Within the same rural area, Andrea and Michonne (and her walker pals) can see the smoke in the distance where the helicopter crashed.
The women go to the sight of the crash, where Andrea gets sick. Michonne ties
up her zombie pals to a tree and hovers to Andrea to comfort her. Michonne
tells Andrea to stay put and she’ll keep watch. Michonne goes to the helicopter
to find a soldier torn in half. Before getting the chance to explore more,
mysterious vehicles arrive on scene. Michonne and Andrea hide within the bushes
as they see men jump out of the truck. One black male kills one nearby walker
with a bow-and-arrow. Another one beats
them with a baseball bat (with a killer swing, no pun intended). A walker
sneaks up behind Michonne and Andrea but because of Michonne’s zombies, the
walker passes them. The walker gets shot by one of the men. Andrea wonders if
they should reveal themselves but Michonne disapproves. The men go towards the
body of the mutilated soldier, whose now waking up as a walker. One of the men
stabs him in the head.. Michonne’s zombie pals are making noise and the men are
taking noticed so she immediately chops off both of their heads off. The men
are startled as to why the noise stopped so they roam out. But a man from
behind asks the women to put down their weapons and to spin around. A walker
sneaks up behind him but he immediately slaughters the walker with his unusual
weapon. The man is none other than Merle.
The two women are blindfolded and taken to what looks like a
military facility While Andrea is given a cigarette, a nurse is checking her
out. The nurse tells her they need to stay the night. The women demand where
they are at but the nurse refuses to disclose the location. Merle comes in to
talk to the women and explains what happened to him after he was handcuffed by
Rick in Atlanta; "When they found me, I was near bled out and starving and
thinking to myself a bullet might make a good last meal,” he explained. “Took a
nice long nap waiting for Daryl on the other side. Have you seen my brother?” Andrea
replies that Rick, Daryl and the rest tried going back for him but by the time
they got there, all that was left was Merle’s severed hand. Merle shows her the
severed wrist. Noticing he’s still resenting Rick and the crew for leaving him,
Andrea tried convincing Merle that Rick and the group tried to look for him. Merle
then acknowledges the loss of her sister.Andrea then tells Merle about being on
the farm and Daryl becoming a valued member of the group. She explains that it
was about 7-8 months ago, Andrea was “left behind” after being chased off by a
herd of walkers. She then asks Merle want he wants from them. Michonne doesn’t
have a fond first impression of Merle either, as she remembers Merle pointing a
gun at them back in the woods. A frustrated Merle tells them that they should be
grateful that they were rescued and are being cared for. Andrea finally
expresses her thanks but Michonne demands her weapons…just in time for Governor
to walk in. While the comforting shelter and necessities were luxurious for
them, Michonne isn’t buying any of it; “We know enough about you to know you
stabbed two men in the head!” The women
said they were already dead humans but the Governor informs the women that no
matter how they die, they all turn into walkers. The Governor says they can
retrieve their weapons and are free to leave and assures them; “You’re not
prisoners here, you’re a guest.”
 |
| Welcome to Woodsbury |
The Governor than leads them to the community of Woodbury
and welcomes them. Woodbury is a beautiful town with streets, building, homes
and trees. It looked like a beautiful, peaceful community. As the women explore
the town, they notice it’s a fenced community guarded by male survivors. Andrea
asks if they are military but they are not; “We’re self-trained”. The arsenal
used to protect the community are weapons that were picked up along the way.
Merle then warns the Governor that “we got us a creeper!”! A spotlight is shone
on walkers coming in. They are immediately shot down and the Governor commands
them to retrieve the bodies in the morning. The Governor then takes the women through
town and leads them to a room with food, water, fresh clothes, a comfortable
bed. They were also provided a guard stationed at their door. The governor acknowledges they have questions
but that the men are outside and that he will see them in the morning.The next
morning, a female tour guide takes Andrea and Michonne through the town, which
she explains is populated by 74 survivors and that there had been no casualties
since early winter, since the Governor enforced a strict curfew to the
townsfolk that no one is to be out after dark. Andrea and Michonne are still
suspicious about the Governor and all of Woodsbury.
 |
| Michonne giving the Governor, Milton and the rest a permanent side-eye |
Back in a mysterious hospital room, the wounded pilot from
the crash talks to the Governor about the survivors going “haywire”, about how
people went into panic mode and how “the whole place went to hell in a few
hours”. He tells him that he and his unit of 10 men abandoned post, grabbed
supplies and escape and that he left them in a desolate location so the pilot
could scout ahead; “I took the bird up in the air while they were still ahead.”
The Governor assures him that the rest of the unit will be rescued and he
promises that if they are still alive, he will bring them in to the town. Governor
goes outside and into a secret warehouse where he sees his advisor Milton and
Merle in the lab arguing about something. The Governor puts a stop to it and demands
Merle tell him about Andrea. Merle talks about Andrea and how she is from
Atlanta and how she was “the same one who left me on the roof and forced me to
mutilate myself.” The governor commands
him to talk to her more. Merle leaves when the Governor turns his attention to
Milton. Milton shows him the zombie head of one of the zombies that Michonne
kept with her and explained to the Governor that Michonne cut off the arms and
jaws to lose their appetite for flesh and to be used as a repellent. Milton
suggests cutting the jaws off the walkers to serve as “zombie camoflauge”.
The next morning at breakfast, Andrea and Michonne had breakfast with Milton and the Governor. The Governor asks the women about what they think about the walkers and their memory; Milton jumps in to mention the walkers Michonne kept with her and goes as far as to asking her if she knew them. Michonne remains quiet but only speaks to demand their weapons. After breakfast, Michonne confides in Andrea about not trusting the Governor. Andrea is more curious about the walkers Michonne kept with her for 8 months. Andrea boldly asks her who were they; “The way you controlled them and used them to your benefit, did you know them?” Michonne barks back at her “it was easier than you think” and storms off. Meanwhile, one of the Governor’s men is observing the two from a distance.
 |
| Merle, Milton and the Governor plotting something that's probably not very nice |
Out in a rural area full of military trucks, a car
approaches what is left of the pilot’s unit. The Governor rolls down the window and tells
them not to shoot, waving a white flag. The Governor then gets out and tells
the squad leader of the unit that the pilot was shot down but they had him and
they were going to take the unit back. The Governor and his men then open fire
on the soldiers. One soldier tries to make a run for it but is shot by Governor.
He then tells a Woodsbury boy to take a knife and to put a “muscle into his
knees”. The men confiscate the trucks and roll into town, which greatly peeks
the townspeople’s interest. The Governor steps out and makes an announcement: “We
brought in 3 new people yesterday, one was a helicopter pilot in the National
Gaurd. He’s clinging to life, he told us about his convoy on the highway. His
men….I promised I’d bring them back alive. They didn’t have our walls or
fences….the trucks had weapons, food, medicine, things we need. We’ll honor
their sacrifice….” He then closes his announcement by advising the people of
Woodsbury to “watch out for each other”. The townsfolk go back to their houses
as Andrea asks the Governor what she can do. She then asks for his real name,
which he tells her that he’ll never tell.
Back at the Governor’s residence, he takes a drink and
contemplates his next move. He walks by his bed where a naked woman is sleeping.
He takes a key necklace off and places it on an old family portrait of his wife
and son that's on a mantle. He goes in a private room and sits in a
room that was lit up by severed zombie heads in lit up tanks. Two of the men
are Michonne’s walkers and the other one is the head of the pilot (add that to
list of things I do not need to see before bedtime, along with horror movies about Dybbuk Boxes and social media sites after presidential debates).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Janes Notes: I honestly had to rewatch this one because this episode had A LOT packed into it in such a short time where we are introduced to another aspect of surviving a world full of walkers. I was a bit thrown off at the beginning of the opening scene with the military, which makes me wonder if there are other military units that survived the whole ordeal. Are there other towns set up like Woodsbury? What about Rick and the rest in the prison and how will the two crews clash? Time will tell so we have to stay tuned! I am also very curious as to Michonne's connection with the two walkers she kept with her. Perhaps they were her enemies she had? Who knows....
 |
| David Morrissey |
This week, AMC featured an interview with David Morrissey, aka The Governor so check it out!.
And because there was no Daryl Dixon in this episode, I enclose my notes with this picture, which should also help me forget the scene with the walker head aquarium;
 |
| A serious case of puffy hearts and awwwwwwwwwwwwws! |
Picture Credit: Syfy, Tumblr
Follow me on Twitter @janedoeghost
No comments:
Post a Comment