The Walking Dead - Season Four: Too Far Gone

The mid-season finale has arrived, and it is a real game-changer for the show going forward. I think it is one of the best – certainly in terms of stakes – episodes in the shows history. I have seen various series’ put out stellar episodes in terms of drama and stakes (such as ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Breaking Bad’) but in the case of Too Far Gone I felt genuinely nervous, and completely drawn in because I had no idea who was going to make it out alive. The show has set the precedent that nobody is safe – anyone can be killed, at any point – and the teaser trailer for this episode guaranteed that there would be major character deaths.

To everyone who felt let down by the Season Three finale, Too Far Gone provides the showdown at the prison that you were hoping for.

The episode begins with The Governor rallying his troops together, tactfully phrasing his speech to portray himself as a victim of Rick’s group, in order to get everyone on side. There is a much stronger sense of loyalty towards The Governor’s leadership with this group than there was from his Woodbury army (so there’ll be no need to gun them all down if they refuse to obey him). The scene is interspersed with footage of the Governor knocking out Michonne, and taking herself and Hershel as hostages – giving him an added edge, alongside the tank and heavy artillery. He orders everyone to arm themselves and get ready to take the prison in case it should come down to a violent confrontation – which it inevitably will. 

Just after making his speech he is approached by Lilly, who has just overheard all that he said, and consequently received a strong insight into exactly what kind of man he really is. He tries to defend his intentions by saying that although there may be good people at the prison, there are bad people amongst them: killers. She responds by asking if she is in the company of bad people herself.

Back at the prison, there is a short scene between Maggie and Glenn (who is still looking rough, due to his flu symptoms). He points out that their anniversary is approaching, and that they’ll have to find some way to celebrate it. We then cut to the aftermath of Rick’s reveal to Daryl about his decision to banish Carol. Rick tries to rationalise his decision, but Daryl is clearly unhappy about it. Nevertheless Daryl knows that it is not a good idea to drag things out, so makes the executive decision to tell Tyreese straight away.

They never get around to breaking the news though, as a hysterical Tyreese insists that whatever it is they have to tell him, it can wait. He then reveals an unsettling discovery: a rat carcass, which appears to have been ritualistically dissected. The saboteur who fed rats to the Walkers at the fences must still be on the loose. There is no time to investigate however, because a loud boom is heard, which shakes the prison, forcing everyone outside.

The Governor’s army have arrived!

He wants to talk to Rick, who says that he doesn’t make decisions on behalf of the group anymore, as they have a council now. Unfortunately The Governor has a couple of members of the council as hostages, and he drags them out for all to see. Rick then makes his way out into the courtyard – completely exposed to The Governor’s entire army – in order to talk peace terms. Meanwhile, Daryl slyly distributes guns amongst the rest of the group, so that they’ll be ready in case things get ugly.

The Governor’s demands are simple, Rick has until sundown to get his whole group out of the prison, or his entire group will be massacred. The Governor has hostages, and he has a tank, so there doesn’t seem to be any counter-offer that Rick can make. Nevertheless he attempts to offer a treaty: they all live together in the prison, and forget about all past disputes between them. They will live in separate cell blocks, and never have to see each other. Everyone has had to do terrible things in order to get this far, but they are not too far gone – they can all endure. It is an impassioned speech, which gets a sincere smile from Hershel, and momentarily appears to have broken through to The Governor’s sense of humanity.

But it isn’t to be, and using Michonne’s katana, The Governor brutally slashes Hershel’s neck. I had feared that Hershel would die in this episode, and his situation in this episode seemed inescapable, so I couldn’t entertain much of a notion of him surviving. Nevertheless it was still upsetting to see Hershel go, as Scott Wilson had given some tremendous performances this season, especially during Internment. Ever since Dale’s death in season two, Hershel had filled his role, always being the voice of reason – and possessing great wisdom due to his advanced age. He was a moral compass within the group, and a rational thinker when Rick was going off the rails whilst coping with Lori’s death. Hershel’s death is a big deal, and when the season resumes in February, the effects of it will more than likely still be felt.

Rick then somehow manages not to get gunned down, despite being right out in the open and completely exposed to gunfire from The Governor’s entire army. He also manages to not kill The Governor, even though he has pulled off countless headshots throughout the season. Rick does manage to find some cover, but takes a bullet wound to the leg.

Meanwhile back at the encampment, Lilly is left waiting for everything to be over, and Megan is digging in the mud. A lone Walker stumbles through the trees on the other side of the lake, and slowly tries to make its way across the water, but then stumbles and is swept away by the current. This draws Lilly’s attention away from Megan, who unearths a sign in the mud, which happened to be covering the corpse of someone who was buried in a flash-flood. The corpse forces its way through the mud, and grabs hold of Megan, who screams, finally getting her mother’s attention, but it is too late, and Megan is bitten in the shoulder.

This prompts Lilly to arrive at the prison, just as things are taking off, carrying the body of Megan in her arms. The Governor sees this, just after messily finishing off Hershel’s decapitation. He is well and truly too far gone however, because the sight doesn’t devastate him, and he callously shoots Megan in the head without a moment’s hesitation. If there was any doubt in her mind, Lilly now realises exactly what kind of a man he is.

From here on out, the episode gets rather hectic, with a great deal happening all over the place. The tank smashes through the fences, and begins blasting great big holes into the prison. Everyone fires their guns with great abandon, rarely hitting anything, and prompting me to shout at the screen: “stop wasting so much ammo” (not the first time I’ve done this whilst watching this show). 

Many nameless characters get gunned down, while the prison group attempt to survive, but are widely scattered in the process. Maggie orders Beth to gather as many people together and get them onto a bus, so that they can drive away to safety. Maggie manages to drag Glenn onto the bus, but then realises that Beth isn’t there, and leaves again to find her. Consequently Maggie and Glenn are separated, as the bus drives away before Maggie gets back. 

Tyreese looks to be pinned down, but is rescued by Lizzie (this may elevate her status from supporting cast to main cast) who pulls off two perfect head-shots. However, there is further confusion as Lizzie and her sister run in the opposite direction than where the bus was. Bob takes a bullet to the shoulder, but it is a treatable injury – and Maggie and Sasha escort him away.

Out in the yard, Rick tackles The Governor as he makes his way towards the prison, and the two engage in a brutal fist fight. The Governor gains the upper hand though, and after battering Rick’s face into a pulp, he begins to choke the life out of him. It genuinely appears that Rick will die, before Michonne stabs The Governor right through the chest. She appeared to contemplate finishing him off, before leaving him to die out in the open. This made me assume that there would be a Governor-Walker, ready to snag another beloved character before the episode ended. But this didn’t happen, as Lilly appeared and shot him in the head, to pay him back for killing her daughter.

A severely battered Rick desperately searched for Carl, and found him gunning down a couple of stray Walkers. They then looked around for Judith, but found only an empty baby carrier, stained with blood, which saw them both reduced to tears. What actually happened to Judith wasn’t shown, so there is an ambiguity surrounding whether or not she was rescued.

And of course, to compensate for the loss of a beloved character (and also the loss of the series’ main villain) viewers were treated to a scene of Daryl being awesome. First impaling a Walker using a rebar, in order to use it as a shield, and then killing several members of The Governor’s army with a grenade. Then, destroying the tank with another grenade, and finally killing the evil brother Mitch, with an arrow to the chest. You’re welcome!

The episode ended with Rick and Carl staggering away from the sight of all the destruction, with Rick saying to Carl: “don’t look back”. 

This episode was easily one of the best, delivering action, tension, and changing the complexion of the show for when the season resumes in February. A lot was left unclear; what happened to Judith? Who survived? What’s going to happen now that the prison is gone, and the group are scattered?

There are many questions that need answering, but they will have to wait. The writers of the show have certainly upped their game this season, delivering some very strong episodes based around character development, and delivering action and a big pay-off to The Governor’s storyline in this mid-season finale. 

While we wait for the season to return, and provide answers to what happened next, this episode is certainly worth re-watching. I know I’ll watch it again, now that I’ve calmed down!

The Walking Dead - Season Four: Dead Weight

“You seem different now. Changed.” -  Foolishly presumptuous words from Martinez, during a brief one-to-one with The Governor. That being said, it did appear at times during “Live Bait” that Philip Blake/Brian Heriot had indeed changed, having found a new purpose for himself as a surrogate father. However, it did not take long for the familiar Governor to re-emerge during “Dead Weight”.

Throughout the first half of the episode there was a look on The Governors face that constantly seemed to be suggesting that he was ready to blow at any moment. Martinez – once a general, now the man in charge – seemed to take delight in taunting his former leader; being the only one around to know the truth about him. As a result he became too complacent in the assumption that Philip Blake was a changed man. 

There were quite a few loaded moments during this episode when characters referred to The Governor as “Brian”, especially when Martinez used the name. Martinez also had the temerity to question whether Philip/Brian could continue to take care of his new ‘family’ (reinforcing a passing remark from Lily, that she had never felt safer, to which Philip/Brian took umbrage). There was always tension between the two, whenever they were left alone together. 

This tension came to a head about half-way through the episode, just after Martinez dropped to revelation that Shumpert had died. I know that he wasn’t a major character, but it seems like a fairly pointless way to bump-off a character – very much a case of: “... oh by the way, this happened”. When this was said, I initially made the assumption that it was a bluff, and that Martinez would use this to gain leverage over The Governor. However, this was just a foolish assumption on my part, as barely a moment later Martinez took a nasty strike to the head from a golf-club, before being kicked off the roof of a caravan, and dragged into a Walker-pit. This was a surprising development!

The Governor told nobody about what he had done, and everyone would just have to believe that Martinez got drunk and fell into the pit. As a result a new leader was elected to run the tented-community, one of two brothers: Pete Dolgen. The ethics of the two brothers were put to the test during a supply run, when they notice another encampment occupied by other survivors. Mitch’s idea is that they power their way through, and take any supplies that they need by force, while Pete refuses this notion – opting to hunt for supplies instead. The resultant hunting expedition does not yield much, and tensions arise between the two brothers when The Governor returns to the encampment and discovers that the group of survivors were massacred and ransacked by some other group (so they would have died regardless).

At first Philip/Brian attempts to leave during the night, taking Megan, Lily, Tara and her new friend Alisha with him. This plan doesn’t work out though, as their path is blocked by a swarm of Walkers trapped in thick mud. They return to the camp, and Philip/Brian takes matters into his own hands. He visits Pete one morning under the pretence that he wants to talk about his problematic brother, but once inside his caravan, he literally stabs Pete in the back, before choking him to death. 

He then visits Mitch, holding him at gunpoint as he explains that he killed his brother. He then reveals that he had a brother of his own, who always had to play the hero; showing a distain for the heroic mindset and its ineffective nature within this world. He spares Mitch’s life, and takes control of the camp. During the course of a single episode he went from a hostage in a pit, to the leader of a group of survivors – and gained himself a loyal and subservient new right-hand man, with whom he shares a similar way of thinking. The Governor is truly back! Philip Blake, the more domineering side of his personality, ultimately won out over Brian Heriot (regardless of the efforts he made).

Once all of this was done, all that was left was to connect this story to the main one. The ending to this episode showed The Governor watching over the prison. Timeline-wise this appears to be taking place around the end of the events of “Internment” as Hershel and Michonne are seen talking, before getting into a car. The Governor is angered by the sight of Michonne, and aims his gun at her to close out the episode.

The fascinating character of The Governor was once again the focus this week, and after last week’s episode appeared to show a potential redemption for the character, ultimately he is not a good man – and he knows that. Next week’s episode will be the mid-season finale, and looks set to be one of the biggest episodes in the show’s entire history to date. A confrontation between Rick’s group and the Governor’s group – which will likely result in a high body count – and it is more than likely that we will say reluctant farewells to some beloved characters. I have not read the comics, so I can’t form any speculation over who will survive to see the second half of this season, but it seems clear that not everyone will make it through such an encounter. 

I’ll try to be prepared for the worst!

The Walking Dead - Season Four: Live Bait

The Governor made his return in an episode vaguely reminiscent of Breaking Bad’s “Granite State” earlier this year – inasmuch as it was able to generate a feeling of sympathy for a man who has done terrible things. Other than David Morrissey, none of the main cast members appeared in this episode.

The pre-credits scene brought us back to the Season Three finale, just after Philip Blake gunned down most of his own army. There was no dialogue at all for quite some time, as quite a lot of ground was covered: he awoke the following morning to discover that Martinez and Shumpert had abandoned him, leaving him all alone; he then returned to Woodbury and burned it down; and then wandered aimlessly for an unspecified amount of time, growing a long scraggly beard in the process. 

He eventually finds himself in the company of the Chalmers family; consisting of two sisters Lilly and Tara, their infirm father David, and Tara’s young daughter Megan. Having read Robert Kirkman’s tie-in novel series (including The Rise Of The Governor) this set-up was not too unfamiliar to me. However the storyline in the novels occurred under very different circumstances, so I’m not sure where it is leading in the TV series. He also assumed a new alias, Brian (the significance of this name choice was also not lost on me) Heriot. 

Many of the scenes carried a strong feeling of tension, because it has already been demonstrated that the Governor is not of sound mind, and as such there was always the sense of threat that he might do something terrible, but yet he never did. He demonstrated that, although vaguely skeletal, he still had strength in him, as he was able to lift the aging David with considerable ease. He also put himself at risk, first to retrieve a Backgammon set from a dingy apartment upstairs, and then to obtain oxygen tanks from and old folks home, full of decaying Walkers. (How did the Chalmers' sisters not know to shoot Walkers in the brain? Have they survived this long without killing any Walkers at all?)

The more time he spent with the Chalmers family, the closer he grew to both Lilly, and Megan (who became a surrogate daughter figure to him, having lost her real father before the outbreak). He told her about how he lost his own daughter, although leaving out most of the details.

Things got nasty when David passed away, and Philip/Brian had to take drastic action when the corpse reanimated. He wasted no time in brutally smashing in the skull of the Walker, but did so right in front of his family, including young Megan. This put a bit of a strain on their relationship, but they forgave him since he did save their lives in the process – and such events are a fact of life in this post-apocalyptic world. In spite of this he packed up his things and got ready to leave, but Lilly stopped him and insisted that they all stick together. 

They abandoned the relative safety of their apartment, and set out on the road. During the night he and Lilly slept together, and the following day after their van broke down, Megan put her trust in him allowing him to carry her to safety. Having burned a photograph of his wife and daughter, he found replacements for both.

After falling into a dugout pit, Philip/Brian demonstrated just how fiercely protective he had become of Megan, brutally killing three Walkers with his bare hands. Having lost his own daughter, he received a chance to redeem himself – in his own way. However, he was then discovered in the pit by Martinez – and with that the episode ended.

David Morrissey gave a very strong performance in this episode, showing off the complexities of the iconic character. It is hard to know what to think about the character after seeing an episode such as this. After all, he is still the man who massacred a whole group of people, and performed numerous terrible deeds back in the previous season. Next week’s episode will likely continue with The Governor’s storyline, so perhaps it will be easier to draw conclusions then.

The Walking Dead - Season Four: Internment

Wow! What an episode! I have poked fun at the show for introducing ‘red-shirt’ characters just to kill them off, and consequently evading legitimate tension, but this episode had my heart pounding throughout.

The main focus of the episode was Hershel’s stubborn nature, and willingness to treat everyone who had gotten sick, despite the risk to himself. Scott Wilson gave a tremendous performance, showing the wisdom of the character, and representing the desperate need to maintain one’s humanity within this cruel world. He started the episode treating one (of many) ailing patients, aided by Sasha and Glenn – who are looking rather worse for wear themselves. He was even able to introduce an element of humour into their situation, showing his determination not to get overwhelmed by the bleakness. He then continued to fight on, even when other patients had all but given up, refusing to allow Glenn to become downhearted. 

However, in spite of his positive morals and pro-active approach to treating everyone, people continued to succumb to their symptoms. Even under these circumstances, Hershel continued to do the most humane thing possible, and remove the patients from the cell block, in order to euthanize them out of sight. Scott Wilson’s performance really helped to get the tragedy of the situation across: there is a seismic difference between killing nameless Walkers, and having to kill those you have grown to know. 

Dr Caleb, in a highly advanced stage of the illness, told Hershel that he simply won’t be able to save everyone, and very shortly afterwards that prediction came to fruition. Hershel was closing everyone in their cells for the night, when things took a turn for the worse. First off, a dying patient staggered out of his cell and died in front of everyone – meaning that Hershel had to keep everyone calm as he wheeled the corpse out of the room. He then tended to Sasha, who had collapsed, but fortunately came to and thanked Hershel for his “stupidity” – which he graciously took as a compliment. Then a newly-turned victim staggered out into the cell block, pinning Hershel to the ground; a father who had chosen to stay in a cell with his dying son tried to help, but was bitten and killed by his zombified son instead. While all this was going on, Glenn’s patient stopped breathing, and Glenn began to choke on his own blood when he tried to call out for help.

A gunshot from the cell block caught the attention of Rick and Maggie (somehow during the day) which caused Maggie to run for the cells, while Rick sought out Carl to help reinforce the fences around the prison yard. The threat level just kept on escalating, and despite their efforts, the logs snapped under the pressure, and the fences finally gave way, spilling a large horde of Walkers into the prison yard.

The action then jumped between the cell block and the courtyard, leaving very little room to breathe between transitions. Hershel’s prosthetic leg served him very well, as he was able to rescue Lizzie from a Walker she had been attempting to control (!?). He then had to kill off Dr Caleb, who had also turned, in order to get hold of the shotgun he’d taken into his cell. Once armed, he took care of the Walkers, but not before making sure they were safely out of view of the young children. Maggie then got into the cell block (though not before breaking an axe trying to get the door open) and employed a far less cautious approach than her father. She shot the un-dead father with very satisfying nonchalance, and then helped Hershel rescue the breathing apparatus that Glenn desperately needed, from another Walker. Glenn lives to fight another day, and I have no complaints about the lack of major character deaths, because they came dangerously close here.

Meanwhile Rick, after having spent ages trying to protect Carl from using firearms, had to frantically teach his son how to use an assault rifle. Together they were able to take out the entire swarm that had broken through the fence. The hunting party then returned, and Carl said one of the stupidest things that anyone can possibly say under their circumstances “everything’s going to be okay”. 

Tyreese was reunited with Sasha, and Bob was able to put his medical expertise to good use, distributing medicine amongst the survivors. Perhaps this is the end of the flu epidemic. But in the aftermath, Hershel returned to Dr Caleb’s cell, and broke down whilst reading a passage from his Bible. It was sad to see Hershel cry after all that he had been through, and I actually thought that this was the end of the episode; but it wasn’t quite over yet.

Rick decided not to tell Daryl about his decision to banish Carol right away, undoubtedly worried about the consequences. Meanwhile Daryl complimented Hershel on being “a tough son of a bitch” before enquiring as to Carol’s whereabouts. Hershel (rightfully) passed the buck onto Rick, before going out for a drive with Michonne. The man certainly earned the right to get some fresh air!

And then just as the episode closed out, there was an exterior shot of the prison being watched by a very familiar, eye-patch wearing man! 

This was a great episode; there was a lot of character development for Hershel; the Prison seems like a less safe place all the time – maybe Carol is actually better off; and the tension throughout the episode was superb. 

Looking ahead, there will likely be conflict between Daryl and Rick very soon, Lizzie continues to be something of a question mark character (why was she running her boots through the infected blood?), now that the fence has collapsed, will the group be forced into leaving the prison? And the biggest issue of all: The Governor is back!