Made to Suffer

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"Made to Suffer"
The Walking Dead episode
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The Governor and Michonne have a physical confrontation after she discovers his reanimated daughter, Penny.
Episode no. Season 3
Episode 8
Directed by Billy Gierhart
Written by Robert Kirkman
Original air date December 2, 2012 (2012-12-02)
Guest actors
Episode chronology
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The Walking Dead (season 3)
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"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.

"Made to Suffer" marks the first appearances of Tyreese Williams (Chad L. Coleman) and Sasha Williams (Sonequa Martin-Green).

Plot

Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Daryl (Norman Reedus), and Oscar (Vincent Ward) head towards Woodbury to rescue Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) from The Governor (David Morrissey). While they are gone, a group of five survivors—siblings Tyreese Williams (Chad L. Coleman) and Sasha Williams (Sonequa Martin-Green), and Allen (Daniel Thomas May) and Donna (Cherie Dvorak) and their son Ben (Tyler Chase)—come across the prison while fleeing a horde of walkers, and discover a breach in its fence. They make their way inside, discovering that Donna has been bitten by a walker. Their cries for help are heard by Carl (Chandler Riggs), who helps to lead them to a safe area of the prison. Donna succumbs to the bite, and after a brief moment of silence, Tyreese smashes her head with a hammer to prevent her reanimating. Carl keeps the newcomers locked in a commons area for safekeeping, a move Tyreese understands and accepts.

In Woodbury, Rick's group sneaks into a building while at the same time, Glenn and Maggie attempt to escape. The Governor orders Merle (Michael Rooker) and his men to execute them, but as they approach, Maggie stabs one of the men with a sharpen bone, enabling them to slip by. Rick and the others launch their ambush, enabling them to bring Glenn and Maggie to safety; however, Michonne slips away on her own. As they see to Glenn and Maggie while avoiding detection, Glenn reveals to Daryl that his brother Merle is here, and Daryl insists that they go find him. Meanwhile, the Governor gives his men shoot-to-kill orders, and aware that their attackers include Andrea (Laurie Holden)'s friends, he keeps her away from the action by enforcing the town's curfew.

Michonne makes her way into the Governor's house and discovers a hidden room where he has kept the heads of many former allies, reanimated as walkers, in aquarium tanks, as well as the turned body of his daughter Penny (Kylie Szymanski) chained up. As she is studying the room, the Governor arrives, and despite his pleads to not harm Penny, Michonne kills her. The two quickly engage in combat. After smashing the aquariums, Michonne uses a glass shard to stab the Governor in the eye, but before she can kill him, Andrea arrives and stops Michonne; she turns and flees the building. Andrea races to help bring the Governor to the Dr. Stevens to treat his eye, while the Governor lambasts Merle for lying about the death of Michonne earlier.

Rick's group prepares to fight their way out of Woodbury, using smoke bombs to cover their escape. Daryl stays back to cover the others, while Rick is momentarily confused by the vision of his former ally Shane (Jon Bernthal). Oscar is shot and killed as the others scale the Woodbury wall, and Daryl is captured. Rick, Maggie, and Glenn regroup with Michonne who has been waiting for them, and they question if she is still useful to them. In Woodbury, the Governor calls a town meeting, revealing that they were attacked by terrorists led by Daryl and brought to Woodbury by Merle. The residents start chanting for their blood.

Production

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Reception

Critical response

Coleman (left) and Martin-Green (right) made their first appearances in "Made to Suffer" as Tyreese and Sasha Williams.

The episode was reviewed positively by most critics. 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, saying "this was another great episode for The Walking Dead and a strong end to this half of the season. In Season 3, The Walking Dead has turned into a show that is perhaps less grounded and “realistic” -- in the midst of its genre scenario -- than it once felt, but this is easily the most entertaining and exciting that it’s been for a prolonged period".[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

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  5. Patrick Kevin Day, 'The Walking Dead' is the deadliest show on TV, study says, Los Angeles Times, (February 13, 2013).
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External links