The Walking Dead Series Blog 3.7: When The Dead Come Knocking (Contains Spoilers):

Written By: Frank Benzulli

Directed By: Dan Sackheim

The Story: Michonne leads Rick, Daryl and Oscar to Woodbury to rescue Glenn and Maggie, whilst the Governor and Merle torture Glenn and Maggie in a bid to uncover the location of the survivor’s camp.

The Verdict: A precursor to next week’s dramatic mid-season finale, WHEN THE DEAD COME KNOCKING is a decent enough episode of THE WALKING DEAD, though undoubtedly, it’s unlikely to top many fan’s best episode lists.

The main problem here is that, whilst there’s some story development, it’s mostly filler to pass the time until next week.  Sure, there’s some great stuff with the Governor and Merle’s interrogations, which are brutal and uncomfortable to watch, particularly in the case of the Governor as he interrogates Maggie – a moment that most probably had fans of the comic open mouthed in terror.

The real reason to watch this week was to see how Michonne would gel with Rick and the other survivors.  Sadly, we don’t get too much of that, as barely anything is said between them: they save Michonne, they ask her some brief questions, and then they’re out on a mission to save Glenn and Maggie.  It’s a shame the writers couldn’t have given the survivors and Michonne some more dialogue together as opposed to building up to next week.

Ultimately, the problem with WHEN THE DEAD COME KNOCKING is that everything said or done here is either moving things into place for next week’s finale, or just completely pointless (Andrea’s involvement in a science project on Walker studies this week was boring and a real waste of time that could have been better spent with Rick and Michonne).  Hopefully things will pay off next week, but for now, that WALKING DEAD itch we get week on week doesn’t feel as though it’s been scratched enough.

Best Bit: Glenn fending off a Walker whilst his hands are strapped to a chair.  Edge of your seat action that had me wondering whether this was it for one of the show’s most popular and endearing characters!  Terrifying stuff.  

Speculation: Oscar seems mighty troubled about Rick and Daryl using the Hermit they find in the abandoned house as Walker bait.  Will this distress pay off next week in some form (possibly in the form of betrayal?)?

Great Gore: Pretty light on the gore this week, though Glenn stabbing a Walker sideways through the eye was pretty nasty, as was the death of the Hermit that Rick sacrificed.

 Join us next week for the final part of our WALKING DEAD Blog.