(The Root) — This weekend's TV dramas weren't for the faint of heart. But if you are into more morbid storylines and like rooting for a group of underdogs skilled at killing zombies with some pretty cool hand-to-hand combat moves and sharp shooting, then you were a happy camper.
The Walking Dead (Sunday, 9 p.m. ET; AMC)
"Grrrrr!" —A zombie
Highlight: If you're late to the The Walking Dead, you can start fresh this season. On Sunday's third-season premiere episode, the group is looking for somewhere new to live. They kill a bunch of zombies who are living in an abandoned house while attempting not to get bitten by any. (An FYI to new viewers: Anyone who gets bitten by a zombie becomes a zombie. Those are the rules.) They end up killing enough zombies at a local prison to spend the night there, but in the morning, of course, they're attacked by a bunch of angry zombies as they try to explore more of the facility. By the way, we love badass Michonne (played by Danai Gurira), who knocks a zombie off just to get one of those little packages of aspirin and keeps two armless zombies on a chain leash to carry her belongings.
666 Park Avenue (Sunday, 10 p.m. ET; ABC)
"Olivia, pull over and we’ll talk about this." —Jane (as they speed down the street)
"No, she drove into that concrete wall on purpose. She wanted to die." —Olivia
Highlight: For the first time we see Olivia (Vanessa Williams) behaving like something else besides Gavin's pretty little evil minion — she's a mother in pain. It's the 10th anniversary of her daughter Sasha's death in a car accident, and Jane takes Olivia to lunch to keep her mind off of it. On their way home afterward, Olivia is overcome with grief when she passes the spot where Sasha died, so she steps on the gas and almost hits the same cement wall where her daughter crashed. Then she reveals that Sasha didn't die in an accident; she intentionally hit the cement wall. There's even a suicide note.
This is all in a day's work for Jane, who seems completely unfazed once she gets back to the Drake, and the two finish chatting. By the end of their conversation, Jane has convinced Olivia that she needs to move on and let go. So Olivia decides to dramatically burn the note while sitting on a bench that has been dedicated to her daughter. Just before it's completely disintegrated, we see: "This is my only way out. He's just so evil." Dun-dun-dun-dunnn … !
Watch here.
Celeste Little is an editorial intern at The Root.