Welcome back, The Walking Dead. Last night’s mid-season premiere was a wild one, full of action and lots of narrative movement. Unfortunately, logical connections seemed to be missing, as though the episode — and the new plot threads — felt rushed. Some of it felt forced and some of it didn’t make any damn sense. Ultimately, however, I think outgoing showrunner Glen Mazzara got where he wanted to go, he just took a few shortcuts to get there.
Let’s jump straight to it.
1. Just Follow My Lead, Little Brother — The episode opened where the last episode left off: The Governor pitted Merle and Daryl against each other to fight to the death. I’m not sure what most people were expecting to come out of the scenario, but Merle appeared to have a plan to save both himself and Daryl before the prison gang arrived and saved them both.
My biggest beef with last night’s episode — including the illogical leaps we’ll get to in a moment — was the opening, which was not particularly well executed. The quality of the directing in any given episode usually doesn’t trigger any bells unless it’s done poorly, and the execution of that stand-off and the erupting chaos was not well conceived. It looked cheap, like it was either rushed or didn’t get enough time in post-production. But it served its purpose: To separate Merle and Daryl from The Governor. But it LOOKED like a scene shot on a sound stage with dry-ice fog being pumped in.
I will say this, though: DO NOT F*CK WITH DARYL’S WEAPON.
2. Hines Ward! — He only got three seconds of screen time before he was killed, but it was kind of fun to see Zombie Hines Ward. I wish he’d been wearing a Steelers jersey, though.
3. Surrounded by a Bunch of Liars, Thugs, and Cowards — Despite the fact that the prison gang had saved Merle, he certainly didn’t change his sleazy attitude toward them. He was his same-old dick self, and immediately created dissension among the prison gang, first by taunting Rick and the gang with knowledge that Andrea was f**king the Governor, and then revealing that Andrea and Michonne had been close.
After Glenn threw a hissy fit about potentially bringing Merle back to camp, Rick was forced to give Daryl and ultimatum: Us or Merle? Daryl chose blood. Or more likely, spit.
Daryl and Merle motored off to fend for themselves, and who knows that will come of them? Presumably, Daryl will be faced with that choice again — Rick or Merle — in a more immediately life-threatening situation, and hopefully, he’ll choose Rick. Either that, or a zombie chews Merle’s face off. I’d be OK with that, too.
4. Daryl’s Gone? — The absence of Daryl seemed to cause a greater stress to the prison gang than the potential presence of Merle. Carol, for instance, was heartbroken, and so were the Caryl shippers.
But it also drove a wedge between Maggie and Glenn, which actually felt contrived. Given what Glenn and Maggie had just gone through, and considering how close they are, the situation felt off. Glenn throws a hissy fit because Rick didn’t kill The Governor — but did save Daryl? But Glenn’s still pissed because it was all a waste of time and risk because Daryl ended up leaving? I mean, Glenn helped to drive him off. What doesn’t make sense is that Glenn is pissed off at Maggie? What? Why would he be so upset with Maggie? I haven’t seen two clearly-in-love characters pulled apart in such a weirdly illogical way since … Jim and Pam in this season’s The Office.
The only purpose it seemed to serve was that, later in the episode, it demonstrated how much Hershel thinks of Glenn.
5. Zombie Kill of the Week — Glenn’s misguided anger, however, did prompt a gruesome zombie stomp of the week.
6. “You Are Gone!” — The other piece in this situation that doesn’t make a lot of sense is Rick’s decision, after patching Michonne up, to send her packing. Why? Because she’s too unpredictable. Because he can’t control her? Because she has her own agenda, although that agenda does square with the prison gang’s agenda. She did lead them to Woodbury, and she did kill the Governor’s daughter. Why doesn’t she get a gold star?
Anyway, back at the prison, she fell asleep after Hershel patched her up, and looks to be out for a few days, which gives everyone else some time to figure out how to keep her there.
Also, I don’t think she said a word in last night’s episode. It’s not a great step toward making Michonne a more fully-dimensional character.
7. Chaos in Woodbury — Meanwhile, back in Woodbury, the confrontation with the prison gang left several dead, and also created an opening for the biters to come through. That led to further chaos and violence when the citizens attempted to escape Woodbury, only to be kept from leaving by Woodbury security. Elsewhere, The Governor basically locked himself away as he planned his next step. He did make one brief appearance to blow a hole in an infected citizen’s head, however.
8. “Years from now when they write about this in the history books, they will write about Woodbury. We persevered.” — There also looks to be a huge power struggle between Andrea and The Governor brewing in Woodbury. After The Governor dismissed Andrea for getting bent out of shape about him not telling her about Rick and the Gang, Andrea walked outside and went all Jeff Winger on the Woodbury citizenry. Now that they see Andrea as a leader, The Governor’s job is threatened, and he knows it.
9. We’re No Stranger to Hard Work — Tyrese and his crew — Sasha, Allen, and Ben — have also developed a small internal fracture. Allen and Ben are all for a prison coup, while Ty wants to see how it plays out and hopefully become a member of prison gang. Ty’s crew was once at 25, and now they’re at 4, and he likes strength in numbers. There’s only one problem …
10. Rick Is Going Insane — First of all, what’s going on with Beth (better known as “Blonde Daughter”) and her little infatuation with Rick, and will her infatuation with Rick piss off Carl, who has his own infatuation with Blonde Daughter?
Second, why did Lil Ass Kicker give Rick the crazies? Did he see a resemblance to Shane?
Finally, just as it was starting to look like Rick was going to allow Tyrese into the prison gang, Rick lost his goddamn marbles when he saw a vision of zombie-ghost Lori.
Creepy? Absolutely. But where is this heading? A power vacuum? Will Rick lose control over the gang, and will Hershel — or Daryl — fill his position? I saw in interview, somewhere, where Mazzara did not rule out the possibility that Rick will be killed in the second half of the third season. Is that a possibility? Could that be what prompted Kirkman to fire Mazzara? Has Rick served his purpose? Would the prison gang be better served with a new leader? Their numbers are dwindling; they’re definitely going to need more help, especially once The Governor regroups. Where is this season heading?
