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10/28/12

The Walking Dead: Walk with Me


Psyched for this episode...our introduction to the Governor, the town of Woodbury and more! Should be another great one.

Play-by-Play after the jump - all spoilers - you've been warned!


Starts off recapping the Merl/roof/handcuff/hacksaw deal from season 1. Yep, Daryl's big brother is coming back tonight--and this time, he's not just a hallucination. Season 1 Rick looks all clean and friendly...

We'll be following Michonne and Andrea tonight - not sure if we'll even see what's going on at the prison.

Open to shots of the countryside...and the helicopter, which has been flying for 10 months now. Helicopter quickly heading for a crash landing. And goes in hard.

We cut to Andrea, Michonne and zombie pack mules watching the crash from the road, a mile or two away. A simple look is all that's needed, and they're heading off through fields to investigate.

Roll the opening credits.

Andrea looks like she's about 3/4 dead. Falls to the ground coughing when they make it to the wreckage site. Michonne helps her out, then chains her zombie mules to a tree. Don't want them wandering off!

Again, great makeup design on Michonne's zombie buddies. Really interested to see how they did it - hopefully Talking Dead will show us. At one point, I wanted to get into makeup effects, so I'm a bit of a nerd for this stuff.

Michonne investigates the wreckage, finding one of the soldiers cut in half. Messy. Michonne spots two trucks closing in on the wreckage, runs off to hide with Andrea.

Trucks are nice big Suburbans (I think), with grill guards, roof racks and offroad lights. Well done. Good bugout vehicles.

Men emerge from the SUVs and, yep, there's the Governor. I'm expecting him to play nice at first, but we'll see how that goes...

The Governor's men are conserving ammo. One of them uses a bow to take out a zombie. Another does some head smashing with a baseball bat.

The Governor calls out that one of the men--the pilot--is breathing. A zombie sneaks up on Michonne and Andrea, but walks right past them towards the Governor's men. He doesn't make it far.

Andrea is planning on showing herself, maybe thinking these people can help, but Michonne tells her to wait. Michonne's zombie buddies start going nuts, making noise and drawing attention. So it's off with their heads - two slices and they're done for.

The Governor and his men are ready to move out - I'm wondering if Andrea is going to stand up and start waving or something - and none other than Merl has snuck up on 'em. He tells Michonne "Easy is does it girl - mine's a whole lot bigger than yours!" Which can't be true unless Merl has gone from a bayonet to a claymore or something.

Yep, it's one-arm Merl, and he immediately recognizes Andrea. Zombie sneaking up on him, but Merl uses his bayonet arm to take him out without even looking. "How's about a hug for your old friend Merl!"

And Andrea passes out. Don't blame her.

Cut to Andrea, blindfolded in the SUV, coming back to semi-conciousness. We see shots of the tire walls they've built up on the edge of Woodbury. Michonne is with her, and Merl says that it's quiet time.

Back from the commercial break, cutting to Andrea being helped out by a nurse/doctor. They're being held and want to talk to someone.

Merl strolls in, goes into the story of how he survived his hacksaw/hand ordeal. Merl still holding a grudge against Rick--not surprising. Andrea catches Merl up on who in their group died while he was away. She relates the story of the attack on the farm, telling him that she's not sure if the others are alive. I'm not sure why Andrea thinks she can trust Merl, but she's giving him the whole story. Michonne isn't looking happy.

Ending her story, Andrea asks Merl what he wants from them. Merl plays off that they're being ungrateful, Andrea thanks him. The Governor comes in. Andrea wants their weapons back. Governor says they're being cared for, the guards at the door are for his people's protection. They're free to leave in the morning, he says, and he'll give them their weapons back, plus food, ammunition, and a vehicle if they want it.

We get our first look at Woodbury, lit by firelight. Governor leads them through the town. We see a gate/blockade. Gate guards have a nice scoped AR for zombie work.

The Governor shows the pair to a room with two beds, a change of clothes, food, tells them they've got hot water for a shower. Michonne is suspicious, Andrea thankful. The Governor leaves them with a guard at their door, and we cut to commercial.

Back from the break, we see the streets of Woodbury, busy with survivors. Lots of nice looking, clean people.

Cut to the pilot, being interviewed by the Governor - not tortured. He talks about abandoning their post at a refugee camp after it was overrun. The Governor nods and the doctor leaves. He wants to go find the pilot's other people...tells the pilot he wants to go find his people and bring 'em in to safety. So far, the Governor is coming across like a regular decent guy.

We follow him down an alleyway into a locked door, where Merl is waiting with some scientist-type. It looks like a lab of some kind. The scientist has the bodies of Michonne's zombie buddies. One of 'em is still moving his eyes. The Governor seems to be getting ideas about the slave zombies - workers, camoflague.

We cut to the Governor making breakfast for the girls. Michonne is eyeing her sword, on the Governor's bookcase. Conversation moves to Michonne's zombie buddies - about who they were - but she's not talking. Andrea wants to know about the Governor's secret for maintaining order - the Governor goes into a speech about community, education, and about defending what they've built at all costs.

The Governor has plans of expansion - they're going out to take what's there's.

The scientist has given out tea, and he keeps asking Andrea about it as she drinks it. Might be laced with something?

Michonne is impatient about their weapons...the Governor says they'll give them back, if they leave. He encourages them to think it over, and we cut to commercial break.

We join Michonne and Andrea, walking the streets of Woodbury. Michonne doesn't trust the Governor and his people, Andrea is softening up.

We cut to some military trucks and army guys, being approached by the Governor driving a Nissan, waving a white flag. The Governor tells them that they found his pilot, came to bring them back to safety...and then blows away the lead soldier. The Governor's men unleash a sneak attack on the soldiers, taking them out. Kind of lame, actually. The soldiers outnumber the Governor's men and have better firepower, but they pretty much just stand there and die.

The Governor walks up to one of the dying soldiers, takes his M4, and then bashes the guys head in with the buttstock. Not an easy task with that plasic buttstock. "Never waste a bullet, son." he says again to one of his men.

And here we see the real Governor...cold, calculating, crazy and eeeevil. They move to ransack the soldier's vehicles and we cut to commercial.

Back from the break, the Governor and his guys roll back into Woodbury with the military trucks. The Governor stands on the back of a Humvee - gives a speech to the gathered people, lying and saying that the soldiers were overrun by walkers before they were able to get there. The Governor's men watch on...some are coming across as uncomfortable with what's going on.

Andrea makes friendly talk with the Governor...he refuses to tell her his real name. Is Andrea really going to get all romancey with this psycho?

We cut to the Governor, chilling at his place and enjoying an evening drink. He retreats into a locked room, switches on the lights, and we get to see the collection of heads he keeps in fish tanks. Guess he's having a hard time without TV and has found floating heads to be the next best thing? And he's got a new addition - the head of the helicopter pilot.

Roll the end credits.

Good episode - a bit slow compared to the others so far this season.

No surprise that the Governor is an evil psycho, and we've known about Merl's return since Comic Con. But, setting us up for the rest of the season - Andrea and Michonne uncovering the truth about Woodbury, and conflict with Rick & Co. and Woodbury.