This is an entry in the Walking Dead Recap series. If you're curious why I'm writing recaps of episodes which aired up to a year and a half ago, check out this post.
We open on Merle and three cohorts tramping through the woods. They encounter a clearing with body parts in it and try to guess what happened. One eventually realizes Michonne left them a message: arms that form a "G," legs that form an "O," and a torso with the back up. "Go back." Merle thinks this is fantastic and dubs it a "biter-gram." The guy who figured it out starts to lose it, and Merle sets him straight in a very Merle-like fashion, mostly involving threats. Suddenly, Michonne drops out of the trees, kills two of them, and runs off as Merle gets a glancing shot on her thigh. He follows her and loudly asks if they're having fun yet. Intro.
First: I'm a bit of a sexist when it comes to physicality, but this would go for anyone, man or woman: there is absolutely no way Michonne stayed out of sight in the spot where the guys stopped and then got the drop on them. Zero chance. Mainly because setup shots seem to show the canopy starts at least 20 feet up, so she would have had to basically jump off a two-story building straight to two feet and ready to fight. This would have assumed a woman with dreads, a sword, and a purple undershirt was able to hide just above them somehow in the middle of a clearing. Also, all four guys were armed with more than enough chance to react. Makes for a cool scene and all, but couldn't they have had her lure them into a choke point or under a cliff or something? This is SyFy level stuff right here.
Rick is talking to the mystery woman who called at the end of the last episode on the prison phone. They go back and forth about where she is and how safe it is. She replies they're safe because they're careful and refuses to promise anything, but says she'll call back in two hours. Rick literally begs for her to give his group refuge as she hangs up. The phone seems like a kind of corny/easy way to introduce new characters, but that's on par with how this season has started.
Merle makes his way back to the clearing and gives the other guy (Neil) a pep talk that involves a boot on his chest. Neil seems very freaked out by the whole affair, and it probably doesn't help when Merle says, "We don't let our own turn, ever," and rather casually stabs one of their fallen comrades through the head.
The Governor and Andrea have a conversation on Main Street. She seems like she's going to really lay into him for the gladiator games the previous night, but she almost lets it go. I'm now utterly convinced she's fallen for him if she's willing to shrug her shoulders and say, "I get it," in response to something like that. He prods a bit and gets her to condemn it in a roundabout way with the unspoken agreement it's more than worth a few Romanesque spectacles to enjoy the safety and comfort of Woodbury. She says she wants to contribute, and after he starts suggesting something with food, she says she wants to be a guard on the wall. He smiles and agrees.
I wonder if the other women in Woodbury are talking about Andrea behind her back. "That bitch just let her friend walk out the front door, and you know she's sleeping with the Governor just to set herself up here." "I saw her and Merle go back behind that wall in the corner. I'll bet she was giving him a blowjob." "Isn't it weird how she never seems to wear a shirt with a normal neckline?"
Rick is waiting next to the phone like an ugly girl hoping to get invited to prom. When it finally rings and he picks up, we hear a man's voice instead of the previous woman's. It talks of a place where there are no walkers, no attacks, nobody has turned, and everyone is safe. He asks Rick if he has killed anyone, and Rick (to his credit) answers honestly, trying to justify each one. The caller then asks how Rick lost his wife, and he won't answer. We hear a soft click on the other end and Rick freaks out.
Andrea is watching the wall with another woman who is all bravado about her fancy bow. They commiserate with each other regarding dead family members until they're interrupted by a walker coming toward the wall. The girl takes a couple shots with her bow and misses with both. With a grin on her face, Andrea jumps off the wall, throws a forearm to the walker to knock it down, and drives a knife into its head. She jumps up, rather proud of herself, and the other woman on the wall berates her for jumping off, asking if she thinks this is a game. Andrea's smile fades.
Hershel is the latest person to visit Rick deep in the prison. I wonder if they're all sitting around in the cell block looking at each other uncomfortably. "I went last time, and he basically threw me back down the hall after staring at nothing like a Vietnam vet." "Can Daryl be my dad now?" "Don't look at me; he hacked my leg off the last time we were in there together." Guess Hershel drew the short straw.
After making dark small talk about his phantom limb pain, Hershel tells Rick Lori told him she was sorry for everything that happened. He says Rick can take a little while to rest and gather himself (and possibly wait for the impending Coup d'Daryl?) since he's done so much by taking them this far. Rick says it's not safe enough, and Hershel says it's basically fruitless to keep looking when they have a place as safe as the prison. Rick then spills the beans about the calls, and when Hershel asks the normal, logical, sane questions one would normally ask, all Rick can respond with is "If it's safe, we'll make it there." He requests Hershel keep the call stuff to himself.
We are witnessing the downward spiral of Rick. Keeping the CDC information from the group was the closest he's gotten to losing control, and he's now withholding information about other survivors in a safe place who are trying to contact the group. After this chat, it's obvious he's obsessed with finding a mythical, walker-free safe place, no matter the cost.
More Merle fighting Michonne. After another magical ambush in the forest, he parries her first swing, and instead of taking two steps steps back to put two .45 bullets into her before she can recover (she's got a hole in her thigh, remember?) he decides to step forward and continue with the swordplay. She kicks him in the crotch, and he literally falls on top of her with a knife in each han...err...sharp things on or in both upper appendages. Despite this, he somehow rolls off her without doing any harm, and here come the walkers. There's a lot of dramatic scurrying for weapons, and Neil grows a pair to brain a walker as it's trying to bite Merle. Michonne guts one and has entrails spill all over her before she can finish it off and sneak away.
I know this post is already far too long for being less than halfway through the episode, but this is something I've wanted to bring up for a while. So we know people get infected by being bitten; that's a given. However, based on reactions after some fights, we're led to believe it can also get in via a scratch. That suggests one of two things: 1) the disease exists only in the mouth and fingernails and is only transmitted as a result of being harmed by one of those body parts or 2) the disease exists in all bodily fluids and can infect someone through a simple splash of walker goop on a scratch. I'm no doctor, but based on almost every other disease I've ever heard of, I'd say #2 seems far more likely. This would mean any bodily fluid from a walker (blood and saliva seem to be the worst) could infect someone by entering the bloodstream through a cut or even via a mucous membrane like the mouth.
Then how the hell can people get literally covered in walker blood and not become infected? It's bad enough when we see a person get their entire upper torso (including their mouth and eyes) hosed with walker blood and brains while fighting with no apparent ramifications or concerns. That's on the border of reasonable suspension of disbelief. But Michonne just had the entire abdominal contents of one spill onto her, including the open bullet wound on her thigh, with no ill effects or even apparent concern. I realize there are plot holes and continuity issues in any show, but if you're going to make transmission nearly impossible without an actual bite, don't have the characters looks each other over for scratches after fights like they all have late-stage AIDS. Yes, this is the thing I've decided to point out as ludicrous in a show about a zombie apocalypse.
Update on my previous prisoner integration prediction: Oscar is officially armed and on a walker hunt. More importantly, Daryl is turning his back on him without keeping one eye on him. It was an episode later than I thought, but Oscar and Axel are officially in. Worth noting.
I love how they're fleshing out Daryl's character. I don't know if it was the plan from the start or there was a meeting midway through season two where someone had some numbers saying he was underrepresented based on his popularity, but between his dogged determination to find Sophia, motivational Merle hallucination, bonding with Carol, instant ascension to temporary leader when Rick went nuts, and now comforting Carl, he is now officially the most interesting character from the original group. It's also been nice to see it done at a good pace; I don't feel like he's been pushed on us more than the story arcs call for. His monologue about his mother to Carl is so well done: we get to see Daryl at once vulnerable (emotionally) and on edge (physically), all while showing he cares enough to try to comfort a young boy who really needs it. I, for one, welcome the Coupe d'Daryl.
In Woodbury, Andrea is summoned to the Governor to be admonished for jumping over the wall. He takes her off perimeter duty, and she tries to explain her actions by saying she likes the fight. This is the end result of events and choices all the way back to season one: ever since she was unable to fight off her family members, she has been grasping for a way to take some sort of control of her existence. This is part of the reason she was so angry Dale wouldn't let her have a gun: not only did it show he didn't trust her, but it was one more way she was being denied an active role in her fate. That's why she left Beth alone in her room; she knew what it was like to have life dictated to you, and she didn't want to do that to anyone else. Once Shane taught Andrea how to shoot and (more importantly) kill, he gave her the power she had craved for so long. She enjoyed that power, and now that she's in a relatively neutered existence, she's realizing she misses the thrill of that power. Also, the Governor basically stated she had a thing for him, and she didn't do anything to correct him. Mid-episode prediction: they're going to hook up either this episode or next.
It was amazingly obvious Merle was going to kill the other tracker, but it's good to get another reminder he's not exactly a good guy. It does seem out of character for him to abandon his quarry, though I realize she was predestined to survive. The writers have invested too much in her character to have her die now.
The phone rings again, and this time, Rick is more willing to talk about losing Lori. Things look better until the woman on the other side call him by his name. It takes him a second, but he asks how she knew it. Click. My vote is for an offshoot group who either heard his name when he was doing those open radio broadcasts in Atlanta or someone with access to some surveillance equipment in the prison.
When Maggie and Glenn kissed in town during the run and she said it was a beautiful day, my "Things are too good" alert started blaring. Something bad is going to happen, and considering Michonne is down the street, I'm guessing she's going to be involved somehow. She's not the attacking type, but a bullet wound might change that.
Now the Governor is going full Casanova on us: whiskey and flattery in a courtyard under a sunny sky. She lets an opportunity to query him about his previous life pass, and he plays the nervous schoolboy when he "accidentally" throws out a veiled reference to how long it's been since she's had sex. He tells her he wants to enjoy the present and that it's OK to like "the fight," before moving in for the kiss. She happily lets him.
Merle comes upon Glenn and Maggie as they're exiting the store in town. The understandably draw on him, then confoundingly let him take several steps toward them. He asks about Daryl, and Glenn replies he's still alive. Merle offers to forget all about what happened in Atlanta if they'll just take him to Daryl. In retrospect, I think he might have actually meant it. Glenn says Merle should stay there and let them bring Daryl to him. Faced with the last obstacles to seeing his little brother, Merle starts advancing and throwing out more promises, saying they can trust him wile the camera shows the gun hidden in his belt. Eventually, he draws, and somehow, neither Glenn nor Maggie get off a shot even though he had to reach to his back to pull his piece. He grabs Maggie and gets Glenn to surrender and drive them away. I understand the need for the back and forth between Merle and Glenn, but it's absolute bullshit that neither Maggie nor Glenn got a shot off on someone five steps away when they already had their weapons drawn and aimed at him. Even Zombie Shane is ashamed.
Earlier, when the woman on the phone said Rick's name and there was all that static, I thought there was a very outside chance there was something supernatural-ish going on. Now he's literally apologizing to his dead wife. I still don't buy this is actually happening because then I would like this show significantly less; I choose to believe Rick is cracking up, which is a much more interesting development. If it's real, this is the show's Stephen King moment: past a certain point in the late 80s most of King's books were really good for half to 3/4 of the way in, then something supernatural and crazy happened, usually involving aliens (see Tommyknockers, The; Green Mile, The; Dreamcatcher). It's why I stopped reading him, and I'm hoping this isn't the same thing.
Oscar, Daryl, and Carl are still sweeping for walkers, and one nearly gets the jump on them. After they put it down, Daryl notices a knife in its neck and recognizes it as Carol's. We never did see her body...
Things are getting hot and heavy in the Governor's bed when there's a knock at the door. It's Merle come to tell him that Michonne and the rest of his team are dead, but he has prisoners who know Andrea. The Governor throws a pretty scalding look at Merle as he walks off, and I'm not sure if it's from distrust of the lies he was just told or just the thought of another camp of survivors he hasn't pillaged yet. When he walks back in, Andrea is waiting for him naked, but because it's AMC instead of HBO, she has decided to pull the sheets off his bed to wrap herself up. I know every time I got a call or had to leave the room for some reason while my wife and I were getting frisky, she would always wrap herself in bedding and cross the room while waiting for me.
We finally get a couple emotional payoffs for a lot of rough times in the last few episodes. Rick walks back into the "residential" cell block and seems to see his baby for the first time. He picks her up and actually holds/kisses her while others smile at the sight. After that, we see Daryl deep in the prison next to the cell where he seems to be pretty sure a walker is holed up. He is slamming the point of Carol's knife in to the concrete repeatedly, and I think the subtext is that he's expecting to find the walker version of her behind the door. He seems to be psyching himself up to go in, and when he eventually rips it open, he finds a bloody and dehydrated (but not zombiefied) Carol. He briefly cradles her face, then carried her out of the cell and down the hall.
Everyone comes out into the sun and smiles, including Rick holding his baby girl. His face turns dark as he looks into the distance, and he passes the baby to Carl before walking off. He unholsters his revolver as he approaches the fence, and we get a very dramatic scene of Michonne walking right up to the fence covered in blood among a group of walkers. Cut to black.
Next Episode Prediction: Merle and the Governor will get information regarding the prison and its location from either Glenn or Maggie, probably by threatening to harm one unless the other talks. Seemed to work when Merle needed a ride earlier in this episode.
Previous Prediction: We will follow Michonne outside the prison, and she will find other survivors, though not necessarily Rick's group.
Result: Well, we sort of followed her, inasmuch as Merle and the boys tried to track her down and murder her. If the last scene is any indication, she is likely going to hook up with Rick's group after all.
Grade: B
Season Prediction: Even though Michonne dismissed Andrea when she left Woodbury, she will return at some point to try to free her.
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