It seemed impossible for
The Walking Dead to follow-up last week's
Lori and T-Dog death-fest without things being an anti-climax this week and yet they did.
The aftermath was more perfect than a perfect thing: the panic to save baby Sophia (I'm sure they'll stick with the name), the absolute exposure of Woodbury as psychotic and Rick's dark and dreadful mourning ending in that thrilling phone-call.
I have no doubt that Lori's going to be on the other end of the line. As I mentioned last week, she's a ghost in the comics and the producers have been very hush-hush about whether or not she'll be one in the show too. I reckon this means she definitely will be.
I predict that her eerie energy will help pull Rick out of his despair. He can't stay in that rut gut forever and no-one else will be able to convince him to leave except Lori.
Flash fact: in the comics Lori dies in Woodbury and not in the prison. Why the change? In interviews the producers have said that they want Rick to have hit rock bottom and beyond so that he has nothing to lose when they hit the asylum of Woodbury i.e. the two worlds will be colliding.
The madness of Woodbury's already started infiltrating my everyday life. While I was brushing my hair this morning I found myself obsessing about The Governor's zombie girl and her scalpy-scalpy, haaaaaaa.
The scene put an exclamation mark on the fact that The Governor's a lunatic and has driven everyone the same way. Either that or he's managed to brainwash them using the justifications he's been feeding Andrea.
Justifications that they're all using to satisfy their bloodlust. The way the episode revealed the essential difference between Rick's crowd and The Governor's was most excellent I thought. It really emphasised how Rick and Co. only kill because they have to and how they hate doing it versus The Governor's crowd who do it because they want to and enjoy it.
Just like the world and all the many justifications throughout the ages - most notably religion! What's happening at Woodbury's definitely a cult.
Thankfully Michonne sees through it all and will hopefully spark an intervention. They let her go way too easily though - I’m sure they’ll set people after her. The ideal situation will be for her to hook-up with Rick and for them to intervene together.
How will next week start? My prediction:
Lori: “Hey Rickipoo, it’s me!”