‘The Walking Dead’ season 3 episode 12 recap: Home Again

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Well that’s a face we haven’t seen in a while. On a normal day I’d call this last episode of The Walking Dead a time-filler episode, but given the way this season’s been going it was one of my favorites since the show came back from break.

This week’s episode, entitled “Clear,” ignored the happenings at Woodbury entirely, for the better. Rick, Carl and Michonne set out on a supply run to his old home town where everything started. This was a really cool idea for an episode. You forget that most of the events on this show have happened in a fairly narrow geographical area – just Georgia, for the most part – so it’s interesting to realize how little of post-Walker America Rick has seen.

On the way, the trio pass a survivor on the side of the road and pass him by without even slowing down before hitting their final destination. Unfortunately, the town’s pretty much picked clean.

We also have a pretty shocking return from the show’s first episode. Morgan, the guy who took Rick in after he woke up from his coma and taught him about the ways of the world. Unfortunately, things haven’t worked out so well for him, and he’s holed up in a creepy fortification with lots of booby traps and not much sanity. He starts shooting at our crew and Carl takes him out, his first non-Walker kill. And then Rick recognizes him, of course.

Their reconciliation isn’t too friendly – Rick tries to get him to come back to the prison but Morgan stabs him in the shoulder. Apparently because he couldn’t kill his zombie wife, she ate their son. Sentimentality doesn’t pay in this world, buddy. They part, with Morgan telling him that he has to get “clear.”

Meanwhile Carl scavenges a crib for the baby and Michonne grabs a totally weird cat statue. Why? Dude, she has katanas, don’t ask questions. The trio then head back to the prison, discovering the belongings of the survivor from the beginning which they loot without question.

Like I said, this was the best episode in a while. Really well-paced, great character interactions, nobody did anything egregiously stupid. The episode was written by Scott Gimple, who was recently announced as the showrunner for next season, so that’s a very good sign. What’d you think?