The Walking Dead
Season Three, Episode Fourteen.
"Prey"
 |
| "Give me all your lunch money nerd!" |
You can also keep up with us through the Tweets;
AAANDREAAA,
COME OUT AND
PLAAAAAY
Well, I finally got the Michonne flashback I’ve been wanting
so long for. Unfortunately, it was not as far back in time as I’d hoped and it
basically revealed nothing about her other than it seemed like she was dragging
around those two neutered walkers as a kind of punishment to their former
selves. It also revealed that she doesn’t like to talk very much. Oh, wait, we
already knew that.
If you told me at the start of the episode that it was going
to be a Woodbury-centric episode, I might have collapsed in despair and dread.
However, it actually wasn’t all that bad. Like recent episodes, it did have the
whole beginning-middle-end focus going for it. Andrea gets her thousandth piece
of evidence that she’s got her wagon hitched to the wrong crazy dude and decides
she has to get the eff out of Dodge.
As Andrea tries to hop the wall, she runs into the Night’s
Watch in the form of Tyreese and (his sister) Sasha. They’re all “You
can’t leave!” and Andrea’s all “The Governor is crazy!” and they’re all “Girl,
you crazy!” and then they let her bounce because they’re not murderers.
Or something. It was a pretty clunky scene. I already like Tyreese’s sister
Sasha way more than Andrea. She seems to have her head on straight and still
have a sense of humour. I hope her and Tyreese stick around. I’m not going to go
into their subplot with Allen and Ben because it’s annoying and I don’t care. I
just want Tyreese and Sasha to realize they’re on the wrong side and get back to
Rick’s group and join the main cast next season.
 |
| How did he find me in this wide open field!? |
After doing some cross country running, Andrea is spotted
taking cover in an empty field by The Governor, who has donned a menacing
trenchcoat and a 4x4 truck. A cat and mouse game ensues in an abandoned building
where The Governor starts churning out the horror movie villain stereotypes
(more on that shortly). Andrea escapes and makes her way to the prison. As she
finally lays eyes on it, it looks like a bright sanctuary – a nice touch by the
director and cinematographer. But, just when Andrea raises a hand to wave to
Rick in the guard tower, The Governor pops up and grabs her. Then the Governor
lets us all down and doesn’t kill her. Along the watchtower, Rick thinks he sees
something but after looking through the scope a couple times, he decides he must
be seeing things (which would not be at all unusual).
This episode sees The Governor go from an uneven,
quasi-complex bad guy to straight up psychopath, as evidenced immediately in the
episode when he apparently jizzes his pants setting up the chains intended for
Michonne. He even drifts into generic horror villain territory when creepily
hunting Andrea in the abandoned building (whistling, whispering Andrea’s name,
etc.). While it is somewhat unfortunate to lose some of the Governor’s “complex”
character development, it wasn’t particularly well written and I think this
straight up psychopath version is going to be more fun. Just let David Morrissey
go nuts in the role, letting him channel the sadistic, off-kilter villains we’ve
come to love like The Joker or Alan Rickman’s Sheriff of Nottingham or Hans
Gruber.
Only two episodes left! Alright, Steve, hit me with your best
thoughts.
I really enjoyed this episode. The flashback was a bit short and seemed like it wasn't really needed. I mean a flashback is needed but it should have some substance to it. All we learned was that her walker pets were douchbags to her in the real world. It didn't explain why she still keeps them around or what happened when they first turned. I guess that is up to the viewer to decide. What do you think the back story to Michonne's walkers is?
Milton became a bit more interesting. He seems to know a lot about the grounds of Woodbury. I understand he is the Gov's left hand, but think about it. Would the Gov really have said to Milton, "I'll be in my torture room if you need me." If he had said that then why did Milton look so taken aback when he saw what the Gov was doing in there. So if the Gov didn't tell him did Milton find the room all by himself, just poking around? Not to mention he also knows about the mechanical(?) space above the torture room and how to easily access it. We learned that he and the Gov knew each other before the outbreak. How did they know each other? Friends? Co-workers? Brothers-in-law? We also see that he is starting to become a bit more rebellious towards the Gov. Telling Andrea about the plan and the torture room, trying to convince him not to go after Andrea, lighting the walker pit on fire (assumed). He is no longer the timid scientist. He has stepped up and wants something done about it. Even if he isn't sure what he wants or needs to be done.
As for the Gov's torture room, he seems to have a pretty good idea of what he is doing. On the after show, Talking Dead, one of the guests was the great Todd McFarlane, of Spawn fame. He was talking about the torture chamber and how the Gov has no intention of quickly killing anyone (trust me, McFarlane knows torture, check out his Tortured Souls line from his toy company). There were a multitude of "tools" to get the job done. One of which was needle & thread. McFarlane mentioned this was so he could cut you and then stitch you up, to avoid you bleeding out. He is in it for the long haul. While we are on the topic of McFarlane one reason he was on the show was to promote series 3 of his Walking Dead figures, like this Michonne
Cut to Tyreese and his crew. Why are he and Sasha still hanging around Allen and Ben? They should leave Allen and Ben at Woodbury, as they seem to like it there, and get the hell out. If only Andrea had tried a lttle harder to convince them to get out. If she had mentioned the prison/Rick I'm sure Ty and Sasha would have gone with her. Mind you if that had happened then the chase scene would never have worked...
The hunter/hunted scene was a bit more intense than I was expecting. The average chase scene in a movie has the hunter and the hunted, but on the Walking Dead you have to throw in a handful of apex hunters. The Gov has taken on a VERY creepy vibe now with his eye patch and leather trench with the collar popped. I did have a few things to say about this scene and some of Andrea's decisions through out the whole episode, but then I read this post that put a lot of things into perspective.
BURNING QUESTIONS/RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
-How sure are we that Milton burnt the pits? 99%? I’m now
feeling pretty confident Milton doesn’t survive the season.
-Next week’s episode is called “This Sorrowful Life” and is
written by Scott M. Gimple the same guy (and future showrunner when Glen Mazzara
leaves after this season) who wrote the solid “Clear.” I’m feeling
optimistic.
-How awesome would it have been if Rick thought he was seeing
Lori through his scope and got angry and started shooting while yelling “Leave
me alone!”, killing both Andrea and The Governor in the process?
-Ok, who's idea was it to put the guy that see's imaginary people or guard duty?
 |
| Yo Gov, we heard you like double crosses. So we double crossed your double cross! |
-What is going to happen to Michonne? I'm hoping to see a double double cross. Rick goes through with the deal knowing that the Gov will cross him and in turn he has his guys jump out and double cross the Gov's double cross.
-What will happen to Andrea? Will Milton get here out? Will he be too late? Will that be the last straw between the Gov and Milton?
Blair’s Episode MVP: Tyreese’s Beard
Steve’s Episode MVP: Milton
Blair’s Episode Grade: B+
Blair’s Episode Grade: B+
Steve’s Episode Grade: 2 thumbs
Blair’s Deadpool Pick: Milton (I still think Allen and
Ben are toast, too)
Steve’s Deadpool Pick: Carol
No comments:
Post a Comment