This is an entry in the Walking Dead Recap series. If you're curious why I'm writing recaps of episodes
which aired almost a year and a half ago, check out this post.
The episode opens with an unknown person dragging a deer carcass into the prison and using it to bait walkers while also opening some gates, presumably to give the walkers more access into the compound. I say an unknown person, but the views we're given show someone who is wearing clothing very similar to the prisoners' jumpsuits. Early prediction: it's the guy Rick left for dead in the courtyard. One of the basic rules of all horror/suspense stories: nobody is truly dead until you see the body.
After the intro, there's a lighthearted scene where we find out that Glenn and Maggie have made the guard tower their love shack. I find it odd that with the all the talk and consequences surrounding Lori's pregnancy (for good reason), there is no mention of the contraceptive practices of the only known sexually active couple. They grabbed a pack of condoms during their first town run back at the farm, but with the timeline and Hershel's blessing of their relationship, I have to assume they've exhausted their supply. It's a relatively minor point, but it seems to me they could have mined it for at least some decent conversations and maybe even a joke.
As the group members laugh about young love, the two (known) remaining prisoners emerge from the building and kill the mood. They claim they can't stay in their designated cell block, citing the bodies of all their friends. When they're told to dispose of the bodies by burning them, they respond the walkers come running to the dinner bell every time they try to throw a body out, so it's simply too dangerous to remove them that way. Rick takes a hard line and reiterates the deal he previously presented: stay in their assigned cell block or leave. Neither prisoner can stand staying in there longer, so they choose the road.
The prisoners are locked in a fenced area near the perimeter and are promised a week of provisions when they're released. T-Dog acts as the compassionate one and asserts that sending them on their way as planned basically sentences them to death. Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, and even Carol say different versions of "we can't trust them," and Rick relates the story of a youth he once arrested who acted very contrite during his trial, but committed an even worse crime when he was acquitted. This is very significant and hearkens back to some of Rick's conversations with Shane and Lori in season two where he gradually comes around to seeing the world more through cynical eyes: survival is the only goal and must take precedence over compassion. The prisoners have unknown agendas, so he cannot allow them to jeopardize the group; a very Shane-like decision, to be sure.
I was expecting them to go much deeper into the parallels between the prisoners' current situation and the decision made when Rick and the rest arrived at Hershel's farm. It's mentioned, but only once, and is dismissed fairly quickly. That seems crazy to me considering it's nearly the same situation, except Rick's group treated the prisoners far worse than they did the crew at the farm. There is likely supposed to be an assumed undercurrent of "they're in prison, so they're untrustworthy," and statements along those lines are said a few times, but the primary argument presented seems to be "they're not one of us," which is insanely hypocritical of them considering their previous situation. It seems the pact and promise made at Dale's grave didn't last very long.
Back in Woodbury, Michonne's suspicious are reinforced even more when she inspects the recently acquired military vehicles and finds bullet holes in them. She correctly sees them as signs of foul play, but just like always, the Governor shows up to placate her fears with a shaky explanation and patronizing down-home language.
As the group moves the vehicles into the gate past the corralled prisoners, the white one (I apologize for not knowing the names of some of the characters, but every time I do a search to find them, I end up having something spoiled for me) mentions he is "handy with a wrench," indicating he might be of real value to the group as a mechanic. Of course, Daryl ignores this since his mind is already made up. Same as a previous scene, when their fates have been decided, the white prisoner is quick to beg for his life, but the black prisoner stays stoic.
Andrea and Michonne are in their room making plans. Michonne wants to head to the coast where she believes having water at their backs will make them safer. Andrea asks leading questions, eventually making the case that finding a pristine island or other place without walkers will only allow them to live out the rest of their lives in isolation. This builds on the transition of this season: now that the characters have some measure of stability, survival isn't necessarily enough. Presented with the relatively rosy picture of Woodbury, Andrea is realizing how much she misses even a facsimile of civilization, and whether she realizes it or not, she's willing to overlook some red flags surrounding the situation to become a part of a community. Michonne's distrust of the situation as a whole and the Governor specifically seem to easily outweigh the apparently small value she places on community and human interaction.
Since we as viewers are given the luxury of seeing the Governor and his operation from the inside, many will probably see this as an opportunity to criticize Andrea for again basing her decisions more on emotion than reason, but even though I don't really like her, I can't fault her for this one. Yes, she's willingly overlooking some warning signs, but after having to put down the walkers of her entire nuclear family, running for so long with no real security, then seeing the only stability she's had since the outbreak literally go up in flames as her group left her behind, I can't say I wouldn't accept a good amount of risk for the apparent placidity of Woodbury. Even if they're doing terrible things to keep the peace, roughly eighty people seem to think they have it pretty good, and if joining them meant I would need to ignore some stuff and maybe not ask a lot of questions, I'd say sign me up.
Hershel gets his crutches and insists on taking a trip to the yard. As he walks out, he mentions how they could really put down roots and make this place home. Rick, Daryl, and Glenn stop gathering firewood and smile in admiration that Hershel is up and around. As Glenn yells encouragement, Daryl shushes him, pointing out it will attract walkers. Glenn looks out through the fence and says, "Can't we have just one good day?" Carl jokingly asks Herschel to race, and Hershel replies with a chuckle that he will take up the challenge a day or two. Rick and Lori share a look indicating there might be hope for their relationship after all. At this point, your foreshadowing and "too many good things are happening" alarms should be shrieking.
The camera pans past Lori, Hershel, Beth, and Carl all smiling at the rest of the group, showing a blank courtyard behind them. After going by Carl and pulling for a tighter shot, it pans back to show a dozen or so walkers coming up behind them. It was a fairly predictable shot, but it had its intended effect of showing the suddenness of the walkers' arrival. Weapons come out, and the guys start sprinting back from the perimeter with Rick screaming Lori's name. Those in the main area are split into three groups: Lori, Maggie, and Carl, who go back into the prison; Herschel and Susie, who lock themselves in a small fenced area; and T-Dog and Carol, who go toward the source of the walkers. T-Dog focuses too much on pushing them back, and a straggler sneaks up and bites him in the shoulder.
We go to Woodbury where Merle and Andrea are talking. She's giving him the location of Hershel's farm so he can track down Daryl, and he is making a half-serious attempt to hit on her. As Merle is walking away, she asks him if the Governor is a good man. He replies he basically would have died without the Governor's intervention, and because of that, Merle considers him a good man.
As Rick, Daryl, and Glenn get back to the courtyard and assess the situation, they realize the chains on the gates were cut by someone. The prison sirens start going off, bringing all the walkers in the surrounding area to the prison's walls and getting the ones already in the prison agitated. Rick blames the two prisoners, but one of them says he might know a way to disable the sirens. After running through the prison, Lori, Maggie, and Carl hole up in a utility room, and Lori starts having contractions.
We come back to Woodbury and see the Governor hitting golf balls driving range style from one of the barriers. He is in the picture of elite in this new world: clean and shaven, wearing slacks, a tucked-in collared shirt, nice leather shoes, a watch, and even a golf glove. In fact, I found this scene way over the top while attempting to get the "Hey look, this guy is an elitist prick" point across. Yes, I get it: he leads a very privileged life in this new world and sees himself as above everyone else. You don't need to keep reminding me.
Merle climbs up to join him and, in a roundabout way, requests a recon run to look for Daryl. Throughout the conversation, the Governor uses everything from dire predictions to flattery to dissuade him from going, but never stops his swing cadence. After all this, Merle simply replies with "This is my brother," and gives a look daring the Governor to say no. He stops mid-swing and says if Andrea can give more descriptive intel, he'll let Merle and others go look.
Carol and T-Dog try to navigate the labyrinth of dark prison passages while he's bleeding from his bite. They are both out of ammo and eventually come to a corner near exterior doors where two walkers are in the way. He tackles them both into the wall, sacrificing himself while Carol goes through the doors to relative safety. I think it was a very noble way for one of my favorite and underused characters to go out, but the cynical side of me thought, "OK, where are they going to get the replacement black male character?"
Cut back to Woodbury. The Governor and Andrea are having a chat over drinks where she expresses how adrift she feels without direction now that survival isn't such a minute-to-minute concern. He mentions he lost his wife and kid (likely to gain sympathy), then presents a soft front by saying the core values of life haven't changed even though the "landscape" has. Yeah, when you literally have a personal landscaper, it's a lot easier to make statements like that. He also reveals his real name to her, which calls back to a previous conversation where he said he never would. There is some definite intended romantic tension as she leaves, and he says she has an open invitation to come back.
Rick, Daryl, and the black prisoner enter the power room, and (surprise!) the prisoner Rick left for walker bait jumps out with an axe. Daryl is detained trying to keep a a door shut from an onrushing horde, and as Rick and the prisoner struggle, his gun is predictably knocked out of his hand. The other prisoner picks it up and aims at Rick. Meanwhile, Daryl has killed the walkers and is sneaking up on the armed prisoner. The one who activated the alarms pleads for the armed one to kill Rick, but after a few terse seconds, he is shot himself and the gun is handed back to Rick. At first glance, it seems like an overt act of loyalty, but Daryl was only a few feet away with a drawn knife, so it's possible the prisoner simply did the math and decided he wanted to live a little longer. Either way: everyone welcome our new black male character!
Elsewhere in the prison, Lori, Maggie, and Carl are still holed up in the maintenance room, and Lori is going into labor. Maggie preps for a normal delivery, but Lori starts to bleed pretty badly. It's decided something is wrong and a C-section will be needed. Realizing it will mean Lori's death, Maggie and Carl both try to change her mind, but she insists on doing the procedure right then to ensure the baby's survival. She points out the scar she got during Carl's birth and tells Maggie to just follow it. Faced with her death, she delivers a monologue to Carl about how good a boy he is (ha!) and how he should always do the right thing, even if it's hard. I personally prefer death monologues to lean toward the "short, profound, and vague" side as opposed to "long and detailed," and I wish Lori's would have stopped with "You promise me you'll always do what's right." Regardless, it was a touching moment as a rebellious pre-teen realizes how much his mother really means to him and a mother gives her dying words to her child.
Lori goes unconscious during the procedure (assumedly from pain and/or shock), and Maggie cuts the baby out with Carl's help. Before they started, Lori had reminded Maggie that afterward, someone needed to take her down before she turned. She said Maggie had to do it instead of Rick, seemingly never thinking Carl would be involved. However, after the birth, Carl insists on being the one to do it since it's his mother. We are given one of the more poignant and stirring moments of the series as a young boy stands over his recently deceased mother knowing he has to man up and do the right thing. Perfectly on cue, we flash back to the conversation Rick had with him in the barn after he stole Daryl's pistol. Rick calmly states death is an inevitability, and both he and Lori will die at some point, telling Carl the "kid stuff" is over and implying he needs to be an adult. Carl breaks down into tears, kisses his mother goodbye, and as we switch to Maggie, a shot is heard. He walks out looking more like a robot than a young boy. The scene drives home a point discussed earlier in the series: this new world is harsh and unfair to everyone, but especially to the children who are growing up in it.
The guys find T-Dog's' remains and meet up with everyone else in the courtyard. Rick asks over and over where Lori is, showing real concern for either her or the baby. When Carl and Maggie walk out with the baby, he realizes what happened and breaks down. He totally ignores the baby in Maggie's arms, indicating his concern was really for Lori and suggesting their earlier look did show they might have had the chance to reconnect. Carl won't look at Rick and simply stands there, showing no emotion.
Previous Episode Prediction: Andrea will form an attachment to the Governor and be persuaded to stay longer in the camp, much to the chagrin of Michonne.
Result: Yes, it was a relatively weak and vague first prediction. Even with those points in my favor, it still looks like Andrea is going to leave with Michonne, but they haven't walked through the gates yet.
Grade: C+
Next Episode Prediction: Out of a desire to honor T-Dog's death and as a reaction to the prisoner's apparent show of loyalty, there will be a groundswell in the group to accept the prisoners into the fold.
Season Prediction: Going bold here: the Governor will either be killed or allowed to die by Merle.
Random Note: I love the name of this episode. Before I watched it, I thought it might be referencing the new coldness nearly everyone had developed toward the prisoners, but labeling Lori's baby a killer within is pretty clever.
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