The Walking Dead Mid-Season Finale "Too Far Gone"

All I can say is WOW! I was totally surprised by the events that on-folded last night on The Walking Dead. I don't know where to start with my commentary.

Recap

The show opened up with a peaceful scene of the Governor taking his new family somewhere safe near the river until he returned. The Governor gave his adopted daughter a loving hug, and he took his bound and gagged, Michonne and Hershel as prisoner to the battlefield.

Next, the Governor gives his new militia a speech filled with propaganda and lies stating Rick's group survivors were unmerciful and uncivilized animals that destroyed his camp and killed his family.  Then, the blood-lust militia shows up with a tank to the prison and demands everyone leaves or dies.

Rick realized the toll a war would take on both camps, and he gave the best speech I ever heard from a man with no room to bargain. "We can still come back, we’re not too far gone. I know we all can change."

Watching Rick humble himself and pleaded for the safety of everyone swayed some of the Governor's militia. The Governor realized he was losing his army's influence, so he snapped and chopped Hershel's head off inch by inch as his daughters watched in dismay.

Soon, the most epic battle scene ever filmed on AMC unfolded to the delight of viewers. The Governor's militia camp was pitied against Rick's survivor camp with the understood result of only one camp getting the prison safe-house and being allowed to live.

Two seasons of war came to a conclusion at the Battle at the Prison. In the end, no one was a winner. The Governor was killed by Michonne, Hershel was beheaded, the new militia was annihilated, and all the survivors taking sanctuary at the prison being forced to scatter into the wilderness with no indication of who survived.

In the aftermath of the battle, the prison was inhabitable and filled with holes from tank blast.  The gunshots and explosions drew hordes of zombies that were too numerous to overcome and forced Rick's group to abandon the prison.  All the peace and safety Rick and the survivors worked hard to create was destroyed by the rage of a bitter man and a brainwashed camp of misfits.  Rick told his son "Don't look back, Carl" because nothing is left at the prison anymore.  I wonder if that was a biblical reference to Sodom and Gomorrah?

Criticism

I don't know if any of you are fans of The Time Machine or Game of Thrones, but I saw a lot of sampling going on in this episode. First, The Time Machine reference. The Governor's adopted daughter was attacked by a zombie and eaten in a place he thought was safe.  If you watched The Time Machine, then you remember a scene where Alexander realized no matter how many times he traveled back in time Emma would always get killed. It was her fate to die young.

In the Walking Dead, the Governor's adopted daughter had dozens of near death situations. Fortunately, she had the Governor around to bail her out. When the Governor left his daughter alone, fate took her life. To me it seemed like she was always going to die because she hadn't adapted to this new world. She was just alive because the Governor was a superior survivor that felt pity on her.  The Walking Dead and The Time Machine parallel because both protagonist try to re-write history by starting over in order to protect a someone that always would die due to unawareness of her situation.

Biggest reference, The Game of Thrones: Red Wedding. I'm sure everyone who watches modern television has seen or heard of the cluster fuck that went down at the end of the Red Wedding episode.  I spoiled it for myself by reading ahead in the novel, but the show personified the scene to life with epic realism.


In Red Wedding, Robb Stark lost his family and army by trying to align with someone he betrayed. If Robb was not so naive and desperate,  then he would have seen the clues that wedding was a set-up.  First clue, Robb's mom recognizes one of the Lanister's at the party.  Second Clue, the room was cleared of all the wedding party and all was left was soldiers.  Third clue, Robb's mom saw the Lanister was wearing armor underneath his robes but it was too late.

In the end, trusting those he shouldn't have trusted and believing people still lived by the code of honor and warrior's loyalty cost Robb his life. I love when Arya Stark was asked what was the cause of her father's and brother's death and she replied, "LOYALTY"

How it's connected, well if you watched the Walking Dead, then you would have seen little clues that producers were going to kill Hershel. When Hershel had to kill all his friends in the prison because they got sick, he couldn't read the bible anymore because he lost his faith and morality center which were competencies that his character stood for. The best quote Hershel said “listen, dammit: You step outside, you risk your life. you take a drink of water, you risk your life. And nowadays you breathe and you risk your life, Every moment now, you don’t have a choice. The only thing you can choose is what you’re risking it for."

At that moment, I saw a broken man that lost himself in a world that he no longer understood and he had no purpose.  In the following episodes, Hershel seem like a former shell of himself that just survived meaninglessly.  When the Governor ready his sword to chop Hershel's head off, for one second there was a smile on Hershel's face.  I want to believe Hershel had found acceptance of his fate and felt death was freedom.  Honestly, Hershel was old and only had one leg.  In a world where zombies haunt humans, how long was he going to last on the run?  If it were me, then I rather die honorable in a battle then being ripped apart by mindless and hungry zombies.

I admit, I shed a tear for Hershel's death because I felt like he was the father figure of the group, last symbol of morality and reason that kept the group together. When he passed away I felt the group lost it's faith and leadership that carried them in the direction of ethics and good. Now, all that's left is a few mentally broken survivors that will do anything to live to see another day. I can't wait to see the 2nd half of the season.

Final Scenes: Food for Thought
The best part of the zombie horde overtaking the prison was that crazy lady Rick tried to save in the woods did came back to the prison but as an un-dead walker. Kind of play upon "BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU WISH FOR." Creepy!

Another good part was the strong ending scene and last words of Rick telling Carl, "Just keep walking". That line was a reference to the title of the show "The Walking Dead".  It really made me think who are the walking dead: the zombies or the survivors?  In all fairness, how long will people living in a world with billions of insatiable zombies, no stable food supply, the water being poisonous and the evolution of the virus killed more survivors by the day with no cure in sight.  It seems to me that the survivors are the walking dead.