‘The Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Hounded’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

For the most part, television shows do their best to keep their stories focused on one, maybe two plot lines tops. Because the belief is that, introducing more, runs the risk of diluting important plot points in the story or it could turn the audience off because then there is too much for them to follow. But some shows, firmly believe that when fans are genuinely committed to a series and enjoy everything that it has to offer… that there’s nothing wrong with engaging the audience further and offering up more plot and more important moments, and one such show that holds that mantra often, is The Walking Dead. For it consistently puts on a masterclass when it comes to multiple storyline-based storytelling, to the point where some of its episodes will straight up squeeze four separate plot lines into a single episode in the most seamless manner imaginable.

But what is genuinely amazing about this series, is that it didn’t always hold to that particular edict. For the first two seasons of this show were laser focused on the Grimes group and their experiences throughout the world of the dead and it really wasn’t until season three, when the world was expanded upon… did the series dig into this more ambitious style of storytelling. If anything, this is top of mind today, simply because the next episode in this storied franchise, could be viewed as the genesis point of this ambitious style of storytelling. For ‘Hounded’ is an episode that featured three separate storylines for us to follow. One of which involved Michonne, while the other revolved around Woodbury, and the final one of note… wrapped up a critical concern from the prior episode. 

But more on that one in a moment, because we need to talk about the fact that the Michonne and Woodbury storylines, featured enough big moments to fill two episodes worth of the show. Because Michonne playing a little cat and mouse game with Merle Dixon was about as engaging as it gets. Since it really helped us to understand just how badass and kind Michonne really is. Because she simply took a beating here, and despite getting clipped by a bullet, she still fought on and still did the right thing when presented with an opportunity to ignore brewing drama, and we definitely could have sat through an hour of that and ironically… we would in a different manner later on this season. As for the Woodbury storyline, well that allowed for us to get to know the Governor a little better and helped us to further understand how important it is for him to be a leader and how charming and manipulative he can be… since he has Andrea under his thumb by the end of this one. And let’s be honest, watching David Morrissey do his thing just enchants a viewer and a full hour of further exploration of Woodbury, would have been delightful.

As for the other storyline at the prison, well not only did we come to learn that Carol was alive and mostly well, but we finally got to watch Rick Grimes heal from his devastating emotional wounds. A feat that he accomplished by simply going through the wringer in a very unique manner. Wherein he basically took phone calls from the ghosts of the people that died on his watch. All so he could understand that he wasn’t at fault for their deaths and did his best to keep others upright and breathing and well, once he finally came to understand that… he finally snapped out of his dark and disturbing trance and rejoined the group and his family and embraced his little girl at last. Plus, there’s hope for her future as well courtesy of Michonne. Since the right thing mentioned earlier, involved her showing up at the end of this story with everything Lil’ Ass-Kicker needed from a food and health care perspective. Something that came at a great cost unfortunately.

Mainly because Merle managed to capture Glenn and Maggie while they were on a run for those very supplies and well, while we wait to see where that twist takes us, we can in the meantime, applaud an ambitious tale. Because that is a lot to pack into a single hour of television. But this episode pulled it off no problem and found a way to make every last one of those plots as compelling and as engaging as can be and this masterful script (written by Scott M. Gimple no less) would indeed serve as the blueprint for future stories and it also deserves our awe, for setting the stage for some ugly showdowns. Because just like that, two worlds have now collided and it won’t be long before a hero and his nemesis cross paths because of it, but before that happens… there is another ugly comic book themed moment waiting in the wings for us, in the next episode. Until then.

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