Rick wanting to "save" Morgan, telling him that he "can come back from this" is a case of Rick projecting his desires for himself onto Morgan. He wants Morgan to come back as proof that he'll be able to come back as well. If Morgan can't be saved, it puts doubts in Rick's mind whether he can be saved too. At least this shows that Rick is self aware and knows he's in trouble mentally, but has the desire to get his **** together. Maybe seeing the sad state Morgan is in is the push he needs to recover.
dragon ball z style he'll probably show up just in the nick of time to save the group from the governor
this is true, but I think they had done such a bad job developing Michonne's character to this point that they were left forcing something like this to integrate her as part of Rick's group. I think it's just another byproduct of Andrea dumbing down everyone else's character.
Told my wife during the show that Michonne spoke more during this episode than she had during her entire run. They could have done a better job of fleshing her out slowly after she showed up.
the little nugget she dropped on Rick last night should have been revealed within the first couple episodes of this season...instantly an angle to her character that makes her more compelling. the writers were much too quick to kill off her "boyfriend" and Spoiler I can only assume her brother based on the comic? . maybe the cgi was blowing their budget?
Exactly. This needs to be said more often. A lot of people dont realize that this show is about the characters and how they interact in this new environment, just trying to survive. This show is not about mindlessly entertaining the audience by killing 100's of zombies each episode. If you want action and stuff blowing up then I suggest you watch a Michael Bay film.
I agree, they could have peppered little tid bits here and there to give the audience small clues about her. Spoiler Yes, killing off her boyfriend and brother were done way too quickly and with little thought about what they meant in the comics. Oh well, hopefully they'll treat her better going foward. Just a heads up, this past episode was done by the guy who's going to be the new showrunner next season. He also did one of last season's best episodes, can't remember the title but it's the one where Rick and Shane are driving that one kid off to a remote spot.
so what was all that stuff with Morgan and "clear" all over the walls? some turn and some clear. what does that mean? does it mean to off someone in the head so that don't go walker on us?
I will have to go back and re-watch whether he wrote "clear" over the location of the burn pile on his map. but when he told Rick he had to "clear" before the group started packing up to leave, it was to clear out the walkers he had trapped so he could send them to the burn pile.
That's great, if true. I love the last scene where Shane just stares at that lone zombie staggering through the field, very deep. Sort of signifying his own demise. Those two episodes were much more character driven.
Interview with Robert Kirkman, creator/writer of the comic and Executive Producer of the show: http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/03/03/walking-dead-robert-kirkman-clear/2/ Tonight’s episode of AMC‘s undead saga the Walking Dead offered more evidence that reunions between acquaintances in the zombie apocalypse are rarely happy events. In real life, such occasions are all about “You look well” and “My son got into college.” But the long-awaited reunion of Andrew Lincoln’s Rick and Lennie James’ Morgan was more “You look insane” and “My son got turned into a zombie by his undead mom, who I then killed.” Below, Walking Dead TV show exec producer — and Walking Dead comic writer — Robert Kirkman discusses the return of Morgan, the detail-obsessed ways of new WD showrunner Scott Gimple, and why working on the show makes him feel dumb. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The prison folks’ need for guns was a good excuse for the Rick and Carl to go home — but you could have had Morgan return much earlier. Was it an issue of Lennie James’ availability? ROBERT KIRKMAN: Honestly, the way the stories fell I think this was the most logical time to have a trip back up to King County, where they were from, and bring him in. There were a lot of stories pitched along the way: “Oh, Morgan could be here.” “Oh, Morgan could be there.” There were a lot of plans to bring him back in season 2. But for story reasons everything kept getting pushed. It wasn’t really a matter of Lennie’s availability as much as it was just the story changing around this event and pushing it further and further into the show. Lennie’s fantastic. I’ve got to hand it to him. He was such an integral piece of the pilot, which made people invest in this show so quickly. To have him back as Morgan is really cool. But I ought to say he’s really playing a completely different character and doing completely different things in this episode and is just as amazing doing it. So it was a lot of fun having him back and also having him do things that were so different from what he had done before. EW: Morgan talked about “clearing” a couple of times — and episode was titled “Clear.” What does that mean? RK: It means a lot of things. To a certain extent it’s the ravings of a lunatic but it’s also about him trying to clear out his life and clear out any entanglements around him. He’s living by himself so he’s trying to have a clear head. It’s basically about him getting rid of his wife and getting rid of his son and the only way for him to survive is to clear the area around him. EW: I did freeze frame a couple of times on the material that Morgan had been writing on the walls. There was some fascinating stuff. RK: I think that was all written by Scott Gimple, who wrote the episode. I could be mistaken but that guy goes to painstaking lengths to make sure every little detail is something interesting. EW: In the diner, we had a couple of glimpses of a zombie who looked very much like Morgan’s wife. I wasn’t sure whether that was a coincidence or a hint that Morgan’s recollections of events are not to be trusted. RK: Ah, you know, I think that might have been a coincidence. But maybe there’s something to it. I wouldn’t want to reveal anything if there was. EW: We didn’t find out what happened to Morgan’s son, beyond his zombification. RK: Yeah, that’s left a little bit ambiguous. He could have killed his son, he could have allowed his son to live on as a zombie, he could have had his son hiding there somewhere. EW: And obviously you left the door open for Lennie to return at some later date. RK: Yes. I look forward to constantly being asked when the character of Morgan will reappear again for the next two or three seasons. We were very careful to leave that wide open so I would get to field those questions on the regular. EW: I’m sorry to be so predictable! RK: [Laughs] No, no, no, no. I’m just trying to be funny. But we definitely loved having Lennie on the show and we think Morgan is a cool character to check in on from time to time and we’d definitely like to have him back if the story made sense and the guy is still alive. So that possibility is always open. EW: I don’t think it’s an insult to the show’s main plotline to say that it was nice to have a break from Woodbury and the prison. RK: Yeah. I think this episode was really good in that it gave us a little bit more Rick and Carl interaction, which is important, and also delves pretty deep into Michonne’s personality. It showed us another side of that character. So now we’re viewing her in possibly a different light moving into the coming conflict. But, yeah, it was a good breather episode, an episode which takes you away from all the tension of what’s going on for a minute. EW: I thought the opening sequence in which they just drove by the guy and ignored his shouts told us so much about the psychological road that Rick and Carl have traveled. RK: It’s interesting to see that these characters have grown that cold. They can’t even consider interacting with a stranger because it would be too dangerous. It’s kind of a reflection of how the situation with the Governor has affected them. EW: In your mind, how far is the prison from Rick’s home? Or is that something that we don’t want to concern ourselves with too much? RK: Well…details! I don’t know. Um, you know, less than a day’s drive. I imagine that King County is aways north of Atlanta and the prison is aways south of Atlanta. So, you’re looking at maybe a maximum four, five hour drive. EW: Presumably the presence of Atlanta between King County and the prison explains why Rick didn’t know of the latter’s existence despite being a cop. RK: Exactly! EW: How the hell did Michonne get that photograph? RK: Michonne is awesome. EW: Fair enough. Using rats in cages as zombie-bait was a nice touch. Is that something which is in the comics. RK: No. You know, that’s another one of those things where somebody puts it in the show and I’m like, “Ah, I should have thought of that over the course of 100 issues of a comic and I never did. I suck.” I’m really excited about the show and I’m proud of the show — but at the end of the day it just makes me feel inferior. EW: Another nice touch was to be found at the start of the show where we saw a message for someone called Erin on a roadside sign and then one of the zombies was wearing an “Erin” bracelet. RK: Again, we always refer to Scott Gimple as our details guy. He’s the guy that puts those little touches in and is very careful to be mindful of those details and gave the viewer something really cool to notice, to latch onto, that adds an extra level to the story. EW: What’s next? RK: Well, we’re going to have Rick and Michonne and Carl in a somewhat closer position now that they’ve bonded over this trip. They’re going to get back into the prison and start preparing for the coming conflict with the Governor. So we get right back into that. And we’ve only got a few episodes left to our finale. So there’s going to be some pretty explosive things happening pretty quickly.
I think that's been fairly consistent all season, which I think is proving that zombies are not the most dangerous thing in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. And plus they've all gotten pretty skilled at killing them and understanding their "movements."
I really wonder what they will do with Tyreese's character. Seems weird that they bring in someone new and just ignore him for the longest time.
T-Dawg was on the show for like 2 seasons and they pretty much ignored him for 2 seasons minus an episode.
