The Walking Dead, Season 4, Episode 8: Too Far Gone
Well, that was... an eventful episode. Must've been the mid-season finale or something, because holy shit, a lot of things went down in this episode. People died, there was this huge chaotic battle in the prison, and, well, the prison itself got fucked up.
After watching this, I honestly remain unconvinced that we needed to waste two episodes showing off what the Governor's doing and how he's a better, more caring leader... only for him to relapse and be a bastard once more. It's confusing, really -- on one hand, he's got a legitimate motive in wanting to protect his new band of people. On the other hand, last episode he's killing his second-in-commands faster than Darth Vader abroad a Star Destroyer, and he shot his adoptive daughter in the head without any reaction at all... which really makes him a lot less interesting almost immediately. He also spends a good chunk of this episode doing, well, what he does for the most part of season three, although at least his negotiations run longer and the terms he gives Rick are far sweeter than S3!Governor... he still ends up cutting Hershel's neck (hacking is more like it), ordering his tank to blow up the prison, quite literally fucking up the prison, getting most of his group dead, and causing the prison group to get scattered.
The thing is, I'm not quite sure why we couldn't have had this huge storyline happen at the end of season three, or at the beginning of season four. There's really not much character growth to the Governor at the end, so why did we have to bring the momentum of the story to a screeching halt, then have the Governor do more or less what he did at the season finale? Hell, you could even change some of the events if you wanted Tyreese and the rest of the Woodbury camp redshirts to bulk up the numbers in the prison. I dunno, feels like pretty convoluted writing to me.
In the end, the Governor gets into a one-on-one brawl with Rick, but thankfully (because I've grown to really dislike Rick over this season and the previous one) it's not him that gets the kill. Michonne ends her little obsessive revenge arc (though there's not much to that) by shishkebabing the Governor through the chest, and he gets a mercy-kill courtesy of... Lily? Whichever of Lily and Tara that's Megan's mom.
Rick and Governor, as well as Hershel and Governor, have this little 'we're not too far gone' talk, but it's more of dressing in order to make this not just a simple bang-bang shoot-out. We also get the attempted advancements of some plotlines, with Rick talking to Daryl about his very controversial decision to let Carol bugger off on her own (something I totally forgot thanks to the two Governor-centric episodes since we last saw the prison group last), a conversation that was a lot calmer and involving a lot less punching than I expected. Tyreese discovered the rat-feeding conspiracy, and blames whoever murdered his girlfriend (wouldn't you?) but before Rick and Daryl got a chance to tell him whodunnit, the Governor arrives with his fucking tank.
So a lot of characters die. A lot of characters I don't care about, mind, you -- Hershel and the Governor are the only deaths that mattered -- but still, they were recurring characters and elicited enough 'oh shit' moments from me.
Killing Hershel is a very awesome move -- I don't think any of the other characters would be as effective as Hershel. He's likable, he's gotten a lot of screentime recently, and he's too weak to really defend himself. Plus, unlike, say, Carl or Maggie or Daryl or Glenn, Hershel is the one character in the prison that's unambiguously good and decent. No real reason why on earth the Governor wouldn't cut Michonne's head off first -- from a pragmatic standpoint Michonne's an actual threat, and as the episode shows, she actually does escape... other than to be a huge dick about it.
Then a big shootout and a tank cannon explosion happens. Meanwhile while all of this is happening, we get a fake-out with a zombie attempting to cross the lake, Pirates of the Caribbean style, but Megan gets bit by a zombie that just happens to be buried under the pile of soil she's playing in -- dang flash floods, am I right? She gets bit, the Governor mercy kills her, before dying shortly courtesy of Michonne and Lily.
The action scene was superb, and was everything that season three promised but didn't quite manage to reach. We've got the tank blowing holes in the prison and crushing the fences, we've got Daryl and his very awesome zombie shield, and he force-feeds the tank a goddamned grenade this was awesome), before shooting an arrow to, uh, Military Recurring Character Man. Carl gets to save Rick, and we've got Carol's two psychotic kids shooting the Governor's soldiers, including Tara's girlfriend, and saving Tyreese. I don't particularly care for Lizzie, little psychopath that she is, but that was an awesome takedown.
Everyone gets split up in the huge chaos, and Rick and Carl stumble upon Lil' Asskicker's bloodied baby carriage. Mind you, who the fuck had the bright idea of leaving the baby with a bunch of clearly demented kids instead of giving it to, oh, Beth or Glenn or someone? The fact that we didn't actually see a body -- even if the show wanted to avoid killing a baby on-screen, I wouldn't put it past them to show like a hand or feet left behind -- really makes me think that Baby Judith was taken by the dudes on the bus that, uh, drove off on their own?
In addition to Hershel, Governor, Megan and Judith (okay that last one not really), we also lose practically every single member of the Governor's group -- who I'm sure have names and personalities and all but I couldn't tell you if I remember even a single one -- and some people from the prison group. I think all the important characters got away, though I couldn't say for sure. Glenn's with the bus and the majority of the escapees, Tyreese runs off with psycho girls (meaning that this group will encounter Carol with a 100% certainty because drama), Daryl's with Beth, Rick's with Carl, while Maggie's with Sasha and Bob. I think both Lily and Tara make it out alive, though I'm not sure how they'll manage to outrun all the zombies gathering around the noise without help. I think that's everyone important? Maggie running around because Beth ran off to look for her is hilariously dumb yet very realistic considering the chaos.
So yeah, the prison burned down, Daryl blows up a tank, Hershel is zombie chow, the Governor's finally dead... it's an awesome conclusion, I'm not doubting that, but what I'm doubting is whether it's right to do it at this point in the show, and not a couple of episodes earlier. Oh well, at least Governor's dead. He's had a good run, but he's definitely overstayed his welcome.
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