Summary: A new group of survivors arrives at the prison and Carl helps them but locks them in a cell. At Woodbury, Rick's group infiltrates the camp and locate Glenn and Maggie. They rescue them and try to escape but Oscar is killed in the ensuing chaos. Michonne waits for the Governor and finds Penny while she waits. She kills Penny and fights the Governor, stabbing his eye with a shard of glass. Andrea arrives so Michonne leaves. The Governor is angry at Merle and puts him in a deathmatch with Daryl, who was captured.
The Good: For the most part, this was a tense and exciting mid-season finale that provided a lot of fun. The assault on Woodbury was enjoyable with a number of fun sequences. I liked the use of flashbangs and smoke grenades as a way for Glenn and Maggie to be safely taken away from Merle. The sequence was shot really nicely and was very tense all the way through. The best parts were everything between Michonne and the Governor. I really liked that Michonne crept into the Governor's chambers and simply sat their waiting. It was pretty cool and was the one badass Michonne moment that I thought worked in terms of her character. The ensuing fight was very gritty and dramatic and was probably the best action drama that I've seen in this show so far. I really liked Michonne's execution of Penny as well. It added some emotion to their scenes as the Governor begged Michonne not to kill her, and it led to that brilliantly gruesome visual of the Governor crying over his dead daughters body with a shard of glass sticking out of his eye. I thought Daryl's conflict was really good. I liked seeing him grappling with saving Glenn and Maggie and talking to Merle. It was a nice extra layer of tension because we couldn't be sure about what choices Daryl would make that could jeopardize the mission. It seemed certain that something would go wrong with the mission to add some more drama and I had suspected that Daryl would be the cause of this. Instead, it was Rick who was the cause. The hallucination of Shane was an interesting choice. While I don't currently see its relevance (see: The Unknown), it does open up for some more interesting story for Rick. The Bad: The big gunfight in the smoke was lame and generic television. I enjoyed the other action scenes because they were creative and tense. Unfortunately, the big gunfight was neither as it was a classic TV gunfight where hundreds of bullets are shot and none seem to hit the mark. Gunfights like these really bother me. Oscar was the only character who died in the episode and it was incredible how little I cared. Next time, develop the characters instead of just killing them for no reason other than "oh look he died". Rick's plan was a bit stupid. I was annoyed by him giving Michonne hell for not knowing where Glenn and Michonne were. How was she supposed to know? Furthermore, the decision to split up was beyond stupid. It seemed like an easy way for all of them to get killed. Even though Michonne had her best scene in this episode, she is still frustrating. Her encounter with Andrea was really bad. The scene was played for emotion but it failed in every way because of how poor Michonne has been as a character. It's frustrating that she doesn't tell Andrea anything to let her know that the Governor is dangerous. Maybe mention the imprisoned Glenn and Maggie, the Governor's head collection or something else to help her understand why the Governor shouldn't be trusted. Instead, Michonne is a terrible friend and leaves Andrea in the hornet's nest. The cliff-hanger was really weak. It was a classic prisoner swap story which isn't particularly interesting to me. I never liked those stories because it always feels like nothing was accomplished from freeing the initial prisoners. I thought it was a poor cliff-hanger to end of the first half season. Last season had a great climactic moment with the walkers in the barn and Sophia's death signifying the end of season 2A. This season failed to replicate the same sense of closure by its halfway point. I thought the new survivor group's story was fine, but it feels like a storyline that should have been introduced in the next episode, not this one. Hershel letting Carl go out to investigate because "his father would do the same" was really awkward. Was Hershel really convinced by that? The Unknown: Who are the new group of survivors? Can we trust them? Where have they been this whole time? What is Axel's backstory? He screams sex offender to me. Best Moment: Michonne and the Governor's fight was brutal and exciting. Character of the Episode: The Governor. Conclusion: This was a relatively fun mid-season finale that provided some quality scenes. However, the episode fails to be special due to a number of flaws and a lack of emotional connection to the events. This half season has been fairly enjoyable so far, but inconsistent. There has been some great episodes and some weaker ones as well. But it is still enjoyable, and I hope that this quality can be maintained for the next 8 episodes. Score: 64
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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