The Walking Dead MidSeason Finale Recap: Keep Your Friends Close…

So we reach the midseason finale of a show that has worked extremely hard to shake off the cobwebs of its second season which saw most everything drag to an abrupt halt where there was even a question of the show’s survival if it didn’t improve. What’s made the first half of the third season remarkable is the almost new found focus and energy the show’s found by sloughing off most of the trappings of the second season and putting forth a reinvigorated showing to add more balance to the middling product.

To its credit, there’s been a constant reminder that the characters are still in a zombie apocalypse. There has also been the sense that at any moment a core or beloved character could be killed which has served to ratchet up the tension factor tremendously, and with a spate of new characters, the show has managed to shake off its former stagnancy and find a new stride.

And the finale does more of this when it opens. We’re introduced to a handful of new characters. This is a rag tag team of survivors with rudimentary weapons like hammers and shovels. They’re not afraid to get in there and mix it up with the Walkers, but we can see from the outset that they are not a “strike team.” They’re more a disorganized bunch of people attempting to just get through the forest and find safety — any safety. There’s no scouting or Roman flanking in their movements. The group is led by newcomers Tyreese, a single woman, and a family consisting of a mother, father, and son. As they scrabble through the forest, Tyreese says he sees a tower up ahead, but before they make it, the mother is bit on the arm. Everyone knows what that means, but when the time comes to decide that she’s 1) slowing them down and 2) slowly becoming a zombie, so the best thing to do is either 3) leave her behind or 4) take her out, the decision is made to take her with the group through a hole in a fence. And in this moment we realize that this group is not unlike the Grimes Group when they came upon Hershel’s farm. There were moments to contemplate right and wrong, and to feed into sentimentality; something the cold, hard winter has diminished in Rick’s group now as it stands.

At the fence as the camera pans to the right and left we realize this opening is attached to the prison. Okay, huh? How has Rick’s group, whose sole focus has been to secure the prison so they can roam freely, have overlooked such a big hole in their fortress? You would think minimally from the guard tower, someone keeping watch would see the opening. These are two interesting flaws in both The Prison and Woodbury. There are ways in that the leaders don’t know about.

Back at Woodbury, the most annoying character since Sophia went lost and before Dale was gored by a Walker, Andrea, urgh, is having yet another tender moment with The Governor. She’s all coy looks and soft tones. Tra-la-la Andrea has a new boyfriend! Yikes. After he shoos her away to go bury the Walker she stabbed in the head last episode or whatever, ole Governor decides he’d like to have a tea party with his zombie daughter. He puts on a little music and lets the girl out of her pen in her pretty pink dress and shoes where he takes her head out of its sack and implores she connect with him in some way. Once he realizes that she’s only interested in feeding not playing Barbies, he yells his frustration, puts the sack back over her head, and returns her to her cave-like cell. A father/daughter bonding session fail.

Down in the pits of Woodbury, Glenn and Maggie are recovering from torture and surely contemplating the next phase of captivity under The Governor’s and Merle’s watch — death. Glenn softly asks if The Governor hurt Maggie in that awful way men do to which she says no, but reminds Glenn of the wrong humans can inflict even in a zombie apocalypse. Glenn suddenly has an idea. Going over to the Walker he killed earlier and in one of the bloodiest, goriest scenes in Walking Dead history, he pulls off the thing’s arm and breaks a couple bones making a shiv for both he and Maggie. Good job, Walking Dead. A zombie shiv. While it’s not likely to be found at Wal-Mart amongst the camping stoves and lawn chairs, when all you’ve got is one dead Walker all parts are usable. The head can be a soup bowl! The foot a pot holder! The Governor also confirms that death is exactly what awaits Glenn and Maggie. Merle is okay with this, but he is curious if The Governor plans to move Woodbury to The Prison. Nope. The Governor doesn’t want to give up his own personal Stepford Prison with sidewalks, trees, and shit thank you very much, but thinks that Rick’s group should be eradicated lest they get any bright ideas. Merle plans to move on the prison in the morning.

Little do they know that The Prison is on their front doorstep led by Michonne. Rick and his group including Michonne, Daryl, and Oscar are scouting Woodbury for a way in. Michonne leads them to a back way in through a storage building, but they’re seen by a do-gooding civilian. He tries to find out what’s going on but gets zip-tied, pistol whipped, and gagged for his trouble. Rick’s team has to move. Stupid, stupid, Woodbury Hobbitses.

Back at the prison we find out that blonde, whiskered Axel is lonely and horny. He’s a bit too friendly with Beth and when Carol calls him on it, claims that all the women are taken except she and Beth, and since Carol’s a lesbian, he might as well hit on Beth, because, well, he hasn’t been with a woman in a long while. Ew. The fact that he felt compelled to sexplain that part further — double Ew. And since we know so little about this guy, we’re now wondering what he was doing time for? This whole scene was one giant “Bad Touch” all over our brains. No thanks. No thanks, forever.

When next we see Rick’s group they’re frantically searching for Glenn and Maggie. There’s a scuffle where both Glenn and Maggie attempt to take out Merle and another henchman with those zombie arm shivs. Maggie gets lucky, but not Glenn. There’s a gun shot and in hearing distance Rick’s group takes off. They find the dungeon pit where Glenn and Maggie are being held. As the two love birds are marched to their deaths, Daryl is able to throw a smoke grenade and while the men are distracted, the team gets to Glenn and Maggie. Uh, that was kind of easy. We’re going to assume that since The Governor’s men aren’t really trained guys, but just the equivalent to a neighborhood militia, using grenades wasn’t really an offensive tactic they’d explored or expected and therefore was a relatively easy way to thwart a plan.

All the shooting makes the Woodbury residents scared. They’re running around like loose hamsters in a shoe box. The Governor sends everyone home, but to his militia he tells them to shoot to kill. Once in hiding, Glenn tells Daryl that Merle was the one who took them and initially tried to kill them. Daryl can’t believe it. He wants to go and reason with him, but Rick says they need to escape and regroup and figure out the Merle thing later. Reluctantly, Daryl agrees. The group makes a run for it amid gunfire seemingly from every direction. There are more smoke grenades and a trade of gunfire making the whole action sequence foggy and formidable. Most everyone is in shadow. Andrea joins the fight after seeing Oscar — and not the others. Eventually Oscar goes down. Yep, we knew Yeoman Oscar Death Certainty wouldn’t last long. He was chump bait if we ever saw it. And then Shane appears or rather Shane with Wolverine beard and head hair appears we assume from location starring as Hugh Jackman’s stunt double. And we were like, “SHANE! Hey guy?” But really this was just a figment of Rick’s still Swiss-cheesed brain. He shoots him dead and realizes that it wasn’t Shane after all. Bummer.

At the prison, Beth, Carl, and Hershel hear screaming and it’s confirmed that it’s coming from inside. But how could that be? Oh, you know, like an English muffin, the place is full of nooks and crannies and Walkers could have found their way in no problem says Hershel. Head. Wall. Isn’t this what having someone keep watch supposedly does? Carl decides to check it out. After taking out two of his own Walkers, he finds Tyreese and his group fending off an attack in the boiler room. He assists them in taking out the Walkers that have followed them in and then leads them to a holding area. While the group has to decide what to do with the one survivor who was bitten, Carl quietly locks them in the holding area on the other side of the Grimes’ Group cell block. Crafty. Noticing, the woman from the new group implores Carl let them in. Carl acting all the sheriff says that he can’t do that, and that there’s food and water for them. The woman incensed can’t believe they’re locked in a large cell. However, Tyreese understands that the area is dry, safe, and is the best they’ve had in weeks. He gets it. And Carl has now fully left the child’s play behind. Beth says they should help them. Stoically, Carl says, “I did.” Man! Carl is stepping up this season! He and Beth are so definitely going to the Zombie High Prom!

In Woodbury, Michonne has left Rick’s group. We find her sitting in wait for The Governor, well, until she hears some strange moaning coming from his little Den of Wonder. She breaks the door down and first sees the aquarium full of heads. She doesn’t seem that surprised. We gather that she always knew something was off about The Governor. What does surprise her are the sounds coming from a cave like cell which she opens. Out comes Penny still dressed in pretty pink. Michonne in a moment of tenderness we’ve never seen from her puts down her sword and tells the girl that it’s okay, and that she won’t hurt her. She unchains Penny from the wall and lifts the sack off her head. Surprise! It’s a zombie grade schooler and she wants NOMS! All the NOMS! And then The Governor appears and she finally gets the picture. He’s contrite. He’s putting down his weapons and pleads that Michonne not hurt “his little girl” and that there’s “no need for her to suffer.” If even for a second Michonne was going to pity him, that last bit puts her over the edge. She says, “She doesn’t have needs.” and then takes that katana and stabs Penny through the back of the head and out her mouth. Crikey. Even in CGI this was a bit unsettling and crazy.

The Governor goes batshit. And they’re launched into a vicious battle to the death. Even though we know there is more to this Governor story and that The Walking Dead won’t kill him off just yet, the fight was intense. Until, well, Michonne gets the upper hand and instead of taking his head, she opts to try and strangle him. Boo! This was silly. Why would she do this, Walking Dead? That’s easy. She wouldn’t. The show just needed to buy time to give The Governor the upper hand again so she can wound, but not kill him.(It’s like the T.J. Hooker school of fight protocol). Michonne finds a piece of glass and stabs the shit out of his eyeball. Then finally she seems ready to be done with him, and then Andrea shows up. Sigh. [Fingies Aside: REALLY? A LAST MINUTE SAVE?! ARGLE BARGLE!]

They square off and Michonne says nothing. NOTHING! NOT, “HEY LOOK AT THIS CRAZY PLACE FULL OF ZOMBIE HEADS, AND OH, BY THE WAY, HE’S HAD YOUR OLD FRIENDS HERE AS CAPTIVES DOLING OUT SOME GOOD OLD FASHIONED TORTURE, AND HE ALSO SENT MERLE TO KILL ME! THIS GUY IS NUTTIER THAN A PEANUT FARM!”

No, none of this happened. Michonne just strolls out leaving Andrea to ask questions that mostly The Governor can explain. “Oh, I just wanted to see the Walkers face to face. Michonne wants to kill me because she’s crazy, and I’m just a poor, poor dad who couldn’t face losing his daughter. Teeny, tiny, violins.”

The Governor is a loon.

Andrea sucks.

Merle is probably toast.

Yup.

Rick manages to escape with Glenn, Maggie, and Michonne. Daryl is nowhere to be found and Rick’s none too happy with Michonne for leaving the group. He’s one who definitely feels that you handle your own personal vendetta shit on your own time or get shot. (Waves at Shane!) However, Michonne says plainly that he needs her in order to get back to the prison safely. He’s down two guys and Glenn can barely walk. However, we don’t exactly see them leave yet, so we’re not sure if the plan is to hurry back, or to try and wait out Daryl for a bit longer. It doesn’t really matter though.

The Governor has organized another all-town meeting and bloody fight viewing party. This time he starts throwing the word “Terrorist” around. Yeah, so now everyone is on notice that anyone not part of Woodbury is a “terrorist” who wants what Woodbury has, and not just people who were just looking for their captured friends. In fact, says the The Governor this group of terrorists is so dastardly they’ve turned one of their own. Merle. Oh, Merle. You didn’t see this coming? The Governor says Merle’s lies brought the terrorists to their front door assisted by his very own brother. Out comes Daryl held by The Governor’s men. We have no idea if Daryl was caught or if he let himself be caught to get closer to Merle and ended up in a worse situation. The two brothers lock eyes and yeah, we knew, in some way it would come to this. Brother against brother. Andrea, the sheep, just stands there looking aghast. Yeah, Andrea, you goof. Things aren’t so peachy keen in Woodbury now are they? The Governor with his one Eye of Sauron tells Merle he finally has his chance to see his brother. Next we assume he says, “Mortal Kombat! Fight!”

And that’s where we leave things.

So what do you guys think so far about the season and this finale episode? Who will win between Merle and Daryl? Does Rick really need Michonne? How will Rick react to finding Tyreese and his crew back at the prison? What’s the deal with Axel? What did you think about seeing Shane out of the blue? (Lame) Has Andrea finally had enough Kool-Aid? (Let’s all just say that we hate Andrea, mmm ‘kay?)

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