Walking Dead Discussion Thread: S3 E11, “I Ain’t Judas”

Mike Dwyer

Mike Dwyer is a former writer and contributor at Ordinary Times.

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28 Responses

  1. Glyph says:

    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

    • Mike Dwyer in reply to Glyph says:

      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

      • Jaybird in reply to Mike Dwyer says:

        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

        • Mike Schilling in reply to Jaybird says:

          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

          • Jaybird in reply to Mike Schilling says:

            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

      • Stillwater in reply to Mike Dwyer says:

        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

  2. Chris says:

    My guess: Tyreese ends up saving Rick or Carl’s life (maybe from the two guys in his group?).Report

    • Fish in reply to Chris says:

      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

  3. North says:

    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

    • Pub Editor in reply to North says:

      We could start a betting pool! “Who kills the Governor?”Report

      • Mike Dwyer in reply to Pub Editor says:

        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

      • Patrick Cahalan in reply to Pub Editor says:

        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

        • Fish in reply to Patrick Cahalan says:

          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

          • Mike Dwyer in reply to Fish says:

            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

      • Glyph in reply to Pub Editor says:

        Nebbishy scientist, whom Andrea has manipulated with implied promises of sexytime.

        “Everything’s coming up Milton!”Report

      • North in reply to Pub Editor says:

        I’m betting either Milton of Andrea.Report

      • Stillwater in reply to Pub Editor says:

        The ghost of Lori.Report

  4. DadWithAPen says:

    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