The Walking Dead, Season 3, Episode 13: Arrow on the Doorpost
It's a bit of an odd bit of storytelling where two episodes ago both sides were preparing to go to war with each other and are all talking about how much they hate the other side, the previous episode was a little side-quest thing where it only stars a couple of characters, and this episode starts with... the jarring opening scene where suddenly Rick, Daryl and Hershel have a badass little entrance as they click their guns and all, walk into this random shack in the woods and sit down with the Governor for a parley. I honestly thought I missed an episode, especially since this is the Walking Dead and they're a huge proponent of telling and showing.
But hey, it works, and I guess last episode's bonding moment between Carl (and by extension the audience and Michonne is supposed to make us care for her so there's an emotional response of 'no, not Michonne!' when the Governor basically demands her head in exchange for peace. A bit of a cheap tactic but hey.
The talk between Rick and the Governor was very well-scripted and well acted by both actors, with neither of them making it a secret that they want to stab each other in the face. Rick was far colder and less interested in playing nice, while the Governor is far happier to play his veneer of civil faux-reasonable leader, trying to brush things under the bridge, telling stories about the tragedy of his wife to elicit an emotional response from his opponent, while still making it clear that they're only going to play by his rules.
There's an absolutely hilarious scene where Andrea comes in and tries her best to go 'hey, guys, talk it out, we're all buddies here, yay!' like a little girl who's trying to get her two parents who are angry to totally make up by pretending to invite each other to a lunch date. It doesn't work in real life for parents, let alone for two people who are out for each other's blood. What was Andrea thinking? The Governor flat-out doesn't let her be part of the negotiation after a bit of talking down to her, and I think Rick has had it with her utter stupidity.
The thing is, Andrea has been spending nearly every scene after her arrival in Woodbury acting like she's part of the leadership, and she really looks hurt when the Governor tells her to piss the fuck off. The thing is, she's not. She's fucking the Governor, yes, but she's the newest member to the community and how she keeps challenging Milton and Martinez, who actually are part of the Governor's, well, government.
And to top it off, adding to a huge list of Andrea being a total dumbass, after this obvious disrespect for her, she's happy to return with the Governor and exchange smiles like nothing just happened, believing so blindly that, yeah, they worked out a deal. She didn't even try to push for specifics! I think she might be brain-damaged at this point. The thing is, from various sources like Rick in this episode and Michonne in previous episodes, as well as seeing with her own two eyes, Andrea knows, more or less, about every single vile thing that the Governor has done except for keeping a zombie daughter (I don't think anyone told her that) and killing the National Guardsmen (no one ever mentions this, and only Merle and the Governor really know about it), including something horrible that he did to Maggie. Nope, not a single bit of suspicion. Girl, you're stupid.
What's cool are the interactions between the two lieutenants of both Rick and the Governor. While the bosses are inside deciding their fates, Daryl and Hershel size up their opposing counterparts in Martinez and Milton. Hershel and Milton have a shared interest at trying to preserve human history and talk a bit about more cerebral stuff (including a hilarious scene where Milton asks to see Hershel's amputated stump, where we previously see Hershel hide a gun), while Daryl and Martinez (whose name I only learn this episode, despite him appearing nearly every episode in Woodbury scenes) try to show each other up as they bash zombie heads with their signature weapons of a crossbow and a baseball bat respectively. There's a nice bit of 'we're both soldiers' vibe when they eventually take a moment to bond a little in shared respect, while also not being naive -- this doesn't change a damn thing and they'll be gunning for each other's head in an episode or two.
Anyway, Rick is ready to just set up borders, and operate on a 'you don't fuck with us, we don't fuck with you' treaty, as long as he gets to keep the prison. He misunderstands the Governor's main interest, though -- he doesn't want the prison, he wants revenge. And the deaths of people who wronged him. He doesn't make it clear, though, and instead insists on Rick just handing over Michonne to him, otherwise he'll not even look at the maps Rick has drawn up. He tries to gain the upper hand in all this, first by playing nice and offering whiskey and all that nonsense, then sympathy by telling him the sob story about his wife, and then trying to get a rise out of him by bringing up the fact that his daughter's father might be Shane (man, Andrea is a blabbermouth), and later on just trying to fool him with the Michonne deal, noting that Michonne is an unstable loose cannon, potentially dangerous, and it's not worth it to sacrifice the lives of his children for Michonne.
The Governor gives Rick two days to consider this trade, before the two groups leave. It's not until the final scenes where the Governor speaks to Milton that it's confirmed that, yeah, it's a con. The Governor might specifically want Michonne dead for 'killing' his daughter, but he's not going to allow someone who's been proven to fight back to continue living. He's going to murder Rick Grimes and anyone with him the moment they show up for the treaty.
We get a couple of brief check-ins at the prison. Merle might be cutting back on actual backstabbing and racist and sexist comments, but he's still an abrasive little shit. I do agree with him wanting to murder the Governor, and for what he's done to Maggie, I'm pretty sure Glenn does as well, but he makes it clear that he's going to respect Rick going there for a treaty, even standing up to Merle physically and brawling with him a bit -- very fun to see it's Maggie that whacks Merle out. Maggie and Glenn finally rekindle their romance with an extended sex scene. Meanwhile, Merle talks to Michonne, noting that the two of them want the Governor dead, and the rest are too soft, so they apparently want to hatch a plan to straight-up assassinate the one-eyed fucker.
Meanwhile, Rick and Hershel have a nice, deep talk after Rick tells everyone else that the Governor wants war and nothing else. He only confides in Hershel about the deal of handing Michonne over to the Governor for the treaty. Hershel quickly calls out the fact that the Governor might be tricking him, and Rick acknowledges this... but still is more inclined to turn over Michonne, and wishes the less-cynical Hershel could talk him out of it. The episode ends on that note, an interesting conundrum to ponder. Yes, at this moment, the audience knows that the Governor plans to doublecross Rick, but Rick doesn't -- is it worth the risk, giving away Michonne for the chance to end all of this? Is the Governor that trustworthy? And if he thinks the Governor is not, is it him being paranoid again? Yeah. Good stuff, Andrea aside.
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