The Walking Dead/Season Three

Season Three
The Walking Dead
Season Premiere	October 14, 2012
Season Finale	March 31, 2013
Episode Count	16
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Season Three of AMC's The Walking Dead premiered on October 14, 2012 and featured 16 episodes. Similar to a popular arc in the comic books of the same name, this season's primary backdrops are an abandoned prison and a rural town with survivors. Along with the setting inspired by the comic book, this season also introduces several prominent characters, including The Governor, Michonne, and Tyreese.

From a broadcast standpoint, Season Three is most notable for acquiring the highest 18-49 viewership for a scripted basic cable show. Throughout the entirety of the season's run, The Walking Dead rated higher than all of broadcast television's offerings, with the exception of the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory. In the coveted 18-49 viewership demo, The Walking Dead averaged a 5.5, which is the highest rating obtained from a scripted drama since Grey's Anatomy's fifth season during the 2008-09 television season.

Episodes

#	#	Title	Written By	Directed By	Airdate	Viewers	18-49 Rating
20	1	Seed	Glen Mazzara	Ernest Dickerson	October 14, 2012	10.87M	5.8%
The remaining survivors of Rick's party, including Lori, who is 8.5 months pregnant, find a prison that they later move into and begin barricading. Rick and Lori's relationship begins to sour over the circumstances of Lori's pregnancy. As the group starts to clear off the prison, Hershel gets separated from the group and is bitter by a walker on his lower leg. As Rick is amputating Hershel's bitten leg and the others are fighting off walkers, several survivors trapped in the prison cafeteria rush to their location.
21	2	Sick	Nichole Beattie	Billy Gierhart	October 21, 2012	9.55M	5.1%
T-Dog and Daryl confront the mysterious prisoners as the others aid Hershel. Rick updates the prisoners on the world outside the prison and the leader of the five prisoners, Tomas, agrees to trade half of their food stores in exchange for a cell block to inhabit, providing that they do not interact with Rick's party. Whilst Rick is refining the prisoners' combat skills, one of the prisoners is bitten by a walker and is immediately killed by Tomas. Distrusting of Tomas, Rick shoots and kills Tomas during their next skirmish with walkers. Hershel's health deteriorates, but is awakened after Lori gives him CPR.
22	3	Walk With Me	Evan Reilly	Guy Ferland	October 28, 2012	10.51M	5.4%
When Andrea and Michonne investigate a military helicopter crash in the nearby forest, Andrea faints when she discovers one of the men to be Merle. The two of them are captured and taken to Woodbury, a barricaded town with several survivors. The leader of the community, The Governor, immediately welcomes them in, but Michonne remains wary of his true intentions. Although Andrea is happy to be at Woodbury, it is revealed that The Governor has ordered the killing of a group of soldiers in order to acquire their weapons and supplies.
23	4	Killer Within	Sang Kyu Kim	Guy Ferland	November 4, 2012	9.27M	4.9%
Ambushed by a walker attack inside the prison, Rick and the others discover that their gate barricade was left open and they immediately suspect Axel and Oscar, two of the prison survivors they had encountered during their initial sweep through the prison. Rick is ambushed by Andrew in the generator room, and Oscar immediately shoots Oscar to prove his and Axel's loyalty to Rick's group. As T-Dog and Carol are attempting to close the gate, he and Carol get surrounded by walkers, and T-Dog sacrifices himself to save Carol. When Daryl arrives at the prison, he sees Carol's headwrap, which fell during the skirmish, and assumes she also died attempting to flee. Lori goes into labor while hiding in the boiling room with Carl and Maggie and insists that Maggie perform an emergency Caesarean section. However, Lori does not survive the procedure and Carl is left with no other option but to shoot his mother. At Woodbury, Andrea grows increasingly fond of The Governor despite Michonne's continued suspicions.
24	5	Say the Word	Angela Kang	Greg Nicotero	November 11, 2012	10.37M	5.6%
25	6	Hounded	Scott M. Gimple	Dan Attias	November 18, 2012	9.21M	4.9%
26	7	When the Dead Come Knocking	Frank Renzulli	Dan Sackheim	November 25, 2012	10.43M	5.4
27	8	Made to Suffer	Robert Kirkman	Billy Gierhart	December 2, 2012	10.48M	5.4%
28	9	The Suicide King	Evan Reilly	Lesli Linka Glatter	February 10, 2013	12.26M	6.1%
29	10	Home	Nichole Beattie	Seith Mann	February 17, 2013	11.05M	5.6%
30	11	I Ain't a Judas	Angela Kang	Greg Nicotero	February 24, 2013	11.01M	5.7%
31	12	Clear	Scott M. Gimple	Tricia Brock	March 3, 2013	11.3M	5.7%
32	13	Arrow on the Doorpost	Ryan C. Coleman	David Boyd	March 10, 2013	11.46M	5.7%
33	14	Prey	Glen Mazzara & Evan Reilly	Stefan Schwartz	March 17, 2013	10.84M	5.5%
34	15	This Sorrowful Life	Scott M. Gimple	Greg Nicotero	March 24, 2013	10.99M	5.4%
35	16	Welcome to the Tombs	Glen Mazzara	Ernest Dickerson	March 31, 2013	12.42M	6.4%