Jesse Petersen is the author of MARRIED WITH ZOMBIES and the forthcoming FLIP THIS ZOMBIE. Like many of us here at Orbit HQ, she’s also a fan of The Walking Dead on AMC. She’ll be offering recaps of each week’s episode here every Monday. This post will contain SPOILERS (also zombies). For previous recaps see 1.01 and 1.02

Hello again, Undead Army! I’m so excited to watch this episode of “The Walking Dead” since I think the proverbial shit is about to hit the fan. If you don’t remember, when we last left off Rick had found some other survivors in Atlanta who helped him escape the zombie horde AND it turned out they were part of the very same band that his own wife, son and former partner are living with. Wife Lori is still getting it on with former partner Shane (and being a little bit unlikeable in the process) and Rick and the gang are heading back to camp even as we speak. Here we go:

Episode 1.03, “Tell It to the Frogs”

We open with Dixon (racist jerk) still handcuffed on the roof of the building in Atlanta and he seems to be having an aneurysm or something since he’s having a pretty lively discussion with himself. Then the zombies start breaking through the door and he asks Jesus for help, which he finds when he’s able to reach some tools, including a hacksaw.  But before we can find out if he makes it out, we switch to the Scooby gang in their van and Morales (one of the other survivors)  says nobody will miss him (except for his brother, dum-dum-DUM). So… you know, that sounds like it’s going to work out well.

Back in the main camp, Lori and Shane are having a nice family moment with Carl when Glenn rolls up in the stolen car with the car alarm roaring and probably hauling zombies from all kinds of surrounding counties. While everyone else is yelling at Glenn, Rick pops up with the others and… there’s the reunion. Man, that little kid who plays Carl (Chandler Riggs) was AMAZING. It’s all sunshine and sausages until…

Lori remembers she’s banging Shane. But of course we don’t mention that.

Around the fire they discuss the realities of a zombieverse. Rick thanks Shane for saving his family. Lori feels like crap. Shane feels like crap. And then they try to figure out how to tell Daryl (the brother of Racist Jerk) that um, we sort of left your brother for dead, but he might still be alive since we chained the door shut. I’m guessing that won’t go over well when he gets back from his hunt. Then Lori and Rick… um… reconnect while Shane chews on his ballcap and stares at tent shadows like a weirdo stalker.

Next day Rick wakes up and wants to go back to ATL to free Dixon from the roof. Lori… not so much happy. But before they can argue too much children start screaming bloody murder and there’s a zombie eating a deer right outside of camp. Gang justice prevails (they may have jumped this zombie into the crips or something) and everyone freaks out since the zombies apparently don’t usually go hiking near the camp. Daryl shows up, pissed off about the deer getting eaten (and makes a Golden Pond reference that was funny, but I didn’t think it was very realistic). Shane breaks the “sorry about your brother” news. It goes as well as you would expect, but that gives Rick and Shane a reason to play cop again.

Rick decides to go after Dixon. Lori is pissy and unlikeable. They form a new group of Merry Men and Rick uses the excuse of the big bag o’guns and the fact that he wants to warn Morgan and Duane (who saved him) about Atlanta to convince everyone to work with him. Shane stays behind (hoping for things to go back to the way they were, maybe? And he might be right. Rick leaves for more than ten minutes and she’ll figure he’s dead and go back to having sex with Shane).

But then instead of doing it with Lori, Shane takes Carl to the quarry to teach him to catch multiple frogs so they can eat them (and I think to help Carl not think about his Dad, which is kind of nice). Their shenedigans make the women laugh, but also get annoyed about the division of labor. Lori sends Carl up to camp and she and Shane get into a fight about how awful Shane somehow is for participating in the affair. Oh, but it turns out Shane also told her that Rick died, so I guess I can see why she’d be annoyed.

It turns out suvivor Ed is abusing his wife so Shane takes out his frustration over Lori on him and nearly beats him to death (I really like Shane more every moment). At the same time, Rick and others burst onto the roof to find that Dixon hacked off his own hand with the hacksaw and is nowhere to be found. But I’m sure he’s good, right?

What I Liked:

The little touches of light humor are very nice and the human drama of unfolding relationships is raw and realistic. Rick is a very likeable character who is even-keeled and interesting. I’m afraid it makes Lori seem more unlikeable, though, in comparison. She’s the weak link for me in the series at this point. And the reason that my bottom line grade is a little lower this time.

Bottom Line Grade: B+