SPOILER ALERT!

Each week I review the latest episode of AMC’s television series, The Walking Dead and pick three scenes or characters and breakdown the differences or similarities the show might’ve had with the comic book series. For those that are privy to the comic book and the show, this is for you.  Unfortunately, if you have not seen the episode or read the comic, this will spoil everything!  You’ve been warned!

Season 3 – Episode 4 – “Killer Within”

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead was titled the “the Killer Within,” which makes the obvious implication that there is a killer villain amongst the ranks.  The episode goes back and forth between what is happening with Michonne and Andrea while they’re in Woodbury with Merle and The Governor, and what is happening with Rick and “The Gang” as they share a prison space with the remaining prisoners, Axel and Oscar.

Andrew

The show opens with a mysterious person leaving gates open to the prison and successfully attempting to lure zombies in.  This mysterious person also happens to trigger the prison alarm system, which makes the prison a giant, panicking magnet to any nearby walkers.  The alarm sounding was another great exploration of zombie situations to happen, right after the armored zombies in the earlier episode, and was another great addition to the zombie genre.  What we find out, is that the mysterious person is Andrew, the prisoner Rick had locked the door and left to die with a bunch of walkers after he fled from him.  We barely get a glimpse of what this character is about in the show, but here’s our introduction to Andrew in the comics:

Andrew was a homosexual that was in love with a fellow prisoner named Dex, who never appears on the show.  What the episode does do well, is capture Andrew’s desperation and bitterness.  He’s desperate to take control back of the prison, much like what Dex and himself tried to do in the comic.  It’s highly doubtful that they’ll bring a character like Dex into the show, being that he was pretty one-dimensional and most of his interesting character traits were expressed through Tomas, the the previous episode.

The only curious thing is the new character Oscar and his choice of killing Andrew instead of Rick.  Needless to say, I’m curious about where they go with this character and just pray that he isn’t a substitute for Rick’s right hand man in the comics, Tyreese.

Lori

So in this episode we also have Lori biting the bullet.  People that follow the comic had probably already expected Lori to die, but not until much later in the series.  Even more dastardly, is that she’s taken out by her own son Carl!

That tender moment of between Carl and Lori doesn’t happen in the comics.  This is what happens:

Lori gets caught in the crossfire when The Governor stages an invasion into the prison.  The fact that she didn’t die the way she did in the comics disappoints me immensely because I would’ve loved to see how that would’ve played out on TV with real actors.  However, the fact that Carl euthanized his mother has potential to accelerate Carl’s trip into the dark side, considering he doesn’t have any twin boys to kill on the TV show.

T-Dog

And lastly, our least favorite character of the series, T-Dog bites the dust!  Seriously, this couldn’t have come any sooner.  He wasn’t a character in the comic books and this guy screamed “redshirt” since the first season.  His unimportant role and mediocre acting didn’t help him either.  Now I know he wasn’t given any juicy or significant lines to go off of, but I’m really surprised he didn’t die any sooner.  There were implications that T-Dog might’ve been the television version of Tyreese because they were both African-Americans and shared the letter “T” in the beginning of their names.  But now that rumor can now be put to rest.

Be sure to tune in next week, where we breakdown Rick’s inevitable break down and what The Governor may have in store!

Be sure to comment below and follow me on twitter @roderickruth.

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Roderick Ruth

Roderick Ruth

Reviewer/Columnist
Roderick’s comic book addiction started at the pre-teen level, where his father helped him nurture a steady, visual diet of Spider-Man, Batman, and any “X-Title” comic that was available. As he entered his teenage years, he spent hard-earned allowances on almost every comic at the supermarket stands (remember those days?). After reading and attempting to draw every Lee/Liefeld/McFarlene/Larsen book of the “90′s glory days”, Roderick eventually lost his way with comics. As he got older, he continued to watch super-hero TV shows/movies and collected graphic novels from bookstores every now and then. After going to San Diego Comic-Con in 2011, his passion was reinvigorated. With the help of his local comic shop and his tablet, the passion has yet to slow down. He is an aspiring screenwriter and dabbles in different mediums including drawing, comic writing, and playwrighting.
Roderick Ruth

@roderickruth

@conmantherad I'm there man. Got one life to live and I intend to experience it. - 21 hours ago
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