Walking Dead Discussion Thread: S3 E11, “I Ain’t Judas”
Spoiler Alert: Do not read this post or the comment section if you have not seen the show. Also, for those who have read the comics, please do not discuss plot elements not revealed on the show.
Sorry for the delay in posting this. Interest in this series has started to weaken considerably and as readers know I started a new position this week which has left me with a lot less free time than normal.
Laurie Holden, the actress that plays Andrea, had promised major changes for her character that would “make our heads explode”. We enjoyed the episode at our house but our heads remained in one piece. As predicted, there was still some intentional lack-of-communication between Andrea and the Survivor group but they mostly made their case that the Governor had wronged them. Michionne let her know he sent Merle to kill her and I think Andrea believed them that he started the firefight at the prison.
What’s interesting is that nearly the entire episode revolved around Andrea. I don’t know what that means for her future but it certainly seems to indicate the importance of her to the series. She’s come a long way from the CDC. Andrea’s internal conflict in not killing the Governor most likely comes from her belief in Woodbury, not in him. Even though she is still a tough character to like, I understand the dillema.
The additional subplot with Merle is also interesting. You want to like him if for no other reason than he can kick ass.
Tyreese in Woodbury is weird and I don’t understand the plan for that group. He played such a major role in the comic book that it is impossible to see how he realigns with Rick.
Hey, I was wondering where this went! How’s the new job?
When you say “interest has started to weaken”, do you mean yours, or in general, and when you say “series”, do you mean the show, or the recaps?
I don’t have a lot to say about this ep, mostly just table-setting. I do hope if they are going to feature Andrea more heavily, they find ways to make her more consistent and relatable. I think your insight about “she’s for Woodbury, not the Gov.” is interesting.
The writers continue to humanize Merle. He finishes Herschel’s Bible quotation, and tries (though he is unapologetic) to make a sort of peace with Michonne. Weirdly, his unapologetic nature almost works in his favor – Merle is what he is, an unrepentant bastard always looking out for #1. I suspect they will redeem him enough that he eventually will sacrifice himself for the good of the group (or his brother) or something.Report
Glyph,
New job sucks but I’m dealing with it. It’s motivating me. 2013 is going to be The Year of Getting My Career Back on Track.
It seems like interest is weakening for the weekly recaps but that may just be because everyone worked through all the zombie-killing / zombie-defense debates and the show’s plot isn’t stimulating enough right now.Report
There are weeks when nobody comments on a Fringe post. Nobody at all.
I’m not saying that I put a huge amount of work into those posts (I mean, the show itself does all of the heavy lifting) but I write a *LOT* of jokes for those. Jokes I even have to research, sometimes.
You just got to power on to the next week. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be a show that has Daryl die or something and you’ll get all of a certain target demographic talking about the direction the show has taken and how they’ll never watch again.
Which, of course, might mean things for the *NEXT* week’s show…
But, anyway, I hear what you’re saying. Keep the faith.Report
I’ve been in a comment-attracting drought lately too, including with a couple posts I spent significant amonts of time writing. Based on market research, I need to write one that invites people to make sick jokes about Harry Potter.Report
I’ve said before, I’ll say again:
I pour three or four hours into a post, including an hour or so of research, I might get three comments.
I think “I have to go to the bathroom… but I want to write a post first” and in the time it takes me to write something before the discomfort becomes urgent and I press the publish button I might write 200 words… and I come back from the toilet and there’s already a 20 comment thread that’s been started including two sub-threads that are more interesting than the original post.
I don’t understand it.Report
The posts that generate the most comments are the ones with the most glaring mistakes or omissions in them?Report
Neither do I, but it works. (I drank a big glass of iced tea first, to completely reproduce the experiment.)Report
and the show’s plot isn’t stimulating enough right now
I think that’s about it for me. The plot seems to have really stalled.
I haven’t commented too much on these post, but the one comment I was gonna write for this one was about how much I dislike Andrea – her character, the words they have her say, and the actresses inability to way them with any conviction. But I thought that was too negative. So chose, wisely I think, to not voice those opinions.Report
I’ve hated everything about her since forever. She annoyed me more than “Where’s Carl?”Report
That scene where she grabbed the little knife and stalked thru the nighttime shadows towards where the governor while he lay sleeping – to kill him or not to kill to kill… that was some major Ed Wood spoofery there. She isn’t even good at walking convincingly. Or standing.Report
The answer to the question, “Where’s Carl?” has become, “He’s over there, kicking some ass.”Report
My guess: Tyreese ends up saving Rick or Carl’s life (maybe from the two guys in his group?).Report
I wonder about the Tyreese character. He was, for a time, a big part of the comic, but in the show his niche is being filled admirably by Darryl. This frees the show writers up to take his character in any direction they choose. I was intrigued by his statement to the governor that he and his group would “do anything” to be allowed to stay in Woodbury.Report
I would assume that either Andrea of possibly Tyreese will off the Governor in the end. That said I sortof appreciated their pushing the Tyreese group over to Woodbury. It was good to see that the show didn’t sugarcoat just how badly Rick’s crazy has fished over the prison group. They desperately needed that manpower and now the Governor has a decent idea of the layout of the inside of the prison.
I likewise was pleased with the Andrea plot. They actually made their case about the Governor pretty well, identifying most of the ways the man has been an utter bastard to them.
Looks like the upcoming episode is a Rick/Michonne bonding episode.Report
We could start a betting pool! “Who kills the Governor?”Report
I like it! Any thoughts on a prize? There’s a good chance this will go into Season 4. I believe etiquette is that I offer some kind of prize involving myself, like letting the winner pick a topic I am forced to write about.Report
I bet on Carl.Report
Carl would almost be over-the-top I think. I don’t know if I have mentioned my theory here but I think the Walking Dead is actually about Carl. It’s about him being molded into this badass warrior / future leader. Kind of like John Connor. Killing the Governor would be giving him hero status too soon I think.
The logical candidates in my mind are Andrea, Rick, Michionne and Glenn. That’s why I think it probably won’t be any of them. I like the idea of Milton but he’s too much of a wimp. Maybe Maggie? Revenge/closure for what he did to her?Report
He’ll end up destroying himself through his obsession to destroy the prison group. I’m thinking something like getting trapped in the prison as it’s being overrun by walkers through the as-yet unidentified breach or perhaps going down in flames with Woodbury. Sort of a “nobody gets Humperdink” ending, and yet we all know that he buys it in the end.Report
One thing I realized after last week was that he hasn’t really done anything so horrible yet as to make me wish a grand death on him. We’ve discussed before that many of his moves like killing the soldiers are understandable in the sense of defending his turf. And pretty much anything after Penny was killed and he lost his eye goes under the revenge-seeking column and gets a marginal pass. Before that, the threatened rape of Maggie was cruel but no worse than waterboarding. Again, context makes this seem less serious.
Of course we want to see him eat a bullet but I guess what I am saying is that he needs to do something a lot more horrible in order for me to feel much different than I did when Rick shot the two guys in the bar.Report
No worse than waterboarding is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
Waterboarding is torture.Report
I think threatening to rape a woman probably qualifies as torture as well.Report
Nebbishy scientist, whom Andrea has manipulated with implied promises of sexytime.
“Everything’s coming up Milton!”Report
I’m betting either Milton of Andrea.Report
The ghost of Lori.Report
Ghost Lori will just mess with Milton’s head until he makes the attempt on the Gov.’s life. That seems more her MO.Report
First – great discussions here and I’m so happy I stummbled across this site! I’m jumping in late, but would love to share my thoughts!
Andrea… Never liked her. I feel I’m in the same boat with alot of fans. She’s just so… shallow? Hard headed in a not-so-intelligent way? Smart girl, had a career, human rights and hers was actually taken away when she wanted to choose suicide by CDC explosion and was ‘convinced’ not to. That being said – to go in and kill the Governer after she gave him the night of his life… not so sure anyone would be able to do that. She’s killed zombies but they aren’t human. She’s a tough character, obviously, but something’s got to give – and the only thing that hit her hard was Michionne telling her about being hunted down after she left town.
I want Andrea to redeem herself someway – not by the murder of a man, but maybe by a real heroic deed.
Merle finishing a verse from the bible. Wow – was that forced or what? What are they trying to do? Convince us Merle has good qualities and is now a man of God? Is it a poor attempt to ‘sway’ us into believing Merle is now part of the group? He did try to make bygones be bygones with Michionne but isn’t that just Merle? Say one thing mean another?
There you have it – he says one thing and means another.
Rick – without a slap in the face or years of therapy, how is he still capabable of leading this group? Seeing ‘the ghost of laurie’ is sure signs of being locked up in an asylum.
The Group – they are dwindling down in size. Kinda sad. And just as they add one, another one gets shot in the head. Michionne is a great addition and, as it seems, the only one that can really lead if Rick were to go.
Woodbury – set fire to the place. Or just send Michionne to do her thing and Ninja assasin the Governer. Simple. Who needs more guns?Report
Welcome, Dadwithapen! Here’s hoping you stick around.Report