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. . .