar, respectively. I was rooting for Mr. Mustache) run through the prison, looking for a way to turn off the stupid prison alarm that is now going off, which is drawing walkers toward the fences. They manage to find the generator room, where they are attacked by Andrew! In case you don’t remember who this is(because I barely did to be honest), Andrew is the guy Rick locked out of the prison in “Sick”. Apparently, Andrew didn’t find that to be funny, and wanted revenge. Luckily, Other Guy/Oscar decides to be a good guy, and shoots him.
Carl, Maggie, and Lori are also running through the prison, trying not to get eaten and what not. Naturally, this is when Lori starts going into labor. Unfortunately, something’s not quite right with her( I have no clue what it is. I don’t know how births work, aside from the obvious. Basically, she just couldn’t give birth the usual way), and she tells Maggie to give her a C-section. This entails cutting her open with a knife, without antiseptic, or any of the other medical things that she would need. Basically, Lori is going to die. She breaks this news to Carl in a rather heartfelt moment, and Maggie goes to work, in an extremely squeamish scene. Baby comes out, and for a terrifying 10 seconds, you think it is a stillborn. I sat back down and breathed a sigh of relief when Baby began crying.
Now, this next scene deserves it’s own paragraph, due to it’s shockingness. Maggie packs Baby up, and gets ready to leave, but Carl hangs back. He tells her that he’ll do “it”. He walks back to Lori’s body, pulls out his gun, and flashes back to his father telling him that it is time to be an adult, and that everyone Carl knows will die. Maggie walks out of the room as his gunshot goes off.
The survivors congregate in the prison yard. This was honestly one of the saddest scenes I’ve seen, not just in this show, but in any medium. Rick see’s Carl and Maggie, with Baby in arms, coming out into the yard, and slowly stumbles his way to them. I have to hand it to Andrew Lincoln(Rick, for those who don’t know), this was an amazing piece of acting. His facial expression slowly changes into one of intense distraught, but his body language was what really got me: his shoulders slumped as he got closer, he swayed, and stumbled. As the audience, you know that he knows, despite no word’s being said. The true sadness occurs when he looks into his son’s face and sees what Carl had to do. He begins crying out in somewhat terrifying cries, unlike anything we’ve seen of Rick, and he falls to the ground. It is terrifying scene, seeing Rick, the fearless leader, truly broken.
We also saw some more Andrea, who tells Merle where the Greene farm was, and decides to put off leaving Woodbury, much to Michonne’s dislike. Merle wants to leave to find Daryl, but the Governor doesn’t want him too. That’s pretty much all that happens with Andrea’s story. In comparison with the rest of the episode, it was pretty lax. This episode was emotionally insane.
Basically, watch it!!!! But bring Kleenex.
“Killer Within” Walker/Death Ratio Rating: A large amount of deaths, none cooler than this one. But, I have to give a moment of silence to T-Dog and Lori. Rest in peace you two. Or pieces.
