Made to Suffer

"Made to Suffer" is the eighth episode and mid-season finale of the third season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead. It was directed by Billy Gierhart and written by Robert Kirkman, and aired on AMC in the United States on December 2, 2012. In this episode, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Oscar (Vincent Ward) enter Woodbury in search of Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan). Meanwhile, a new group of survivors encounters the prison.

Plot

The episode opens showing a new group of five, led by Tyreese (Chad Coleman), fighting their way through walker-infested woods. The slowest of the group, Donna (Cherie Dvorak), is bitten, though Tyreese brings her along until her husband Allen (Daniel Thomas May) and son Ben (Tyler Chase) are psychologically ready to let her go. The group, which includes Tyreese's sister Sasha, heads through a fence and collapsed wall into the back of the prison.

On the other side of the prison, Carol (Melissa McBride) reprimands lonesome Axel (Lew Temple) for flirting with seventeen-year old Beth Greene (Emily Kinney). Learning that Carol isn't a lesbian (as he had inferred from Carol's short hairstyle), Axel propositions her, but she flatly turns him down. After hearing numerous screams, Carl (Chandler Riggs) discovers and rescues Tyreese's group, bringing them into a section of the group's cell block. Upon realizing that Donna has succumbed to her infection, Carl offers to shoot her, but Tyreese says they'll take care of their own. Carl locks them in a common area for safekeeping, with Tyreese's understanding.

In Woodbury, Andrea (Laurie Holden) happens upon one of The Governor's (David Morrissey) family photos.

The Governor checks on his walker-daughter, Penny (Kylie Szymanski), and struggles to make a personal connection with her. When Penny shows more interest in a bowl of raw meat than his efforts, he angrily hoods the walker and shoves her back into her cage.

When Glenn and Maggie unsuccessfully attempt an escape, The Governor orders Merle (Michael Rooker) to execute them. Maggie kills one of the attackers with a sharp walker bone Glenn had given her for protection, and Merle's group is overwhelmed by an ambush planned by Rick Grimes, Michonne, Daryl Dixon, and Oscar, who rescue Glenn and Maggie. As they withdraw to a vacant house, Michonne slips away, arousing the group's suspicions. Glenn reveals to Daryl that Merle, his older brother, is in Woodbury and among The Governor's men. Daryl wants to stay and find Merle, but Rick begs Daryl to help them get Glenn and Maggie out. Meanwhile, The Governor responds to the invasion by issuing shoot-to-kill orders. He tries to keep Andrea out of danger and ignorant of the truth by sending her knocking on doors to enforce the curfew.

Michonne, who had been awaiting The Governor's arrival at his residence, hears and discovers Penny. The Governor eventually finds Michonne with Penny and disarms himself, begging Michonne to spare his daughter, but Michonne retaliates by killing the walker. Enraged, The Governor assaults Michonne, destroying the aquariums in his secret room and strewing snapping walker heads all over the floor. Michonne eventually stabs the Governor's right eye with a shard of glass and attempts to finish him off, but Andrea arrives and holds her at gunpoint, leading her to flee. Andrea then tends to The Governor, who cradles his daughter's remains in grief. He is brought to Dr. Stevens for medical care, and while his wounds are being treated, The Governor avoids Andrea's questions about his secret room and angrily confronts Merle, who had said Michonne had been executed.

Using smoke grenades for cover, Rick's group eventually reaches Woodbury's walls. A shootout between Rick's group and The Governor's soldiers ensues. Daryl provides cover fire as the others retreat across open ground toward the wall. Rick hesitates when he hallucinates his deceased nemesis Shane Walsh (Jon Bernthal) advancing through the smoke, thus allowing a gunman to shoot Oscar; Maggie puts a bullet in Oscar's head to prevent reanimation. Rick, Glenn, and Maggie proceed to escape over the wall, where they meet up with Michonne. The three question her, although she pleads she can still be useful to them. The Governor calls a town meeting, where he reports they have been attacked by terrorists brought by Merle and he brings forth a captured Daryl, reuniting the brothers. The Governor orders them to fight to the death, and the town calls for their blood, as a shocked Andrea looks on.

Reception

Critical response

Zack Handlen, writing for The A.V. Club, rated the episode B+ on an A to F scale.^[1] Eric Goldman at IGN gave the episode 9.3 out of 10.^[2] Forbes magazine's Erik Kain said it was "a strong episode overall, even if the addition of new characters was a bit much to pack into the hour".^[3] Time journalist Nate Rawlings felt that "Made to Suffer" was a great work of Glen Mazzara's crew, whose "greatest feat" for this season is in bringing the different stories of Woodbury and the prison together through the brothers Merle and Daryl finding each other "on opposite sides of a war—a story as old as stories themselves," thus propelling the audience to "an amazing climax to end to the first half of this season."^[4]

Funeralwise.com found that The Walking Dead was the most violent show on TV in the fall of 2012, with 308 dead (or undead) bodies shown in the eight episodes aired of the show's third season.^[5]

Ratings

Upon its initial broadcast on December 2, 2012, "Made to Suffer" was watched by estimated 10.48 million viewers,^[6] up slightly from the previous episode.^[7]

References

External links

• "Made to Suffer" at AMC
• "Made to Suffer" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Made to Suffer" at TV.com