The Walking Dead Review: S3E11 “I Ain’t A Judas”

Monday is here and we are three episodes into the second half of The Walking Dead‘s season three. Did you check out how your favorite survivor fared this week in the zombie apocalypse? Either way, come on and check out the review of this week’s episode.

Beware SPOILERS past the jump…

Episode eleven, titled “I Ain’t A Judas,” confronts the aftermath of last week’s shootout when the Governor paid a visit to the prison. The survivors group together in the cell block to discuss whether they should stay or go.

Before we get too deep into what I think of this episode, I have to say that I am disappointed in what this first couple of episodes back from the brake. This second half is beginning to feel a lot like the first half of season two, the episodes that fans hated and mocked. While some things have happen, it still feels that the show is characters reciting what the writers think the audience wants instead of the natural progression of characters. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s my opinion.

Do not be mistaken, I also enjoy the character drama of just standing around and there being a real dialogue but unfortunately I have yet to see any real drama. It all feels manufactured.

As the survivors debate on the safety of the prison, Rick looks like he is losing his cool again and begins to walk away. Hershel really takes his place as the new Dale as he berates Rick. I’m really glad Hershel has taken over as the grandfatherly figure to the entire group but sometimes he just sinks in the background. Carl also continues to grow in this episode. When Rick goes outside to scout the area, Carl approached him to plead for Rick to stop leading but in a mature way. Two of the best character moments of the night happen early in the episode yet only count for no more than five minutes of air time.

In Woodbury, we see the Governor beginning to recruit the townspeople. They are beginning training to become the Governor’s new army to take on the prison survivors. The Governor is back to being nonchalant and charming, especially as soon as he has a real eye patch. What I can not understand is that Andrea sees everything that is happening yet she still questions if she should stay or should she go. I understand that the writers are trying to make the other citizens of Woodbury seem innocent, but if they are easily misled then how innocent are they really? Not to be crass, but Germany had a charming leader and that did not work out well for them.

Andrea finally grows a pair and decides to head to the prison. What follows is defintiely one of the most interesting things I have witnessed on this show. Previously, we learned that a zombie without the means to eat (i.e. no arms or jaw) would effectually become neutered and not attack anyone. That tamed zombie can then be used to provide an area of protection against other zombies from being attracted. We had never seen the process done in such a primitive fashion. Milton holds down the zombie as Andrea chops of the arms with a hatchet. Then the really fun part happens as Andrea places a large rock between the walker’s teeth, letting her curb stomp the jaw loose. Fun times, fun times.

What happened to Tyreese and his group since we did not see them after Rick’s breakdown? Well, they have just run across the neutering Andrea has performed. What happens next will probably upset a lot of the comic book fans especially fans of Tyreese and what he meant to the survivors. Andrea gives him and his group to Milton to head to Woodbury, where she knows they will be lied to and recruited to attack her former friends. The world comic book fans hoped for is being dashed to ruins, but it may be for the better. Let’s hope for a more dramatic story, especially when later the Governor may use Tyreese to get him inside the prison.

Andrea finally makes it to the prison after a few days of sulking around in Woodbury. When she arrives, she is treated as a traitor and outsider even with Merle in spitting distance. She is kept at arm’s length even when she is allowed to enter the prison. Andrea begins to learn about what had happened to the group after their separation, but no real emotion appears. In an interesting contrast, she arrives at the prison and is treated hostilely but is allowed to leave an take a car and her gun while in Woodbury she arrived and was treated cordially but not allowed anything.

And that’s the episode. If it sounds like nothing much happened, then you are correct. Again another filler episode.

2/5

The story continues to lag behind as little else happens outside of exposition dialogue. The episode offers little else than a few minutes of actual character moments and a zombie kill for audiences to fawn over.