The third season of AMC’s The Walking Dead has now come to its conclusion.  We started this season by watching as Rick and his followers fought their way into an infested prison which they promptly turned into a secure place to start a new life.  The prison was a central focus in the season finale but it has turned into a very different place.  We also lost a couple of characters in this last hour, though after suffering a season’s worth of emotional turmoil, it’s the survivors might actually be the worst off.

Starring Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Laurie Holden, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Dallas Roberts, Emily Kinney, Chad Coleman and Lew Temple, AMC’s The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9.  Hit the jump for my review of the season three finale, “Welcome to the Tombs.”

The penultimate episode of season three of AMC’s The Walking Dead is now behind us.  Along the way we’ve had to say goodbye to some near and dear characters and tonight’s episode was no different.  While it was still just a precursor to the all out war that is expected on next week’s finale, it still packed an emotional punch that managed to carry the story forward ever so slightly.  Blood has been spilt on both sides of the conflict; no one is safe, no one is certain to survive.

Starring Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Laurie Holden, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Dallas Roberts, Emily Kinney, Chad Coleman and Lew Temple, AMC’s The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9.  Hit the jump for my review of “This Sorrowful Life.”

Only two more episodes in season three of AMC’s The Walking Dead.  Tonight’s story felt like a retro horror movie at times but for the most part was a chore to slog through.  For fans who love Andrea (or just love to hate her), this episode was for you as the main crux of the plot centered on her and the mobilization of the forces at Woodbury.

Starring Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Laurie Holden, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Dallas Roberts, Emily Kinney, Chad Coleman and Lew Temple, AMC’s The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9.  Hit the jump for my review of “Prey.”

With only three episodes left in the third season of AMC’s The Walking Dead, we’ve unfortunately gotten to the point where everything is set up for a big showdown and now we’re just stalling for time.  Last week’s episode was a great example of how a well-written show can use that to its advantage and work in some exemplary character development.  This week’s episode?  Not so much.

Starring Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Laurie Holden, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Dallas Roberts, Emily Kinney, Chad Coleman and Lew Temple, AMC’s The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9.  Hit the jump for my review of “Arrow on the Doorpost.”

Last week’s episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead was a bit on the dull side, but tonight’s ep really made up for it!  New locations to experience, interesting relationships to explore and even a surprise reunion.  While it wasn’t the most action-packed of episodes, there was just something about tonight’s hour that took the franchise to a whole new level.

Starring Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Laurie Holden, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Dallas Roberts, Emily Kinney, Chad Coleman and Lew Temple, AMC’s The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9.  Hit the jump for my review of “Clear.”

After the crazy ending of last week’s episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead, I fully expected the toned down hour of television we got tonight.  There were a few minor surprises here and there with a little bit of classical practical effects work thrown in for good measure.  Tonight’s episode was all about setting the stage and the players for the inevitable conflict between the two groups of survivors. Only five episodes left!

Starring Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Laurie Holden, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Dallas Roberts, Emily Kinney, Chad Coleman and Lew Temple, AMC’s The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9.  Hit the jump for my review of “I Ain’t a Judas.”

I may have been a little overzealous in rating last week’s episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead.  Even though it pulled in a ridiculous number of viewers, there were some clunky moments and some odd character behavior written into the episode, one which lacked the cohesiveness and punch necessary for a mid-season return.  I’m happy to say it picked back up this week with great character building, two solid action sequences and even a surprise character death, but that wasn’t the biggest surprise by a long shot!

Starring Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Laurie Holden, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Dallas Roberts, Emily Kinney, Chad Coleman and Lew Temple, AMC’s The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9.  Hit the jump for my review of “Home.”

AMC’s The Walking Dead came back fighting tonight with an opening that pit brother against brother in a gladiatorial battle of the Dixons.  It looks like fans finally got an answer to the question of what would happen when Merle and Daryl were reunited and it was anything but what I expected.  Things are starting to unravel in Woodbury as well as back at the prison, but it wasn’t all dreary: tonight’s episode even featured a quick undead cameo from former Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward!

Starring Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Laurie Holden, Danai Gurira, Michael Rooker, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson, Dallas Roberts, Emily Kinney, Chad Coleman and Lew Temple, AMC’s The Walking Dead airs Sunday nights at 9.  Hit the jump for my review of “The Suicide King.”

Well, folks, here we are:  another season of The Walking Dead (this time a full 13 episodes, even if it was divided up over the holidays) has come to an end.  After a season that ran the gamut from “infuriatingly tedious” and “holy crap that was so awesome”, things came to an explosive close tonight in a season finale that might’ve been on par with this year’s mid-season finale…and one that was certainly better than last season’s final episode.  What happened tonight, who lived, and who died?  Find out in our Walking Dead recap, after the jump.

For my money, the second-most important rule in the “Writing TV Recaps on The Internet” handbook (which, as you know, is “never divulge major spoilers in your opening paragraph”) is probably way more important than the rule that gets the top spot (“be sure to watch at least 30% of whatever it is you’re recapping”), but what do I know?  On the one hand, it seems like it’d be ridiculously easy to prevent such a thing from happening (you proof-read your opening paragraph before you hit “Publish”; if it has even one major spoiler, start over.

Here we are, folks:  the midway point for The Walking Dead’s second season.  Over the past month-and-a-half, we’ve had highs (last week’s “Secrets”, which was beloved in my household but complained about in other, darker corners of the internet) and we’ve had lows (the part where the survivors decided—seemingly without much provocation—to dangle one of their own down a zombie-occupied well), but for the most part, we’ve enjoyed the second season of AMC’s only zombie-centric series.  This week, we’ll be offering up a diagnosis of the season-thus-far in addition to the standard recap, so you should probably prepare yourself for a lengthy bit of reading material.  Once you’ve steeled yourself, meet me on the other side of the jump for this year’s final Walking Dead recap.

AMC’s The Walking Dead is coming up on its “mid-season finale” (after next Sunday, the show’ll likely be off the air until the end of December/beginning of January; we’ll give you specific dates in next week’s recap), which means that we’re just about a week away from being able to provide a mid-season diagnosis of the show.  If you’ve been following along with our recaps, you know that I’ve gone back and forth between really, really enjoying The Walking Dead’s second season…and being really, really disappointed by it.

Some weeks, the show seems to be spinning its wheels, offering up one or two somewhat interesting developments in between tedious stretches where the survivors whine about everyone’s favorite missing child, Sofia.  Other weeks, we get an installment like tonight’s episode, “Secrets”.  On episodes like tonight’s, things of genuine importance happen, characters grow or change in interesting ways, and, sometimes unforeseen developments take place.  On those weeks, I’m all too happy to be a fan of this series.  Come to think of it, “Secrets” might’ve been my favorite episode of the season.  A word of warning, though:  there was a ton of content packed into this week’s show (no wonder it’s my current favorite), so this week’s writeup’s gonna be extra-long.  Bring a bookmark, folks.

For the past few weeks, the survivors on AMC’s The Walking Dead have been using Herschel Greene’s farm as their base of operations during their search for Sofia–the missing little girl who’s become season two’s indisputable MacGuffin—and ever since that farm was introduced, fans of Robert Kirkman’s long-running Walking Dead comic series have been waiting for the “big reveal”.  Well, tonight, after much hint-dropping (and about 40 minutes’ worth of water-treading), Herschel Green’s barn-based secret was finally revealed.  What happened, and how was the rest of the episode?  Find out in this week’s Walking Dead recap, folks.

In the world of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic series, Shane was a one-note character who got killed off early on.   Meanwhile– on the televised version of The Walking Dead– actor Jon Bernthal has turned that one-note bully into the show’s most compelling character.  One imagines this must be a bit of a conundrum for the show’s writers:  Shane’s supposed to be bad, but a whole bunch of viewers prefer him to the show’s lead.  Last week, The Walking Dead‘s writers dealt “Team Shane” a blow by having Bernthal’s character do something really, really evil…but was it enough?  And would tonight’s episode continue his descent into villainy?  And would Rick get any more interesting?  Find out after the jump, folks.

We’re now three episodes in to The Walking Dead’s second season, and before tonight’s episode, TV’s only zombie-centric series was 1-to-1 with critics (and snarky recappers).  The season premiere was well-received overall, but enough online grumbling existed afterwards to prevent the episode from being considered a runaway success.  Last week’s episode, on the other hand, was pretty much universally…well, if not “loved”, then “heavily liked”.  So, what’s the score looking like after week three—1-to-2 or 2-to-1?  You’ll have to find out after the jump, folks.