Well, if you’re like me and were hoping that The Walking Dead left us with a truly stunning mid-season finale, I’m sure that neither of us was disappointed. Taking a cue from the comics, the showdown with the Governor was brutal, exciting and more than a little depressing. I’ll try not to let loose too many spoilers, for those folks that haven’t managed to see it yet, but rest assured that it is one of the best episodes they’ve put out to date.
We start with the Governor rallying his troops to take the prison. He has a tank and he’s ready to go, all that’s needed is a little support from the mob. In addition, he’s managed to capture both Hershel and Michonne, so he has the advantage when it comes to the bargaining situation. As opposed to just storming the prison as he did at the end of season 3, this time he’s hoping to coerce Rick and his gang into leaving of their own accord.
So off he goes, threatening the lives of his captives in order to motivate a quick evacuation of that place he wants to call his new home. But things don’t always go as smoothly as planned. A few gunshots later and everything has gone straight to hell. The tank starts blowing things up, troops get shot and the entire prison is left a mess. The end result - nobody wins and all the prison crew are forced to flee for their lives.
After the last two episodes of The Walking Dead were devoted to fleshing out the Governor, this was a welcome change. They still didn’t manage to convince me that those episodes were entirely necessary, but they did leave the mid-season on a very dramatic note. We lost some familiar faces in the chaos, a few that will be sorely missed, but that is always the way of The Walking Dead - you just never know who will die next.
This episode also set up for a really exciting second half of season 4. The gang is split up, no one knowing who may be alive or dead. They have nowhere to go and, while we can be reasonably sure that all the main characters will meet up again in the future, we can only guess at who will be left alive when they finally do. Come February, look forward to many divergent stories as each party tries to survive. Also, I’d bet money that we see Carol coming back into the show, though Tyrese still has yet to discover her part in the death of his girlfriend, so that should be pretty interesting to watch.
Once again, The Walking Dead has proven why it is such a good show. Taking a look at the numbers, they drew in an amazingly impressive viewing audience for the finale and likely they’ll see a bigger audience when they return. So until February arrives, I sign off on my Walking Dead reviews. Now if only I could turn off my head and wait patiently for that time to arrive. Between this and Arrow going away for several months, I do believe I’ll go nuts with anticipation.
Photo Credits -
Too Far Gone courtesy of tomandlorenzo.com
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