The Walking Dead: S03 Ep15 - This Sorrowful Life

What happened?

The decision Rick initially took, to agree to terms with The Governor and trade Michonne for a truce, was taken out of his hands when Merle kidnapped her and seemed bent on getting it done because he knew Rick wouldn’t. However, Michonne managed to walk free and Merle went alone to ambush The Governor and his men at the meeting place. Daryl, tracking his brother, found him – now a walker after The Governor had caught up to him – and had to kill the undead Merle.

Thoughts

This episode started out with a decision by Rick that felt very disingenuous to what we had seen before. The opening scene had him speaking about how he was agreeing to go along with The Governor’s suggestion and trade Michonne for a potential truce. The fact that the deed he was plotting didn’t actually get spoken outright made me think the episode was going to try and pull some kind of twist. Like this scene was setting us up to make us think that Rick was planning to hand Michonne over but really he was never going to do such a thing and his true plan would be revealed to the audience towards the climax.

The lack of outright specificity regarding Rick’s discussion about his intentions for Michonne were what made me think this is what the episode was cooking up, but it was also the fact that after his meeting with The Governor he didn’t at all seem like he had been fooled. Rick returned to the group after his meeting and declared that they were now at war, clearly having not been taken in by The Governor’s empty promises. That, to me, seemed to be the end of it. Rick had no more trust in The Governor’s bargain than he would trust his life in the hands of Merle. That, for me, was the end of it.

When it eventually transpired that no such plot twist ruse was being cooked up, that indeed Rick had made a sudden about face on his previous convictions and decided that trading Michonne was a potentially useful course of action, I felt rather cheated. I felt like this episode had shrugged off the learnings and set ups of what went before so it could spin the plot threads regarding what became, ultimately, Merle’s last hurrah.

What was annoying, really, is that for plot purposes there was no need for Rick to have had his dark moment where he considered giving Michonne up. She returned to the prison at the end of the episode so there appears to be no consequences or bad feeling from her that she was being used. Indeed, she all but acknowledged that she doubted, just like Merle, that Rick would have had the guts to do it. So that was that. Pointless. 

If Rick hadn't begun the episode planning to hand Michonne over then the only thing that needed to happen was for Merle to take Michonne; that could have easily been shown to happen by Rick announcing what The Governor’s bargain had been but telling everyone he hadn’t been interested in taking it up. All Merle would have to do is what he did anyway: snatch Michonne away without anyone else knowing and try to seal the deal himself.

It would have worked just as well that way. Better, actually, as then we would not have had the ugly indecision Rick displayed here where he flip-flopped from committing to it and then in a matter of an hour or two concluding otherwise. It all felt like clumsy plotting and a betrayal of Rick’s character and it really irritated me.

Sigh. Breathe in. And relax.

The mess of Rick’s decision-making aside, the rest of the episode was in fine form and served as a good farewell to Merle. He was a character that I knew could not possibly survive for too long in the show. He’s such an overbearing character, one whose presence is felt off-screen, that having him camped up with our heroes was not a situation that could sustain. He was a nuclear bomb in their midst. That he actually went out on a heroic note is not something I expected. I did anticipate he would die either trying to turn the tables on Rick or, as happened, striking out and trying to take The Governor down. I just didn’t expect he’d do so on what turned out to be a one-way ticket, suicide mission.

Did Merle really believe he was never coming back when he let Michonne out of the car? Did he make his mind up there, after her suggesting that it was possible that they both could go back and pretend like nothing happened? I always had Merle pegged as a survivor – one that would claw and bite his way to living through whatever was thrown at him. I didn’t envisage him as the sacrificial type. It’s debatable that he thought he might just be able to take down The Governor and all his men after he unleashed a stack of walkers and took up his sniping spot. Were it not for one stray henchman The Governor in Merle’s sight would have had his brains blown out, so who knows if Merle might have battled through such insurmountable odds?

Whether he believed he would live or otherwise, there’s definitely no question that he went down fighting. The reduction of him to a walker, as The Governor cruelly knew, was the most ungracious fate he could have been granted. No brain-death for Merle as The Governor could have easily provided (and for anyone else, for the sake of preventing one more walker, he almost certainly would have done). Instead it was left, as I actually also thought might be the way of it, for Daryl to find his brother and be the one that put him down permanently. His stricken reaction to seeing his brother as a hungry walker (one that seemed to carry the menace of Merle’s character, somehow, but maybe that was just me) was crushing stuff.

Their final scene together as living people was given greater impact. Daryl’s last words to Merle were that he just wanted his brother back, and those words alone seemed to choke Merle up and made him turn away. I can’t help but wonder if it was that sentiment, and Merle’s confession to Michonne that he had become a killer since he took up with The Governor and been made into something worse than he ever was before, were what caused him to reach the conclusion that he could not just return to the prison. He realised that something in him had fundamentally changed, that he could never be the brother that Daryl knew, and it was this more than anything else that saw him try and take down The Governor and his men in one last hurrah.

Rick gave an inverted speech to his declaration at the end of Season 2 that he was no longer leading a democracy. Now, having seen The Governor’s dictatorship and question his own judgment, Rick has been forced to re-evaluate his leadership and decided that it wasn’t him alone that has dragged everyone through. Their strength has been their group solidarity. The question the episode left open-ended for the group to decide was whether they thought that strength and solidarity was good enough to take on and win a battle with The Governor.

The answer's got a season finale written all over it. . .

What was the best part?

The scene where Michonne had been tied up to a post whilst Merle messed around trying to hotwire a car was great stuff. Seeing the usually rock solid Michonne have a glint of concern in her eye when she saw the advancing walkers sold the sense of peril. Not that she was entirely helpless, booting a walker that got near and delivering the coup de grace of wrapping her bonds around the neck of another walker and throttling its head off. Meanwhile, throughout, there was Merle in a similarly dicey predicament, pinned down in a car footwell whilst walkers descended upon him. Curiously, despite Merle being a real boo hiss villain at that point, Michonne was in such a tight spot that we the audience were rooting for him to get out of the car and help Michonne out rather than become a meal for the pack of walkers. If Merle had gotten killed in that car then there was little hope Michonne would have been able to survive for much longer.

What do I think will happen next?

I don’t think The Governor is going to be taken down in the next episode. I foresee him being a force for at least another season. I do, however, have trouble with the idea of The Walking Dead continuing this situation where there is Rick’s group at the prison and The Governor has control of Woodbury. One, or both, of these safe havens have to go to keep the show vital. The prison seems likeliest to go, unfortunately, but it may be that Rick and his people could find a place at Woodbury if they can usurp The Governor. . .

I have to consider the people of Woodbury, and Andrea still held captive. Milton could be a defector in their midst already, and Tyrese and his girlfriend/wife are also potential candidates to turn against The Governor the moment things go ugly. So Rick’s group may be stronger than it appears to be.

This sense of unfair odds and/or stalemate between the two factions could always endure an intervention from a third party. There’s always the prospect of a herd of walkers showing up, at either the prison or Woodbury, and absolutely destroying the place. And there is always the outside chance that some other force, a higher power (like those that are in the helicopters we have occasionally seen during the first two seasons) could appear to make life complicated.

Most of all, then, my prediction is that the status quo between the prison and Woodbury will be broken and at least one place become untenable.

The Walking Dead: S03 Ep14 - Prey

What happened?

Andrea realised The Governor intended to declare war on Rick’s group and so slipped out of Woodbury in a bid to get to Rick at the prison. After The Governor learned from Milton what Andrea had done, he set out after her and managed to capture her before she could make her presence known to Rick. She was taken back to Woodbury and strapped into the torture chair he had originally devised for Michonne.

Thoughts

In a couple of ways this episode seemed to be cut out of the template of a horror movie. Honing itself mostly down to Andrea – the prey of the title – and The Governor’s pursuit and monstrous plans for her, this episode played out and ended like any number of horror movies you’ve seen. Like A Nightmare On Elm Street ending with Freddie Kruger supposedly defeat only for the nightmare to continue, and his arm to yank the mother off the doorstep. Similarly, the heroine of the first Friday the 13^th having survived, floating on a lake, for the shock surprise of young Jason Voorhees to rear up out of the calm water and snatch her away. If you’ve ever seen The Descent you’ll know that the bloodied, screaming female survivor doesn’t clamber out of the hole in the ground to salvation – instead it’s a cruel trick, a joke. There was actually a ‘Ha ha!’ graffitti’d on the wall behind Andrea when she left the factory having escaped The Governor. She didn’t know it, but the cruel joke was yet to be sprung. Andrea, arriving at the prison having escaped her hunter, at the vital moment where she calls to Rick her voice is smothered by The Governor’s hand. Just when you thought the worst was over, bang! The horrible ending slams hard before the screen goes black in classic horror movie style.

There were plenty of horror movie references littering the episode, too. The walker Andrea left hung on a meat hook straight out of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to The Governor’s whistling whilst he built his torture machine invoking Hostel; all deliberate and all feeding into the tone of a one-off slice of standalone terror amidst the regular, ongoing drama. Viewed in this respect this was a strong episode and effectively did its job whilst also keeping the show plots ticking over leading in to the final two shows of this season.

Andrea’s capture by The Governor wasn’t quite the ending, of course. The final vision of Andrea strapped to the infernal torture dentist chair was where the episode tapped into a more classical type of horror, more of an Edgar Allan Poe vibe. I recall the end to one movie based on an Edgar Allan Poe story, where amidst the action a woman was locked into an iron maiden (an upright case of internal spikes and few holes). Many things happened after that, where our heroes eventually thwarted the villain and vowed to leave his terrible place and seal the door, and after that door slammed shut the camera zoomed in to the woman we’d forgotten about: her wide eyes blazing out from within the iron maiden, trapped and certain to never be released.

The horror is not in the manner of such a death, not that it isn’t horrible. No, I think the horror that really taps into your fear centre is the thought of being in a situation where certain death is an eventuality and, most crucially, there is no hope of you getting out of it. That’s horror, folks. And the ending of this episode was just such an Edgar Allan Poe moment where Andrea was revealed as a terrified woman trapped in an infernal machine before the credits rolled. If this had been a movie it would function as a perfect ending to a horror film. You’re left to imagine the lingering, torturous end that Andrea would endure at the hands of The Governor before her certain death.

Of course, this being a television show, the horror of Andrea’s predicament is tempered by the fact that there’s more episodes to come and, with them, comes hope for Andrea that someone, somewhere will find her and help her. The Walking Dead can’t avoid that but, you know, hope can be perverted. The show could choose to present the possibility for Andrea to be saved and then, you know, not save her. It sounds unimaginable but, damn, it would certainly be horrifying.

As is you have to imagine that her best chance is Milton. When Andrea suggested he come with her to the prison he was conflicted about staying with Philip, who he has known a long time, betraying he wants to leave Woodbury (seeing the torture chair probably cemented the view that his one-time friend had become seriously unhinged) but feels trapped since no one knows him at the prison. I thought last week he would be a potential ally for Rick’s group and this only seems like an event that is having the foundations laid out.

Milton is also, surely, the most obvious candidate for the mysterious unknown person who torched the walkers The Governor most likely planned to unleash on the prison. The Governor certainly thinks so (having tried to trick the black couple into revealing their guilt) when he remarked that he had already worked out who did it to Milton. I’m not 100% sure it was Milton. Mostly I am but, for me, there’s an off-chance possibility it was the black woman that did it. I looked at the scene a second time, when The Governor threw out the test, and she didn’t speak when The Governor asked his question but she did look like she was about to.

The gang that Rick scared out of the prison, the people that I didn’t actually catch the names of so I can only, unfortunately, refer to them as the black couple and the father and son, got a little more exposure. The black couple have always been marked out as good, decent people (the type that would have fit in perfectly with Rick’s gang). The father, it was shown, has issues with how he feels shamed by not being there to save his wife. But he also has issues of his own. When being dangled over a pit of walkers his responses was to urge the black guy to do it, drop him in.

Yeah, he’s got problems all right. He’s not the type of guy you want to depend on or hang around with.

Like Milton, the black couple seem like decent people who may, after the battle between Woodbury and the Prison, find themselves rebelling against The Governor and fighting for the other side. It’s not so clear cut for them since they’ve been scared off by Rick already – but in the right moment, if there’s a time and a place, a more reasonable Rick could apologise for what he did and invite them back into the fold. I wouldn’t understand the point of having them introduced, and their characters developed, for them not to become more permanent members of the show.

Last point is with the first scene. A flashback to Andrea and Michonne, during their winter together, where we discovered that the disarmed, de-toothed walkers that Michonne used to lead around with her were men she once knew before they were dead. It was clear she had little love for either of them so clearly they had seriously wronged her in some way. The irony, by the end, was that idea of a fate worse than death being meted out. Michonne avenged the wrongdoing of these men by dragging them around as her walker slaves. Andrea, at the end of the episode, would be bound in a chair designed to keep her alive and made to suffer – a fate worse than a quick death.

What was the best part?

It was a small, brief moment but I really liked it. When The Governor was hunting Andrea and she ran through the door and spotted the stairs were full of zombies it looked like she was trapped between a rock and a hard place. The Governor thought he had finally caught up with her, but instead she deftly turned the tables and went through the door, onto the other side of it, and pulled it close to her to let all the walkers come streaming through towards The Governor. Ingeniously simple and a pleasure to watch.

It was a successful moment because it actually created a question mark over whether The Governor had actually survived (him fending off that many walkers looked like an insurmountable situation) but, mostly, created the idea that Andrea had got through the closest scrape so that when she arrived at the prison she would have achieved her mission. This one moment paved the way for the shock surprise of The Governor appearing at the crucial moment and cruelly snatching her back to Woodbury.

What do I think will happen next?

The battle between Woodbury and the Prison will surely transpire during the next episode. I suspect Rick won’t show for the meeting that has been arranged, the one where he is supposed to give up Michonne, so instead The Governor will take his heavy arms and perhaps more walkers and stage an assault on the prison. If that comes to pass I anticipate an episode of tension and an extremely horrible feeling like Rick and his people are hopelessly outnumbered and their fate looking grim. I’m looking forward to it, perversely, mainly because I am sure I am going to loathe seeing The Governor turn the screw on our heroes.

The last episode, perhaps, will see Rick take the fight back to Woodbury where he may recruit allies in the likes of Milton and the black couple and, perhaps, discover Andrea. I can’t decide right now if it’s possible for The Governor to survive beyond this season. . . I suspect he just might, but quite where Rick and his group will be laying their heads once all of this battling is done is one I can’t predict right now. The show has never stayed in the same place for more than one season – from the camp in the woods in season one, to Hershal’s farm in season two, now we have the prison in season three. I don’t foresee them staying there, but if not there then where? With little asskicker in the group they can’t go back on the road and hope to survive like they used to. . .

The Walking Dead: S03 Ep13 - Arrow On The Doorpost

What happened

Andrea brokered a meeting between Rick and The Governor. Whilst allies on either side bickered and then ultimately relaxed with each other outside, Rick and The Governor failed to form a truce and instead arranged a further meeting in two days where the surrender of Michonne are the bargaining terms. The Governor intends to wipe out Rick and his best people at that meeting, meanwhile Rick goes back to his people and tells them they are going to war. Andrea, torn between two sides, elects to return back to Woodbury and The Governor.

Thoughts

Hmm. I have to confess to feeling a little underwhelmed by this latest set of episodes, with this one feeling like there has been little in the way of advancement. If you consider how things had progressed then there isn't really much that has changed at all. Prior to this episode Rick and The Governor seemed hellbent on going to war with one another and, by the end, well, they are back to being hellbent on going to war with one another.

This episode was good in terms of raising the stakes about what that war means, and seeing The Governor and Rick face off was a tense treat, no question. But with last week's detour off to reconvene with Morgan and this week basically finishing in the same place it started, I think it's fair to question the forward momentum.

The lack of progression is the only bad point I have to raise as, otherwise, this was another strong showing. I did at first wonder if I had missed something in the previous episodes when Rick and The Governor sat down to meet, feeling like this wasn't anything that had been arranged at all, only Andrea then spoke up and it was made clear that her brokering this meeting was something that had occurred in the blank space between this episode and the last one. True to form The Governor was about as trustworthy as a thief in a bank vault, having turned up early to tape a gun to his side of the desk and await Rick's arrival.

The Governor mentioned why he hadn't killed Rick and his group at the prison when he perpetrated the van full of walkers ambush. He rightly stated that he could have stopped them all there and then. He didn't because he was merely showing them what he was capable of (which, considering his ultimate intention of just wiping them out, doesn't make a whole lot of sense). At the time, when he said it to Rick, it sounded reasonable - but in hindsight of his ultimate intention to wipe out this gang it seems strange that he didn't take the opportunity.

The suggestion that he was actually after Michonne as his main prize also seemed slightly off. No question he's mad at her for taking his eye (note how he peeled back his eyepatch when he announced his terms of wanting her as trade), and he'd like to get his hands on her and no doubt torture her - but is his perspective so warped that he'd go to all these lengths? He claimed to not care about Rick and his people, that Michonne was the prize, and even when Rick called him out on that point and suggested he had bigger plans and such petty vengeance was beneath him, The Governor didn’t address it. I’d rather believe that he is using his desire to trade Michonne as a ruse to lure Rick into a trap but I have to say that, overall, The Governor's motivations seem a tad confused rather than clarified.

Rick stood up for himself well. I liked how he called The Governor out when he tried to claim Merle acted against Maggie and Glenn without his permission, after he had claimed he took responsibility for what happened in his town. And Rick then adding that he didn’t claim to be a “Governor” was nicely done. A couple of times he made swipes at The Governor's vanity and, whilst Philip didn’t show it, I got the sense Rick got under his skin. There was, however, always the possibility that Rick might snap, and not in a good way. With The Governor having his hidden gun, to him bringing whiskey out, as well as there always being the feeling that Philip was no fool and might spring a nasty surprise at any moment their scenes kept the edge tick tick ticking. For the lack of progression, for sure, the scenes between Rick and The Governor were what kept this episode highly absorbing.

The other elements of the episode weren’t quite as effective, but still not bad. Daryl and Hershal eventually bonding with their ‘counterparts’ outside of the meeting was nicely handled. The conversation between Daryl and the other guy summed it up, when they acknowledged that today they would talk and share cigarettes and things would seem OK and then the next day they would be back after each other, like enemies. This suggested a wartime feel before the war declaration was made. I was reminded of the story during World War I, on Christmas Day, when the English and German soldiers somehow called a truce across the trenches and united over a game of football during the ceasefire. When it came to it, they were men that had no vested interest in wanting to kill each other but did so because their country’s leaders demanded it.

Cut to Rick and The Governor, warring with words before eventually converting into actual intentions of war. The people, the ‘soldiers’, if it weren’t for The Governor they would mostly get along but, whilst this tension persists, bloodshed is the only course of action they can see.

Hershal and Milton were interesting, and Milton especially got a little more time during this episode to consolidate exactly what his character is about. So far he has seemed like an oddball scientist involved in experiments with the walkers that I interpreted as having a kind of Frankenstein quality. I was wrong about that, and between his experiments to understand the walkers he has also taken to becoming a documentarian of their time, saving the present for future posterity. That act alone indicates Milton is a man of hope; he believes there will be a humanity that will survive this and look back on it and want to understand. If there is a war and all that survive are left to unite, I wouldn't be surprised to see Milton form a part of what would be considered the 'good and righteous' side.

At the prison it was left to Glenn and Michonne to try and keep a muzzle on Merle who, true to form, proved he isn’t interested in playing nicely with others, though he was wanting to go and interfere with the meeting both to look after his brother and potentially put a stop to The Governor once and for all. As The Governor remarked, he is a man that will get the dirty jobs done and so, whilst he can be difficult, I wouldn’t put it past him to have a big say in the fight to come for the benefit of Rick’s side.

The episode’s only real dramatic shift was shouldered on Andrea’s decision of would she join Rick’s group or not. Hershal made it clear that she would be welcomed back but it would mean she was with them. In the end, even despite hearing from Hershal about what had happened with Maggie (alongside all the other things she knows The Governor is responsible for), she went back with Philip. The only reason I can think why she did that is because she believes in her bones that siding with Rick’s group would be a death sentence. When the war comes she believes Rick’s group will be destroyed.

Naturally, I believe she is wrong. The question, the real question for the show’s remaining episodes this season, is what will the human cost of this war be?

What was the best part?

You could really have just edited together all the scenes where Rick and The Governor talked in their meeting and that would present the episode’s high point. The most memorable part for me was when Rick delivered some telling remarks about how The Governor went around calling himself as such. Despite Philip’s remark that it was not a title he bestowed upon himself the words didn’t ring true. That matter cut to the heart of the difference between the two of them. They were both leaders, it was true, but one of them is a leader that had leadership thrust upon him and the other is an egomaniac that will cling onto power by whatever means necessary.

What do I think will happen next?

I’m not sure Rick will even bother attending this meeting they have rescheduled in earnestness, but it may be that both Rick and The Governor will use the prospective meeting as the battleground. It’s certainly The Governor’s intentions. It would actually be a smart plan for Rick to make a move on Woodbury whilst The Governor and his best were away and strike a blow in that manner. Failing that, Rick can only try an assassination attempt or try and fortify his prison and make it a fortress for The Governor to just try and penetrate. I personally think that last idea would be the worst!

I imagine Andrea won't be a willing participant in any war (and The Governor knows it, too) which means she may find herself in an extremely precarious position. I wouldn't be surprised to see Michonne come to her rescue before the end.

Last prediction, as a wildcard element, Merle is not a character that can burn this brightly for long - so I expect he will have a last hurrah making either an attack on The Governor (and possibly succeeding) or turning the tables on Rick. There's a long list of people that deserve to be the one that puts Merle down, but surely the most gruelling would be for Daryl to be forced to do it. Possibly, if Merle steps out of line towards Carol, that will be the tipping point.

The Walking Dead: S03 Ep12 - Clear

What happened?

Rick, Michonne and Carl take a trip to the sheriff department hoping to retrieve weapons only to discover the town has been converted into a booby-trapped, walker-ridden fortress guarded by a somewhat deranged Morgan. Whilst Rick tries, and fails, to get Morgan to join his group Carl and Michonne bond on a detour to get a photo. The gang get their weapons and head back to their people.

Thoughts

Something of a luxurious episode all told since, by the end, the only thing that had been advanced in plot terms was the extra weapons and ammo the group had acquired and the consolidation of Michonne as a fully paid-up member of Rick's gang. The rest of the episode was mostly dispensable, though did all come with the saving grace of providing longterm fans with a conclusion about the character Morgan, seen in the first episode and never since. There once was a time, mostly during Season One, where Rick would send his radio messages to Morgan and there was always the distinct feeling he may as well have been talking to the trees. . .

It was a terrific surprise when the mask was pulled back and Morgan was revealed. I totally did not expect that!

Morgan clearly had not had a fun time of things since Rick left. Having apparently not been picking up the radio as Rick instructed he had, instead, wound up watching his wife, the walker he could not kill, take his son's life before he put her down permanently. Left alone with intense loss and regret his sanity had rapidly unravelled.

Pretty understandable, considering.

I liked that Morgan's inability to kill his wife had had such devastating consequences since last time we saw him he was weeping, unable to pull the trigger on his wife caught in his crosshair. That moment, seen in retrospect, has been given far more weight due to what we know eventually transpired. 

I thought Rick's determination to bring Morgan back with him was stemming from more than just because this man once saved his life. It was played as subtext, but I interpreted it as Rick needing Morgan to come back around as a necessary sign for Rick himself to feel he could come back from the madness he had teetered into. It turned out Morgan was beyond salvation in that manner and it was curiously left to Michonne to assuage Rick's mental issues with her omission that she saw visions of her old boyfriend. (I think that reveal was also a confirmation that Michonne wasn't a lesbian despite all perceptions to the contrary!)

I liked that the show went back and took care of Morgan, and didn't see the need to try and tie things up with a more comforting resolution in the process. It had often crossed my mind that Morgan could be a character that would turn up out of the blue and yet, even in thinking it, I didn't genuinely believe it would happen. I mostly assumed his was a character we met in episode one and would not see again. His plight is a clear sign of how this harsh new world can twist and contort people. The lesson was perhaps obvious to Michonne; without the likes of Rick and Carl and the rest she could become like Morgan, or that poor backpacker begging for a ride and found dead at the end. Trying to go it alone in this world results in madness before death, or just a plain, miserable death.

The point that Rick didn't even entertain helping the backpacker whose plight bookended the episode was interesting. Note how the expected conversation between our heroes about whether or not they should take the backpacker with them didn't even occur. Collectively they had forged a unified belief that it wasn't an option. Yet, incongrously, Rick persevered with Morgan for the reasons I suggested above, about saving his own belief in his recovery. But that the episode ended with the dead backpacker suffering the final indignation of having Rick stop and pick up his backpack for whatever goods they could use for themselves only highlighted the twisted morality of this new world. The life of a madman versus a screaming innocent and the madman, through loyalty, was deemed the more worthy of saving. Rick's group showed they could use whatever the backpacker had, and were also in a position were more manpower could work in their favour back at the prison - but strangers are not welcomed in easily and, so it goes, they are left by the roadside to die if that option is available.

Carl's growth from boy to man is being handled well. This episode showed he still has lingering tendencies towards making risky decisions, though nothing close to how he was in Season Two. Thanks to Morgan's vest he didn't have to be responsible for shooting a man dead as Rick fretted over, though the taking of a life will never compare with having killed his own mother. None-the-less, Carl has maintained a level head and, most importantly, kept his soul intact. In Carl there is hope for humanity; a future where people emerge decent and righteous despite a world of hellish morals.

Is Rick cured of his insanity issues now? The little pep talk from Michonne, and his quip about how he sees things and so let her drive, suggested to me that it's a matter that has been kept on the backburner for now but is in no way over. Just a little more stress could prompt further mental visitations and, as I have stated before, whilst I know this will make for arduous viewing I think it's right for investing belief in the show and characters.

The episode presented an interesting change of pace for this season, feeling exactly like the brief departure from the norm Rick, Michonne and Carl had experienced by going on this road trip. It was by no means a great episode, though the return of Morgan made it feel worthwhile and confirming Michonne as a proper member of the group means that's a matter that no longer needs to be dragged out or debated. She's one of them now. Ready and willing to fight alongside them back at the prison. They have few people but, heck, they sure do have a lot of guns. If there's a fight coming then they have ordnance to give it more than a shot.

What was the best part?

Runner-up for best scene was Carl and Michonne, in the bar, getting the photograph. From Michonne stabbing the walker behind the bar through the head with cool efficiency, to the chase around the room from the pack, it was an adrenaline-jolting moment. But the real gasp wow of the episode was seeing Rick attempt to shoot, whilst not getting shot, the masked man that stalked him from the rooftop and along the booby-trapped street. It was a great action scene in and of itself but then, of course, the mask was ripped away and, holy moly, it was only bloody blast from The Walking Dead past Morgan!

What do I think will happen next?

My previous opinion that Rick was taking Michonne and Carl on an assassination attempt of The Governor proved incorrect, as he was instead gathering arms. So it seems the plan is to make a fortress out of the prison and defend the place with their mighty arsenal. The sneak previews for the next episode indicated that a very tense meeting between Rick and The Governor had been arranged by Andrea, so I can well imagine that being a pivotal scene but one where neither man is willing to back down. Even if they both agree to draw a line under their differences (blood has been spilled on both sides) I suspect neither of them would trust the other enough to let down their guard and not seek to take out the other one before they did the same. Looking forward to seeing Rick and The Governor go head to head, though. . .

The Walking Dead: S03 Ep11 – I Ain’t A Judas

What happened?

After the prison attack Rick’s group are forced to agree to get along, even with Merle, and Rick especially must put his mental problems behind him and take charge. Andrea visits but her efforts to broker a peace are not accepted and instead Rick decides to take Michonne and Carl with him on a stealth attack of Woodbury. In Woodbury The Governor allows Andrea to leave and warily accepts her return whilst also accepting the group that Rick scared away from the prison as part of the army he is training.

Thoughts

I’ll give The Walking Dead grace for this, what amounts to a rather dud episode, because the show is more often than not of such high calibre and my current favourite. And I would also say that this perhaps was an episode that simply had to deal with some stuff – like having Andrea finally meet the prison group and Merle becoming a part of the gang and Rick formulating a plan of attack – in order to position things for more exciting events next. I fully expect the next episode to be a cracker (and if it isn’t then, in retrospect, I’ll be less forgiving about this episode).

Let me get some griping out of the way, because for all my understanding that doesn’t cause me to abandon all critical faculties. First up is the matter of Rick and the apparent snapping out of his mental issues. I’ll give the show grace with the belief that I don’t believe he is completely cured just yet. Even though this episode seemed to show him gathering his senses, particularly after the sobering moment Carl suggested he step down (a mature moment from his son that no doubt informed Rick’s decision to assume Carl was now ready to go out on the mission he had planned). Whilst it’s certainly welcome that Rick seems more like his old self it’s just too much of a stretch to have it that a man that was so clearly out of his mind pull it all together and put that madness behind him. But I would be more surprised if Rick is entirely clear of his mental demons (indeed, was there a moment where he saw something in the woods that was a flickering figment of Lori?) so we can still expect those visions and phantoms to return to him before this season is through. He still has some reconciliations with his soul to be done before he walks away conscience-free.

Merle was also another bone of contention for me this episode. I made the remark in the previous write-up that I didn’t want to see Merle made into a good guy, neutered. To be fair to this episode they handled the softening of Merle and his integration into the group pretty well. His ability to shift allegiances and to try and put behind him the things he had done, like how he tried to broker some peace with Michonne, were just about believable. I did peg Merle as a survior and this capacity to adapt both socially and physically are part of his nature.

But then I think about how Merle was when they first escaped from Woodbury, screaming abuse at the people who had saved him, and there seemed a man who was totally incapable of playing nicely with others (which is more in keeping with the Merle we first met in season one).

Admittedly Merle had proved himself capable of fitting in with a group, as he had done in Woodbury, so perhaps I should really be blaming Episode 9 of this season and that moment where Merle was an absolute dick the moment he was freed from Woodbury. Had it not been for that scene, if he had instead wanted to try and play nice and simply been rejected (which would have allowed events to play out precisely as they have done anyway) then his character would have been more consistently convincing.

I like the idea of Merle being a rogue ally in the group, but at the same time if he suddenly turns over a new leaf and sees the light to being a good guy then I’ll lose a lot of respect for the show’s credentials. The Walking Dead isn’t the type of show that cuts corners or takes the easy sentimental route, so it better not start now. I did like the moment where Carol met up with Daryl and implored him not to let his brother drag him back from how far he had come; it was a good point to make and also reminded us all that Merle was, and ought to remain, a negative influence that Daryl needs to overcome.

Honestly, I would not at all be surprised to see it that Daryl will be forced to kill Merle. His brother will not be able to control his own nature and Daryl will have to step in and, despite himself, stop him for good. It would be a similar wrench to the Rick and Shane axis (and that familiarity does make me hesitate and think the show won’t bother doing the same plot twice).

So Merle and Rick’s character as presented this episode were my two bugbears for the consistency of the show. Otherwise I thought the episode simply failed to produce anything exciting. Weirdly I thought it was good that there wasn’t some sudden surprise burst of action or drama in the final few minutes to try and rescue the non-eventfulness. The previous episode pulled that punch to great effect but trying the same thing again, to inject some action and excitement in the final few minutes, would have felt like a move designed to please a television audience rather than stay true to the tone. It’s not so much the lack of action that concerned me, it’s more the lack of dramatic tension that meant this episode fell flat.

On the plus side Andrea returning to the prison group was the episode’s high point. The scene was played with a nice level of mistrust and happiness intermingled, and her asking about the people that were no longer around hammered home the matter of just how much Rick’s group had lost. The conversation with Michonne was also welcome, with Michonne being matter of fact about what she had seen and why she had left and what she had hoped to show Andrea when she returned, and how little she thought of Andrea going back to The Governor. Andrea’s prison visit did generate the minor moment of tension at the end of the episode, when there was the possibility that Andrea would stab The Governor whilst he slept as had been suggested, but I didn’t for one second believe she would do it.

Due to my complete certainty that Andrea wouldn’t make a physical attack against The Governor then the ending just flopped over. It did also appear that The Governor was awake, feigning sleep, so at least he may now be more sure that Andrea is loyal to him (though him being him he is unlikely to fully trust her). I suspect he’s going to continue with his war plans, but how successful he is in getting that underway, for now at least, has the small matter of Rick, Michonne and Carl heading out to thwart him before he begins.

Call me cynical, but I don’t think they’re going to be taking The Governor down easily.

What was the best part?

Andrea returning to the group, hugging and catching up in uncertain conditions was a good scene for the longterm feel of the show keeping in touch with these characters that have been there, and with each other, since the beginning. I did also like Andrea (not something I generally do) for having the courage to take the journey to the prison and try and do the right thing. It was a futile endeavour since she didn’t really arrive with anything to trade or bargain with but seeing her hold ‘little asskicker’ and know that it must have been Daryl that came up with the name was a tender moment. Andrea was a character that was in danger of losing the audience’s sympathy and these moments went a long way to bringing her back.

What do I think will happen next?

I can only assume Rick’s plan is to stage an assassination against The Governor. They (probably rightly) have figured that if they stop The Governor then the rest of his people are not going to be inclined to continue his vendetta. They’ll fail, I am sure. The only way I see The Governor getting taken down is in the final episode of the season and it’ll be Rick that does it. (I’ll perhaps get a better sense nearer the end about whether he will die, but my gut tells me that he’s too good a character to be removed from the show just yet.)

I don’t know what Andrea will do now she is back in Woodbury; plead with The Governor to find another way, perhaps. The idea that he may string her along in agreement to then go against his word doesn’t feel right anymore – he’s laid out his intentions and she knows he’s been lying to her every step of the way. So what does Andrea do? She’s in between a rock and a hard place, no doubt, and I honestly don’t know how she’s going to act.

Lastly, for credulity’s sake, I fully expect Rick’s battle with madness to plague him some more. It may even be this toll on his sanity, this breaking of his own code not to take human lives, that prompts him to revise his plans to kill The Governor. . .

The Walking Dead: S03 Ep10 – Home

What happened?

Whilst Rick is left alone to chase visions of Lori, Glenn takes on the mantle of leader, deciding to try and fortify the prison in anticipation of an attack from The Governor. The attack comes much sooner, with The Governor sniping rifle shots and releasing walkers into the prison grounds. Rick awakens from his insanity to fight back but it’s only Daryl and Merle arriving that prevents the situation turning far worse.

Thoughts

It’s been a long while since a TV show made me punch the air (Battlestar Galactica was probably the last time that happened) but The Walking Dead provoked such a response in this episode. I speak of the moment when Daryl returned to camp just when Rick was in the tightest of spots with the walkers. Those zipping crossbow arrows hitting their mark – he was back! Yes!

Alas, he had to bring Merle along with him. At least Merle was making a bid to prove himself a team player by helping Rick out. Not sure that will ever be enough to win over the group (Glenn and Maggie are just not going to be accept him, surely) but maybe they can offer some piece of the prison where Daryl, and Merle especially, keep to themselves. That’s if the group decides to stay at the prison at all after the latest incursion.

Rick’s group have never looked weaker. With Rick off walking in the woods chasing Lori (surprised to see Sarah Wayne Callies return for a cameo – maybe we’ll see more of her, which doesn’t exactly bode well for Rick’s road to recovery!) and the new people having been chased away after his outburst, their numbers are dwindling. Glenn made the remark about how there wasn’t anyone watching the fences for walkers; a comment that, subtly, was seeding the plot surprise of The Governor appearing with his sniper rifle.

It definitely took me by surprise when the new guy (although he’s not that new but, in all these past few episodes, I’ve never caught his name) got shot down in front of Carol. The episode played it beautifully in having him begin what looked to be the foundations of a friendship, possibly more, between he and Carol only for that to get snuffed out in an instant. The final indignity was in having Carol use his body as a shield against the hails of bullets before she could get out of there.

It seemed strange that The Governor left when he did, actually. After the ‘zombie van bomb’ got rolled into the prison compound and walkers were released he, to me, seemed to decide he had done enough and left. Had he stayed he would have then had a free hand to shoot at Rick’s group like fish in a barrel whilst they either tried to stay in cover and fend off the walkers or came out in the open to deal with the threat directly. I’m glad he didn’t, of course, but in terms of having the upper hand The Governor definitely yielded the opportunity to decimate his enemy.

Maybe (and I don’t really believe this) The Governor was simply seeking to address the attack Rick made on his group. An eye for an eye mentality. Rick showed up and shot at innocent people unannounced in Woodbury, and so The Governor has done the same at the prison. As I say, I don’t really believe that. Maybe he just thought the walkers being released would be enough to finish them off and see to it that any survivors scarpered before he came back. Maybe he just wanted to conserve ammo.

As for what happens next, well, Rick’s group are definitely between a rock and a hard place. Rick is evidently not just going to snap out of his mental wonderland and become the leader he once was – something far more drastic has to happen before that. He needs to forgive himself, to be able to relieve himself of the burden of guilt over Lori, Shane and all the rest of the flock he has lost. Luckily Daryl has returned, and Michonne seems to be making herself a useful addition to the group. And like him or love to hate him, there’s no question Merle is good in a fight. It’s just tricky to ever trust who he is fighting for. . .

I do love to hate Merle, he is an eminently reprehensible human being and I can only trust that The Walking Dead won’t go soft and try and clip his wings and allow him to undergo a character change that sees him get along with the group. He can just about play nice with others if it suits his situation, but it’s only ever a temporary reprieve.

The option to hit the road again just isn’t readily available. Rick’s half mad and his baby daughter needs better security – out there in the world she could cry and alert walkers wherever they are. Without a definite place to go then they have to make do with where they are. A genuine truce would be the best result all round, but the trouble is The Governor’s word isn’t worth a great deal.

The Governor’s speech to Andrea about letting her take charge for a while painted him as a cowering animal, licking his wounds. Again, this was all nice work from the writers springing the trap for the surprise of him going into sniper rifle murdering mode later on. Andrea, I suspect, certainly is keen on getting back in touch with her old gang. I imagine The Governor won’t be telling her about his little jaunt to the prison but there’s every chance she’ll work it out for herself since she knows he went missing. Given the level of treachery and deceit he’s shown her so far even she won’t be stupid enough to take him at face value again, right?

I certainly enjoyed this episode for its fist-punching return of Daryl to the fray, though overall the show does feel very much like it’s sagging in a mid-section, working itself out (which, in terms of the season, is precisely where it’s at!). A bit like Rick left wandering in the woods, there’s a sense of things going wrong and a dire need for resolution of sorts (or the prospect of one) to present itself. I suppose the situation with the warring factions of Prison and Woodbury is now geared up and in play and this may inform the next few episodes but I’m not sure how much more of it the show can crank up before it becomes untenable. I also feel like it needs something to freshen things up. Characters are dying left, right and centre which, at least, is thinning out the core cast – something that always provides better focus. I suspect the show may have an episode or two of this similar friction before it starts honing in on the endgame for this season and gives us an indication about where it goes next.

What was the best part?

Up until the end, the scene where Daryl and a reluctant Merle stepped in to help the people on the bridge was the standout. I particularly enjoyed the walker getting its head mashed in by the boot (or, for Americans, trunk) lid of the car. And Merle’s initial reluctance turning to mercenary robbery betrayed him for the man he truly is. However, all of that brilliance was upstaged by the final scene which, with the surprise sniper bullet of The Governor, raised the stakes for our heroes and culminated in the awfully cool van bomb of zombies ploughing through the prison gates. Harrowing moments but ace entertainment.

What do I think will happen next?

The prison gang are going to have to seriously revise their plans for survival. If they do intend to stay there then they are going to have to up their security and, potentially, make plans to thwart their enemy more offensively. There’s the chance that Daryl and Merle may be sent out on a mission against their enemy, as a means of Merle proving himself and also keeping him out of their way.

I don’t foresee Rick snapping out of it his mental unrest all of a sudden – there’s unresolved business there with phantom Lori that will surely have some big scenes to trawl through. I don’t see him staying permanently out of it for more than a few episodes and I wouldn’t be surprised if a soul-searching encounter with ‘head Lori’ occurs in the very next episode to put Rick back on track.

At Woodbury I predict that Andrea will tackle The Governor about where he has been and what he has done and, if he confesses honestly, she may decide to try and broker a truce for herself to stop further bloodshed. She’s just about the only person that either side could possibly trust enough but, even if a truce is formed, it will be a distinctly uneasy one.

The Walking Dead: S03 Ep09 – The Suicide King

What happened?

Rick managed to rescue Daryl, with Merle, but when he refused to let Merle join their group then Daryl left with his brother. Rick returns to the prison to address the matter of the new arrivals but a vision of his dead wife sees him react in such a manner that they hurriedly leave. Meanwhile in Woodbury The Governor is bent on going to war with Rick’s group leaving Andrea to placate the townsfolk when they want to leave.

Thoughts

Curiously, I (as usual) enjoyed this episode. It seemed laced with tension and delivered suitable dramatic impacts and yet, now I come to writing this, I find myself surprised by just how little happened. Basically: Daryl went off with Merle and Rick went a bit mad and frightened off potential newcomers, whilst Andrea secured her position as queen of Woodbury. So how come an episode were not a lot happened still managed to effectively keep me gripped?

The answer, I think, is in the suspense of what events here could mean for the future. Basically (and ain’t it always the way) Rick and his group look to be in an ever-weakening situation and this episode was all about exacerbating that. The only moment of superiority was in the first five minutes when Rick and Maggie showed up to shoot and smoke bomb the baying crowd. It felt like a bit of an easy resolve to the season break cliffhanger, although maybe Merle’s plan of shoving the walkers against their aggressors to create panic and confusion might have seen them scrape out of it. Probably not, mind.

The Governor kept a cool head and remained a menacing presence even after Merle and Daryl escaped and left several of his people dead. Strange that afterwards he basically retreated and kept himself locked away (save to come out and shoot a dying man). It was hard to get a fix on where he was at, mentally. He told Andrea that they were now at war and the suggestion seems to be that he’s not about to change. However, he was initially prepared to let his town go to ruin and all the people with it and only Andrea – the burgeoning queen of his kingdom – held the townsfolk together. Has he softened now? Seeing Andrea take control. . . Will that quieten down his thirst for vengeance?

I doubt it. Though it might slow him down or make him review his strategy of attack.

As for Andrea she continues to confound me. She perseveres with The Governor and the town despite having seen the wall of heads, and the people cheering on two men beating each other to death, and been informed that her former friends had been held prisoner and she had been kept in the dark about it. Admittedly she’s in a tight spot in terms of abandoning the town and going it alone but, still, it’s hard to grasp why she would be so quickly willing to maintain the relationship with The Governor. It’ll be interesting to see what take she has on any proposals for Rick’s group. I expect she would want to reach out to them and try and broker a truce – and I would anticipate The Governor may allow that to happen with a steely-eyed plan of reneging on the deal and taking the prison for himself first chance he got.

In the meantime at the prison Rick’s group is looking weak. It was a wrench to see Daryl go with Merle, but understandable. He is his brother, no matter what, and a figure that has a grip on his psyche (I recall when Daryl fell into a daze he hallucinated Merle’s return). For Rick, allowing Daryl to leave really was his only option. After what Merle had done to Maggie and Glenn, not to mention his total obnoxiousness when they were in the woods, there was no way he could have been allowed to join Rick’s group. Let’s just hope we get to follow where Daryl and Merle go to next. I’d like to think that Daryl will still want to watch over the likes of Carol and “little asskicker” but how he manages that whilst keeping Merle at bay is a difficult proposition.

Michonne is also a character that Rick has decided is not welcome among his flock (whether or not,  once she gets healthy, she would even be interested in staying is an intriguing question, too). Again, like Daryl, she is perhaps one of the most capable warriors of the tribe so her being sidelined makes a huge impact in their effectiveness should The Governor and his men come calling. I suspect, however, she will earn herself a place before she is kicked out. By the end of the episode there was serious reason for the likes of Hershal to question complete devotion to Rick’s commands.

The final scene was a truly wrenching moment. Just when you thought Hershal had done enough to whisper wisdom into Rick’s ear and let the new people stay he then went and had a mental flip and saw Lori watching over him. It wasn’t clear if this new group had scarpered on a permanent basis – but I’d like to hope that the next episode will see Hershal tell them not to go and that there clearly was a problem with Rick at the moment. Admittedly two of the four people – the two white guys who were itching to stage a coup – look like a pair of liabilities but perhaps they can prove themselves honourable allies if treated better.

Again, the point is if the four new people are thoroughly turfed out then it leaves Rick’s dwindling band in a vulnerable position against The Governor’s inevitable advances.

What to do with Rick? Well, it’s good that his mental crack-up with the radio hasn’t just come and gone. Not good as in a good thing, good as in good consistency in the show. I remarked at the time that it was a real stretch for us to believe Rick could start hallucinating voices in his head and then suddenly be cured the moment he realised the voices weren’t real (or did he even realise that?). Then in the previous episode he had a vision of Shane during the gunfight which suggested his mental problems weren’t behind him. And now we see that potential made explicit. Rick is not out of the woods of insanity just yet – the question is how far mad will he go and what will the cost of that be?

What was the best part?

The last scene was the clincher. I particularly liked how it appeared Hershal had done just enough to sway Rick’s opinion towards giving these people a chance. He started walking towards them and it was played as though he was about to relent, and then phantom Lori appeared on the balcony and Rick went and lost it. The scene just hung around that little bit too long, eking out the discomfort for all that were watching (characters and television audience alike). It went blundering past awkward and right into disaster in the space of a minute.

What do I think will happen next?

As stated, I think The Governor may seek to use Andrea as a go-between to his group and Rick’s group, but only as a Trojan horse style line of attack. Otherwise I anticipate he’ll naturally launch a more direct assault but, when I consider how he took down those army guys, subterfuge and trickery seem more his style. Meanwhile the big issue of Rick’s sanity may cause the rest of the group to realise they’re going to have to insist he rest and allow them to take over for a while.

Outside bet about Merle and Daryl: Merle will eventually try and force Daryl to do things he doesn’t want to do (perhaps against his own group) that will cause him to turn on his brother and one of them won’t survive. Hopefully Daryl will emerge from such a fallout alive!

Fringe: S05 Ep11 – The Boy Must Live

What happened?

The Fringe team track down September to his home, where he lives as a regular person as a punishment for what he did against his own people. However, he reveals that he is technically Michael’s father, and had taken him from the future because he represented a hybrid of emotion and intellect that, if taken to the future, could avert the course of time so that The Observers never come into being. This is the plan he and Walter conceived, and all looks set to be in motion only for Windmark to arrive and capture Michael.

Thoughts

See, the problem I have often had with Fringe is that I don’t follow the show closely enough, as in reading online and so forth, to remember and recall all the minutiae and details. And the nagging feeling I am left with now, at the point of the show’s finale, are that things I expected to get resolved may not even need resolving at all. The First People business is one such thing that, I feel, was definitely something that got left hanging and I figured that if Fringe was going to really complete itself then that was something that needed to be addressed.

Now I fear that this may never happen at all – and that intriguing quandary of why Olivia’s face featured in an image taken from an ancient, dissolved civilisation has been made somehow redundant. (Or maybe it won’t? Or maybe the matter was resolved and I just haven’t realised it? This is my problem!) So I’ll park that idea for now and try to continue this piece as though that wasn’t something I had ever heard about – God knows that looks like what Fringe is doing!

This episode was a curiously sedate affair and, actually, for one that was a lynchpin reveal of massive meaning and one that paved the way for the finale, it felt very underwhelming. I think it was September (now Donald, a name I can’t quite get used to even if he was named after an actor from Singin’ In The Rain) and his subdued manner that bled into the vibe. His mellow, easygoing nature undercut the impact of what he had to impart. And he had some big bombshells to impart.

He was from far into the future, and during that time his DNA was used to generate Michael who was considered an anomaly. Realising his son had emotional development against the nature of The Observers, a quality that could ultimately be used to change the passage of time entirely, he stole Michael away into the past to keep him safe. Now the time has come for him to be used to stop The Observers. . .

Right. Hold up. Hands up who can’t see the obviously plot hole? Namely: Why did September transport Michael back so far into the past when he could have just taken him directly to these people who would realise that removing emotions from humans for superior intelligence was not the correct course of action? If September had done that then The Observers would never have existed, right?

OK, so maybe there we have our answer in a paradox. If September took Michael to meet the scientists then that would change their minds and the course of time and mean The Observers would never come into being and, thus, there would be no September or Michael. Ah, right, so if there’s no Observers there’s no September or Michael to then stop them from existing. Space-time continuum meltdown. It’s the classic grandfather paradox that anyone who has a passing interest in time travel theories will have encountered. Fringe does have the option of alternate universes to resolve such matters, but there’s been no hint of that this season.

The paradox issue hasn’t gone away, either. Even if Walter’s plan is successful and Michael manages to change the course of the future it will mean The Observers never come into being and, ultimately, that Michael could never have existed and the same paradox will present itself. So how will that work? How can that work?

Maybe it won’t. Maybe the plan will fail. That would certainly avoid a paradox, though of course leave our gang with a big Observer-shaped problem to try and resolve. . . But I don’t imagine that the finale is going to go smoothly so such failures are to be expected.

However, there’s another matter in play here, mentioned in this episode, which suggests Walter and September’s plan will work: Olivia, Peter and Etta. I really liked the moment where Olivia took herself out of the room and took a glass of water as she absorbed the hopeful wisp of chance that this plan would change the course of time and bring Etta back. In this idea we have a happy ending for the entire show and it’s one that I simply cannot imagine not occurring. Hear me loud and clear: Olivia, Peter and Etta reunited has to be the end of the show. Only, if it is, and that means some kind of timeline reset occurs, then I have to wonder if it can possibly be the same Olivia and Peter we are seeing here.

It’s a bit like when Peter stepped into the machine and crunched the timelines, erasing himself and creating this new timeline. For that at least he had Olivia to bring him back, and furthermore he then brought back the ‘old’ Olivia. Maybe they could pull the same trick again? Re-write history, shift the universe around them and the two together still retain their consciousness – perhaps getting to enjoy the sunny day in the park without The Observers arriving. (Indeed, that’s the scene which is my best bet for the last scene.)

That’s a lot of projection, but this episode was a bit of a data dump that was all about setting up the final hour and a half of the show that remains so, you know, it’s to be expected.

I do have an axe to grind about how Walter’s character was handled this episode. The phantom menace of his alter-ego threatening to rise like a maniacal demon that has been brewing for the past couple of episodes was abruptly cut dead here. A bright and breezy Walter had emerged following Michael’s touch.

To be fair the episode did a good job in explaining why Walter had changed, and it was a convincing one. This was a man that had been loaded up with memories from a different universe, refreshed with momentous moments and powerful emotions from his and his alternate’s histories. He felt like a new man because, in effect, he had been imbued with the memories of another, better life. Furthermore he had also been given the knowledge that for his plan to succeed he had to die, and so he was also a man facing the final days of his life. So don’t get me wrong, I understand why he has changed and, for the record, I think it’s a terrific accumulated union of the various Walters we have seen finally reaching a form of reconciliation.

As September remarked, Walter himself had agreed to the plan because he considered it a just and righteous thing to compensate for the misdeeds of his past. And, in truth, it had occurred to me that Walter’s conclusion before the show ended would almost certainly mean his death. For all of his positives and lovable quirks he was responsible for breaking through into another universe and all the death and destruction that has happened since. There has never been any getting away from that, not to mention the terrible deeds he wreaked on the Cortexiphan kids. Yes, Walter is a hero and has found nobility, but I do anticipate his death will have to occur to give his character closure.

What’s my problem with Walter’s sudden change then? Basically because it feels like the previous episodes’ build-up was a misfiring anti-climax. The spectre of Walter’s dark side threatening to capsize everything was actually a terrific plot in waiting and would have made for a terrifying finale. Consider how intimidating Walternate was. The intellect mixed with a lack of compassion is far more fearsome than Windmark can ever hope to be. But this has now, apparently, been dropped like a hot brick.

Windmark has become interesting, however. Fuelled by revenge he can’t even articulate and disobeying his superiors, he reminded me of Agent Smith in The Matrix (not for the first time has Fringe made me think of that movie), unplugging himself from the system. I don’t know if Windmark’s thirst to stop the Fringe Team is headed in a clever direction or if it’s just creating a focussed villain for our heroes to contend against. It seems late in the day for Windmark to, ironically, discover human emotions that allies him to the very people he hunts in a meaningful way. But you never know. There’s still a little bit of time for twists and turns yet and I like that the show is doing something interesting with him.

Coming into the finale I am excited about it, purely because it is the finale of a show that I have been watching for years and so to see it all come to a conclusion is an exciting prospect. Strangely (and probably unfairly, actually) I am not excited in the sense that I have high expectations I am certain will be blown away. Fringe has been in great form and yet, for whatever reason, I can’t help but feel that the resolution will pretty much go with a bittersweet happy ending (Walter dead, Olivia, Peter and Etta together) and with some convoluted plotting through time and maybe realities to see that happen.

But I’ll tell you this: If they do manage to drag that First People stuff back and make it matter then Fringe will have me clapping and nodding and maybe, just maybe, make me revise and review the whole show with a whole new level of respect.

What was the best part?

Whilst the final scenes were enjoyably tense as everyone tried to slip through the Observers’ net and get onto the train, surely the best scene was when Walter spoke with September/Donald alone and there came the flatly-delivered reveal that Walter knew he had to die. The little speech about how it was that Michael had shown Walter those amazing moments in his life as if to prepare him to commit to such a deed was beautifully played by John Noble. Whilst I thought the sudden squandering of the menace of evil Walter was too conveniently sidestepped this bittersweet moment went a long way to compensating for it.

What do I think will happen next?

Barring the far-flung idea of the First People concept being reintroduced then all I can conceive for the finale is that, as Olivia hopes, a reset button of sorts gets hit and a new timeline is generated – one where Olivia, Peter and Etta all live. (How that happens without erasing the characters we know and replacing them I can’t imagine. Maybe it won’t. Maybe the show will erase the timeline and a new, happier timeline will be installed where the likes of Peter and Olivia never did any of the things we saw them do. . . Not sure I’d like that, but it wouldn’t exactly be a unique concept for the show considering it’s done it before!)

Here’s some things I do expect. I expect to see Broyles again. I expect to see William Bell. I expect at least one or two of our heroes to venture into the future, after rescuing Michael, and trying to show that world the folly in abandoning emotions in pursuit of intellectual superiority. And I expect, as stated, a timeline reset switch to be hit. (And maybe the only way Olivia and Peter can avoid erasure is by going way back into the past and becoming the First People!? I just can’t let it go!) Lastly, whilst I can anticipate that Walter may very well pay the ultimate sacrifice, Olivia, Peter and Etta will be reunited and live together again. That’s the happy ending. It absolutely has to occur. . . right?