We open on the Woodbury crowd calling for Merle and Daryl's death. I get that the Governor set everything up to get the result he wanted, but I'm a little surprised there's nobody in the crowd saying, "Hasn't Merle had constant direct access to the Governor for months? If he wanted to take over, why didn't he just kill him on a run or something?" Andrea is the only one who objects (calling him Philip to underscore their emotional link1), but he casually sidesteps it by claiming the bloodthirsty crowd he agitated has spoken, so he has no choice. Well done. At least we get a few calls in support of Merle before they go at it. A relatively weak fight between the guys ensues before Rick's group gets the drop on everyone and starts capping people and lights. Merle heads out with them while the Governor passes up an open shot at them all to walk dramatically through the smoke. Intro.
Merle rips a hole in the wall and leads Rick and the group outside. They leave the gap in the paneling, and a walker enters. Dun dun duuuuunn. As they get back to the vehicles, Glenn and Michonne's happiness at everyone's return quickly turns to anger when they see Merle in tow, leading to a standoff and some exposition regarding the state of things in general, and Andrea in particular. Merle runs his mouth a little too much, so Rick knocks him out to get some peace.
Back at the prison, Hershel is patching up a member of Tyreese's group when Beth walks in with the baby. They all marvel at it, and Tyreese gives their history since the outbreak. Things start to feel a bit chummy, but Hershel drops the hammer: they shouldn't expect to stay long. When they protest, he says he isn't the one they have to convince.
Rick, Glenn, Maggie, and Daryl debate what to do with Merle, with everyone but Daryl wanting to leave him behind. In other words, everyone who has had Merle beat them up or pull a gun on them wants him gone. Daryl makes it clear he won't go back without Merle, saying, "Don't ask me to leave him; I already did that once," in reference to the rooftop in Atlanta. Rick's fear at losing his lieutenant is palpable; he knows what Daryl means to the group from both leadership and defense perspectives. As Daryl and Merle walk away, a perturbed Rick glares at Michonne and tells her when she's patched up, she will no longer be part of the group.
Tyreese's group is carrying their dead member through the courtyard to the outer field when one of them brings up the prospect of taking the prison before Rick and the rest get back. The same old "survival of the fittest" argument is debated, but mercifully, it's a lot shorter than the ones between Shane/Dale, Shane/Rick, Governor/Andrea, Governor/decapitated zombie heads, etc. Tyreese and his sister are firmly against it while the white guy and his kid want to make a move. Things are brought to a head when Beth and Axel come out to help. They don't recognize the danger, but Tyreese has to step ahead of the guys to keep things calm. While the guy and his son come across as real assholes in the short scene, they do have a point: their group has shrunk from 25 to four on the outside, and Hershel just told them they will probably be kicked out as soon as the leader gets back. It's a short-term choice, but for all they know, the larger party is a story Hershel made up to keep them in check.
Rick and the rest come across a truck stalled in the road,2 and when a walker jumps out at Glenn, he proceeds to practically do a jig on its head long after it's stopped moving. He dresses Rick down in front of Maggie for failing to kill the Governor when he had the chance, and his statements (along with a previous comment about the Governor being a rapist) show he thinks more happened in the interrogation room than Maggie is letting on. Rick yells back he is doing the best he can, Daryl had his reasons (however flawed) for choosing Merle over the group, and they simply have to deal with the situation is it is. Glenn walks away, obviously displeased with Rick's leadership. Glenn just soared up the "Who Could Most Successfully Usurp Rick" list; he's probably got Maggie, and that would probably bring Hershel and Beth as well. Beth and Maggie could probably get Carol to switch, so with Daryl gone (for now) that basically leaves Rick and Carl alone.
The Governor is holed up in his apartment while the citizens are rioting to leave. Martinez and the rest of the security crew are shooting down walkers outside the walls while trying to keep citizens inside from honking their horns to attract more.3 Andrea tries to diffuse the situation by telling Martinez to stand down, but he spits back he doesn't take orders from her (I choose to take this as proof at least some of the citizens resent Andrea for gaining her power/influence by simply banging the Governor). The standoff is cut short by screams from down the street as a walker chows down on a citizen. After it's put down, the rest of the crowd gathers around as the victim gurgles his last breaths and one of the women pleads with Andrea to help him. Out of nowhere, the Governor strides up and puts a round through the guy's head before turning back to his apartment without a word. This seems normal to us since we see pretty regularly, but the members of the crowd haven't witnessed a scene that violent for a long time, so it understandably horrifies them.
Carl and Carol are on front gate duty at the prison, and we're treated to a good conversation between them about how Carol misses all the sounds of the world before the outbreak.4 An abrupt turn in topic shows us Carl realizes what a dick he was to Lori and that he regrets it every day. Nice to see some humanity is still there. Rick drives up (hey, he hugged his son!) and delivers the news about Daryl to Carol, who doesn't take it well. Carl asks about Oscar, which I thought was nice.
Andrea barges into the Governor's place and immediately starts berating him for being absent during the riots and putting a bullet in the bite victim's head.5 The Governor reveals he plans on taking a harsher line with the people: if they want to leave, let 'em. No more barbecues and picnics. No more holding their hands. Time to return to the old ways and prepare for the impending war with the other group. He breaks the news to her that they were holding Glenn and Maggie, then twists some facts and outright lies about others to make the prison group seem like bloodthirsty terrorists. She indicates she thought she deserved more information because of their relationship, and he all but calls her a gypsy, saying she's a "visitor" just "passing through." He hasn't had any female fans since the Maggie interrogation scene; now the writers are just seeing how much they can make women hate him. Milton arrives and warns them the townspeople are getting more restless.
Meanwhile, the prison group (sans Daryl) is reunited in a series of touching moments before Rick dismisses everyone but Hershel and fills him in about the Governor, including the fight they broke up. Hershel seems as weary as anyone when he replies that's the kind of people their new world produces; this is a big change from the man we found at his farm in the beginning of season two. He then assumedly spills the beans about the new people. We cut to Carl watching them with that crazy look in his eye again, and Rick walks right by them all to see his baby.
I will keep this scene (mercifully) short. In the street at Woodbury, Milton tries to assure the crowd, but gets nowhere. Afterward, Andrea gives the weakest inspirational speech I've ever heard. Just completely generic, basic stuff. Somehow, the crowd doesn't stone her for these blabberings, but instead decides the town is still better than certain death outside the walls, hugs each other, and goes on about their day as the Governor watches from the window above.
We get a poignant scene back at the prison as Carol tries to explain to Beth how another person can control you even though you know they're a bad person and bad for you, citing her abusive husband as an example. While others might see Daryl's decision as black and white, she has far more insight into his mindset, and I was left almost feeling sorry for Daryl for maintaining his loyalty to a man who seems to purposefully go out of his way to be an asshole to everyone (including Daryl) because everyone else he cared about treated him worse. It's a reminder that no matter the circumstances, mankind will always have the same basic hangups we've always had. At least we end on a positive note: Carol says no matter where it leads him, she still admires Daryl for having a code and following it no matter what.
Hershel is tending to Glenn's injuries as Maggie walks by for an awkward encounter. Hershel takes off to talk with her, but as he leaves, he makes his concern for Glenn clear, saying he thinks of him as his own son. Hershel tries to get Maggie to open up about what happened, but she stays silent. He doesn't press her, but asks her to "not disappear."
Rick asks Herschel when Michonne can leave, and the answer is "a few days" due to her exhaustion and injuries. They walk down the hall and get to hear Axel say a few kind words about Oscar. Afterward, everyone gathers to talk about their situation, and Hershel subtly suggests they go talk with the new people, which they do. From the beginning, Rick is cold; he won't even shake Tyreese's outstretched hand. He grills them about how they got there before Tyreese gives a good and reasonable case for them staying. Rick refuses almost immediately, but several disagreements are voiced from the prison group. Hershel takes Rick aside and pulls the "wise old man" routine, telling him he's wrong on this decision and needs to start giving people a chance. Rick seems to reconsider and almost relax with the weight of a positive decision when he sees the silhouette of Lori on a catwalk and goes absolutely bonkers in front of everyone. Crazy, loony, batshit bonkers, yelling at someone who isn't there and pulling his gun out, causing Tyreese and his people to head out. We pan around and see everyone's "well, he's crazy" faces before landing on Rick, who seems to have just realized what he did. Cut to black.
Episode Prediction: Merle will die saving Daryl and somewhat redeem my shattered "Merle is a good guy deep down" theory.
Result: Well, Merle didn't die, and he only played a small role in getting the group out of Woodbury before being an even more crude and outspoken asshole as he was when they were all together in Atlanta. Oh, and he stole Daryl from the group. I'm so awful at this.
Grade: D+
Next Episode Prediction: Between the pressure from his own people and the impending attack from Woodbury, Rick will be forced to accept the new people.
Season Prediction: The Governor will pull a Stalin and start to think Andrea is becoming popular enough to be a threat to his leadership. As a result, he will either exile her or attempt to have her killed.
1. I'm a little disappointed we didn't even see a flash of annoyance from the Governor when Andrea yelled his real name in front of the crowd. I assume his intention with the nickname was to get the people to so closely associate him with the position of leadership (as opposed to a person in that role) that they would never think of anyone else filling that position.↩
2. Is it just me, or does it seem that there are a lot of randomly-placed logs in the roads? Did Rick and the group just go around that truck/tree on their way out? Did they take a different road in? Did that tree fall and cause the truck to stop since they came through last? If so, was the driver part of a yet-to-be-introduced third group, maybe one led by a character even more outlandish than the Governor? I'm thinking Jack from Lord of the Flies meets Norman Bates. Hold it, that's basically the Governor.↩
3. Seriously, these people want to take off? I get that they came under gunfire during their little gladiatorial fun the night before, but where do they think they're going to go? Do they think there's another Woodbury around the corner? A few of them seem to act pretty close with Andrea, so I'm assuming she's told them what the outside world is like. Just an absolutely idiotic move.↩
4. During this conversation, every viewer who lives near an airport, train track, or major highway has to seriously debate whether an apocalyptic zombie wasteland would be worse than being woken up six times a night by the blessed acoustic reminders of civilization.↩
5. One of Andrea's least endearing qualities is she thinks she is fully entitled and qualified to chew out anyone for anything at any time. She has a long history of storming into rooms and berating people, whether it was the RV, the farm house, the holding cell at the prison, or the town leader's personal apartment. It is especially annoying considering the many immature and stupid decisions she has made.↩
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