The Walking Dead – The Complete Third Season: Blu-ray Review
Season Overview:
After escaping the chaos of the farm the survivors find refuge in an abandoned prison. Things heat up rather quickly when a neighboring town called Woodbury and their “Governor” find out about the prison and attempt to wage war on Rick and his crew. Casualties are caused on both sides and Rick sees the immense danger from The Governor. Some new faces join the fold as well as some familiar ones but the fight for survival is the same as before. Fight the dead. Fear the living.
The series has progressed significantly since its inception and this season really shows it. We are introduced to the prison which if you’re a fan of the comic then you know this location makes for some pretty big moments in the series. Andrew Lincoln has done a fantastic job at developing his character a ton. Rick has gone from a victim thrust into an undead world into a leader that will do pretty much 
anything to protect and ensure the survival of his group. His performances have been outstanding as well and there were more than few moments where he shined with two episodes off the top of head being The Killer Within and Clear. The Killer Within ends with such an emotional scene and you could almost feel Lincoln’s performance and Clear marked a turning point for the character and who he will become throughout the rest of the season. The other character that has started to develop more and more is Daryl played by Norman Reedus. He became a very unlikely fan favorite and has grown throughout every season. This season shows that Daryl has a bit more “heart” than before and Reedus displays that in a way that still has Daryl coming off as a badass. I do see Daryl stepping up a bit more and almost like he’s taking a “leader” type of role. Reedus also gave a fantastic performance in the final moments of This Sorrowful Life that will make you feel for the character even more so than before t
hus making him EVEN MORE of a fan favorite. This season also brought back things from the 1st season that people may have forgotten about (I sure as hell didn’t. I have been waiting for these moments.). I was like they were almost tying up a few lose ends and in a sense using that to propel the series even further forward. The first moment was that of the return of Morgan played by Lennie James. If you remember, Morgan and his son were the first people Rick runs into after waking up from his coma in the first episode. Rick gives him a walkie talkie with the promise that he would check in every night so he could let them know of a camp. That promise slowly faded away and now Morgan isn’t “all there” anymore. James gave such a dynamic performance in this episode that I will be greatly shocked if he doesn’t receive some type of Emmy nomination. The second moment being the return of Merle Dixon played by Michael Rooker. We last saw Merle handcuffed to the roof of a building with Walkers about to attack him and his only recourse was to saw 
his own hand off. We never saw him again…….until this season. After the rooftop moment I was waiting for the time that he would come back for his revenge because I knew it was going to make for a great battle. Although I didn’t entirely get the big “revenge fight” that I was hoping for between him and Rick but what we did see was that Merle played a pretty integral part in the battle between Woodbury and the Prison. He turned out to be a “go between” at the second half of the season and provided Rick and Company with some (snarky and sarcastic) insight on The Governor and his clan. We also got to see a bit more of Merle’s personality as the season grew to a close and that in turn gave us a bit more expansion on Daryl. Carl was a character that honestly was getting a bit annoying but by this third year we saw Chandler Riggs grow as an actor and the writers give him a way better role. He’s a kid growing up in a very unapologetic world and Carl (with Rick’s hat) embraces responsibility. He shows the rest of the group that although he is young, the environment they’re in and certain circumstances has forced him to leave his childhood behind. By the finale we definitely see a different Carl emerge from all of the chaos and it is a bit refreshing to see how him and Rick will interact. David Morrissey 
was so perfect as The Governor. He has this very normal and very charming demeanor but when someone crosses him then his switch gets flipped and he becomes a vicious monster so to speak. He’s just as scary and unpredictable as the Walkers. I am familiar with Morrissey as a classically trained actor which is great because he immerses himself in the role and is VERY convincing. The season was slow building initially but ramped up and pulled out all the stops by the second half. My only criticism is that there wasn’t more solo character development. We got the story moving forward with the group as a whole but there could’ve been more being done with some of the other characters like Carol. It ended on a happy note (well as happy as you can get) but also left things wide open for bigger and more exciting things for Rick and the group and I for one can’t wait to see what’s next.
Special Features:
Featurettes – 8 features that cover various aspects of the season from Carl’s transformation to the make up effects. All these features were extremely good and very informative to see if you’re a fan of the series.
Deleted Scenes – There are one deleted scene for 6 episodes including a very powerful one from the episode “Clear”.
The Walking Dead – The Complete Third Season is available NOW on Blu-ray and DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment
