NOTE: Let’s be mindful of all the new viewers participating in this conversation and try not to spoil plot points taking place deep into the run of the comic series. Mild speculation is fine and encouraged, as well as talking about things that have happened in the comic up until the point they are at in the show, but don’t get too explicit with regard to future surprises. They will be deleted. Thanks!
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Previously: The Governor shoots Merle! Rick gives options! Andrea gets captured! And now…
Finale time!
Eyeballs and heartbeats drum up the tension right before the Governor hits the viewer. We are being captured and exposed to exposition. I’m guessing this is Milton’s sorry fate. Poor guy, I feel like he was a nerd we could all relate to. The Governor decides to confide in Milton, but it’s more philosophical than practical, “You kill or you die.” Milton throws the Governor’s daughter back in his face, but the Governor accepts the criticism and thinks he could have saved her as his new more ruthless self.
Milton is taken to Andrea’s cell next door. He claims her needs them both to enact his revenge against the prison crowd and asks Milton to collect his tools since I guess Andrea isn’t worth torturing like Michonne would have been. However, he does want Milton to kill Andrea with a very big knife. This would be a great time to stab the Governor himself, but I doubt Milton has the stones for that. I’m very wrong, but the Governor is also very good at dodging. Milton gets gutted, and the Governor says he’s going to let Milton ‘turn’ then eat Andrea, repeating his advice from before but with the portentous addendum, “or you die then you kill.”
ROLL CREDITS
Back at the prison the zombies amble around like cows in the fields. Carl examines the photo he stole form the café with Michonne then gets back to packing. Looks like the gang is going on the run. Rick tries to talk to Carl but he’s having none of it; tensions seem very high. Rick finishes checking the oil on one of their many Hyundai’s, spots Lori one last time, then climbs in for the drive. Daryl reflects on Merle’s sacrifice, while Michonne tells Rick she understands why he had to consider the Governor’s offer for her. She thanks him not just for offering her as tribute, and for taking her in in the first place. He plays the pragmatic angle, because she had the baby formula that he needed, and further gives Carl credit for getting her a permanent spot on the roster.
The Governor is firing up the troops! He’s blaming Merle’s rampage on the whole gang, saying they’re no better than walkers, which as propaganda goes is consistent with historical trends of dehumanizing your enemies. But then Tyrese speaks up because it’s been a whole season and Tyrese deserves at least one more brief moment of actually being Tyrese. He and Sasha are bailing on the battle, but they do offer to hang back and defend the children, which actually seems a pretty reasonable thing to offer and something the Governor should have considered in the first place. He accepts, handing Tyrese a big-ass rifle that we know he’s no good with, then Phillip and the rest of the troops roll out.
As they descend upon the prison, Martinez mortars a guard tower; the other main henchman whose name I’m not sure we’ve ever learned fires a .30-cal at another and then proceeds to mow down some zombies. The truck hatch drops like a WWII troop transport and the men storm the metaphorical beach. Gates are busted, directions are shouted, music is intensified, but where are Rick and his crew? Inside the prison everything is unlocked and seemingly uninhabited. It looks like Rick et al. really have left for greener pastures. The Governor spots a Bible in a cell and lifts it to see a passage highlighted, “And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” Burn? The Governor decides they all need to keep searching.
Meanwhile, Milton tries to walk Andrea through an escape attempt. He left a tool behind her chair if she can reach it but she only seems to kick it further away. Once she’s free, he wants to be stabbed right in the brain.
Tyrese checks in on the ladies and children. His daughter wants to know what happens when the Governor comes back. They may need to escape like Andrea did, at least as far as they know. Tyrese says he’ll be right back, Sasha claims it’s her turn, but he leaves anyways. Never good news when character says that in a horror movie, not sure if it applies to TV.
Andrea finally snags the pliers, but it seems like Milton may have already passed. Or not. He wants to know why she didn’t rejoin her friends in the prison once she learned they were out there (even though in the show continuity she seemed to have spent about equal amounts of time in both camps). She wanted to save everybody in Woodbury, even the Governor, whom she admits to almost killing in his sleep. She didn’t, because she didn’t want anyone to die. She should really be using this time to escape instead of chat, and Milton agrees with me urging her to hurry.
Back in the prison, the search continues. Then: FLASHBANG! ALARMS! GUNSHOTS! Literal pandemonium, with a liberal smattering of walkers. The Governor and his team rush back outside only to be met by an armored and armed Glen who not-so-politely asks them to leave and opens fire. Carl, Hershel, Beth and Lil’Asskicker watch from the woods, with Carl wishing he could be more helpful. Maggie and Glen rain hot lead from above and the Governor seems to be retreating, but this confrontation is just full of surprises so we’ll see.
One of the Governor’s ‘soldiers’, aka a teenager, stumbles across Carl and Hershel, he surrenders but Carl decides to drop him anyways. Upon rejoining the group, Rick announces that they’ve won, but the group is hardly in agreement. Carl starts to brag about his “victory” but Hershel disputes Carl’s version of the events. Kid just wants to go to Woodbury and fight. Rick doesn’t want to believe Hershel, but Hershel is most insistent.
The Governor tries to get his troop transports to pull over. I guess he didn’t mean to sound the retreat after all, but they have no desire to head back for Round II. Biters are on thing, well-armed people are another. The Governor opens fire on his own people, including the dad of the kid Carl just killed. Only Martinez and other henchmen are spared. Methodically, each fallen soldier gets another to the head, and we see one woman is hiding under another body and is spared due to a lack of pistol ammo. Then the remaining three drive off in a truck never to be seen or heard from again. Seriously, this is the last we see of them in this episode. Were you expecting some sort of resolution or closure?
Andrea still hasn’t managed to pick up the pliers, and Milton may finally be dead. She nearly gets the tool transferred to her hand then drops it. Persistence is the key to victory, Andrea. Pliers finally in hand, she starts working the handcuffs as Milton starts to reanimate.
Rick confronts Carl about the boy he killed. Carl apparently blames himself for letting Dale get bit, and blames his dad for Lori’s death, and for not killing the Governor who then killed Merle. Carl seems to just want to watch the world burn. Glen and Maggie are staying to defend the prison in case the Governor didn’t go back to Woodbury. Daryl, Michonne, and Rick take off while Carol and Beth take out a few zombies at the gate. How there were any left after the big attack is a mystery. The trio comes across the slaughtered Woodbury residents, including the woman who managed to survive.
Zombie-Milton is imminent and Andrea still isn’t free. She gets one hand loose, then the other, then the camera pans outside the door and we remain momentarily ignorant of the final outcome.
The trio arrives at Woodbury, still with that woman, when Tyrese and Sasha open fire. We still don’t know what he went to take care of earlier, but oh well. The woman, Karen, yells to Tyrese but Rick pulls her back behind cover because… bullets. The shooting stops and she tells them what the Governor did to everyone else and that the trio saved her. The gates open, and the confab about everything, including the fact that Andrea never made it back to the prison.
We’re back at the mystery door, what secrets does it hold? Rick opens it with Daryl and Michonne ready to attack. Milton lies dead by the chair but, [SPOILERS] Andrea has been bitten in the shoulder/neck region. Not exactly an ideal spot for amputation. Andrea is glad Michonne is with Rick and his team, and repeats that she just didn’t want anyone to die (expect herself that one time in Season 1). Rick gives her a gun because she wants to take care of herself, Michonne says she’ll stay to the end. So much for redeeming Andrea to make her as compelling as her comic counterpart. I think instead of the Governor’s lesson from before, the real lesson for TWD is “If you moralize, you die.” Everyone but Michonne leaves, a gunshot sounds, fade to black.
A new day back at the prison, the crew returns, this time with an armored school bus which has no door, somewhat defeating the purpose of all the armor, and it probably gets terrible gas mileage. They’ve decided to lock up the entire town of Woodbury, or let them live with them. Probably the latter. Rick looks up to Lori’s usual spot, but she is absent.
THE END.
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Well that there was your season of The Walking Dead. On the whole, I thought it was better than Season 2, but still hit or miss overall. I was never the world’s biggest Andrea fan, but only because I wanted her to be better, not deader. Not sure where Season 4 will take us, I presume we’ll spend a lot of time using parliamentary procedure and a conch shell to govern everyone now living at the prison. And the Governor will take tank driving lessons. Give us your theories in the comments!
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I was surprised how the whole season turned out…didn’t see much of that coming. But I did talk with a buddy about the show sort of skipping the next “road phase” of the book for the prison staying intact and the communities meeting phase beginning. Makes sense for a show to keep moving to new ground each season. I did want more resolution to the Governor to end this season, not a fan of the idea of him lurking in the background of the story waiting to ruin it all.
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Carl didn’t drop the guy just because. Hershel said drop the gun, kid didn’t. The way the kid was inching ever closer, with the gun kinda pointed toward Carl, it’s pretty clear he intended to try to lunge at him or at least try something stupid, like club Carl. He was told to drop it, he was trying to be cute, Carl wasn’t going to take the chance with the girl he has a thing for and his baby sister there. Hershel just didn’t realize what was probably going to go down.
@Neums Completely agree about Carl, I was saying “don’t let him get any closer, he’s not dropping it!”
I thought Season 3 was head and shoulders above Season 2, regardless of any misses.
Agreed totally!
SPOILER WORTHY….
I personally was underwhelmed by season three, including last nights finale. Season thEre had way too frequent set up episodes that lead to little or nothing. Epsecially in the second half of the season. During the mid-season finale they build up a lot of hype over Merle & Daryl being pitted against one another. The set up for the fight was a major bait and switch as Merle simply tries to fake out until he can catch the govenor off gaurd. From this point on in the show, they hint at a major war…a strike on the prison. The first when Axel was killed was fabulous. It took you by surprised, it hightened the stakes, and showed that the govenor as a character was more of a threat. No more bark, he’s biting.
However, there never seemed to be an episode to come after with any level of the same excitement. Long drawn out set up scenes. The entire season seemed to follow this formula of set it up, set it up, wait for it…wait for it…REVEAL!!!
Oh that’s it? Even Michonne as a character got an amazing fan service introduction in the Season 2 finale, that seemed to promise a new angle, only to have a few kind of cool moments in season 3. The 2nd season has such a compelling “page turn” to each episode, epic cliff hangers and a tighter narrative to the entire story, though it went in to sub stories.
Season 3 had nothing like that. The “page turn at the end of the season 2 opener was more compelling than anything in season 3. Last nights finale didn’t even leave me interested in picking up in the fall.
Season two’s finale had layered elements that made you sick to the stomach you had to wait from May to October.
Rick’s crew loses their home and security, they are also scattered weaking their survival chances, a main character dies, Rick finally has to do something about Shane which takes it’s toll on him and Laurie, Andrea saved by “mystery woman” intoducing a fan fav from the comics, Rick reveals what the doctor told him in the season 1 finale which added world building, and finally the last shot is of the now famous prison which at the time they hadn’t discovered.
There was nothing like this in last nights episode…
Andrea died in a very been there done that sort of way. The govenor disappears, but who cares he’s become a cartoon villian not an authentic scary figure. Rick turns the prison into a soup kitchen for Woodbury refugees.. the end. REALLY?
This didn’t quite feel like a season finale to me and more like another episode. There wasn’t much to look forward to for next season in terms of what they showed and teased. i was very ho hum on this season as a whole and felt there there was too much time sitting in rooms talking about what they were going to go (and then barely spending any time showing it) As a result i felt that many episodes were bottle-style episodes for a large portion of the show if that makes sense. I wondered if there were low budgets at play? I don’t believe the only way to do character building is having people sit around and talk, and at this point i want to see higher stakes and more action.
I’m really not happy that the governor *might* come back next season. I really didn’t’ like his character in this show. Something about him felt really phony and i just couldn’t wait for him to be off the screen. I was hoping for his end, really disappointed about that. I just wanted to move on. I was indifferent about Andrea. I too wanted more out of that character.
I didn’t think Carl cold blood murdered that guy. I think he was a kid with a gun in an adult situation. Dude wasn’t backing down *the right way* and he felt threatened and did what A LOT of people would have done right or wrong. That’s how misunderstandings lead to death. Herschel is a preacher and abhors violence. I think he overacted.
One last thing. So all these people in Woodbury…that we’ve never seen or met. At any given time you never saw more than 10 of em on screen, now there is an entire army in a convoy, and a busload of “refugees”? I don’t know, that was just kinda convenient, but it didn’t make a lot of sense to me.
I think season 3 showed some of the softer characters harden up and the harder characters soften a bit. Now I have all summer to read The Walking Dead Omnibus volume 2 and wait for season 4.
The show seems to have a serious issue with the main female characters – make them act totally irrational or idiotic for so long that it makes the character completely unlikeable. Then, instead of trying to redeem her, just kill her off.
1 Lori
2. Andrea
Pretty weak in my opinion.
Watch out Maggie
The end struck me as very anti-climactic. Enjoyed the season in entirety, just not the finale.
Let me guess…Season 4 they go the abandon Georgia aquarium and have to jump some zombie sharks to get by.
I want to get a “Carl was right” t-shirt.
This was pretty terrible.
An appropriate end to a season that started off rife with potential and ended up floundering. I’m pretty sure the creative team on this show has no idea what they’re doing. I used to struggle with the show because of how far it strays from the source material. Now I struggle with it because it’s just bad television. It’s a shame, really. I honestly thought they’d hit their stride this season.
I won’t go so far as to say I won’t be back in October. Knowing me, after six months I probably will check out the premiere at least. But it’s gonna really need to get my attention. I’m not sure if I can take another season starting off strong and slowly sliding into mediocrity.
The highlight for me was Andrea’s death. Not because I cared about her, but because I was thankful. It wasn’t very inventive, believable, or even well executed (Anyone else notice the sound of a shell dropping from a six-shooter? Yeah, that doesn’t happen.), I was just glad to see her go. It was a mercy kill for the audience and anyone who’s read the book. She died like she lived; lame, idiotic, and pointless.
Oh, well. Onwards and upwards to the Mad Men premiere. It’ll be nice to tune in to AMC on Sundays and know I won’t be disappointed.
Agree, the finale and season 3 as a whole was pretty terrible. The first season was pretty good, but each season since has gotten progressively getting worse. Won’t be returning for Season 4, since I was giving the show a chance in season 3 to redeem itself.
On the upside tho, I’m not to sorry to be dropping Walking Dead, since there are still some great shows (Game of Thrones, Mad Men, etc) on these days.
Why was Andrea’s final battle off-screen? I wanted to see it.
I wanted the season to end with Carl and Rick on their own, lost and abandoned. NOT psyched for the crowded prison of season 4.
Agree that the governor now lurking out there kinda stinks.
The power of the high calibar machine gun was very well done, very frightening. Good directing there.
I’m always surprised when people say the governor in the TV show was a cartoon character vs. the comic…for me the comic book version is much more 2D comic book villain than the TV version.
Massacre was shocking for me.
Overall I really liked Season 3. I thought Season 2 was an A, and I’d give this an A too, but agree that what made season 2 great was the climax, where this season the good stuff was Merle, “Clear”, the first attack on the prison, Hershel losing the leg…let’s not forget these great moments people, even if the season ended with a thud. And, btw, the arc of the nerd guy in the room w/ Andrea at the end, great arc.
‘
Having to spend most of the hour watching Andrea try to pick up pliers and escape was a drag. Especially when she did the whole operation took four seconds when shit hits the fan…