New Walking Dead Season Deleted Scene Highlights Morgan’s Defeat
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This powerful new deleted scene from the past season of The Walking Dead was just released. Cut from the “Clear,” this episode finds Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) traveling back to their home in King County, Georgia, with Michonne (Danai Gurira) in tow. On a mission to find more weapons to protect themselves from The Governor (David Morrissey), the group comes across an obstacle course full of booby traps and other crude, hand-made weapons. Eventually meet up with Morgan Jones (Lennie James), the man who saved Rick at the beginning of the series. Over time he’s become a mad man setting up his last stand against the walkers.
Since he last saw Rick, Morgan’s son Duane died and turned into a walker like his mother. The implication is that that Morgan had to kill Duane, and it also hinted at that he had killed other living people that crossed his path. Rick feels a sense of guilt because he was supposed to come back for father and son, but instead got caught up being reunited with his wife and son, and joining a new group of people. This new scene is pretty great, and James gives an absolutely phenomenal performance as Morgan Jones. All Lincoln has to do is sit there and re-act.
I’m not sure why this scene was cut from the final episode. Maybe it ran too long, but I would have tried to cut something else from the episode just to have this included. This just seems like typical Walking Dead fashion to cut a good character moment for more meaningless action and plotting. The show needs more scenes like this if it ever hopes to capture the magic from its pilot episode. Far too often the The Walking Dead eschews genuine character moments for blood and gore.
“Clear” was one of the better episodes from season three because it took a look back at the beginning of the series. Throughout the whole show, the writers constantly emphasize the consequences of actions, and how they can turn around and bite you in the ass if you’re not careful, sometimes literally. “Clear” shows the extreme emotional distress this new world heaps on people, and Rick could easily have been in Morgan’s shoes if his wife and son died earlier in the series. We’re already seen glimpses of Morgan in Rick after the death of Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies).
This episode also highlights the never-ending threat of the zombie apocalypse. Morgan points out that if the walkers don’t kill you, then trusting people will. He is alone and paranoid, damaged by the world around him. After killing hordes of zombies (and people), the only way he can get through is to “clear” the world of evil. At the end of the episode, Morgan gives Carl some advice. He tells him, “don’t ever be sorry,” after Carl apologized for shooting him. This is a bleak, but incredibly powerful human moment.
The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, October 13 with 16 all new episodes.
