The Walking Dead “Made to Suffer” Review

Posted on December 5, 2012 By Dustin Triplett Reviews, Showcase, TV, TV Reviews

After the up and down (mainly down) season two, it was an absolute joy to have The Walking Dead’s third season remain on such a high note throughout the entire season.

Glenn’s character development has been off the charts during this season. “Made to Suffer” furthers that development and proves just how far he’s willing to go for the girl he loves. Glenn straight up rips a zombies arm off, breaks the bones into sharp shives and hands them to Maggie. Their dedication to one another is not something that’s seen very often. Maybe that’s why they are my favorite couple on television.

A new group was introduced in “Made to Suffer.” Tyreese and his group look in surprisingly good shape for surviving in the apocalypse. Then again, Maggie’s teeth are white enough to reflect sunlight, creating a death beam that could wipe out all life on earth… so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. In the comics they were held up in Tyreese’s mansion for a while, so it’s quite possible this is still the case. That would explain their clean exterior and their oblivious actions when dealing with Walkers. Other than knowing to destroy the head, they are shouting like amateurs, luring even more Walkers to their location and not immediately dealing with their bitten comrades.

Tyreese’s group finds their way into Rick’s prison through a giant hole through the perimeter, previously mentioned by two of the prisons while attempting to burn bodies in an earlier episode. Carl rescues them from Walkers and locks them in a room with no access to the secured portion of the prison. I really love how Carl is taking charge and applying the proper amount of precaution his father would have before he went coo-coo.

The entire infiltration and assault on Woodbury was a lot of fun to witness. Daryl’s smoke grenades really turned the majority of the battle in the group’s favor and provided a great atmosphere where both sides weren’t able to see well enough to make out familiar faces.

Rick’s sanity is once again questioned in “Made to Suffer.” No, he didn’t break down and start talking to a toy phone in the middle of a firefight… but he did see a shotgun-welding Shane that looked surprisingly like Wolverine. This moment didn’t last long, but I’ll be dammed if I don’t admit that it was one of the most shocking moments of season three.

Michonne, taking a fierce shit.

I only have two complaints with “Made to Suffer.” One would be about the girl in Tyreese’s group that was bitten on her arm. She immediately started limping. I guess one could speculate that a bite of that size would quickly cause her to lose motor skills, creating body aches, shortness of breath and fever immediately, but that almost feels like a stretch since it hasn’t been proven.

The other complaint would be able Michonne getting revenge on the Governor. She took revenge on him damn near exactly as she did in the comic. As exciting and long awaited as this was, I can’t help but find myself asking “why?” She wasn’t raped, so revenge in such a violent manner shouldn’t be warranted. Michonne is an idiot as far as I’m concerned, just out to stir up shit because she doesn’t agree with the way things are done in Woodbury. I am not defending the Governor’s actions, the man is a loon, but as far as Michonne knows he’s just a weird, overly protective man that’s afraid of letting go of what’s left of his child. With that said… damn! What a wonderful battle between the two. For a moment I didn’t know if either one of them would make it out of the room alive.

Daryl and Merle’s inevitable reunion wasn’t what I thought it would be. For some reason, I expected Merle to hold Rick at gunpoint and Daryl tasked with the decision to kill his own brother or not. Instead we get Daryl and Merle’s side-by-side fight to the death teased within the last few moments of the show, which was ruined by the teaser at the end of the show that clearly showed Daryl out of Woodbury alive and well.

The entire episode felt like catering to the fans. That’s not a bad thing, but I’m surprised by the amount of speculation the fan community managed to get right after the end of last weeks episode. As much as I hate the concept of a mid-season finale, “Made to Suffer” does a good job of getting us excited for what’s to come. Even though the preview showed Daryl alive and well, I can’t wait until February to see how the Dixon boys got out of their predicament.

AMC, Made to Suffer, The Walking Dead