Courtesy of AMC
Well, it certainly didn’t take long for Woodbury’s rosy future to go down in flames for Andrea (Laurie Holden), did it? Let’s all point and laugh at how foolish she was, shall we?
Let’s bitch it out…If there’s been one big element that I’ve disliked this season of The Walking Dead, it’s the reveal that the Governor (David Morrissey) is a crazed murderer early on has made Andrea look like a complete idiot for trusting him. He’s got heads in fish tanks! He kills soldiers in cold blood! He combs his dead daughter’s hair so hard it comes out of her zombie skull! How does Andrea not recognize how eeeevil he is?!
Of course the scene in which Michonne (Danai Gurira) bails on the perfect little town of Woodbury proves to us why Andrea isn’t more concerned: they’ve had no real reason to suspect anything is amiss. Michonne asks Andrea to trust her, but it’s based entirely on her gut reaction and a general sense of foreboding. The monosyllabic ninja can’t provide anything definitive that screams “get the eff out of here asap!” and so Andrea stays.
And then five minutes later she realizes that she’s hanging out with some pretty sick b*tches. (Side Note: I particularly liked it when the Woodbury resident hoists his young son onto his shoulders to get a better view of the barechested brawl inside the zombie circle). At this point it’s like the show is inviting us to shake our heads at Andrea, and chide her for being stupid and not trusting Michonne. But let’s be honest: after eight months on the road and surviving on nothing, would you really just pack up and leave a haven without absolute proof? I think I’m Andrea, y’all! Sure, now she’s completely screwed, but until this moment, it’s probably unfair of us to judge her for mooning over the Governor and thinking about the names of the children they’d have if he weren’t a psycho.
Now the only question is how long will it take for zombies to break out and eat half of these idiot residents? That’s something to look forward to, right?
Courtesy of AMC
Meanwhile, back at the prison, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) has more or less lost his mind from grief following the events of last week. It’s hardly surprising that he almost immediately staggers off with an axe to do some zombie damage, although its disconcerting that he simply leaves his unnamed baby girl to do so (apparently abandonment begins early in the Grimes family). Luckily Herschel (Scott Wilson) is still around to order everyone into action: Daryl (Noman Reedus) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) go off to pick up baby formula from a creepy abandoned daycare and Glenn (Steven Yuen), Axel (Lew Temple) and Oscar (Vincent Ward) dig graves for Lori, T-Dog and Carol (Melissa McBride), who everyone assumes is a goner.
The focus, however, remains more or less on Rick. Even though he disappears from the screen for long stretches of time, everyone is acting on his behalf or to help him through his rage/grief/hygiene issues. The backwards tracking shot as he slices and dices through his rage is visually arresting, though I could have done without the obvious scene when he attacks Glenn after the latter seeks him out. The end of the episode is pretty heartbreaking, though, as Rick finds the site of Lori’s final moments…and the zombie with the distended belly full’o’Lori (SO gross!). Rick goes into one last rage, blowing out its brains and repeatedly stabbing its stomach in an eerie reenactment of the cesarean we witnessed last week. It’s only when he hears baby Sophia Carol Andrea Lori Asskicker crying that he also hears the phone ringing. But before we discover who’s on the other end, ‘Say The Word’ cuts to black. C’est quoi?!
Other Observations:
- Michonne also gets her own moment of badassery when she discovers the Governor’s pen of captured walkers (I refuse to call them by the Woodbury term of ‘Biters’, which makes me think of piranhas). Love the casual unlocking of the pen and the easy disposal of a half dozen walkers. This is like exercise for her…which is strangely similar to what the Governor and Andrea argue about later (Andrea suggests a run is more suitable for working off steam and the Governor suggests the boxing matches are simply the town’s method of having fun)
- So does the fact that the Governor is playing doll with his own zombified daughter make him more or less crazy than we previously believed? Can we now pinpoint the moment he went from ruggedly handsome to serial murderer?
- There’s a suggestion of even more insidious workings afoot in Woodbury, too. The good doctor Milton (Dallas Roberts) implores the Governor to put off the boxing festivities because he needs all of their power for 10 days (!) for an experiment. What the hell kind of experiment is he running? Do we even want to know? (Answer: Yes)
- Finally, it seems that Axel and Oscar are unofficially members of the group, despite Glenn’s lament that he wishes all of the prisoners had been killed at first sight. With so many people dropping like flies, I can’t imagine the group will dismiss able bodied workers unless they do something terrible
Best Lines:
- Michonne (after the Governor says he has nothing to hide): “People with nothing to hide usually don’t feel the need to say so.” Touche
- Governor (after Michonne pulls her kitana on him): “She’s all personality, that one.” TVAngie might beg to differ…
So what are your thoughts on the slow roll-out of horror at Woodbury? Would you have bailed with Michonne or do you think Andrea acted rationally given her options and lack of knowledge about the madness going on? Where’s Carol?! Do you think Rick has gone off the deep end? And who’s on the phone? Comment away below!
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm EST on AMC