A Couple Of Venus de Milos: The Racialicious Roundtable For The Walking Dead 3.1

October 17th, 2012 by Joseph

Hosted By Fashion and Entertainment Editor Joe Lamour

Danai Gurira as Michonne on “The Walking Dead.” All photos via AMC.

A few weeks ago, I was wasting time on Facebook (as we do) and I scrolled to a post from the official page for The Walking Dead heralding the arrival of one of the most beloved characters on the series, Michonne.

As we all know, it’s really unusual for any television show to celebrate the arrival of a character of color. But, for Michonne–who she is, how she kills zombies (with her trusty razor-sharp katana), how she acts, and who she keeps in her company at all times (a topic we will be discussing in detail this season), is beloved so much by the fans of the book that the powers-that-be have actually been leading with her.

So for this new Walking Dead Roundtable, I gathered a group of Racialicious readers and close buddies: Jeannie Chan, Carly Neely, Kenneth Hwynn, and Elizabeth Smith to discuss the upcoming season with me. And boy, is there a lot to discuss already.

Warning: Episode spoilers and icky zombie pictures under the cut.

8 minutes Of Silence

Joe: Season 3: And we’re back. Together again, for the very first time!

Carly: Yay for a new roundtable!

Joe: I had completely forgotten Rick went a little nutso with power at the end of last season. Also, children being able to perform a kill shot like that would probably disconcert me at least as much as zombies would.

Jeannie: When Carl made that kill shot, I still wasn’t completely sure that it was Carl. This kid looks so much more grown! I think that if he had been just as young now, or at least looked as young as he did at the end of Season 2, I would have found it much more appalling to see him kill. But things are different now. Even if he isn’t that much older, this is a whole new world they’re living in. They no longer have the luxury of protecting young children from this. Thinking that they did when they were living on Hershel’s farm was a fantasy. I’m thinking about what a huge fuss Lori (ugh, Lori) made last season when Carl wanted to participate in target practice and she said, “I’m not comfortable with the idea of him handling guns.” I was like, “You’re not comfortable?” I bet that word isn’t in her vocabulary now…

Carly: Since I did my homework (meaning I crammed all the episodes of last season into the past 24hrs), the very opening of this episode brings me to my first social question: for people who have watched before, you’ll recall the issue of whether or not to kill Randall. This season starts with Carl ready and willing to eat dog food. In both cases though, Rick makes the decision for the group that they are “better than that,” per se.

Joe: Seriously. I know there are bone fragments and pink slime (a real dog food ingredient) in dog food, but I think I’d rather watch my kid eat that than starve to death.

Ken: Brings a whole new meaning to “eating your own dog food.” Carl is finally manning up, although he still looks uber-silly galavanting around with with that sheriff’s hat.