‘The Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Killer Within’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

One would think that the death of a fictional character, would have little impact upon a reader or an audience. After all, the ‘person’ that dies in a story, isn’t real in the slightest. So, there’s no need to really mourn them since their death is there to serve the story and its emotional beats and nothing more. But the fact of the matter is, the end of a fictional character can be quite the traumatic experience for readers and viewers. Because when a story is written well and the characters are dynamic and relatable and important to the audience, the death of someone fictional will emotionally shatter a person and for proof… then look no further than The Walking Dead. Because its beloved characters and some of the ends some of them have met, have outright made national headlines.
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Because each and every one of them are indeed relatable and their plight and struggle via quality storytelling has outright attached us to them and that’s why, when one of them goes… we are indeed left besides ourselves and in tears. Because they were something special to us and something good and watching them exit this world is about as difficult as it gets. If anything, this topic and its impact is of note today, simply because we’ve reached a point in our Retro Recaps of season three in the show, where impactful and emotionally devastating deaths came into play. For ‘Killer Within’ is a story that saw not one, but two series regulars disappear from the show in a stunning manner and this episode accomplished that particular feat… by surprising us in just about every single way imaginable.

For this is a story that opened up in a supremely happy and hopeful manner. After all, the group had the prison to themselves, they were working to clean it up and prepare for the future and despite having a little disagreement with Axel and Oscar, nothing was going to stop them from getting what they wanted and that’s when the first big surprise came into play. In that, the survivors were forced to encounter hordes of the dead, unleashed by an unseen force, and their arrival immediately scattered the group while Rick and his inner circle of lieutenants tried to figure out the source of this treachery. Which as it turned out, related to Andrew. Because he survived Rick’s attempt to kill him and was wreaking havoc to get revenge in the worst way imaginable and while Rick and his team were able to stop Andrew at last, the damage had been done.

For T-Dog was bitten in a desperate attempt to slow the spread of the dead when the chaos started and with his death sentence signed and delivered, he went so far as to sacrifice himself to keep Carol safe when the opportunity arose, leaving all of us stunned in that moment since he was a good man that always did right by the group and it turns out that he wasn’t the only thinking about the greater good in his final moments. Because when faced with the prospect of her baby dying in the womb, since Lori went into labor and was unable to deliver her little one through traditional means… she demanded an impromptu C-section. Knowing full well the risk to her life and she too, succumbed to sacrifice to keep someone else alive and well… just like that, two polarizing and important characters were gone forever, and the impact of their loss was immediately felt in this episode.

Since the moment when Rick learns about his wife’s fate is devastating to watch as was T-Dog’s end, and the worry over Carol hung heavy at the end of this tale, and well… it just goes to show that when done right, this kind of storytelling decision can hit us hard and it also served as a fine reminder, that this world will forever be dangerous and no one is ever safe from the ravages of the dead and even after all these years, this episode is quite impactful. Because these were heroic deaths in the end, the kind that redeemed a hated character and shattered hearts over one that was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this would of course… be the bare beginnings of great loss in this series. But before we bid farewell to more characters, we can take a moment and revel in the wonder of one powerful and brave tale. Because it takes guts to kill series leads, much less two that were lightning rods for the fans, but that’s the kind of bravery this series exhibits and now that we’ve reached the end of this bloodbath, we can turn our attention to a tale that properly explores how difficult it is grieve in a world where death surrounds everyone. Until next time.

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