Tuesday, December 4, 2012

"The Walking Dead: Made To Suffer" Mid-Season Finale Recap

Over a foggy, gloomy sunrise in the woods, a woman’s scream echoes out. Within the woods, a  female walker is walking towards the scream when a mysterious black male appears and runs through the woods towards the screams. A female steps out from behind a tree with a shovel waiting to attack. “Oh my God, Tori!” she said, realizing who it was. The man named Tori said he thought there might be a building nearby because he saw a tower. But before they can talk more, a small group of people come out and slash walkers. A group of walkers chases this new human group and bites one of the girls. One the men carries her and keeps on going. Tori sees what looks like an abandoned warehouse ahead. They walk towards the building that looks like it’s been bombed to hell.  The lead woman is unsure of what’s in there and is even more concerned about the bitten girl. “She’s slowing us down and once were in there, and she turns,” she mentioned but what appears to be the bitten girl’s boyfriend said he doesn’t want to leave her behind. The woman thinks they should leave her but Tori mentions she’s not ready. “It’s a mistake” the woman said before they climb inside what is actually the prison.


In the comfort of the Governor’s home, Andrea is getting ready when she notices a framed picture of his family. The Governor walks in. “I promised Milton I’d help cremate Mr. Coleman,” she mentioned. “He shouldn’t have to handle themselves…(the people of Woodbury) are all helping each other through this mess,” she mentioned. “We’re starting to grow on you,” the Governor said. 

Back in his hidden aquarium room, the Governor opens up a cage door and plays music from a stereo, sitting in his seat. He calls out for Penny; “Honey, it’s daddy,” he said. The same little walker girl with her head covered runs up to him but shackles around her hold her back. The Governor tries calming her down and lets go of the cover. He grabs her from behind and begins singing, holding her hands. Penny’s growls become less menacing as her focus is on the candy dish with what looks like a brain. “Look at me baby,” The Governor said. “Look at me….LOOK AT ME!” he yelled out as he shook her. He puts the cover back on her and puts her back in the cage.

Back in the interrogation room, Maggie and Glenn are bloodied and bruised. Glenn is greatly concerned about what the Governor did to Maggie. “Maggie did he….” “No, he barely touched me!” Maggie replied. Maggie promises the Governor didn’t do anything to her and they embrace. Glenn then hobbles over to the dead walker and tears off his arm and foot stomps his elbow. He digs out the bones and hands on to Maggie. Right outside of Woodbury, the Rick and crew lie low at night, waiting to see what happens next. Michonne sneaks away from the rest. Rick suggests that they downsize their weapons when Daryl mentions the amount of guards. They hear a snap behind them and it’s just Michonne whose leading them.

Back in the Governor’s room, Governor and Merle discuss the prison and about what to do with it. The Governor suggests that they take out the crew and leave the prison to biters. “The problem is my brother is with them,” Merle said. The Governor looks at him; “have you talked to him, make him more of an inside man?” The Governor suggested. “We’ll wave the white flag like what we did to the National Guard.” But Merle says to not touch Daryl.  The Governor suggests they take Maggie and Glenn to the “screaming pits”. Outside of Woodbury, Michonne sneaks the group in a small opening of what looks like the back of a restaurant. “This is where you were held?” Rick asks. Michonne replies that it’s where she was questioned. Daryl and Rick take a peak at the front door and notice people still are out and about, assuming there was a curfew. Michonne said they probably were wanderers. Rick is losing his patience and yelled at Michonne, “You said you could help up!” Michonne yells back “I’m doing the best I can!” Oscar steps in and asks her where the Governor and the rest are. Rick and Daryl have a quick, private pep talk; “If this goes south, were gonna lose,” Rick said. Daryl then suggests they split up then.  The door of the restaurant opens and a man walks in; “I know you’re in here, I saw you moving from outside!” The man is yelling out at whose in there when Rick sneaks up on him, gets out with a gun, commands him to shut up and to have him zip tied. Rick demands where his people are. “You are holding some of our people! Where are they?” he demands. Rick sticks a rag in his mouth and Daryl kicks him. They drag him out.

It’s nighttime at the prison and Beth is tending to Judith. Axel mentions Beth is good at taking care of Judith and asks her if she’s had little sisters. He asks how old she is. “I’m seventeen,” Beth replies. “Interesting,” Axel replies when Carol steps in and demands to speak to Axel. They walk to the other side of C-unit for a quick talk. Carol tells him to stay away from her and to not even think about trying to repopulate the earth.“I didn’t mean no offense, but I’ve been locked up a long while,” Axel said before he suggested that due to her haircut, Carol was a lesbian and that all he did was innocently talk to Beth. Carol tell him she’s not a lesbian. “This could be interesting,” Axel replies but Carol isn’t having it. 

Back outside the interrogation room, Merle and another man are opening the door when Glenn and Maggie go on the attack. Maggie stabs the mystery man in the neck with the bone while Glenn is in a struggle with Merle. Maggie grabs her gun and demands Merle to let him go, which he complies…with the fact that the rest of Merle’s men are behind them. Meanwhile, Rick and crew sneak out of the restaurant. Rick is leading the way down a hallway with the rest behind him, armed and ready to go. They see a sentry and continue to sneak up. Right next door, Glenn and Maggie are on their knees, ready to be executed. Maggie tells Glenn she loved him when the men put covers on their heads and command them to go on their feet. Rick throws a frag grenade and rushes in as the room fills with smoke. Rick and Daryl rescue Maggie and Glenn while gunshots are heard throughout the building. Outside of Woodbury, a woman yells for help when the Governor and Andrea rush to the woman and see that it’s the man who was tied up. The Governor asked what had happened; “Men with guns came in,” he said.  “How many?” The Governor asks. The man replies; “I don’t know, 6 or 7 guys, I’ve never seen them before,” The Governor commands the people of Woodbury to go home and to lock the doors and keep the lights off.  The Governor then commands his guards to see what’s wrong and to “shoot to kill”. 

Rick and crew, along with Maggie and Glenn, run through Woodbury and go in another abandoned restaurant. “Rick, how did you find us?” Glenn asks. Maggie mentions the woman behind them. They think she’s a spy. Glenn mentioned how Merle was the one that threw a walker at him and almost executed them. Daryl is stunned at this news. Glenn tells him that Merle is the lieutenant of Woodbury and second in command. Glenn then confesses to Rick that they told him where the prison was. Rick tells them not to apologize and to get a car ready to get out. But Daryl doesn’t want to leave; “if Merle is around, we gotta see him!” Rick tells him they can’t afford that. Daryl tells him that maybe he can talk things out with Merle and work something out but Rick tells him that Daryl isn’t thinking straight and that he needs him. Daryl agrees and goes on with Rick and the rest. 

Back in the lab, the Governor, Andrea, Merle and the rest gather to discuss what is going on and whose responsible for the attack. “Some assholes want what we have!” Merle answers. Milton wants to know if anyone has seen the attacker. He was informed they killed a guard. The Governor commands Andrea to do house calls. Andrea tries to butt in but the Governor won’t have it and tells her to just do what he asks
Michonne is flying solo and sneaks in the Governor’s room and readies her katana as she sits down on his chair, glaring at the door. 

Meanwhile, Rick and are huddled in an entryway of a building, readying the frag grenades to throw and to run out. The grenades are thrown and the crew bust out, shooting guards. Nearby, Andrea goes out and preps her gun. The crew is now in a heavy firefight against the patrol guards of Woodbury. The Governor walks out and asks Andrea if she’s seen them. Andrea says she saw one, a “young black male in a prison jumpsuit.” The Governor tells her to get off the street. While the crew take cover, Daryl tells them they need to move and that they will need a cover. The crew are yelling and walking out as Rick aides Daryl in providing cover. Maggie, Glenn and Oscar are at the wall and climbing up. A mysterious man with a rifle walks up to Rick…..a man that looks like his old partner, Shane. The man raises his rifle but shoots Oscar. Rick walks up to the shooter but sees that it’s not Shane.  Maggie shoots Oscar in the head and they climb up on the bus over the wall. Daryl is running low on ammo but still covering. 

Back at the prison, Hershel mentions they have enough formula for another month. Carl wants to get more by the end of the week when Beth mentions they’ll be back then. Carl is not sure but before anymore can be said, they hear screams inside. Hershel tells them that Carol and Axel are in the towers so it’s not them. Carl said he’s going but Hershel blocks his way. Carl tells him his father would go so Hershel lets him go.Carl walks down with a flashlight and gun through hallways of decayed corpses, trying to follow the screams of a woman crying. He passes by the boiler room, the same area where he mercy killed his own mother….but before he can stop to really recollect, a walker creeps up from behind him. Carl shoots the walker and keeps running. Carl then sees a group of humans take out walkers as the boyfriend and bitten girl are huddled. Carl steps in to help clear the walkers.The group notices Carl and he commands them to hurry up and to follow him. The young man is carrying the girl but stumbles. Walkers are slowly approaching behind them. Carl tells them to leave her because she’s dying but they refuse to leave her. 

Back in the Governor’s room, Michonne hears someone from the other side of the door so she kicks it in. To her horror, she sees the aquarium tanks with the walker heads. She then sees the cage door and peeks in, ready to strike. She opens the cage door and sees Oenny in a light pink cardigan, a pink skirt and a cover over her head. Michonne thinks it’s a human girl so she tells her that it’s okay, that she’s not going to hurt her and unhooks the shackles. She slowly lifts up the cover and sees it’s a walker so she grabs it by the back of the neck, turns her around and is ready to strike it. The Governor walks in and pointing the gun at Michonne, telling her not to do it. “Don’t hurt her!” the Governor pleads as he lifts his hands in the air and takes off his duty belt; “lt’s me you want”. Michonne is utterly stunned and confused at the Governor’s behavior.“Theres no need for her to suffer….don’t hurt my little girl!” The Governor tells her. “She doesn’t have needs!” Michonne tells him. “Don’t hurt her!” The Governor pleads. Michonne sticks the katana through the back of her head as the Governor screams and lodges towards Michonne as they ensue in a fight. Michonne  gets her katana and pushes it back against the Governor’s neck but he escapes her grip and bashes her head not only against the wall but straight into the aquarium of walker heads. Michonne faces the heads of her once walker friends and grabs the aquariums as they both get knocked down, the aquariums and biting heads with it. The Governor tries to lead michonne near a biting walker head but she grabs a piece of glass and sticks it in his eye. She grabs her katana waiting to attack, Andrea comes in, gun drawn and screaming at her to stop. Michonne points her katana straight at Andrea. The women walk around, weapons drawn. Michonne lowers her katana and walks away, knowing full well that Andrea doesn’t have the guts to shoot her. Andrea goes to her wounded lover but notices the walker heads that are still live and biting (did this part make anyone else want to jump up on a couch or table to avoid the floor?). She also sees the other tanks that haven’t been destroyed full of both human and walker heads. She then sees the Governor cradle and cry over Penny’s body. Andrea kneels down with a loss of words. 

Back into C-unit, the new group led by Carl comes in and they lay the wounded woman down. Carl locks up the unit. The wounded woman named Donna is now dead. Her boyfriend is stricken with grief and Carl says he’ll take care of it. Carl points the gun at her head but Tori asks him what he’s doing. Tori’s wife demands to know how he got in and what he’s doing. Carl said he can help them but “first thing is first….” The man said he took care of her own. Tori takes out an axe, the boyfriend covers her face with a bandana but before the man can do anything, Carl locks himself in the unit with Beth and Hershel. Tori asks him what he’s doing but Carl tells them that  it’s safe and they have food and water. The woman goes up to him at the door and commands him to open the door . Hershel comes out and the woman yells at Carl to open the door. Tori tells her to back away from the door and let the man go. “Look around you,” he tells her. “This is the best we’ve had in weeks! We got other things to do….” Tori tells Carl that they don’t want trouble and couple walks away back to Donna. Beth asks if they should help them. Carl said he did.

Back in the nurse’s office, the Governor is being tended to. “It doesn’t look good,” she tells him; “the glass has done a lot of damage.” The governor asks the nurse if he and Andrea can have a private moment. “What the hell was that? Why was she here, why were you fighting her?” Andrea demands, referring to Michonne. “She came back to kill me,” he replies; “you tell me why, you knew her.” Andrea mentions what the deal was with the aquarium tanks and the severed heads. The Governor gives her a story about how it was to prepare and desensitize him to “the horrors out there”.  And asks about Penny but Governor is silent. Milton walks in and so does Merle and the woman with the very bad crossbow skills.  “What happened to you?” Merle asked. The Governor said he was attacked. Merle said the crew made it over the fence but he’ll go after them in the morning.

As the crew sneak out of Woodbury without Daryl, whose gone missing, Michonne is behind them. Rick points the gun at her and commands her to have her hands up and to turn around. Maggie also points her gun it at her. Rick takes the katana. Rick demands as to where she has been. Michonne tells Rick that they need her whether they want to get back to the prison or to go back to save Daryl. 

Back in Woodbury, another event at the Walker Octagon is up and Andrea is sitting in the stands. The Governor comes out and the crowd is silenced. He gives a speech; “What can I say……I thought we were past it…past the days when we all sat huddled and scared in front of the TV during the early days of the outbreak. The fear we all felt then, we felt again tonight. I failed you. I promised to keep you safe. Hell, look at me. I should tell you we’ll be okay and that were safe but tomorrow we bury our dead. I’m afraid. I tried. I’m afraid of terrorists who want what we have, one of the strong outs or worse, one of those terrorists is one of our own…MERLE!” He points at Merle. Merle is surrounded by his own men, one of them armed with a familiar crossbow. “The man I counted on, the man I trusted, he led them here. He led them in!” The Governor tells the crowd as the crowds bursts out with anger and disgust. The Governor turns to Merle; “it was you, you lie, betrayed us all!” He then says that he has one of the terrorists….the men bring in a man with a cover on his head. The man is Daryl Dixon.  This is Merle’s own brother!” The Governor announces. The crowd’s angry roars are louder as Andrea sits quiet and stunned.  "What should we do with them?” The Governor asks the crowd. “KILL THEM,KILL THEM!” the crowd chants. 

The Governor turns over to Merle: “You wanted your brother, you got him…” he says as he walks away, both Merle and Daryl exchanging looks, wondering about their fate….

Jane's notes: What more needs to be said about the awesomeness that is this show? We’re going to have to wait until February to figure out how the rest goes down. I predict that Michonne and company will make a surprise entrance at the Walker Octagon and another epic firefight will ensue. I also hope that Andrea will come to her damn senses. I’m sorry but if I found out the man of my dreams kept decapitated heads in his little room as well as a little zombie girl, I would end it LIKETHAT.I did NOT see this new group coming and it seems like the creators decide to combine elements of the show’s surviving (and dying) group to this new one. You have Tori who acts like Rick as the leader, his wife whose like Lori and then the couple who can be a combo of Maggie and Glenn/Andrea and Amy. In between now and February, I’ll keep my eyes and ears open for any news regarding “The Walking Dead” and post them on here….here’s a cheers to the show and everyone involved in it! 

Picture Credit: AMC
Follow me @janespringfield 

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