Archives for 2013

Warning: full spoilers for the episode follow

Let me preface this review by saying I think David Morissey is a fantastic actor. I love every scene he is in, and even when the writers painted him into the one-note villain he had become, I still enjoyed seeing Morissey handle the reins. He gives the show one hundred percent, and is clearly loving it, so anything I have to say about The Governor (or Brian now I guess) is purely down to the writers. Because this episode has pushed the character in a direction I didn’t think he could be taken, and because it does so in little over 42 minutes, it will have to be judged once this particular arc is over, making this a particularly hard episode to review.

When we saw The Governor last, he had killed a lot of innocent people just because they pissed him off. In most shows, this would be the point of no return, as the my-way-or-your-dead approach is a fairly reprehensible act. But the writers here have been keen on asking the “how far can you go before you lose your humanity” question for a while now, so the attempt at humanising the character once again makes sense in that regard.

That’s not to say that it is necessarily the right choice to make, but it remains to be seen whether it will pay off in the end. Too much happens in this episode to allow the viewer to accept that this a changed man – but maybe that’s the point. Maybe The Governor has gone too far that he cannot truly return to being a person who represents any form of humanity, that this brief moment of affection for a family is going to end as quickly as it started. A show usually would subtly push this character change over many seasons. Lost’s Benjamin Linus (handled by the brilliant Micheal Emerson) comes to mind, but The Walking Dead has never been particularly subtle.

As mentioned before, David Morrisey is a great actor. He handles the brooding, self punishing character well, jumping from anger as he burns down Woodbury, to an almost dead man walking before he meets with the Chalmers family. It invites a certain calibre of actor to pull off the man who is both self-flagellating and trying to move on, and his scene with Meghan explaining what had happened with Penny  was fantastic. At one point I could not tell whether “Brian” was laughing or crying, and to this point I’m still not sure. It’s subtle, yet effective

The Governor’s new family were serviceable in the end. Tara’s fake bravado came off as a bit much for the actress to convey, but she calmed down towards the end of the episode, and Lily seemed to really only be there for The Governor to shack up with. Meghan was really the obvious tie to The Governor’s humanity, and while the actress had a hard time sometimes, her look was just close enough to Penny to be an overt reference to his humanity.

On the zombie front, the retirement home scene was fun and tense, and reminds me of the similar location back in the first season, and the amputee zombie in the bathtub was heartbreaking, but the herd scene at the end was my favorite zombie kill this season. Pulling the head back of the zombie was brutal and vicious, and highlighted how much The Governor cared/cares for Penny/Meghan. That’s probably no easy task to accomplish, and was excellently handled on the special effects front.

One thing that really stood out this episode was the direction. There was a lot of dream-like shots that lent themselves well to the idea that this family life may very well be only a fantasy that The Governor is living right now. The sound design in the final pit scene was great, as the sound of assault rifle fire was there but it took a while to notice them.

Any judgement of where The Governor is going will have to wait. While this episode does push the boundaries of where the writers can take this character while still making sense, it remains to be seen if it pays off. There is still at least one more episode of this standalone arc, so it will be very interesting to see how we get to the point we see him outside the prison. Lets just hope they can handle it right.

A couple of observations

• Possibly current day The Governor is more “Brian” than evil? Could be an interesting direction to take him in.
• The cut from killing the father with the oxygen tank to burying him was great and simple piece of editing, that was enough to convey that the zombie he was killing was a man he had respected. Another example of the solid direction this episode.
• Still going to be another week until Daryl’s reaction to Carol’s departure, folks.
• My girlfriend, who is a make-up artist, informed me constantly about how badly done crazy-Governor’s wig was done. I just thought he looked like a discount Kurt Russell

Warning: full spoilers for the episode follow

I always took Rick as the foil to Carol’s less empathetic form of leadership. It made logical sense, as she was the only other person who produced any discernible leadership qualities to date. However, after the events of “Internment” I’ve finally realized that it is in fact Hershel – who is the yin to Carol’s yang – a leader who focuses on hope and individuality, rather than the good of many.

It also helps he’s pretty badass too.

“Internment” is indeed Hershel’s show, and he holds his own very well. His insistence at keeping up morale (his “sad soul kills faster than any germ” line was a standout moment) even when everything looks at its worst is an incredibly noble moment. Living at the end of the world must be an incredibly heavy burden to bear, and less reminders of what is actually happening can serve to help rather than hinder. It is in direct contradiction to how the lack of security failed the survivors early on in the season, but it does appear that the writers are siding with Hershel this time around, in the mere fact that his deeds were rewarded with not everybody dying.

That’s not to say that he hasn’t come out unscathed – this is a man who once believed that the zombies could be saved of course, so his hesitance when forced to kill one of his patients felt natural. Also equally powerful was his speech to Rick about God’s plan, even when confronted by Caleb’s reminder that he can’t save them all, he feels this is all still a test of faith. Scott Wilson handles this all fantastically, his confident and kind manner undercut by a subtle sadness at how much work he still has to do.

Action was surprisingly prevalent for an episode based around Hershel, as we were treated to two large climactic set pieces. Rick and Carl’s fight was fairly par for the course as far as zombie mow downs go, but Hershel’s escalating action with only a handful of zombies was fantastic. Tension kept on mounting, as disaster after disaster compounded into a frantic attempt at saving anyone they could. This is punctuated by the final scene of Hershel breaking down in his own cell, acting like a father who has been strong for the people he loves, and when he is finally alone gives himself time to mourn. It was all a fantastic scenario and highlighted how, as Daryl put it, Hershel is one “tough sumbitch”.

Rick’s story was much more subdued this week, if you can call putting down a herd of zombies with automatic weapons subdued. It’s a culmination of Carol’s insistence that Rick can’t just forget the end of the world is happening, as he slowly is beginning to fall back into a position of power. As he calls his son to help kill the horde, there’s the realisation that he can’t protect his son from violence like a normal civilized society can. What he can do is remind him of those values, and the shot of the peapod juxtaposed with his pistol is a realisation of that line of thought.

One last thing that I usually leave relegated to the observations at the end of the review, is the moments where the audience is forced to suspend their disbelief, and this happens fairly regularly. It has become a bit of a joke how many dumb decisions these survivors have made. Simple things like the sick only being locked in their cell much later than they should have been, or the lack of more protection from the horde beyond a fairly poor fence line are all things that are set up to manufacture these climatic events. There isn’t any inherent problems with the events themselves – they are often exciting and well produced – it’s the journey to get there that needs to be addressed. A show shouldn’t have to force the viewer to sit down and rationalise the steps these people take, and that has been tiresome for quite some time.

Despite this problem, “Interment” really highlighted how society hasn’t failed yet, and that good things can still happen to very good people. It did border on very grim at some points, but in the end it does still leave hope for these people at the prison.

Some observations:

• Despite being certain Glen wasn’t going to die this episode, his almost dying was still fairly emotional and I’m glad he is on the mend
• Speaking of dying, I’m going to make a prediction here so I’m going to slap on a minor spoiler warning. I have watched enough television to know that once a character realises their purpose or fulfills that purpose, is usually when they depart the show. Hershel has had his biggest characterisation yet, and I have a feeling the next time we have an episode focused on the man is when we will lose him.
• The Governor is back! While his reveal was cool, it will be interesting to see how they pull him out of his villain mould, or whether they will at all
• The whole “leave me and my son alone” schtick wasn’t suspicious at all Papa Redshirt. Not at all.

Warning: full spoilers for the episode follow

The Walking Dead has always been a show about the human aspect of the apocalypse. While it may have stumbled quite a lot in this area during its run, it has always been a soap-opera set in the zombie apocalypse – and that is a good thing. Rather than following George Romero, and turning the undead  into a political statement, Robert Kirkman and team have always focused on how people react when faced with the end of the world. “Indifference” embraces this  as it continues to explore of the most interesting dynamics this show has seen in a long time, and despite a less than stellar sub-plot, provides one of the slower, but probably the best episode of the season so far.

Lets get the big point out of the way – I am glad they made Carol the culprit of the Dave and Karen killings and not Lizzie. It brings much more depth to her character, and unless we find out later on that Carol was covering for her, provides a much more plausible scenario. That’s not to say that their conversation at the beginning of the episode wasn’t any less dubious – Lizzie’s mental state is obviously deteriorating, and an inability to understand that the walkers are in fact dead is troubling. Now that Carol’s out of the picture, it’s not looking good for anyone who is going to be shacked up with her.

Yes, I do believe this is goodbye for Carol, which is a shame. Her character has been one of the strongest on the show for quite some time now, and Melissa McBride has been carrying the bad guy torch in absence of any typical villain figure within the show. That’s not to say she has become a villain herself, in fact she could not be further from it. She has become the yin to Rick’s yang, becoming an embodiment of what happens when the leader drops empathy in favour of a more realist approach, as shown when she was happy to put the new kids to good use. She made a choice in killing Karen and David, and had she succeeded in her intent would we be singing her praises? Or would we have ended up in the same position we are in now?

This doesn’t mean that Rick’s decision to exile her was any more right. Both these characters acted in an ultimate form of leadership, and Rick’s choice only highlighted the hypocrisy further. Neither character consulted with the others in their incredibly major decisions – and Rick punishing Carol in this manner is hypocritical, but ultimately incredibly human. People act act on emotions rather than the facts, and although Rick may be hiding from his leadership, he still makes leadership decisions. Carol also falls victim to this, in her insistence for Lizzie to not call her “mom” only to plead with Rick to let her take them with her is contradictory but believable. This show has been trying to accomplish this a few times with both Lori and Andrea, but only now have they really succeeded.

Daryl’s expedition fared less successfully however, as it really couldn’t live up to the same standards as the other story. Tyreese began acting a little melodramatic, but in the end was willing to let the anger go – which is welcome if not a little rushed. Letting go was a key point throughout this story, as Michonne was able to realise that her hunt for the Governor wasn’t doing her any favours. Stookey’s  alcoholism was brought up again, and his standoff with Daryl was good, but the rest of this storyline just felt like it carried a lot less impact than the more major events happening to the other group.

“Indifference” was thought provoking and incredibly well written for the most part. Despite a B-story that paled in comparison to the main event, it was a fantastic episode. Saying goodbye to Carol for now will be tough, but Rick has made great strides in characterisation this season, and if this episode is any indication hopefully it won’t prove to be that major a loss.

A few observations

• Sorry about the incredibly late review again. Life gets in the way, but I will be on a more punctual time schedule from now on.
• “You can be a farmer, but you can’t just be a farmer” “It was a nice watch” – Carol was full of some great lines tonight
• It’ll be sad to see Carol go, as Melissa McBride has really held her own so far this season. She’ll be back, but I hope it will be sooner rather than later.
• I wonder how Daryl and Tyreese will take to this news…
• Michonne smiled again!
• Keeping the events focused on only the groups outside the prison was a smart choice, as precious screen time has been spread too thin so far this season.
• That couple was much too friendly, and her leg was very cleanly severed. I have a feeling Rick will be seeing his watch again very soon.
• Infected zombies are an awesome way of adding extra danger to the routine of putting them down.
• Rick’s speech about remembering Lori was incredibly sad, and his insistence on remembering her was a great counterpoint to Carol’s. I could have written an entire essay on this episode alone