The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 4: The Killer Within

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Warning, mild episode 4 spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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From its ominous, foreboding opening, Episode 4 ‘The Killer Within’ grabs hold and never lets up, becoming quite possibly the best episode of the walking dead to date. It seamlessly combines action, ambiguity and pure emotion into a 45 minute episode of pure shock and entertainment. Robert Kirkman said that season 3 was going to be full of surprises, and ‘The Killer Within’ delivers in spades.

Episode 4 gets to business quickly, with the remaining inmates who share the prison with our survivors begging to join up with Rick and co. Naturally he refuses, but the prison gets hit by a small horde of walkers, resulting in the group becoming fractured. What follows is a spectacular piece of TV that's so good it redeems the myriad of mistakes that made up the first half of season 2. Events are genuinely thrilling, with the show doing a fantastic job of portraying everyone's desperation and vulnerability. It feels like a character could die at any time, a testament to how frail the group has been made by becoming splintered.

Events are worsened by the prison alarm going off, leading more walkers in. Throughout the prison scenes we get scenes of Andrea and Michonne during their stay at Woodbury. Michonne still pouts perpetually with her distrust of The Governor with Andrea warms to the idea of staying. One of the more subtle scenes here is with Merle and The Governor, perfectly capturing the anger and tyranny that bubbles under his kind surface. It’s apparent that he has ulterior motives, and it’ll be interesting to see how they come to fruition.

In my review of episode 3 I stated that the next 4 episodes would be make or break for the season. ‘The Killer Within’ delivers perfectly, becoming one of the best episodes of The Wlking Dead. Period.

10