“The Walking Dead’s” Midseason Finale Madness
Yeah, I know. I just got done gushing over the latest volume of the comic and now I’ve come to talk about the TV show’s midseason finale. The short version is that it was REALLY good and while this season has had its issues, it’s on track to be even more satisfying than last year where it finally found its groove. What follows are some general, numbered but not in any particular order thoughts on the season so far.
(Spoilers abound after the break. So if you’re not caught up, then DO IT NOW!)
1. While last night’s episode was the most intense we’ve seen in a while, the slow pace we’ve seen in the previous episodes hasn’t really been an issue as far as I’m concerned. There’s always been plenty to chew on even when there isn’t a zombie attack happening or about to happening. From Rick’s internal debate about how to handle leadership, Carl’s acceptance of responsibility with firearms, Herschel’s concern with saving the souls of everyone in prison, and Carol’s “preparedness at all costs” actions, we got to see a lot of sides to familiar characters that we hadn’t seen before. Carol was the biggest beneficiary of the show’s willingness to dig deeper into the established cast as she really felt like an integral part of the ongoing story this season instead of the hanger-on she’s been in the past.
2. That said, I’m on “Team Rick” regarding his decision to exile her from the prison. Some may call foul on how Rick made the call to kick her out on his own after Carol had also acted on her own when she killed the two infected in the hopes of stopping the sickness from spreading through the prison. He couldn’t have brought her back. Even if Tyrese didn’t kill her right away, I can’t imagine how she would’ve been allowed to remain with everyone else. Assuming they didn’t vote that she die to pay for her crimes.
3. Herschel, on the other hand, showed that he was the real heart of the group in ways other than providing sage counsel for Rick and the others. When he walked into the prison to help tend to the infected, I was worried that was going to be the last we saw of him. Instead, the man proved that he had the steel to back up his moralizing and the resourcefulness to come out of quarantine with his body and soul intact. Which made his subsequent death at the hands of the Governor that much harder to take.
4. One of my co-worker friends thought that Darryl’s wordless stare/rundown of Bob was one of the character’s finest moments and that more disputes should be settled in this manner. I’m inclined to agree.
5. If this season had any weak point, it would be in the two episodes which showed us what the Governor had been up to in the time since his massacre at the end of the last season. The first part really dragged and the staff decided to show his potential redemption through some very familiar tropes. Things picked up in the second as we got to see that his arc here was that of a “failed redemption” and that he was eventually going to revert to type. His murder of Martinez was also shocking, but came so quick and out of nowhere that it was really hard to process at first. Even so, I did like the fact that he tried to get everyone out of the way before he decided to seize control and David Morrissey did a great job of selling his character’s attempt to reform.
6. Prior to his reappearance, I’d been telling everyone at work that when the Governor does show up again, “He’ll be rolling up to the prison with a tank!” Just like in the comics. It was too good of an idea and visual not to do in the show. When we saw the tank itself at the beginning of the second episode spotlighting the Governor… Well, everyone can probably agree that validation feels GOOD!
7. Trying to compress the Governor’s redemption into two episodes was probably a mistake, but at least they got two episodes to do it in. It would’ve been best if they’d been able to tease it out throughout these episodes to give it some time to sink in. However, I realize that would’ve been a logistical impossibility as the scenes at the prison so far this season only took place over a couple of days. I’d say this was the Worst Week Ever for Rick and his group, but Negan’s appearance in the TV show is still a ways off…
8. The midseason finale took a little while to get going with the Governor needing to provide the necessary motivation for his group to support the plan to take the prison. Seeing that he had captured Herschel and Michonne was a nasty surprise even if the former’s pleading fell on deaf ears here. Once the man and his crew rolled up on the prison with the tank, the tension spiked from that moment.
9. Andrew Lincoln has been great as Rick from the start of the show, but if he has one real strength it’s that he’s really good at communicating desperation and despair. His plea to the Governor essentially boiled down to “Can’t we all just get along?” but the man sold it with the same sense of grief and pain that he brought to Lori’s death in the last season. So impassioned was the man’s work here that when he finally brought Herschel’s words at the beginning of the season about being able to come back from the things we’ve done in order to survive full circle, I almost believed he’d be able to avert this crisis through words alone. Then the Governor sliced open Herschel’s neck and all hell broke loose.
10. There were multiple fronts to the fight in the prison and its a credit to episode director Ernest Dickerson that you could follow them all with a minimum of fuss. You’d think that work like this would be worthy of an Emmy, but they’ve never really liked genre shows such as this.
11. While Darryl stole the show during the fight with his “zombie shield” and grenade use, the most interesting part came when Lizzie and her sister showed up and saved Tyrese by killing his attackers. Kids killing adults is nothing new in this show, but the whole reason Lizzie was there with her gun was because of what Carol had taught her earlier in the season. So her actions wound up being validated to the one person who would’ve killed her outright if she had returned to the prison. Only he doesn’t know it yet. It’s a good use of dramatic irony, and something that makes me look forward to seeing what the show has in store for Tyrese, Lizzie, and the other kids since it appears that they’re stuck with each other for the time being.
12. Of course, that’s not to say the Governor’s throwdown with Rick wasn’t compelling in and of itself. It was a brutal hand-to-hand fight where the one-eyed-man had the edge thanks to pure bloodlust. At least until Michonne showed up to even the odds. Seeing her leave the man there to either bleed out and/or get eaten was also a nice acknowledgement that she had finally let go of her formerly all-consuming hate for him. While this was good for her character, leaving him writing on the ground may have left the door open for his eventual return. That is, until Lily showed up to put a bullet in his head for not being there to protect Megan when she needed it.
13. Most of this season so far has been its own beast compared to how this arc played out in the comic, but they eventually brought it back around to the end of volume eight with a wounded Rick and Carl fleeing the prison alone. One key change is that baby Judith’s fate is left up in the air at the end of the episode. All we see is the bloody baby carseat, which is plenty disturbing in and of itself. If they do follow the comic from here, then expect to see a return of “the phone” in the midseason premiere.
14. We never did find out who was leaving those rats for the zombies and in the prison. The main cast would appear to be above suspicion while the most developed of the new crew this season, Bob, is too obvious for my liking. A number of unfamiliar faces did make their escape on the prison bus, so it’s possible that we just haven’t met the culprit yet. Yet this person is on the bus. With Glenn… Ah, who am I kidding! Glen’s not going to die now. He’s got a date with a barbed-wire bat in another season or two.
15. So we come past the season’s midway point with the cast split into several groups, each heading in unknown directions. It seems unlikely that they’ll be able to reconnect as quickly as they did at the end of the second season, but it seems inevitable that they’ll all hook up together again eventually. My money’s on Tyrese and the kids running into Carol first. Also, in case you hadn’t heard Abraham will be showing up soon as well.
16. Abraham’s appearance is also significant since it means that we’ve almost reached the point where we got the “Fear the Hunters” arc in the comic. With both Dale and Herschel now dead, an important question once again rears its head. WHO WILL BE “TAINTED MEAT!?” We may not have to wait long to find out.