"Burn a round? Turn a pound? I can't hear you! You'll have to yell more clearly!"

Season 3, Episode 1: "Seed"
Original Air Date—14 October 2012

With the world growing increasingly more dangerous and Lori's pregnancy advancing, Rick discovers a potentially safe haven. But first he must secure the premises, pushing his group to its limit.

ZZZ.5s" - Zombtac.com -

"I'm doing stuff, Lori! Things!" - Rick Grimes

So the gangs looking haggard and they're on the run, apparantly spending the summer running from house ot house and we see them clearing such a house in the introductory sequence. Good start right with some action.

Cue the violins...We have a new NEW TITLE SEQUENCE!

(AMC: I love comic books and Keving Smith but man this show they are pushing blows, what a waste of an post-The Walking Dead time slot.)

Rick sees the prison and he liikes it. "It's perfect...if we can shut the gate." Check out that look on Mr. Grimes face.

"It's perfect. I we can shut that gate."

Group task #1 shut the gate, and then proceed to shoot the fenced in zombies like fish in a barrel, or zombies in a fenced-in prison yard.

Note: In the prison yard campfire, the gang uses an old metal fan as a bbq grille on the fireplace.

Rick: "Weapons, Food, Medicine. This place could be a goldmine".

I like the whole idea of using a reinforced institution as a retreat. Prison was using in RE 4, and you had other fortified installations from the obvious military bases to the improvised such as the Dawn of the Dead's Shopping Mall in zombie lore.

Don't know about the caribiners and chain method of locking the fence gates, especially when locking them onto the chain link part of the fence.

Michonne is nursing Andrea in the "Deer Locker". Besides being darkly bad-ass, her leashed zombies serve as mules, carrying her packs for her. I love it!

So Lori brought up the "what if it's a zombie baby" scenario to Herschel.

The prison labyrinth search is flawed on a few levels so I'll discuss it here rather than in the nitpicks section. It somewhat counters the first half of the episode where the gang, was functioning as a well-oiled machine with a much higher survival IQ (presumably learned over the winter, with the Rictator in charge). This new found competence was a nice contrast to the inpetness of the group on the farm last season. However, we take a step back again here.

It is poor planning putting you eggs in one basket especially going into a potentially dangerous and unknown situation. There is no need to bring an older man, who is the one person with medical knowledge in the group with you. There's also many more prudent (although less exciting for TV) methods for checking the rest of the prison/tunnels. Luring zombies, as scene earlier in the episode, etc. would be far safer and more effective than having a roaming search party. I guess we'll just chalk this one up to TV style over substance, but it's noticeable epsecially since the episode began with more practical and careful procedure (which is what we were hoping from the gang on the heels of season's two snarky criticsms of how stupid or useless they were).

So anyway, Herschel gets bit in the tunnels. And Rick chops his leg off. And they turn around and find a pack of human survivors (presumably prisoners) staring back at them!

A solid start to the season, even though the first episode was more of a set up introducting the prison, and a peek of Michonne, it also did a good job showing the mental state and evolution of the group (i.e Rick's new passive stance to Lori. Herchel's new resignated state, Carl growing up, everyone hardening over the winter, etc.).

Full Episode of The Walking Dead Season 1 Premiere (3.01):

Related The Walking Dead 3.01 "Seed" Videos:

The Cast on Season 3: Inside The Walking Dead (AMC Webisode)

The Making of 3.01, Seed. Inside The Walking Dead (AMC Webisode)

Episode 3.01 Bonus Segment : The Talking Dead

>Zombtac's The Walking Dead HQs, all the episodes, news, more...

NITPICKS:

The smell in the poorly ventilated confined prison would surely make kids gag. And a pregnant Lori?

No explanation on the suppresors Rick and the gang are running. It would be hard to lathe them giving their situation and even in Georgia you don't find proper suppresors just laying around. I've seen it mentioned that they were modded flashlight tubes. Meh. I will suspend disbelief.

A lot of gunplay in this episode. With the time flash-forward we're lead to believe the group honed their skills. There's even mention of Carol becoming a good shot. But the unbelievable marksmenship is well, unbelievable. There should be some more effort put in to showing more missed shots, or realistic CBQ shooting. The lack of shown recoil also is a nitpick, though Carol later mentions her shoulder hurting from the "kickback" or the rifle in trying to get a massage from Daryl. Show the kickback, show!

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QUOTABLE:

"I'm doing stuff, Lori! Things!" - Rick Grimes

"It's perfect...if we can close the gate" - Rick

"What if it's dead inside me and rips me apart?" - Lori

FACTS & NOTES:

Prisons in Georgia.

The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) manages 34 prisons in the state (and another 22 county prisons), including the aptly named Walker State Prison in Forsyth!

The GDC employs nearly 13,000 people.

Katana.

The katana is one of the traditional Japanese swords (nihonto) worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan, also commonly referred to as a "samurai sword"

The katana is characterized by its distinctive appearance: a curved, slender, single edged blade, circular or squared guard, and long grip to accommodate two hands.It has historically been associated with the samurai of feudal Japan, and has become renowned for its sharpness and cutting ability.

After the blade is forged it is then sent to be polished. The polishing takes between one and three weeks. The polisher uses finer and finer grains of polishing stones until the blade has a mirror finish in a process called glazing. This makes the blade extremely sharp and reduces drag, making it easier to cut with. The blade curvature also adds to the cutting power.


*Adhere to all Federal, State, and local laws when using firearms.*