photo: amc/gene page
Killer Within
Original Air Date: 4 Nov, 2012
Rachel – Sr. Managing Editor
rachel@thetwocentscorp.com
I’m sorry… was that a season finale? No? Sweeps, maybe? No? It was just episode four? Well where in the world do we go from here? Complete and devastating carnage, that’s what “Killer Within” was. I’m still trying to pick myself up off the floor. It’s very hard to type from down here.
An unknown person is baiting Walkers through the maze of fencing within the prison, leading them like a creepy pied piper. Is this the person who was watching Carol practice c-sections on dead ladies? Perhaps. I would say this isn’t going to turn out well, but it’s The Walking Dead. Nothing turns out well.
In Woodbury, Michonne is putting two and two together. As she inspects the vehicles rescued from that ghastly scene when the noble Governor tried to save those poor soldiers (read: killed them all), Mr. Charming himself shows up. She and Andrea are planing on heading out, but he wants them to stay. Is it because he’s got a thing for Andrea, or because he can see Michonne figuring stuff out. Either way, she’s walking.
Back at the prison, the groups is getting to work clearing out the yard of downed walkers. As they plan, Axel and Oscar wander over. Hey, didn’t Rick tell you guys that if he ever saw you again, he’d kill you? Well, the conditions they;re living in make it worth the risk. They can’t live in their cell block with all the bodies. The yard is breached on their side of the prison and there is simply no hope for any sanity. They want to join the group. T-Dog, teddy bear that he is, is on board. Daryl sees the point, but still thinks it is a bad idea. Rick is vehemently opposed. His final decision is to stick with the agreement. Either Axel and Oscar stay in their cell block or they leave the prison.
Work continues on clearing the yard, and Glenn gathers a weeks worth of supplies for Axel and Oscar. Hershel even gets out for some sun, testing his new crutches. So it happens that everyone is out of the safety of the prison walls, some in the locked outer path, some in the courtyard. From a distance, Lori and Rick share a knowing look. Perhaps their relationship is on the mend? No time to find out, there is a swarm of Walkers coming up from the other side of the prison!
Hershel and Beth go one direction, Lori, Maggie, and Carl another. Rick, Glen and Daryl race through the maze of gates and Carol and T-Dog are left in the courtyard fighting off Walkers. In trying to shut a gate, T-Dog gets bitten (No!). He and Carol run off in another direction into the maze of the prison. When Rick et al finally get to the courtyard, they find Hershel and Beth alright but everyone else missing. The the sirens go off. A dinner bell for all Walkers in the area.
Back at Woodbury, Andrea and the Governor are getting close. Too close. She wants to stay a little longer. Michonne is none too happy. Andrea also gives Merle some intel on the last-known whereabouts of Daryl and the group. Merle asks the Governor for permission to go look for his brother. Permission denied.
Rick was sure Oscar and Axel were behind this man-made Walker breach, but the alarm going off tells everyone that there is someone isle in the prison playing games. They need to find the backup generator and turn it off before a herd comes knocking. Finding the others will have to wait.
In the bowels of the prison, Lori and company are met by Walkers on every turn. They escape into a sort of furnace room where the stress of the situation sends Lori into labor. There is nothing for it, they can’t get back to Hershel or Carol who have been preparing for this event. Maggie is going to have to deliver the child.
T-Dog and Carol wander in another part of the dark prison. He’s a goner, but he is determined to keep going so that Carol can make it to safety. When the was is blocked, T-Dog sacrifices himself, jumping on a bunch of Walkers, so Carol has an opening to run. Rest in peace, T-Dog. You were one of the good ones.
In the generator room, Andrew attacks Rick. Remember Andrew? The guy Rick chased out into a yard full of Walkers and then closed the door? I guess the double-tap rule works for the living as well. This is all Rick’s fault. They all struggle for a bit and then Oscar comes up with a gun. Pointing it at Rick, Andrew encourages him to shoot so they can take back the prison. Oscar makes his decision and turns the gun on Andrew, shooting him in the head. Rick knows that Oscar is now on their side. They turn the generators off and head back through the Prison to find the missing. They find T-Dog’s body but no sign of Carol.
In the furnace room, Lori knows there is a problem. The baby won’t come out and if it dies in there, it will turn and eat Lori from the inside. Pregnancy in a Zombie Apocalypses is pretty much a death sentence, and Lori knows it. She finally makes amends with Carl (I was bawling during this scene, by the way), and has Maggie cut her open and rip the baby out. Lori passes out from blood loss and as Maggie takes the healthy newborn back towards the hallway, he puts a bullet in his own mother’s head. She would have died from the blood loss, and would have turned. He had to do it, but if he wasn’t growing up fast enough, I think this has scarred him beyond repair.
Back in the yard, Everyone is accounted for except Carol, Lori, Maggie, and Carl. As Rick makes plans for the search, he hears a baby cry. Maggie and Carl and the baby stumble out of the prison. The severity of that image, what it means, is too much for Rick to take. He crumbles in blanket of sobs and screams.
What do YOU think? Are you as devastated as I am? How will Rick come back from this? And how dangerous will it be to have a crying baby in a world where sound draws monsters? Huge kudos to IronE Singleton (T-Dog) and Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori) for some amazing performances. What are your thoughts? Give us your Two Cents in the comment section below!
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TheTwoCents 
I don’t know how to feel about this episode. I’ve been waiting for Lori to die for the longest time… she was a difficult character to like! but now that she’s gone I feel like she should’ve had a chance to turn around and be a better mother and wife 😦 I feel so sad for Carl (no amount of therapy will ever fix that little kid) and Rick
Nobody at the premiere party (including IronE Singleton) let on even the tiniest bit about T-Dog getting killed. He’s an AMAZING actor, because I told him I hoped the party wasn’t his character’s death party and he didn’t even blink.
And did you see him almost crack during Talking Dead? It was sad.