The Walking Dead Review: “Too Far Gone”
It’s been a while since it’s even been worth mentioning the comic when it comes to The Walking Dead. The show has evolved past the original graphic novel in many ways over the last few seasons, and though the bones of the show are based on the source material, most major events have been altered.
But ever since the Governor returned and laid his eyes on that tank, comic readers knew the day of reckoning was coming. We knew that gates would be crashed and heads would roll, but whose?
Last night, The Walking Dead did something interesting to both astonish non-comic-reading fans of the show and keep those who had read it guessing. At this point, it’s no longer a spoiler to say that things went down differently in the comic. It was Tyreese who was captured and beheaded. He may die eventually in the series, but it won’t be like this, and the same can be said for the rest of the cast.
Now, Tyreese was a MAJOR character in the comic, and he’s only been just introduced in the series. That’s presumably why he was spared, and we were forced to guess which longtime cast member, Herschel or Michonne would die instead, as one of them had to. Show-only watchers may have assumed neither would, and they would have been sufficiently shocked when one did. Comic-readers had a coin-flip on their hands. I chose wrong.
I thought it would be Michonne. I knew the Governor wouldn’t last the episode, so I thought that perhaps her character had exhausted her usefulness as she’s been on an almost non-stop quest for revenge. Herschel on the other hand isn’t one of the supreme badasses of the group (at least not in the traditional sense) and brings a different dynamic that has proved invaluable to the show’s emotional core. And if he WAS going to die, I thought it would have been during the episode where he’s attempting to fight off the zombie flu in the prison quarantine zone, which was his finest hour.
But then, Rick gave his moving, impassioned speech about how they don’t need violence, how they can change and all live together in peace. I saw the touching look on Herschel’s face when he realized that Rick had finally become the man he had always wanted him to be.
And naturally, that was the end.
It was perhaps the most profoundly emotional moment in an episode of complete and utter chaos, as things then proceed to go to hell for the next twenty minutes during the largest firefight the show has ever seen.
It’s essentially new Woodbury versus old Woodbury, and I thought the Governor’s two lead-up episodes made this confrontation more intense than it would have been otherwise. If he simply showed up out of the blue with a tank one day, it wouldn’t have had nearly the same impact. But instead we understand his motivations, the journey he’s been on and we even know a few of the new crew of “bad guys,” though that’s a relative term.
The episode was full of moments of badassery, many of which involved Daryl, naturally. Attacked by a zombie? Turn it into a meat shield. Face to face with a tank? Roll a grenade down its barrel. Other satisfying sequences included Lizzie shooting the female soldier directly in the head when she hesitates to kill a child, and what essentially amounted to two deaths of the Governor, first at Michonne’s hand, then by his new pseudo-wife who saw him for what he really was. Had he simply stayed by the river, he probably could have rescued his new surrogate daughter. But he wanted more. He wanted revenge. And in the end, he got nothing.
The Governor is no longer a threat as we head into the second half of the season, so the biggest unresolved plotline is still the rat-Carol-Lizzie-mercy kill mystery. Before the prison goes to hell, Tyreese discovers a rat tortured to death and somehow connects that to the mercy killings in ways I can’t quite comprehend. But he’s right, and the obvious implication now appears to be that Lizzie fed the rats to the zombies, tortured this new rat, and probably killed the two infected and Carol helped cover it up. If you didn’t think she was capable of this, shooting that chick in the head like it was nothing should tell you otherwise.
What doesn’t make any sense to me is why Carol would voluntarily go into exile for what Lizzie did, and not even bother telling Rick that he was living with a potentially dangerous child. Why would Carol have concocted such an elaborate cover story that in the end would force her away from the girl she was trying to protect in the first place, or even worse, could have gotten her executed on the spot by a less gentle Rick or an unforgiving Tyreese? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but obviously we haven’t see the last of Carol.
What would be rather ironic is if Tyreese escapes the prison with the two little girls, and they meet up with Carol. He’ll be travel pals with the woman who allegedly killed his woman and the little girl who probably actually did it.
The end of the episode was complete chaos, and I have next to no idea where the hell anyone went in the aftermath of the attack. Sick Glen was on the bus. Sasha and Bob were together. Tyreese was with the girls. Daryl was with Beth. I don’t know what happened to the Governor’s lady and her combat-shy sister. I also didn’t understand why Rick and Carl just assumed Judith was dead when they found her bloody carrier. The obvious answer is that someone injured picked her up and carried her out of there, and I didn’t even think for a half second she was dead.
Everyone keeps guessing that Tyreese and the girls have the baby, or maybe Beth and Daryl, or even Michonne. But my money is on Maggie, who disappeared earlier than everyone else, and I thought her mission was to find the girls and the baby. I’d say her who saved Judith, unless I missed something and I’m forgetting where she actually is.
I have no idea what to expect for next season (this is where I stopped reading the comic), and I’m not sure which groups will be together when the show returns. If I had to guess, we’re going to see a whole bunch of episodes with everyone split up and slowly finding their way back to each other.
This was a mid-season finale that felt like a full finale for season three, and now we’re really going to see a clean slate come next year. Can’t wait to see what happens.
Comic spoilers:
I had figured that Lilly was going to be the one to put the finishing blow to the Governor mainly because Kirkman wanted the show to go back to the source material more and in the comic he’s killed by a woman named Lilly (same one from the Walking Dead game). It also seems like Lizzie and her sister are becoming the show equivalent of Ben and Billy from the comics, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the psychopath in Lizzie comes out and follows a similar arc to what happens in the comics.
It’s never been made clear that the Lily from the comics is the same one as in the video-game.
I know that it had never been made clear, but her name just gave me an inkling.
No way they were going to show the baby getting shot on TV. The implied death was about the best they could do. On a side no, start reading them again, it gets really really good.
Well, Judith isn’t actually shot in the comics. Lori is shot, and Judith dies of suffocation because her dead mother falls on her… which is actually worse than being shot lol
What an episode! The minute Rick started talking to The Governor and his people, and the way Herschel looked at him, I knew it would be the end for the old man. It almost made me want to quit the series when he was killed. I loved Dale, and Herschel took over his role as the old wise man (Think Gandalf or Dumbledore) However, the whole destroying-the-prison thing was quite good story wise. It will drive the characters forward now. And I can’t wait to see what will happen next. They needed to start fresh so to say, as they’ve gone stale inside the prison for too long.
It seems like the Lizzie events are trying to set up a parallel to something that happens shortly after the prison in the comics. I won’t say what, but it was one of the more chilling events in the comic for me and I can’t wait to see how it gets resolved here.
I wish the Governor was eaten alive instead…
Given the unnecessary shitstorm he created, there was no better way for him to die than at the hand of one of his own. I was kind of upset that Michonne got him first, though. It would have had more meaning if he was on the cusp of absolute victory and she had shot him down for making them massacre innocent people like in the comic.
Still, I’m a happy fan right now. They hit most of the right notes, even without Lil’ Asskicker getting shotgunned, and possibly set up some very disturbing stories from the comic that I assumed they would stay away from. For the first time since season 2 started, I cannot wait to see what the show does next.
its pretty obvious that lizzie was the intended killer. but for that to be, the show has to believe that i will suspend my belief that the small girl could drag two adult bodies out into the court, and burn them, on her own, without being seen. it is what happened, but its hard to chew.
I thought we were going to see carol shoot the governor, but when i saw his new apocalypse wife so distraught over the idea of the prison it wasnt hard to see her doing it. its weird because again, the comics show lilly (lesbian military girl) shoot the governer, after she witnesses the killings of the people at the prison. the young girl that was traveling with governer also didnt die, and she did a real good job at PTSD during the fight, I kind of like the idea of her showing up and helping the dispersed members of rick and friends.
the comic had a departure of a number of important characters in the prison before the attack, showing up after the attack started because they knew something was wrong. and they helped out. i thought this was carols role. turns out she will show up likely when everyone is scattered, as you said, Tyreese and the girls.
the two girls are also replacements for Ben and billy, who have a story arc after the prison that the show is setting up for, but what also concerns me is post prison storyline. rick already went back and found a disgruntled Morgan and his zombie son. this takes place after the fight, and rick ends up being found by michionne again. and they go from there.
I would prefer the show to set up the next seasons with very little in between time from the prison to the comics next major area.
there is some pivotal moments with other small groups of survivors, that would be VERY nice to see, it involved dale, but hes dead in the show, replaced by hershel, who is also now dead. so im wondering what they will do, but whatever it is, I hope they dont spend an entire season at one place or another. the show needs a good balance and mix in order to stay relevant. they cant reuse any random flu bug or an evil do what it takes leader again. not in the same way anyways
As an avid reader of the comics who is completely caught up on all the issues, I truly feel like this episode did the comics justice with keeping the plot intact and bringing it back to where the comic is.
I won’t spoil anything, but the show is not really far behind where the comics are at now. If the show speeds things up, then the comic and tv show will be almost parallel. As many more vital characters die (to my comic book enthusiasts–we all know what a barb wired baseball bat can do *cough*) it will be interesting to see how the show goes about killing which characters off.
I can only hope Kirkman really finds the right characters as the series go on. A hellish storm is brewing that is 1,000,000 times worse than the Governor, and the show will either ruin it or turn it into a season of television that will go down in history.
Maggie was with Sasha and Bob. I think Tara aka. Gov’s pseudo wife’s lesbian sister is the one who picked up Judith. or maybe Tyreese did. It’s inevitable that Tyreese, Lizzie and her sister will run into Carol. Michonne was nowhere to be seen after she hooked the Governor. She should be with Rick and Carl. Lastly, I thought for sure Judith would die but since they didn’t show the body, I think she’s alive in the same way they led us to believe that Carol was a goner after T-Dog sacrificed himself and Carol’s scarf (?) was found.
Thanks for spoiling the comics, should I ever read them.
The rat they found wasn’t tourtured, it was dissected carefully and pinned open to study. Being disected I belive Carol did it because she had dissected a pregnant walker earlier on to prepare for Lorie’s child.
Well, all I know is unless they actually show someone dying, either by being shot in the head, stabbed through the heart, throat torn out by a walker, etc, they aren’t usually dead. We did not actually SEE the Governor get shot in the head…. just sayin……
Good review, though I’m not sure I understand why you think Tyreese is correct that the rat-killer and the murderer of the two sick people are the same person. He makes an assumption because clearly there is somebody messed up amongst them and he doesn’t know about Carol yet. So of course he’d assume as much. But Rick is quick to state he doesn’t think they were the same person and is about to explain why before he’s so rudely interrupted by a tank.
I mean, for all the reasons you and other commenters have pointed out, does it not make a whole lot more sense that Carol is the killer of the infected just as she says (there’s no reason to think she’s lying) and someone else (probably Lizzie) is the rat person. Why assume Tyreese is correct and not Rick, who clearly has more information?