Say the Word (The Walking Dead)
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"Say the Word" is the fifth episode of the third season of the post-apocalyptic
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television series '' The Walking Dead''. It was written by Angela Kang and directed by Greg Nicotero, and originally aired on AMC in the United States on November 11, 2012.


Plot


Prison

Rick is traumatized after the death of his wife
Lori Lori may refer to: *Lori (given name) *Lori Province, Armenia *Lori Fortress, a fortress in Armenia *Lori Berd, a village in Armenia *Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget, a historical Armenian kingdom from c. 980 to 1240, sometimes known as the Kingdom of L ...
during childbirth, and abandons his responsibility as both a parent to his new daughter and to the other members of the group, instead releasing his anger on walkers.
Daryl Darryl is an English name, a variant spelling of Darell. Male variations of this name include: Darlin, Daryl, Darrell, Darryl, Daryll, Darryll, Darrell, Darrel. Female and unisex variations of this name include: Daryl, Darian, Dareen, Darell ...
steps up as an interim leader, and offers to go with
Maggie Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret. Maggie may refer to: People Women * Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician * Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist * Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Aust ...
to locate infant formula and other supplies for the newborn. Glenn, Axel, and Oscar dig graves for their fallen, Lori, and T-Dog; Glenn remains resentful towards the prisoners Axel and Oscar due to losing his friends as a result of their fellow prisoner Andrew's sabotage. Glenn then goes to look for Rick in the prison tunnels, who is still mindlessly killing walkers. Glenn tries to convince Rick to return with him, but Rick throws him against the wall and Glenn, recognizing that Rick is in a dangerous head space, decides to leave Rick alone. Daryl and Maggie successfully recover supplies from an abandoned daycare center, and they see to tending to the newborn. Daryl asks
Carl Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...
what to name his sister, and Carl considers the names of those that they have already lost. Daryl later visits Carol's makeshift grave, placing a
Cherokee Rose ''Rosa laevigata'', the Cherokee rose, is a white, fragrant rose native to southern China and Taiwan south to Laos and Vietnam, and invasive in the United States. Description It is an evergreen climbing shrub, scrambling over other shrubs and ...
to honor her memory. Rick has found the boiler room where Lori died, finding a bloated walker inside with no trace of Lori's body. Believing the walker had eaten her corpse, Rick proceeds to execute it, and considers opening it up to look for Lori's corpse but forgoes that. As he sits in the boiler room, thinking to himself, the phone in the room suddenly rings. He goes to answer it.


Woodbury

The town prepares for a celebration as directed by
The Governor A governor is an official, usually acting as the executive of a non-sovereign level of government. Governor may also refer to: Leadership * Governor (China), the head of government of a province * Governor (Japan), the highest ranking executive ...
. Michonne, still suspicious of The Governor, attempts to retrieve her katana from his quarters. After getting her katana, she is forced to hide as The Governor returns and overhears
Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
warn The Governor that his celebration will delay his experiments. She opts to exit out a back window to avoid being caught and discovers a courtyard with several cages filled with walkers. She proceeds to open the cages and methodically kill them. However, she is caught and taken to The Governor, who orders her to become part of the "research team". This team, including Milton and
Merle Merle may refer to: People *Merle (given name), a given name used by both men and women *Merle (surname), a surname of French origin Others *Merle (dog coat), a pattern in dogs’ coats *Merle (grape), another name for the wine grape Merlot *Akaf ...
, is tasked to bring still-animated walkers that are trapped in pits back to Woodbury. The Governor speaks to
Andrea Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...
regarding Michonne, warning her that she is creating tension in Woodbury. Michonne again tries to convince Andrea to leave with her; Andrea believes that The Governor will not let them go willingly, but is surprised that Merle allows them to freely leave the town. Andrea wavers, and opts not to leave, unwilling to spend another eight months surviving for her life. Michonne decides to leave on her own. That evening, The Governor has Andrea join them to watch Merle spar against Martinez while surrounded by chained walkers. Andrea considers the event barbaric, but The Governor insists it teaches the townspeople to not be afraid.


Reception


Critical response

The episode was generally well received. Zack Handlen, writing for '' The A.V. Club'', gave the episode a 'B' on a scale from 'A' to 'F'. He highlighted the "feverish intensity" of Rick's speechless rampage, but he reserved some criticism for uninteresting characters and the "pretty anticlimactic" reveal of Woodbury's festivities. Eric Goldman at
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gave the episode an 8.5 out of 10, praising the development of Woodbury, The Governor, Rick, Daryl, and Michonne in this episode. Both Handlen and Goldman singled out Glenn's dialogue with Hershel as a weak point, saying that Glenn's dialogue was too straightforward and his description of T-Dog's unseen heroism was "near self-parody".


Ratings

Upon its initial broadcast on November 11, 2012, "Say the Word" was watched by an estimated 10.37 million viewers, increasing in roughly a million viewers from the previous episode.


References


External links


"Say the Word"
at AMC * {{The Walking Dead episodes 2012 American television episodes The Walking Dead (season 3) episodes