THE WALKING DEAD: Harvey And Adair Are TOO FAR GONE

Season 4, Episode 8 “Too Far Gone”

Dustin: I would just like to say before we get started, that Once Upon a Time has gotten ridiculous and stupid. I am so pissed off at a show I used to love that has seriously devolved into something just so, so awful.

Timothy: Not the show we cover.

Dustin: I know. I just had to say it.

Timothy: Do you feel better?

No, I’ll never feel better, because I can’t stop watching terrible shows.

Right. So… The Walking Dead?

Ugh, ((sigh)) fine.

Compose yourself sir, while I give the usual spiel, because this is, ladies and gentlemen, our weekly review of AMC’s The Walking Dead. As always, I am joined by Dustin Adair and our Studio Audience Of One, Miss Anne-Marie, Purveyor Of Looks and Pithy Comments, and we shall be giving you our thoughts on this mid-season finale. There are SPOILERS ahead, and much that is inappropriate and questionable, standard warning stuff there.

Take it away, Mr. Adair!

Whatever. Predictions:
•    S@#$ shall hit the fan.
•    Hershel will play Tyreese.
•    Lilly will have doubts.
•    Penny II will not be a thing this week.
•    Rick and The Governor will have an angry face off.

Interesting. Sort of.

Shut it. The Governor is back in all his rhetorical glory convincing the poor, desperate people of Camp Henchman to attack the prison.
In flashback, we see him at the prison while he talks.

Michonne and Hershel burn the walker bodies from Quarantine until The Governor comes and attacks them. He knocks Michonne out with one carefully placed pistol-whipping to the head. He has his gun on Hershel before Hershel can even move.

The Governor is a dick and Tara kind of questions his motives, but not much.

And apparently she’s the only one. What’s wrong with you people?

The Governor says he has a plan that should allow them to take the prison without killing anyone, but they need to be prepared to kill.

The Governor convinces Camp Henchman that Team Zombie are a bunch of thieves and murderers. He is all about not letting his small group of survivors die.

God, I hate this. I hate that I liked him last week. I hate that this show has gotten SO GOOD. Why am I so broken?

Because David Morrissey is a good actor and for a moment we were able to entertain the idea that Phillip could leave the Governor behind, even though we knew that wasn’t going to happen.

Camp Henchman does not need too much convincing, and they all follow Tara’s lead in saying that they are in to take the prison. Well… Lilly is not convinced. She was listening in secret and she says she does not want to fight or kill people. The Governor  tries to convince her that Team Zombie are bad people, even if all the people in the prison are not. She asks him if she is with a bad person. He says the only judge of whether or not he is good or bad, is the survival of Penny II and Lilly. He tells her he loves her.

That’s a terrible argument and the answer is yes, you are with a bad person. That is a bad person argument.

Lilly says that she doesn’t know who he is. She is instantly smarter than Andrea.

And what are you going to do about it Lilly?

Foster those doubts, Lilly foster the hell out of them.

Michonne and Hershel are in a RV. The Governor brings them food. He tells him that he doesn’t want to hurt them and Hershel says he finds that hard to believe.

Thus establishing Hershel as the one telling the truth in this conversation, because the Governor isn’t going to let them live, no matter what he’s telling them or himself.

The Governor says it’s not personal. He tells Michonne that he knows that Penny Original Recipe was dead now, all he wants is the prison. No one has to die. Michonne starts to tell him all the sick ways she plans to kill him, but Hershel tells her to shut up.

Can I just mention that the whole Andrea dying thing came out of Michonne NOT saying anything when she should have and here she says the stupidest thing possible at the worst time? Michonne. You’re doing it wrong.

Hershel tries to speak peace to The Governor, who in turn calls Hershel a good man, but they all have to change in this world. Hershel says there is always a better way. But The Governor says this is the only way. Hershel asks The Governor how he could do this, as a father of daughters, how could he threaten another man’s daughters?

The Governor grimaces and says he can do it, because they aren’t his daughters.

And there it is, right there. The thing at the core of the Governor… if it isn’t his, then it doesn’t matter.

Camp Henchman sets up a safe place for the kids and womenfolk by a river. The Governor tells Lilly that they will be safe there, because the walkers can’t cross the river. Lilly asks why they can’t just go to a place that butts up against the water and be safe there.
Good question, Lilly.

The Governor tells her that any safe place will already have people.

Again Lilly asks what Penny II will be in this world and The Governor says she will be alive.

The inverse of Rick, who finally learned it’s about living, and not just surviving.

The Governor and Penny II talk briefly about peanut butter mud pies, he asks her for a hug but her hands are dirty, but he hugs her anyway. Lilly watches from afar.

In the prison, Maggie is taking care of Glen, he looks much better, they are joking and laughing. They talk about their anniversary.
Maggie talks about how she used to like to go on family vacations as a kid. They kiss. Maggie goes for water.

Why do I have a bad feeling about these two?

Daryl and Rick are finally having it out about Carol. Rick says she will be all right. Daryl is pretty much pissed. Daryl asks about the girls and Rick says they will look after them. I forgot about Sophia II and Puppy. Rick says he hasn’t told Tyreese. So he and Daryl go to tell him.

This conversation went better than I suspected it would. The one with Tyreese however…

The Medic is staring at his bottle of booze when Shovel comes in. They talk about how they should both be resting. Shovel thanks him and talks about how she would have died if he had not gone on the run and then administered the IV to her. Shovel tries to thank him but The Medic is all not wanting to be thanked.

Is there love in the air? Doomed love, perhaps? Actually, the odds are good for doomed love on this show.

Shovel is still very weak nearly falls over, she asks for help.

Rick and Daryl got to look for Tryeese. But he has more important things to bring to their attention.
Like a dissected cat. Tyreese thinks whoever has been feeding the walkers rats and killed this cat killed my sweet Melissa and that one guy who we never knew or cared about.

It’s the creepy girl child I tell you! The Girl Child. The Crazy Girl Child.

Before Rick and Daryl can dissuade him of this motion, there is a loud shot.

They go to the gates to see The Governor and his tank.

The Governor wants to talk.

Team Zombie is not amused.

Rick says it’s not his call anymore. There is a council now. The Governor gets all smug and is like: “ Is Hershel is on the council?” and pulls Hershel out of a truck.

And then The Governor is all like: “How ‘bout Michonne?”  and then there’s Michonne.

Aaaaaaand we’re screwed.

Rick flounders, again, he says he doesn’t make the decisions.

The Governor says he’s the one making the decisions today.

Hershel and Michonne are on put on their knees.

Rick and Daryl share a look, Rick silently nods to Team Zombie and heads down to the gate.

Camp Henchman are trying to look all intimidating. Tara particularly is failing miserably at it.

Daryl jumps into action and starts preparing Team Zombie for an evacuation.

Rick tries to have Hershel and Michonne released, he says that Rick will listen, so The Governor doesn’t actually need hostages. The Governor smirks.   He tells Rick that he and Team Zombie have one day to get out of the prison and let Camp Henchman have it.
Rick tries to convince him that they don’t need to do this. He says they can all let the past be the past and all live in the prison.

The Governor is all: “I have a tank!”

Rick is all weepy and ineffective. But I kind of get it, THE GOVERNOR HAS A TANK!!

Rick is trying to reason with a madman here, and with the people around him, and I’m going to give him a pass on the weepy thing, because there is no good ending to this, and he knows it. Everything he’s lost, everything Team Zombie has lost, everything they have gone through and the life they’ve rebuilt is about to come crashing down, and he knows it.

Meanwhile, up at the prison, Daryl is moving stuff around and arming Team Zombie.

This is about to go so wrong.

So very, very wrong. This is going to hurt, isn’t it?

Back at the river, Lilly is all doubts and wringing hands.
She sees a walker across the river. It goes into the water. Out of sight, Penny II asks her to help her dig in the sand. Lilly watches the walker as it struggles against the current. The walker makes it about halfway across the river before the current takes it away.

Hey, weren’t there other women and kids in Camp Henchman? Where are they? Did they seriously just leave Lilly and Penny II alone at the river?

Yeah, this isn’t really making a lot of sense here, and I’m hating that this is happening after so much really quality writing has been happening this season, because this is awful. Why are all the parents on this show so very bad at it? There is a little girl, in this zombie infested world, asking for your attention, and you’re watching this zombie move sssssslllllllloooowwwlllyyy across the river? This is obviously a set up for something bad to happen and it’s just so obvious it’s painful.

Lilly is too busy looking out at the river to notice when her ONLY CHILD and ONLY RESPONSIBILITY is attacked by a walker who is buried in the sand. Lilly jumps off the RV and runs to her aid, but doesn’t get there in time, Penny II has been bitten.

The Walking Dead hates little girls, you guys.

Gah! OK, this is what I’m talking about! The whole ignoring the child thing was such a set up for this that it robbed this horrible moment, this inevitable moment of some, not all, but some of its power, and that’s just bad writing and editing here.

And The Walking Dead hates parents too. Or all parents on this show are horrible. Or both.

I knew it was inevitable, but it still kind of got me. Partly because Penny II was the person that brought The Governor back to life; sure it’s arguable that her protection is the whole reason he went crazy again and renewed his obsession with Team Zombie, but she brought him back his humanity first. Partly because I always hate to see innocence on this show being destroyed. I feel like this show makes a point of crushing out the hope of the characters. In the past it has annoyed me, but this time it is pretty damn effective and it makes me very sad. Also Also: Come on Lilly. YOU HAD ONE JOB!!

Oh, I think the effects of this are going to be just horrible, and yes, there goes the one anchor the Governor really has left for his sanity. It is sad too, the loss of an innocent, one we’ve had enough time with to at least like. You and I talked a few days ago about how I was afraid that Penny II would accidentally die at the hands of Team Zombie and kick off the doom that is coming, and I’m glad, well, not glad glad, to see that knife through the heart is going to not come to pass. But the whole terrible parenting thing is just out-of-place here, and since the walkers react to sound more than anything else? Why did the buried walker, who clearly had no problem pulling itself out of the ground, wait that long until after Penny II had been making all the yelling? That makes… no sense at all, aside from it being written that way, and I hate when we can see the heavy hand of the writers in this show.

Back at the prison, The Governor tells Rick his group is willing to kill for the prison.

Walkers arrive. The Governor shoots them and tells Rick the noise will just bring more Walkers. Rick is full on in a PTSD stupor or something. He is just standing there not saying anything. Come on, Rick, have a thought already.

Yeah, think you’re being a touch unfair to Rick there, not without reason, but still. He’s facing a man he knows is crazy and murderous with a freaking tank and his options are all terrible.

Up at the prison, Carl is talking about how he might just be able to shoot The Governor from there and end this. Daryl says that would not work, because they are too far away and shooting The Governor would just cause the people of Camp Henchman to attack.
Meanwhile further back in the prison, Sophia II, Puppy, and several other kids are heading to the bus with Lil’ Ass-Kicker in tow. Sophia II says they are doing the wrong thing, they should go get guns and help the adults instead of going to the bus like they were told.

Where is Lori to tell this little jerk to “stay in the house”? Oh. Right. Nevermind.

Sophia II is crazy. So very, very crazy. I am so convinced that she is the zombie feeder and the dead thing in the basement is all her too. Still have that horrible niggle that she really killed Melissa and the other guy and somehow Carol was covering up for her, even though I know that makes no sense.

This is going to go SO @#$%ING WRONG.

Yeah. It is.

Out front, Hershel is thinking something.

Rick offers to let them all come in. He tells Camp Henchman there is more than enough room. He tells them that to move on, to be strong, they have to forget the past. The Governor says they couldn’t, Michonne would never forgive him. They could never forgive each other… you can’t undo the things you have done.

Hershel says it could work. His voice is small. Quiet. Strong. Hershel says it could all work. Put down the gun and make it work.

But The Governor is not moved.

Rick says they are not leaving. He looks at The Governor. He says they all have things to protect. They could be strong together.
The Governor  jumps off the tank and holds Michonne’s sword to Hershel’s neck. There are only the three of them now. The reluctant leader, the man destroyed, and the peacemaker. Hershel might be the one with the weapon at his head, but all of them are on their knees. All of them are pleading for something. All of them have something to prove.

Rick tries to convince Camp Henchman to put down their weapons and come inside and live. What? You’re making a face.

It’s just… later.

Tara looks like she is about to freak out. She is a protector, a woman who wants to do the right thing. And here she is on the side of a man who is holding a sword at the neck of an old man.

Rick says that this could all end right now. Just come inside and live. Rick says that they can all come back from their past.

There is hope.

The Governor says “You lie”. So, so quietly.

Rick? For all the waffling you’ve done? This moment, right now, you are doing the only thing you really can and you are in the worst position, and you are saying the truths they NEED to hear, and it is so very clear it’s just not going to be enough.

Okay: I am going to continue the recap in just a minute. But just so you know how the episode affected me, here are my notes for the end of the episode, unedited:

It’s a great speacj but the g buynbeu he cut s her che h4ee and hhee shootins state.
Holy f**. No recapping. Just holly f******n ***c.
The tank is throught he gates. Everyone he running. Ginshots.

I am wrecked.
That was amazing.
So here’s what happened.

The Governor swings Michonne’s sword and cuts Hershel’s throat. Blood sprays.  At the prison, Maggie and Daughter Fodder scream. Everyone starts shooting.

Everyone.

Team Zombie and Camp Henchman open fire. Except for Tara, who freezes and falls to the ground, seeking cover.
Michonne rolls out of the line of fire. Hershel tries to crawl away, but The Governor follows him, straddles him and finishes the job.

And this is not an easy kill either, it’s just brutal, with the Governor hacking away at Hershel over and over again, because heads don’t really come off that easy and the Governor is such a @#$%ing monster.

He look up just in time to see Lilly arrive, holding the body of Penny II.

The Governor takes the body from her, and takes out his gun. He shoots his only reason for living in the head.

“Kill them all” He says.

Chaos ensues. Everyone is shooting. People on both sides die, but not really anyone who is important.

We’ve lost Hershel, isn’t that enough?

Well except for Alisha; she is shot in the head by Sophia II, who is supposed to be on the bus. She and Puppy end up with Tyreese. The three of them escape.

Sorry to see you go Alisha, and especially sorry to see you go at the hands of the Crazy Child, who is armed now. Oh that’s a great development there…

Speaking of the Bus, Maggie orders Daughter Fodder to get everyone on the bus while she goes to get Glenn, but  when she comes back with Glenn, Daughter Fodder has left to find Lil’ Ass-Kicker and the other children. Maggie goes to find her, leaving Glenn on the bus.

Daryl basically bad-asses his way through the battle, dropping Camp Henchman soldiers and walkers and even at one point using a walker as a shield to get close enough to the tank to drop a grenade down the barrel. Tank climbs out and Daryl kills him. Daughter Fodder arrives and the two of them escape as the bus drives away.

Tank gets out and looks like he’s going to beg for his life and Daryl is having none of it, and he straight up murders him and it’s justice.

Maggie finds The Medic and Shovel pinned down. She helps them escape.

Michonne ninjas her way across the battlefield to where Rick and The Governor are duking it out.

This is by far the most brutal fight scene that this show has ever had, hands down. I don’t know how well Morrissey and Lincoln know each other, but I have to think that Lincoln told him to really choke him, ’cause it looks way too real to me. This is the fight we’ve been building to since we met the Governor, and it’s really interesting that it comes when both men have tried to put their pasts behind them and failed, giving this a terrible inevitability.

The Governor has Rick by the throat and is about to kill him when Michonne stabs The Governor in the back, dropping him.

And Rick isn’t bouncing back from this, oh no. Rick is hurt and it shows, and man Lincoln is good in this episode!

Rick goes to find Carl and Lil’ Ass-kicker, while Michonne disappears on her own mission.

Tara, shell-shocked and terrified, disappears.

Rick finds Carl and the two of them go to look for Lil’ Ass-kicker. They find her car seat. It is full of blood. They cry and scream, but they escape the ruins of the prison.

Good God, this was a horrible scene, and I mean that in the “best” way, because this is the worst nightmare that either of these two could have and it’s just heartbreaking. Remember that scene, I think it was at the beginning of Season 2, where we saw a bloody child’s car seat on the highway? That was creepy as all hell, and not seeing Judith’s body is worse than seeing it, to me. As a father, that’s just a brutal, brutal blow, and these two sell that pain and loss so wonderfully here.

That said? Not seeing the body gives them an out if they want to reveal that she was saved by one of the others. I don’t think so, I really think she’s dead, but that out is there. And one does have to ask who was supposed to be watching her, because Carl was at the fence with the rifle, Rick was down facing the Governor… who was watching the baby?

Finally, in the end, we don’t really know who has made it out live and who has not. The last thing we see is The Governor, on his back, writhing in pain, as Lilly approaches with a gun. She shoots him in the face.

Lilly? You should have just let him be eaten.

I don’t know.
I just don’t know.
It was so good. I am kind of in shock.
I really don’t even know if I got all of that last sequence.

I only have one problem: I don’t see how The Governor convinced Camp Henchman to go Suicide Mission on the prison. The Woodbury Militia, who had lived under The Governor’s thrall for longer, refused to continue to attack the prison after they had their asses handed to them the first time. But Camp Henchman was willing to lay down their lives for The Governor, even after they heard Rick’s pleas for peace. Even after they heard Hershel’s pleas for peace. Even after they watched The Governor decapitate a defenseless man. I honestly don’t think they would do this. I think more of them would have reacted like Tara. I know that they needed to destroy the prison, but I don’t know if this was the best way to do it.

Yeah, that’s a problem for me too, and I think I would have liked to see them turn on the Governor like the comic Woodbury folks did, because here it would have made sense, a lot of sense, for them to do that. As it is, it feels like they just served to be cannon fodder, and even more so, since we never really got to know more than a couple of these people. And the face I made earlier? When Rick is pleading with them, why the bloody hell didn’t he tell them what the Governor did to the Woodbury people the first time he attacked the Prison?

I mean, he knows that the Governor slaughtered his own people, he knows that. Why didn’t he say, “Hey, you realize this guy killed the last group he led for no reason, right? What? He didn’t tell you that?” It’s such an obvious thing to say, such an important thing to say, that the only reason it’s not there, the only thing that makes any kind of sense, is that the writers deliberately left it out. And that, combined with the scene at the river, just drives me nuts, because this episode was so good otherwise, so strong, that when you feel the heavy hand of the writers, it’s jarring as hell.

Otherwise, I loved this episode.
Loved it.
I might be crying.

You and Anne-Marie. And that’s OK, because damn but didn’t they rip the heart out of Team Zombie? Hershel, who went from rigid authoritarian to gentle voice of reason and compassion. A loving father who walked into rooms full of people whose breath and blood could kill him, because someone had to try to save them. Hershel who helped bring Rick back from the brink, who treated Glenn like a son…

Goodbye Hershel. Goodbye Scott Wilson. You will be missed, and the hole you leave in Team Zombie is going to hurt.

And then Judith. Yes, in the comic, she would also die here, but more directly at the hands of the Governor. Here it’s almost worse, because her death is just one more casualty of the ever-present walkers, and everything Rick and Carl have recovered from, everything they have become… what will they become now?

I… am not even going to worry about the predictions. You were right, you were wrong, and it just doesn’t matter. This has been a really strong first half of the season, and while we’ve had some things to mock and some things to complain about, this show has really hit its stride this season, and the emotional power of it has never been better.

Too Far Gone. That sums it up.

It’s going to be a long 2 months before we’re back with the second half of the season… we’ll see you folks then.