Paul Brian McCoy" />
Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      Paul Brian McCoy
      January 17, 2022
      Fiction, PDI Press, PDI Press Writers
    Recent
    • BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

      John E. Meredith
      January 17, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

      John E. Meredith
      January 16, 2022
    • Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

      John E. Meredith
      January 15, 2022
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • X (2022)

      Paul Brian McCoy
      April 22, 2022
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • X (2022)

      Nate Zoebl
      April 22, 2022
    • Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

      Nate Zoebl
      April 15, 2022
    • The Adam Project (2022)

      Nate Zoebl
      March 16, 2022
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      The Final Girl
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 30, 2019
      DVD/Blu-ray, News
    Recent
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on Digital 9/3 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 9/17

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2019
    • Avengers: Endgame arrives on Digital 7/30 and Blu-ray 8/13

      psychodr
      July 16, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • X (2022)
  • Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
  • The Adam Project (2022)
  • The Batman (2022)
  • Entropy (2022)
  • Killer Sofa (2019)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
Reviews

The Walking Dead 3.08 “Made to Suffer”

Paul Brian McCoy
December 3, 2012
Reviews, TV, Zombies 101
Director: Bill Gierhart
Writer: Robert Kirkman

 

The mid-season finale of The Walking Dead continues to provide an uneasy concoction of graphic violence, intense drama, and stupid, stupid bullshit. Don’t get me wrong; I still think this show is amazing, and I continue to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming that it’s one of the top two most-watched scripted shows on television. But every episode after that fantastic opening salvo of this season, has taken one step back for every two steps forward.

It’s still really good, but with caveats.

Michonne

Whether it’s the frankly quite silly bare-knuckle brawling with toothless zombies chained just out of reach, a crazy man living in a mysterious cabin within spitting distance of Woodbury, Merle’s magical ability to swoop around the truck and get behind Maggie in order to hold her hostage, or any of the other little plotting glitches that undermine the realism of the narrative, there’s always something (since episode 3.04) that makes me cringe.

Don’t get me started on the cliché dramatic logic of beating Glenn nearly to death and then threatening to rape Maggie. But only threatening. I get that it was a psychological threat, but it drew a very bold line in the sand dictating what will and won’t be tolerated by the producers and/or the network. But that’s a discussion for the forum below.

This week it’s something a little more serious that bothered me to the point of distraction.

Spoiler Shields on.

Tyreese

The show opens with the introduction of a character the comic fans have been clamoring for: Tyreese (Chad Coleman)! It’s a dramatic opening and if there’s one thing this show does well, it’s introduce new characters with pizzazz. Unfortunately, the introduction of a black male character means that our other black male character, Oscar (Vincent M. Ward), has to die.

There is no valid explanation for this. If we need to send a Redshirt along on the mission, then the Annoying Redneck Caricature would have been just as expendable.

Of course, then we wouldn’t have gotten this week’s hilarious bit with him skeezing on teenage Beth (Emily Kinney) and then hitting on Carol (Melissa McBride) – after the hilarious bit where he assumes she’s a lesbian because of her haircut. I guess the producers were a bit skittish, for some reason, about playing these two scenarios out with Oscar instead.

So anyway, Oscar has to die to make room for Tyreese.

Like T-Dog had to die to make room for Oscar.

Carl

Now I love the fact that they’ve cast Chad Coleman as Tyreese. His performance as Cutty was a high-point of The Wire, and I can’t wait to see how he works with the already established cast. But I’d rather have seen Oscar’s story continue than that of Annoying Redneck Caricature, if only because we’ve already got three or four or eight different flavors of Southern White Boys on the show. We don’t need another – especially one so cartoonish. Hell, kill him off and bring Merle (Michael Rooker) back into the fold if we have to have a creepy hick.

This bizarre quota on black men taints what is otherwise a fairly solid mid-season cliffhanger, where our heroes break into Woodbury to rescue Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan), while Carl (Chandler Riggs) helps save Tyreese and his band of survivors before locking them up in a secure area to await Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) return. The ridiculous gunfight in Woodbury is offset by a very effective rough-and-tumble battle between Michonne (Danai Gurira) and the Governor (David Morrissey) that is only halted thanks to the intervention of Andrea (Laurie Holden) – who is written just as annoying and stupid as ever.

Daryl and Merle

The big cliffhanger didn’t really work for me. I didn’t feel that there was any real threat to Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Merle, even though the citizens of Woodbury suddenly turned into a bloodthirsty mob demanding their deaths. There’s no way that either character is going to die before they have a chance to interact.  Maybe when the show comes back in February (February 10!) we’ll see the two of them locked up, sharing brotherly banter before being tossed into a zombie pit to fight each other to the death.

But I doubt it.

I’m pretty sure the preview leaked that Daryl was going to be bringing Merle into the group – for better or worse. And honestly, that’s a dynamic I desperately want to see play out. Merle is a much more credible threat than the Governor has proven to be. Although maybe now, after Michonne put his zombie daughter’s head on a spit and then jabbed out his eye, he’ll get to cut loose and really become a monster on par with his comic book counterpart.

Gov

Fingers crossed!

So all in all, as far as cliffhanger finales go, this one was kind of lackluster with the weak (or downright offensive) parts balancing out all of the good, making for a pretty middle-of-the-road, lowest-common-denominator kind of episode. This is a show that lives or dies by how daring it is and by how extreme things get for its characters, and by those standards “Made to Suffer” fell pretty far short from the promise of earlier in the season.

(Visited 45 times, 1 visits today)
The Walking Dead 3.08 "Made to Suffer"
3.0Overall Score

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Paul Brian McCoyWalking Deadzombies

Inside Deep Throat
The Vampire Diaries 4.07 “My Brother’s Keeper”

About The Author

monsterid
Paul Brian McCoy
Co-Founder / Editor-in-Chief / Dreamweaver

Paul Brian McCoy is the Editor-in-Chief of Psycho Drive-In. His first novel, The Unraveling: Damaged Inc. Book One is available at Amazon US & UK, along with his collection of short stories, Coffee, Sex, & Creation (US & UK). He recently contributed the 1989 chapter to The American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s (US & UK). He also kicked off Comics Bulletin Books with Mondo Marvel Volumes One (US & UK) and Two (US & UK) and PDI Press with Marvel at the Movies: 1977-1998 (US & UK), Marvel at the Movies: Marvel Studios (US & UK), and Spoiler Warning: Hannibal Season 1 - An Unauthorized Critical Guide (US & UK). Paul is also unnaturally preoccupied with zombie films and sci-fi television. He can be found babbling on Twitter at @PBMcCoy.

Daily Top Ten

  • Page to Screen: The Boys Season OnePage to Screen: The Boys Season One by Paul Brian McCoy
  • The Blacklist 1.06 "Gina Zanetakos"The Blacklist 1.06 “Gina Zanetakos” by Natalie Amato
  • Lost in Translation 373: Neuromancer, the Radio DramaLost in Translation 373: Neuromancer, the Radio Drama by Scott Delahunt
  • Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy”Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
  • Interview of the 50 Foot Cheerleaders!Interview of the 50 Foot Cheerleaders! by Jason Sacks
  • POPCORN CINEMA 23: THEY CALLED HER ONE EYE (aka, THRILLER: A Cruel Picture)POPCORN CINEMA 23: THEY CALLED HER ONE EYE (aka,… by John E. Meredith
  • Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Polar (2019)Polar (2019) by Nate Zoebl
  • Lost in Translation 280: BumblebeeLost in Translation 280: Bumblebee by Scott Delahunt
  • Gender, Transformation and Mr. Angel: A Chat with Buck Angel and His Wife Elayne AngelGender, Transformation and Mr. Angel: A Chat with… by Nate Abernethy
400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

Weekly Top Ten

  • Page to Screen: The Boys Season OnePage to Screen: The Boys Season One by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy”Adventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
  • Advance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-rayAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006)The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
  • Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)Drive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) by Alex Wolfe
  • Sick Flix: Guinea Pig 2 – Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985)Sick Flix: Guinea Pig 2 – Flower of Flesh and Blood (1985) by Corin Totin
  • The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Superman II (1980)Superman II (1980) by John Clark
  • Adventure Time 6.20 “Jake the Brick”Adventure Time 6.20 “Jake the Brick” by Dave Hearn
400x400 UA Affiliate Banner

FACEBOOK

FACEBOOK

Latest Reviews

  • X (2022)

    Nate Zoebl
    April 22, 2022
  • Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

    Nate Zoebl
    April 15, 2022
  • The Adam Project (2022)

    Nate Zoebl
    March 16, 2022

psychodrivein

Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: Unboxing Kotobukiya's Dawn Moreno (Snake Eyes II) & Mighty Jaxx's Off Werk Snake Eyes Vinyl!

Greg takes a quick look at two new releases in the world of GI Joe statues and collectibles!
---
Watch Greg at the link in our profile!

#GIJoe #AnythingJoes @AnythingJoesPod #DawnMorano #SnakeEyes2 #SnakeEyes #Kotobukiya #MightyJaxx #OffWerk
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 414: I Love You, Colonel Sanders! (2019)

The game has a heart, and that heart is Colonel Sanders.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#ColonelSanders #KFC #LostInTranslation #ILoveYouColonelSanders
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 413: Cloak & Dagger (2018)

Cloak & Dagger is a coming-of-age story with superheroes, a teen drama with superheroes, and works as such.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #MarvelComics #MarvelTelevision #CloakAndDagger #AubreyJoseph #OliviaHolt
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Popcorn Cinema Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Popcorn Cinema 48: THE MULTIVERSE IS MADNESS

POPCORN raises his hands, putting them together in front of his face. He then pushes his face slowly through them as if he's giving birth to himself. 
---
Read more of John's reviews at the link in our profile!

#DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness #EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce #SamRaimi #Daniels #BenedictCumberbatch #MichelleYeoh #ElizabethOlsen #JamesHong #JamieLeeCurtis #KeHuyQuan #StephanieHsu
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E37 - G.I. Joe #12 / Three Strikes For Snake-Eyes!

It's the start of one of the most iconic Joe stories in it's entire history, and it includes the return of two pivotal characters from the past! Join Greg and Jaren as they venture into Rio Lindo to root out Cobra's next devious plot!
---
Watch Greg and Jaren at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes @anythingjoespod #GIJoe #MarvelComics #SnakeEyes
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 412: Good Omens (2014 BBC Radio Dramatisation)

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch was first published in 1990 and was a comedy about Revelations and Armageddon.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #GoodOmens #NeilGaiman #TerryPratchett #BBC #MarkHeap #PeterSerafinowicz #JimNorton #AdamThomasWright #JosieLawrence #Charlotterichie #ColinMorgan #CliveRussell #JuliaDeakin #BBCRadio
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E36 - Lexington Comic & Toy Convention 2022

Greg & Jaren recount their experience meeting Larry Hama at the Lexington Comic & Toy Convention 2022. Plus, the latest news, recent acquisitions, and listener mail!
---
Listen to Greg and Jaren's podcast at the link in our profile!

@anythingjoespod #AnythingJoes #GIJoe #Mezco #LarryHama
Today at https://psychodrivein.com X (2022) Ti W Today at https://psychodrivein.com

X (2022)

Ti West is a director I haven’t fully enjoyed, though I would say X is his most accomplished film to date for me. 
---
Read more of Nate's review at the link in our profile!

#X #TiWest #MiaGoth #Slasher
Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 411: The Secret of Marvel's Success

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been dominating the box office since the release of Iron Man.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #Marvel #MarvelStudios #MarvelCinematicUniverse #MCU #IronMan #Avengers #MoonKnight #WandaVision #Hawkeye #RobertDowneyJr
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Latest Columns

  • Anything Joes: S01E38 – Greg And Joel’s Favorite Modern Figures, Part 1

    Greg Engle
    June 24, 2022
  • Lost in Translation 415: Remaking Gilligan’s Island

    Scott Delahunt
    June 24, 2022
  • Anything Joes: Unboxing Kotobukiya’s Dawn Moreno (Snake Eyes II) & Mighty Jaxx’s Off Werk Snake Eyes Vinyl!

    Greg Engle
    June 15, 2022

TWITTER

My Tweets

Look Who's Talking

Oliver Ghingold
Oliver Ghingold - 2/18/2022
Muppet Madness: You’re the Director
Do you still have these tapes? I've been looking everywhere for them! I loved the Interactive Vision...
white swan
white swan - 12/22/2021
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
I enjoyed the article though I would never call brutality gorgeous.
Shawn EH
Shawn EH - 10/26/2021
13 Days of Halloween Day 12: Halloween Kills (2021)
Very disappointing, it's true. And very mean-spirited murders of nobodies. And I don't even see how...
RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

Large_rectangle_336X280
All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
%d bloggers like this: