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The Walking Dead Episode 3.01 'Seed' Discussion

Season 3 kicks off with one of the series' strongest episodes yet.

There are minor spoilers discussed below.

We are finally back to new episodes of AMC’s The Walking Dead. While last season had its moments, my overall take on the second season is that it dragged a little bit too much. Moments of brilliance were constantly overshadowed by moments of tedium and utter stupidity (anything Lori did basically). Worse yet, the writers of the show didn’t really know how to handle the entire ensemble cast, leaving some characters to just disappear for prolonged stretches of time and really offer nothing to the overall plot at hand (looking at you, T-Dog).

I mention all of this because the start of season three feels like a rebirth for the series. Firstly, the show has jumped forward a number of months -- we don’t know how many exactly, but we do know winter is behind our cast because they’re sporting longer hair and beards, in the case of the men that is. Characters are much more hardened now, too, with pretty much everyone lending a hand in taking down hordes of zombies to clear infected areas. This even includes the likes of Carol, and Hershel’s daughters, Maggie and Beth (remember her?).

Everyone gets in on the zombie killin' action.
Everyone gets in on the zombie killin' action.

Secondly, everyone finally has something to do. There isn’t a single character wasted. For many, that is a correction of one of The Walking Dead’s largest flaws. It appears as though the writers of the show, in this specific case Glen Mazzara, have taken the criticism of last season to heart, leading to a season premiere that feels more tightly scripted and focused than the majority of season two combined.

And for those complaining that season two was a bit boring, with far too little zombie slaying action, well, this first episode should rectify that for you. There is so much blood, guts and gore in this first episode. Essentially, the entire episode revolves are our gang clearing out the prison teased at the end of season two to make it a livable environment. What this results in is a lot of zombies getting things shoved through their faces or getting decapitated altogether. The Walking Dead has never been a show aimed at people with weak stomachs, but “Seed” might just be the goriest episode yet. I know there were a few instances where even I was cringing at what I was watching. There are some truly brutal moments here, so be prepared.

Since “Seed” is primarily a familiarizing and establishing of the new status quo for our ensemble cast, there are not a whole lot of surprises to be found (cliffhanger notwithstanding). However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Michonne’s introduction. The fan-favorite character from the comic series makes her official debut in “Seed,” although you shouldn’t go in expecting too much. In fact, a vast majority of Michonne’s moments were released online month’s ago as publicity for this new season. If you’ve seen those, then you’ve seen most of what Michonne brings to the table in this episode.

Michonne makes her official debut. Yup, she's a badass.
Michonne makes her official debut. Yup, she's a badass.

With that said, Michonne does make a memorable debut, complete with her zombie pets, which should please diehard fans of the comics. But if there is one criticism to be lobbed against Michonne, it’s that she is by far the most “comic book-y” aspect of this show. Michonne strutting around with a katana and zombie lap dogs kind of flies in the face of the grim realism the rest of the episode conveys. But then again, Michonne’s introduction in Robert Kirkman’s original comic felt the same way all those years ago, and we all know everything turned out just fine.

Overall, “Seed” was a fantastic season premiere episode. In fact, I think it’s one of my favorite episodes of the show thus far. There’s a lot of great stuff here, and it seems like the crew working on the series is actually dedicated to correcting what went wrong last season. Every character has something to do, there are no illogical choices made by anyone with half a brain, and there’s plenty of zombie slaying badassery (Maggie FTW!). All in all, this is a rock solid start to The Walking Dead’s third season.

What did you think of the season premiere? Sound off in the comments below.

Erik Norris is a freelance writer for sites such as ComicVine, IGN and CraveOnline.com. You can stalk him on Twitter @Regular_Erik.

75 Comments

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The_Ghostshell

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Edited By The_Ghostshell

@Billy Batson: Honestly didnt even think about it lol

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The_Ghostshell

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Edited By The_Ghostshell

@Billy Batson: -_- seriously? I wish I hadnt read that....

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Billy Batson

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Edited By Billy Batson

@Gambler said:

@Billy Batson: Honestly didnt even think about it lol

@Gambler said:

@Billy Batson: -_- seriously? I wish I hadnt read that....

LOL :D
You should read the book. It makes up for it and is much better than the show.
BB

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Jonny_Anonymous

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@Billy Batson: I rage quit the book after #100, just recently crawled back to it lol.
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TheHeat

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Edited By TheHeat

Episode was awesome! I love Maggie btw!

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The_Ghostshell

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@Billy Batson: I'll take it under advisement lol

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Billy Batson

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@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@Billy Batson: I rage quit the book after #100, just recently crawled back to it lol.

LOL only in issue #78/84 myself :p
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Jonny_Anonymous

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Edited By Jonny_Anonymous
@Billy Batson said:

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@Billy Batson: I rage quit the book after #100, just recently crawled back to it lol.

LOL only in issue #78/84 myself :p
BB

Ahhh my favourite part in the whole series happens at the end of that Vol 
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Billy Batson

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@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@Billy Batson said:

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@Billy Batson: I rage quit the book after #100, just recently crawled back to it lol.

LOL only in issue #78/84 myself :p
BB

Ahhh my favourite part in the whole series happens at the end of that Vol

I'm not sure which trade was my last. It was either Vol. 13 or Vol. 14 :p
BB

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Jonny_Anonymous

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Edited By Jonny_Anonymous
@Billy Batson said:

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@Billy Batson said:

@Jonny_Anonymous said:

@Billy Batson: I rage quit the book after #100, just recently crawled back to it lol.

LOL only in issue #78/84 myself :p
BB

Ahhh my favourite part in the whole series happens at the end of that Vol

I'm not sure which trade was my last. It was either Vol. 13 or Vol. 14 :p
BB

You'd know if you got to the end of Vol 14, the last page is a massive "Oh Sh!t" moment 
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Uchihataketo

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Edited By Uchihataketo

@Decept-O: Look, the Walking Dead is NOT a show about killing zombies. Go look somewhere else for that, there will always be loads of inter personal drama. Thats what makes it awesome in the comics, in the show it has simply not been well handed in the show, specially season 2. Hopefully that changes, but I assure you, particularly this season, may have less zombies. It'll be much more about human vs human.

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Decept-O

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@Uchihataketo: Uhmm....dude...either you're trolling hard, or you misunderstood. If I, like a lot of other viewers, want to see Zombies getting offed, then so be it. In fact this episode proved more of that happened. ? I don't want too much soap opera crap. Yes I expect inter-personal drama and the like, that's a good component of the show but I also wants da Zombies to bes killed. Capice?

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Delphic

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Edited By Delphic

My biggest problem with the second season was definitely lame-brained decisions. I actually felt like Carl was the bigger idiot than Lori was. Carl with all his running off just flat out annoyed the crap out of me. Not to mention Shane's act at the end was just downright unbelievable. It really felt like the guy was going to change for the better, then next thing you know he's slapping himself, and smashing his face into a tree. I really felt like Rick and Shane had finally made an understanding. That scene was really disappointing and just could have been handled better. The only one who was really handled well in my opinion was Dale, and you could just see in his character that he was not made for what the world had become.

Though my opinion may be unpopular, I do not feel like "Seed" did better than all of season 2 combined. That does not mean I think it was a good start to a season though. The strongest scene from season 2, in my opinion, was when Shane opened up the barn and started a zombie massacre after first raising a lot of heck, and then Sophia walks out. That scene was just huge and impactful, and really in my opinion was a defining moment for the series. "Seed" in no way measured up to that scene. What "Seed" did do though, is give us all a glimpse at what is in store for us. The situation is much more dire and Rick's sanity is hanging on by a thread. Carl still annoys the crap out of me though, but maybe he will change, and Lori is well...Lori. If I had a family like Rick's I would probably go insane too :P

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MisterKetch

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Really strong episode, it looks a lot more promising for this season overall not to mention that it looks like they'll be able to switch from andrea/michone to the main group to keep the story interesting.

But seriously I call bullshit on the zombie that bit herschel, I mean it was just sitting there when the group was approaching only to "wake up" the second his leg was by it. Total bull.
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SuperJedi17

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@sentryman555:Well at NYCC at TWD Booth i guess a young girl(WHY IS SHE WATCHING THIS??) asked Chandler riggs(Carl) if he'd get a girlfriend on the show(or...well that's the gist of it) to which he replied"Well Carl is 13 and beth is 17,so you might see at bit of that. Hope that helps,and this was an amazing episode.

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kid Apollo

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Edited By kid Apollo

god gave people two feet for a reason

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jorgeareizaga

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rick is hot and sexy

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sentryman555

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Edited By sentryman555

@Malonius said:

@sentryman555 said:

@doordoor123 said:

I actually stopped watching in the middle of last season because I was bored. I went back to it about a month ago on Netflix and pushed my way through the remaining episodes. I actually thought it got good in the final three episodes of the season. This episode was also good, but I'm a little confused with some of the stuff that happened in the time-skip (i didn't read the comic. Don't like the art change.) Exited to see what happens next.

Does anyone know how far ahead Kirkman is in the comic? He pretty much has twelve issues every year before the new seasons so I don't think it should be a problem for him to stay ahead, but you never know.

I remember reading an interview, I think on here, with Kirkman and he said the show will never catch up with the comic. i also think the show is different enough now from the comic that its off doing its own thing already. The places may be the same but the characters and plots are a little different.

If they're going to stick with same actor for Carl (and keep him alive in the show) then they're going to have to time-skip between every season in-story since the kid is going to be growing up in real time. They've got to plan for the actor growing up or they'll run into the problem that LOST had with Walt.

I never watched LOST, just no time, so I don't know how they dealt with that problem. But the kid growing up can be a major problem down the line. They might go with the easy solution and kill him off. But they could easily do time skips and have all the events happen as they do in the comics just with everyone being older. Just because they do a time skip doesn't mean they have to skip over things that happened in the comics.

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sentryman555

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Edited By sentryman555

@DonFelipe said:

@sentryman555 said:

@doordoor123 said:

I actually stopped watching in the middle of last season because I was bored. I went back to it about a month ago on Netflix and pushed my way through the remaining episodes. I actually thought it got good in the final three episodes of the season. This episode was also good, but I'm a little confused with some of the stuff that happened in the time-skip (i didn't read the comic. Don't like the art change.) Exited to see what happens next.

Does anyone know how far ahead Kirkman is in the comic? He pretty much has twelve issues every year before the new seasons so I don't think it should be a problem for him to stay ahead, but you never know.

I remember reading an interview, I think on here, with Kirkman and he said the show will never catch up with the comic. i also think the show is different enough now from the comic that its off doing its own thing already. The places may be the same but the characters and plots are a little different.

If the series will run for another 2 seasons after this one it could possibly catch up. This episode covers a few issues (4 or 5) - from leaving the form, checking out empty houses, discovering the prison and the survivors inside. Of course it's the first episode of a brand new season. I believe it will slow down a bit from now on. With the survivors there will be more dialogues than slashing zombies once the prison has been cleaned. And then, in 3 to 5 more episodes from now the Governor will be introduced. All in all, this season may go as far as somewhere between issues 40-50 when the comic will be at #110.

However, lets enjoy this season, shall we? It's looking bloody good so far.

No arguments here about enjoying the season. Can't wait for Michonne and Andrea to become part of the group! But it really all depends in what direction they take the show. They might decide they can't continue the show till it makes it to issue 100 or whatever and go in a completely new route. Which I wouldn't all together not mind because it could give us interesting situations we haven't seen in the comics. But lets enjoy it while it lasts!

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DonFelipe

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@sentryman555:

Agree, too. I wouldn't mind a change of direction either. It would add some sort of surprise.

However, the number of viewers of the series is much higher than the sales numbers of the original comic and some readers may not even watch. It's much easier to turn the storyline of the comic book into a script than coming up with brand new ideas and a new direction. After all, the comic is doing more than fine - selling 380K copies of #100. There's the risk of going into the wrong direction, too. The +10 million viewers of episode 1 prove the concept is working well. It's incredible how successful the show has become and how it keeps on drawing more and more attention. Kudos to Kirman and everyone else involved!

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turoksonofstone

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Edited By turoksonofstone

Michonne!!! Far from the best episode so far but awesome nonetheless.

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SickBoy2212

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Edited By SickBoy2212

Ohhh that episode, Michonne finally showing up in all her badassery, more zombie action than the whole of season 2 (not that it's the main point of the walking dead, but it still doesn't hurt)

also glad to see they went the Dale route with Hershel, at least that'll give him something to do.

also really happy to see they finally gave Carl a gun, in the comics, he becomes useful much earlier and it was about time he could pull his own weight. i AM a little perplexed at one thing though, if they've barely been going in circles during the winter, where did they find an M16, an AK47 and silencers, i'd assume a military base would have those (minus the AK, don't know what kind of luck you'd need to randomly fall on one of those) but they didn't mention it.

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ThomasElliot

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Edited By ThomasElliot

Since my expectations were so lowered by Season 2, Season 3 can't be anything but good.

The choice to move a few months later is a good one to get away from the mess they left at the end of season 2. Yes, they left a mess, which was this:

Carl witnessed his father murdering a man he thought he could trust. Rick had to tell Laurie about what he did, raising even more discontent within their family.

Fast forwarding several months beyond that means not having to deal with that dramatic fallout, which was a lame premise and setup. I don't have issues with most changes, but changing the family that realizes they can only trust each other and no one else into a dysfunctional family who questions each other... it turns them into characters you cannot like. Even now, there's still that rift between Rick and Laurie lingering and even that is lame.

And Season 2 wasn't boring because it lacked action or zombies... the first half of season 2 sucked because it lacked any drive. Apologists will declare "its characterization, character building, character driven"... but I say there are plenty of great examples of film and television that are character driven and entertaining rather than boring and meandering.

And... I have to add, Sophia in the barn was obvious. The only people it was NOT obvious to were the comic readers who remembered Sophia doesn't die. Otherwise, you go back and watch Season 2 over again, and I SWEAR to you there are a couple of moments where someone says the name 'Sophia' and suddenly the cut to Hershel's barn. They were dropping clues left and right and most people missed it because they were counting on the comic book story.

Anyhow... that enough hate on season 2. Season 3 starts off great and it looks like they are going to correct a lot of mistakes they made in season 2.

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twocifer

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Edited By twocifer

I never had one issue with Season 2... I thought it was great the whole season. I get why people would have issues, but it doesn't bother me.

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_john_doe

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Edited By _john_doe

Herschel - You forgot Zombieland's most important rule!!!!!

DOUBLE TAP!!!

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