The episode begins somewhat audaciously, at least within the scope of a TV finale: by adding in an entirely new group of survivors, led by Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman, whom you may know best as Cutty from The Wire) and Sasha. I immediately got a Lost Season 2 vibe, when that series introduced the Tailies (Ana Lucia, Libby and Mr. Eko, among others)… if I had to give a name to Tyreese's crew, it would have to be "The Shovels" (after their weapon of choice). To the show's credit, they tried to give as much semblance to the idea that their adventures have carried just as much drama as Rick's Gang. And in that cold open, we get just enough plot potential for the Shovels: one of their own has been bitten, and they've just so happened to find the prison, which was presented in a wondrous wide shot of them entering the damaged wreckage of one of the prison cell blocks.
Once they get deeper into the prison, the show makes an intriguing, yet effective choice, in having Carl be the chief representative of our group. It's Carl that goes in after the Shovels once the screams start, who goes in and takes down a walker to help the Shovels escape their latest attack. And when Carl brings them into the block, he's the one who's adamant that they take their wounded member out… and given Tyreese's instrument of choice, I shall refer to this primarily as "Hammer Time". Finally, it's Carl who locks them up in the cell block. It's a stunning display of leadership and courage… and it's a testament to how the writers have managed to plausibly and effectively develop Carl these past eight episodes.
Tonight was also strong in the payoff department, as a number of the Governor's secrets were finally exposed… or, at least, to our main characters, that is. As soon as the Governor decided to sing a lullaby to his beloved zombie daughter, a part of me started hoping, "Please let this be the second consecutive mid-season finale in which a little walker girl dies!" And, as luck would have it, we got just that, as Michonne discovered the Governor's Secret Room of Heads in Fish Tanks… and ultimately, little Penny. Let's give credit where credit was due: that extended fight between Michonne and the Governor was twelve kinds of awesome, wasn't it? First, there's the way it started - with Michonne sliding her katana through Penny's mouth, invoking the Guv'ner's rage. Then, there was the Guv slamming Michonne's head into one of the fish tanks… causing the undead walker heads to roll around during the face-off. And then, Michonne was nice enough to slam that shard of glass in the Governor's right eye (which, let's face it, didn't seem to be affecting the Governor much by episode's end). And then, just as Michonne's about to finish the Guv off, here comes Andrea who pulls out her gun, sees Michonne off… and then views the zombie heads and Penny in full view. That sheer combination of revelations and unbridled rage was a tremendous and efficient way for this show to Get. Things. Done. Let's watch some of that scene again, shall we?
Of course, for Michonne to have her fun time at the Governor's apartment, that meant she had to disband with Rick and the gang as they worked to get Glen and Maggie out of Woodbury. I did appreciate how the show didn't dawdle around: by the beginning of the third segment, there's Rick tossing out smoke bombs and extracting the couple from Team Merle. (Not only that, but we got to see Glen and Maggie wield some nice bone shivs, too!) This leads to an epic firefight in the streets of Woodbury - a bit of a surprise, in that the show's major action sequences tonight had very little to do with zombies altogether. The one awkward misstep was how the show worked overtime to prevent Andrea from recognizing Rick, Daryl, et al… by having the Governor keep her from helping shoot 'em down, from obscuring most of them during the smoke-filled firefight (save for the Token Prisoner, who unpredictably got bumped off during the shootout), and by holding the revelation of any familiar face (Michonne excepted) until the final scene, in which the Governor reunites Merle with the captured Daryl in front of the Woodbury community. (The Governor was quite apt to throw out the T-word - "terrorists!" - when describing Rick's infiltration tonight.)
(And, within said firefight, as Rick was hiding behind some handy-dandy solar panels, we were treated to none other than a hallucination of Shane! To be honest, I was surprised to see him show up, because (a) he was conspicuously absent from the Dead Phone Caller episode two weeks ago, and (b) he famously defected to Frank Darabont's new TNT series, L.A. Noir. Still, it was a nice treat… and in epic shotgun-wielding slow-motion, nonetheless.)
So where do we go from here? Well, having our two bands of survivors should lead to more interesting face-offs, especially once Team Rick makes it back to the prison… when they're not rushing to prevent the Woodbury army from invading the prison and taking them out. And, of course, there's the dubious fate of Merle and Daryl, who are finally reunited (but not feeling so good). Sure, the crowd says, "Kill 'em!", but there's no way that we're getting rid of our beloved Dixon brothers anytime soon. But now begins the hard part: waiting for all this to resolve itself. Like last year, AMC is taking an extended midseason break, and won't bring the show back until after the Super Bowl… which means we won't see the next episode until February 10th. With that in mind, thank you very much for reading our Walking Dead Season 3 coverage thus far… and we'll see you in 2013!
Random notes:
- Tonight's director: Billy Gierhart, who directed the second episode of this season, "Sick".
- Tonight's kill count: 5 humans and 13 walkers… and in his first episode, Tyreese notches top honors, with 5 walkers slayed!
- Tonight's movie TV spots: We got oodles of previews tonight: Zero Dark Thirty, The Hobbit, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Django Unchained, Warm Bodies, Jack Reacher, The Last Stand, and Mama.
- After 27 episodes, I've gotta say that the opening title sequence and theme is still one of my current TV favorites. Can you think of any other show opening that tops it… in the sense that you'll actually sit through it every episode instead of skipping past it on your DVR? I sure can't.
- Last week, we were treated to those wacky Freakshow promos… and now, AMC is blessing us with Immortalized, a reality TV series all about taxidermy. Wow, they're really going to the bizarro well… and given the network's newly strengthened commitment to reality television (including a dedicated Thursday-night all-reality lineup), this is only going to get worse. But if this is what it takes to bankroll future seasons of AMC's scripted shows, so be it…
- So, Kevin Smith got Stan Lee to show up on Comic Book Men, eh? As overexposed as Stan seems to be these days, at least Kevin Smith has a well-documented history with the man.
- So you're not a lesbian, Carol? But you got the short hair! My, my… this is interesting!
- If you're so inclined, AMC advertised a Walking Dead marathon on New Year's Even and New Year's Day, which will include all 27 episodes thus far. We'll probably get an extended preview of Season 3.5 sometime during then… at least that's my guess.
- As mentioned on tonight's Talking Dead, the Chris Hardwick talk show series will directly follow the premiere airing of each week's Walking Dead episode when it returns on February 10th. In addition, Talking Dead will now be extended to a full hour each week. Exciting, eh?
- Next time: Here's a brief, and largely inconsequential, scene from episode 9, which takes place immediately after tonight's final scene:
