‘The Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Tell It to the Frogs’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

It’s been such a long and winding journey when it comes to The Walking Dead that I have quite frankly forgotten that the earlier seasons of the series, tried their best to offer up some kind of social commentary on our world and our humanity and I’m finding it quite refreshing to find those elements present as I traverse through season one all over again. Because it means that this series established itself as one of the most intelligent horror series out there from the get-go and that season one did such a fine job of entertaining us and wowing us, that I’m certain many of us missed that deeper meaning.
 
But all that matters is that I’m discovering it now, and as I settled in to watch the third episode of the series, ‘Tell It to the Frogs’, it became inherently clear that the earlier days of this series spoke to concepts that simply don’t get explored in horror at all, like the importance of family. Granted, we’ve seen complete family units in scary stories before, but what was on display here was supremely different for the genre. For this episode finally featured the grand reunion between Rick Grimes and his son Carl and wife Lori and well, I must admit that I was ill prepared for the gravity of the moment when this family unit is reunited at last, because the power of this moment clearly left my mind ages ago.
 
I mean, come on, it’s just beautiful to see Rick come to realize that his wife and child are completely okay in the midst of this terrifying disaster and what is equally as impressive is the sheer fact that Rick transforms before our eyes when he’s surrounded by the both of them, and his best friend Shane. This is truly where the series speaks to the importance of family and the wonders that it can do for us, and really, this moment and sequence is truly sold by Andrew Lincoln because it takes a talented actor to properly project that kind of emotion and change and Mister Lincoln does it here without even breaking a sweat. 
 
Yet, while this was quite the win in a story that gave us nothing but terror and heartbreak in its opening chapters, one cannot forget that the group came back to camp, one member lighter and the whole notion of how family matters to us is taken to the next level with the introduction of Daryl Dixon and the fact that Rick has to break to the news to him that they left his brother behind on a rooftop and what I loved most about this part of the story, is the shock on Rick’s face when he realizes that he has in essence, robbed a man of the happiness and outright stability that he just enjoyed and oddly enough, it adds new gravity and depth to Rick’s decision to go back and save Merle, a decision I initially did not agree with. 

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Because originally, I simply thought to myself, ‘who cares about Merle, he’s a jerk.’ But someone does, his baby brother and bad person or not, these brothers formed a bond and watched one another’s backs when the world fell to pieces and now I fully understand why it was important for Rick to go back and rescue the man. Because to not do so, would be selfish, and demonstrate to the group that losing another life is no big deal and the debate over heading back to Atlanta, specifically between Lori and Rick also takes on new life in this episode years later since this is another moment that feels different during a re-watch since objectivity helps to better understand the character’s motivations, and I definitely gained new perspective on Lori’s frustrated plight.    
 
Which is ironic, because initially, I was in the same camp as everyone else when this episode first came out, since we all firmly believed that Lori was just being magnanimously petty and bitter about her husband doing something heroic, but now…her actions truly make sense. After all, she sincerely thought her husband was dead and was doing her best to move on and remain strong in a true time of crisis and just like that, she came to discover that Rick was okay and that a second chance had fallen into her lap and well, why not be jealous over the fact that Rick was choosing to put his life on the line for another man when the world is ruled by living death?
 
And truth be told, she really tries to make amends and set her marriage right, especially when she breaks things off with Shane and speaking of him, I never realized how broken he was at the end of the world until this particular re-watch. Because the fury that he exerts on Carol’s piece of crap hubby, and the pain in his eyes over losing the only real stability he had in the midst of this disaster when Lori says goodbye, speaks volumes to the fact that the end times rattled him like no other and despite his best efforts to remain strong in the middle of it, he was truly frightened and falling apart inside.
 
If anything, all of those elements also help to make this episode a grand character study since we learned a lot about the Grimes family and Shane and even Daryl for that matter and I love the fact that this episode takes a hot minute to give the audience and the characters a chance to gather their bearings and breathe after two intense episodes and I also love how there’s really no plan of what to do or where to go next when it comes to this group, they’re just trying to survive, because that adds a sense of realism to a decidedly wild tale. Either way, this break from the madness simply wasn’t made to last and it’s back to Atlanta for more heart pounding moments in the next tale and that’s where we will pick up next time. Until then.

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