I've been working hard to avoid spoilers this season, so I needless to say I was not expecting the events of this episode. So much happened, and believe it or not it's only the fourth show of the season! I can't even imagine what's going to happen in the mid-season cliffhanger. This is most definitely the best show on TV right now. Better even than most movies currently in the cineplex.
SUPER MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW!
• I could have sworn Andrew (the short black inmate) was killed a couple weeks ago when Rick locked him out of the prison. We definitely heard a blood-curdling scream shortly after he shut the door. Apparently Andrew survived after all! I'm guessing he was most likely the mysterious observer watching Carol practice giving C-sections to zombies (which turned out to be a moot exercise).
• What was the deal with Carol's do-rag? She looked like she was on chemotherapy. I've never been a fan or her too-short man-do, but that rag on her head looked infinitely worse. Did she try to cut her own hair and botch the job?
Maybe they had her wear the do-rag so Daryl could find it later and realize it belonged to her and piece things together? I guess they needed something the characters (and audience) could easily identify as hers.
Hopefully she's still alive and will show up next week. She'd better-- I'd hate to have another dragged out "Search For Sophia" storyline.
• Dang. T-Dog finally starts getting some lines and then gets bitten in the shoulder. And as we all know, you can't cut off your shoulder.
He did get to go out as a hero though, giving his life to save Carol (I hope). And he got one of the goriest death scenes I think we've seen so far.
Too bad he didn't live long enough to have a reunion with Merle. That would have been interesting. After all, he (along with Rick) were responsible for causing Merle to have to saw off his own hand to escape.
• God dammit! I've spent two whole seasons loathing Lori Grimes and then this year the writers finally figured out how to make her a tolerable, somewhat likable character-- just in time to up and kill her off. I've grown to like Season 3 Lori a lot; I should have known that on this show, a sudden change in how a character is written is the signal to kill 'em off.
She definitely picked a wonderful time to go into labor, eh? I was hoping there'd be some way they could save her, but I guess you don't recover from a battlefield C-section. That whole sequence was absolutely gut-wrenching (no pun intended).
I knew TV Lori was probably going to die eventually, as Comic Book Lori was killed off some time ago. I just didn't think it would be this soon. In the comic, Lori AND the newly-born baby were both killed by the Governor's men.
• The look on Carl's face after he shot his mom and walked past Maggie was chilling. If he wasn't scarred for life before, he ought to be now.
• How in the name of Pampers is the group going to care for a newborn baby? I doubt there's any infant formula lying around the prison commissary.
• I wonder: when the actors on this show get their copies of the next week's script, do they immediately flip to the last page to see if they're still in it? New script day must be a really tense time on the set.
• I knew we hadn't seen the last of Axel & Oscar, the two "good" inmates.
• Best zombie death of this episode: Glenn using a machete to send the top half of a zombie's head flying. It was a thing of beauty!
• The writers have even figured out how to flesh out Merle and make him slightly likable. Last time we saw him he was pretty much a one-dimensional stock villain. Here he was even flirting a little with Andrea. I definitely didn't see that coming! New Merle is definitely more interesting than Old Merle.
• I'm starting to see how TV Governor operates. He tells you exactly what you want to hear ("You can leave whenever you want") in order to manipulate you into doing exactly what he wants (staying indefinitely). He's even figured out how to manipulate Merle.
And we get his real name already! Phillip! That never happened in the comic.
• Why does the Governor want Andrea to stay in Woodbury so badly? Somehow I have a feeling it involves more than a schoolboy crush.
• The Governor mentions a daughter! In the comic he had a niece he was caring for. I'm betting this daughter will fill the same role as the niece did in the comic. I can't say any more about it right now.
• What exactly does Michonne get out of her friendship with Andrea? Why is she staying in Woodbury when she knows the Governor's a big fat (deadly) liar? Why doesn't she just tell Andrea "See ya" and get out while she can? She definitely needs to give Andrea an ultimatum and leave if she balks.
It was interesting to watch Michonne and the Governor. She knows he's a liar and a killer, and he knows she knows. It'll be interesting to see which one tries to kill the other first.
NOTE: There is apparently a group of fans on the internet who believe Lori isn't dead. Why they would possibly think this, I have no idea. They claim that because we only heard and didn't see Carl shoot her in the head, she's somehow still alive. Or is a walker with a slit open belly. Or something. She's dead, people. The actress isn't on the show anymore. Game over for Lori.
