Summary: The prisoners appear again and Rick wants to send them on the road. Hershel starts walking around on crutches. Walkers suddenly appear and attack. Lori, Carl and Maggie escape into the tunnels together. T-Dog and Carol escape together but T-Dog is bitten and dies. Carol's fate is unknown. Alarms start blaring and Rick, Daryl and the prisoners go to shut them off. Rick finds Andrew there and the prisoners kill him. Lori has to give birth in the tunnels but it doesn't go well. Maggie is forced to do a C-section and Lori dies in the process. Carl shoots her head. Rick learns of what happens and breaks down.
The Good: This was a great episode that featured some of the show's most powerful and heartbreaking scenes so far. I was pleased by the initial discussion regarding the prisoners. I like that each of the characters got to make different suggestions for what to do based on what we know about them. I like that Rick was willing to listen to them but still follows his gut instincts instead of others when making these decisions. I thought the prisoners came off fairly well too and Oscar's comments regarding Axel's odd attempts to be friendly were pretty funny. Then the episode devolved into chaos. Having the hope from Hershel walking around again being transformed to horror when the walkers attacked was a signature TWD moment. The tension escalated immediately and I was worried that the show would do something shocking by killing Hershel right after he had just recovered. Even though that didn't happen, two other central characters died in this episode which is pretty big. I heavily praise the show for making it feel like anyone can die at any given moment as it has led to these walker attacks having unbelievable amounts of tension. It's impressive that I was still nervous for the characters after T-Dog was bit because there was always the possibility that some other characters would face some extreme consequences. This leads into Lori giving birth in the prison tunnels which was extremely tense. Eventually it became clear that Lori wasn't going to make it, and then the episode took a dark and tragic turn. It's impressive that the show made me feel so much from the death of a character I never liked. Lori's death was powerful because of the impact it had on other characters. Watching Carl witness his mother get cut open and die was brutal and worse was his cold decision to shoot his mom to prevent her from turning. It was a rough experience that succeeded hugely in hitting me hard with the depressing nature of the show. When the baby came out and wasn't making any sounds, I was genuinely afraid that the baby would be a stillborn and that Lori died for nothing. It was a horrific moment to watch and had me completely engaged the entire time. But horror isn't enough to provide compelling television. We need some emotional engagement for it to really stick. And we got the emotional engagement through Rick, a character we do care about. Rick's reaction to Lori's death was heartbreaking, stemming from a terrific performance by Andrew Lincoln who conveys Rick's sadness really well. The scene made me genuinely feel sad and I really felt bad for Rick after everything he did to keep Lori safe in the prison. I really like the detail that Andrew is the one who caused this chaos. This makes it so it was Rick's decision to not outright murder Andrew that indirectly caused his wife's death. It wasn't because he lost himself to the world and became too dark, but rather he didn't go far enough to save Lori. It's a distressing story to tell and sets up Rick's character very nicely for change during the rest of the season. I thought the Woodbury scenes were solid. I continue to like the Governor and the way he manipulates people. We got to see him manipulate Andrea and Merle in different ways that allows him to get what he wants for his community. While there are clearly hints of him being downright evil, he has been portrayed as a smart man who is willing to do whatever he needs to for his people. I liked Merle and Andrea's scene as well. The dialogue was good and I like how they touched on the fact that both of them were left behind by Rick's group. The Bad: There were a few small issues I had with the walker assault. First of all, they appeared far too quickly for it to be realistic. It was a good reveal, but it made little sense. Furthermore, Maggie taking Lori into the depths of the prison was a bit dumb. Hershel and Beth stayed outside the prion, so why didn't they? It would have been much smarter. The death of T-Dog wasn't very impactful since we hardly knew him. Had he been given more character development in the show, the moment could have been much better. I wasn't pleased by Daryl's lack of reaction to Carol's apparent death. Surely he would have at least a small reaction. Michonne continues to be bland. If she really wants Andrea to leave, why doesn't she just tell her that she thinks The Governor killed the military people? That should certainly help Andrea open her eyes to what Michonne believes is really going on. The Unknown: Will Merle go find Daryl anyways? He doesn't seem like the kind of person to just listen. What happened to Carol? Is she dead or still surviving? How will Rick and Carl take Lori's death? How will that affect their characters? Best Moment: Rick's reaction to Lori's death was extremely effective at making me feel something for him. Character of the Episode: Lori. Conclusion: This episode was very strong with good developments and some riveting moments. Some of the scenes here were the best that the show has ever done making this one of the show's better episodes. Score: 72
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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