The Walking Dead: Music From The Cell

The third episode of The Walking Dead‘s seventh season made some bold musical choices as part of its story telling.

In addition to the usual dark and ominous score from Bear McCreary, Negan’s Saviors both enjoyed the tunes of a few TV shows in the latest hour and used music as a method of breaking down/training prisoner of war Daryl Dixon.

First, the episode started with the opening of Who’s The Boss playing on Dwight’s TV screen but a different song playing as a montage of Dwight took over. As the burnt-face villain made the rounds through the Sanctuary, making himself a sandwich and taking dead Saviors’ supplies, The Jam’s “A Town Called Malice” accompanied the scene.

Next up was the music which was used to train Daryl as though her part of the Pavlov’s dogs experiment. The song played on a loop several times throughout the episode. It was The Collapsable Hearts Club featuring Jim Bianco & Petra Haden for “Easy Street.”

Finally, the song which seemed to break Daryl Dixon after days of being treated like an animal was Don McClean’s “Crying.” Daryl and Dwight seemed to have a moment of seeing eye to eye but a photo of Glenn’s bashed skull paired with the emotional song suggesting tears was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The Walking Dead has previously used music to set the tone of its scenes. Most memorably, the Governor’s return was accompanied by Ben Nichols’ “Last Pale Light in the West” and Rick’s raid on Negan’s compound concluded with Hozier’s “Arsonist’s Lullaby.”

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.