The episode starts with a helicopter crash, which catches the eyes of Andrea and Michonne… but when they hop on over to check it out, they soon see the Governor and his cronies show up to evaluate the aftermath. Of the two soldiers in the helicopter, one solider's still relatively intact, and the other? Well… he's in halfsies, in an astonishingly gory shot. (Seriously, are there any limitations to the blood and guts that this show can get away with? TV-14-LV my patootie…) Before you know it, Team Woodbury takes out a few zombies at the crash site (Baseball bat to the skull for the win!)… and Michonne makes the ultimate sacrifice to keep her and Andrea alive: by decapitating her two 'pets'. (This scene quickly answered one of the burning questions I had for this season: How was AMC going to afford a season's worth of visual effects to remove Michonne's pets' arms? Yay, budget consciousness!)
Speaking of missing limbs: Merle's back!!! Just knowing that Michael Rooker is on board as a regular cast member this season is exciting enough for me… and his entrance during the crash site sequence with HIS BUTTKICKING STABBY BAYONET HAND made me just giddy! The episode makes the wise choice to give us some quality Merle time, as he delivers a nice soliloquy to the two ladies in the Woodbury infirmary. (We also get a fleeting shot of Merle's arm stump, to appease our taste for lost body parts.) Plus, Merle nets the quote of the night during his speech, when talking about who he can trust these days: "I think I'd piss my pants if some stranger come walking up with his mitts in his pockets!"
But as we soon find out, this man without a right hand is, in fact, the right-hand man for The Governor, whom fans have been eagerly waiting to see on the series. He's played on the show by David Morrissey, a frequent British TV actor (including The Red Riding Trilogy and the original UK version of State of Play), but who's also had some experience in assorted genre films, including Centurion, The Reaping and, most infamously, the male lead in 2006's Basic Instinct 2. (Remember that movie? That's a thing that happened!) Right away, he sets the tone for the character: a slick sweet-talker of a leader who's definitely up to no good. Sure, he's managed to put together a seemingly peaceful community where people can return to some sense of normalcy. But then again, he's not too keen on giving Andrea and Michonne back their weapons or letting them leave… and he's perfectly willing to take down 10 or so National Guardsmen to get their weapons, food, and supplies. Oh, and then there's that pesky secret lab, complete with Milton, the Reserved Yet Still Creepy Mad Scientist. (Note to self: Don't invite Milton to breakfast. How he turns grub time into a fact-finding mission is just off-putting!) And let's not forget the end-of-episode secret room, replete with 22 heads in tanks… including those of Michonne's pets and the captured soldier. (The Governor is just trying to put together his own version of Futurama, right? Right?)
Now, I should iterate that I'm not a reader of the comic… I'm going into this show cold, without any knowledge of what the Governor's ultimate plans are. (If you are a comic reader, though, be sure to scroll down to the very bottom of this post.) But with such a setup, of course there's going to be plenty of conflict in play… but right now, it's mostly between Andrea and Michonne. As of right now, Andrea is pretty fond of Woodbury, and the comfort it provides: After 8 months of wandering, the setting is relieving, to say the least. Michonne doesn't necessarily agree… after all, you really think you can keep her away from her beloved sword? There's a little bit of conflict between the Governor and Andrea in that final scene, as she quickly learns that the Governor's not one to let his guard down, even to reveal his real name. Give it time, though, and this will certainly blossom into something much more intimidating.
But in the end, the great thing about tonight's episode is that it means we're going to have two strong sets of stories/settings to switch between, in the prison and Woodbury… which is especially important, given we have an expanded 16-episode season to fill out. This is new territory for the series, in terms of balancing plots… but if nothing else, the chances of pointless filler in Season 3 has plummeted significantly. And given we have two magnetic new characters in The Governor and Michonne to help drive this second plot, this is certainly going to be something much more exciting and interesting than "the B-plot" of Season 3. Heck, I wonder if this is going to make the prison stuff pale by comparison. :-) But that's where next week's balancing act will come into play.
Random notes:
- Tonight's director: Guy Ferland, a frequent director from the late, great series The Shield. He has only one major movie credit to his name: 2004's Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. This is his fourth episode of the series: among his previous episodes was the first-season finale.
- Tonight's movie ads: The Man with the Iron Fists, Flight, Skyfall (a Q-centric TV spot!), and Life of Pi.
- Best make-up effect of the night: As already stated, the split-in-half solder wins by a landslide… although I did also like the show of the Governor's fingers inside the mouth of Michonne's pet's decapitated (yet still active) head.
- Tonight's kill count, courtesy of Story Sync: 9 humans and 9 walkers. Merle leads with 4 walker kills!
- Next week: How will the show be able to juggle the prison and Woodbury stories? Well, we'll just have to see… to tide you over until then, here's a prison scene from next week's episode:
Bonus Fun Time! Thanks to the miraculous power of my DVR, I've transcribed the commercial break card from the 29-minute mark of the episode for your pleasure. So, here are Robert Kirkman's 5 favorite changes from the comic book to the TV series:
5) Morgan's wife. Showing her in the show was such a powerful and emotional scene that I simply never even considered! I suck!
4) Herd attacking Hershel's farm. In the comic Hershel put a gun to Rick's head and said, "You guys can't live here!" and Rick gathered everyone up and they left. No barn burning, no thousands of walkers attacking, no leaving Andrea for dead.
3) Sophia was in the barn! Spoiler alert… after 103 issues of the comic book… Sophia is alive and well! Her death in the show has affected all of the characters in meaningful ways.
2) Rick kills Shane. In the comic, Shane brings Rick out to the woods to kill him-- and before he can do it CARL shoots Shane in the neck. In the show, when Rick knifes him it's such a dramatic payoff, it's really the moment where Rick emerges as someone who will do whatever has to be done to survive… even kill his best friend
1) Daryl Friggin' Dixon. He's not even in the comic, folks.
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