What They Say:
Welcome to the Tombs – Rick and the others consider the defense of the prison as the Governor’s impending attack looms.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the unfortunate turn that the previous episode took, things are obviously in a certain mood right from the get go, at least from the audience perspective. While Merle wasn’t a character that a lot of people could get behind because of what he was like, the humanization of him in the previous episode went a long way towards changing a few minds. But as Michael Rooker also said in last weeks Talking Dead, this was always who Merle was, but it just wasn’t able to shine throw because of so many circumstances. The real pain came from seeing Darryl and his expression through it all as it’s just one more twist of fate for him and his brother, one that strikes deeper than likely anything else has for quite a long time.
With the Governor having survived the assault that Merle laid out, he’s pretty much on edge at this point and easy to set off. Enoguh so that he’s now taking out quite a bit of his fury on Milton considering what he’s done since Milton hasn’t been feeling what the Governor has been selling lately. You have to feel for Milton to a good degree here as he’s been a decent guy overall coping with a bad situation. But now he’s caught up in what the Governor has become, a man who knows that his level of violence and intensity is all that will make things right from this point forward. It’s not so much that the Governor has gone over the edge, but he’s had the flip switched and he’s now acting in a very different way to achieve his goals.
At the prison, Rick’s made it clear that it’s time to move on, but it’s impacting all of them in a lot of ways, especially for Carl as he’s leaving the place where his mother died. That’s got him shutting down in a big way, but Rick is just treating it as him being a kid and not understanding what it means to deal with a situation. The group has made this a home of sorts for awhile now and though there was a level of comfort, and security, that comes with it that’s hard to pass up. There’s also a really good moment between Rick and Michonne as she makes it clear there’s no bad blood between the two of them over him thinking about giving her up, which also goes back to when they first met and what they did. It’s a good way of making it clear that things are settled in this manner, and that it was Carl who really gave her the okay to stay with them.
Those quiet moments are a contrast from the bigger action moments as the Governor ans his group make their way into the prison, pretty effectively, and discover that there’s nobody there and even very few traps along the way as well. It’s a pretty well played piece of tension television in seeing them move through the prison block, the first time for all of them, and trying to get a feel for what’s really there. It’s hard for the Governor to conceive that the group has left, that they would not defend this place to the last man, and that’s the kind of thinking that gets them to go deeper and deeper into the prison, splitting the force and making things a lot more tenuous for them should things go as bad as they could.
When the actual trap is sprung, it’s pretty exciting to finally see everyone going at it as seriously as they are. Glenn definitely plays it right as he wears the right gear and gets in the shots that he needs while others are ready to provide cover as it pushes the Governor and his group into the area they want them. But we also see that Carl gets to make a hard choice, an almost unnecessary choice, when he takes out someone who was trying to surrender. It’s hard to imagine that this group really would surrender in a way, considering the way the Governor is driving them now, but there’s also that sense that Carl is doing his best to defend Judith and the rest.
The fallout from the fight is pretty intense since so many of the Woodbury people do flee, but they flee so far that the Governor is ready to just eliminate them for not following through on what needs to be done. But that just makes more work for him in the long run since it could create more walkers, and that means double tapping them in order to make sure. There’s some great tension as those few that have stuck with him are unsure of their own position with him at this point, but also from the one woman who does manage to survive under the body of one of those killed. Now she may have survived, but she’s completely on the outside of things with nowhere to go and one hell of a road of survival ahead of her.
When Rick’s group gets proactive, there’s a lot to like with it since it’s just a small portion that’s going to go and find the Governor while others will stay in case he does come back there and they can attempt to take him out. But plans never go the way they intend and it’s a pretty dark scenario that plays out as they come across the carnage and do finally make their way to Woodbury, where their story intersects with Andrea’s at long last. Andrea had a pretty tense episode here, kept small overall after what she had before with her own episode. But it’s pretty brutal and rather surprising the results of it, enough to leave you uncertain that they’d actually go there considering the longer run she has in the books. But with what happened to Dale so early on, it makes sense and bringing her story to a close at this time definitely feels appropriate.
In Summary:
The conclusion to the third season of The Walking Dead almost feels a bit anti-climactic in a way because it doesn’t resolve what many expected. There was a sense that they could bring everything to a close, hard and fast, when it comes to the Governor and what he brings to the table. After all, the second season ended in a huge way with that final episode and changed the dynamic. But things are going to spill over into the next season with some fair changes along the way, especially with how Rick is handling those from Woodbury and what he has to do to try and tone down Carl some. Which should be interesting since Carl does have the way of the world in his head now and is operating as required, having made some very pointed and sharp statements to his father here. The show ends on a couple of big, if quiet, notes that are character based rather than action, but that just cements more of how intense this situation is becoming and the way it can change so dynamically. The fourth season can’t get here soon enough.
Grade: A-
love how u didnt touch on andera at all *sarcasm
Well, that is a very last scene kind of thing and with this going up right after airing, I didn’t want to provide a huge spoiler like that either.