Warning: The following contains SPOILERS!
By: Heather Seebach
By: Heather Seebach
After last episode's exciting conclusion, this week's "I Ain't A Judas" was predictably uneventful. The prison survivors debate how to handle Merle, Andrea pays a visit to her old buddies, and the Governor builds a ragtag army in Woodbury. Still, the episode has some small epic moments. Rather than make you wait, I'll get into those right now:
1) The Governor gets the eye patch. Okay, for non-comic book fans, this is no big deal, but for me it was quite exciting to see Morrissey finally embrace that physical attribute. The polished politician is finally becoming the vicious monster we know (and shamefully, love). I honestly don't care how long his transformation takes, I never want the Gov to go away! He was arguably the best thing to happen to the comics and could soon be the same for the show.
2) That American History X-style curb stomp! Good god! I never thought I'd see that brutal move performed on a zombie! With a rock, no less! And we got to see it in all its gruesome glory! Bless you, AMC!
3) Carl telling his father to stop being the leader. I think this is yet another example of Carl growing up and no longer seeing his father as a hero. We saw a taste of this after Lori died when, as Rick crumbled to the ground, Carl just looked on coldly. He is embarrassed by his father's insane behavior as of late, and rightly so. This was an important scene in their relationship, where the line between father/son or mentor/pupil is becoming more and more grey.
4) Carol showing her merciless side by telling Andrea to fuck the Governor and slit his throat. Now, I am obviously something of a Gov fangirl, but I still love when the prison survivors get all ruthless, especially meek little Carol. Seeing as the once-badass Andrea has been completely ruined, here's hoping Carol will take her place as the hardened ass-kicker someday.
I also hoped that Carol's plan would lead to the Governor catching Andrea in the act and finally putting that idiot out of our misery. C'mon, I cannot be the only one who was screaming, "WAKE UP! KILL HER! KILL HERRR!" at the end, right?!? And obviously the Governor can't die that easily. But no, nothing happened! Lame! I am so damn disappointed she is still breathing. And she has "feelings" for him still. Bah, what the fuck ever, I am so sick of her.
5) Beth sings a Tom Waits song! I don't know why this little Southern girl knows all the lyrics to Waits' "Hold On" but I am not complaining!
Okay, now for the stuff I did not like. Aside from the epic disappointment at the end, the special FX make-up on that forest walker's face was something of a mess, or at least pretty subpar compared to KNB's usually stellar work. Also, the puppet they used during the arm-chopping scene was so visibly rigid. Now, I am not usually such a stickler for this stuff, but I guess I have become accustomed to an incredible standard of quality from the FX team, and this is the first time I have ever thought, "Ugh. That looks fake." After almost three seasons, one slip-up is certainly forgivable, but I thought it was worth mentioning here. Perhaps it had something to do with Greg Nicotero being busy directing this episode? Regardless, that rock-stomp TOTALLY made up for it, amiright?
I also dislike Tyreese being at Woodbury (nooo, he should be with Rick!!) but I'll keep an open mind and see how this all plays out. Again, my comic book snobbery is showing.
All in all, it was not a bad episode, just not a terribly exciting one either. I really hoped it would end on a high note with Andrea's death, but no such luck. Maybe the writers will redeem her yet? Perhaps some bad-ass double-teams with Michonne are in her future? I hope so. If not, I wanna see her looking down the barrel of Gov's rifle (as a human) or Rick's revolver (as a walker). I'm tingly just thinking about it!
