SkimIt
Next week is the mid-season finale and it’s clear that episode is going to involve a battle over Woodbury. Everything in tonight’s episode perfectly sets up the coming confrontation, from the interrogation of Maggie and Glenn to the staging of a rescue party.
The Walking Dead starring Andrew Lincoln and Steven Yeun airs on AMC Sundays at 9:00 pm ET.
Welcome to Woodbury, Now I’m Going to Hit You Again
Merle (Michael Rooker) begins his interrogation of Glenn (Steven Yeun) back in Woodbury. He demands the location of his brother and the group. Maggie is in a room next door and she can hear every sound as Merle beats Glenn.
At the prison, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) looks at the outside fence and notices Michonne (Danai Gurira) pressed against it, among a line of walkers. At first the fact that she’s covered in walker blood protects her, but as her leg continues to bleed they notice her and she tries to fight them off before collapsing. Carl shoots two of the walkers and Rick opens the gate to retrieve her. Inside, she doesn’t want to identify herself and they lock her up in a cleared area.
Daryl shows the group he’s found Carol (Melissa McBride). She hugs everyone, looks at Rick’s baby and by the look on his face realizes Lori is dead. The group talks to Michonne and Rick asks why she was carrying formula in her backpack. She tells them Glenn and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) were kidnapped by someone from Woodbury. She describes the Governor (David Morrissey) as a “Jim Jones type” and says that although the town is secure from walkers, they could sneak into the compound.
Carl Is Thirteen Going on Forty
Merle tells Glenn he’s surprised that he lasted so long against his beating. “You’re tougher than I remember,” he admits. Glenn tells him the group will come for him and mentions Andrea. Which brings a smile to Merle’s face because he knows Andrea is already in Woodbury. Still, Merle underestimates Rick and the group. And I wonder which side Daryl will pick when they meet again. Rick, Daryl, Michonne and one of the other prisoners load up the car to go to Woodbury. Before he leaves, Rick pulls Carl (Chandler Riggs) aside and asks him to keep everyone safe and protect his sister. Carl says that they haven’t picked a name for her and he would like to name her after his third grade teacher Mrs. Mueller. “Judith,” replies Rick. “That’s a fine name.” It’s a momentary reminder that inside that little killing machine is the small heart of a kid.
Surprisingly, Zombies Tend Not to be All That Rational
In Woodbury the Governor takes Maggie to a secluded room where a frail, elderly man lies on a cot. “You’re doing us a great service, Mr. Coleman,” the Governor tells him. As it turns out, the old man Mr. Coleman is dying of prostate cancer and has volunteered to be a test subject. They will allow him to die and then try to determine if he remembers any of his previous life when he’s in the walker state.
In the interrogation room Glenn is duck-taped to a chair and Merle releases a walker into the room and locks the door. Glenn kicks the walker, busts the chair apart on a nearby wall and stabs the walker in the head with a shard of wood.
The Governor decides to take another approach with Maggie and interrogate her himself. He asks her to tell him where the town is and when she refuses, he makes her disrobe in front of him. He makes suggestive moves but eventually relents.
There’s Nothing Less Rational Than Two Small Groups of Survivors Killing Each Other
The rescue group stops the car and Michonne tells them the town is perhaps a mile away. “They have patrols,” she warns. It’s better to walk in. As they walk Rick tells Daryl that he knows what he did for his baby while he was out of it. “It’s what we do,” Daryl replies. They run into a large group of walkers and are forced into an abandoned building.
Soon the building is surrounded and as they search the building they discover a man sleeping. He sees them and panics, running towards the door. Michonne kills him and they throw his body out the front door to distract the walkers so they can escape.
As Mr. Coleman begins to revive he lunges for the town’s scientist and Andrea kills him.
As an interrogation ploy, the Governor brings Maggie to Glenn and threatens to shoot him if she doesn’t reveal where the group is. The Governor plans to send a small group to scout the prison. The rescue team reaches the town and observes the men on the wall. Inside the wall, Andrea returns to the Governor and tells him what happened with Mr. Coleman. He comforts her, and the final piece of the puzzle is in place for next week’s mid-season finale. The only bad thing is that I’m sure it will end in some sort of frustrating cliffhanger.
