luke kalamar ain’t no judas…
Plot: Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) group is recovering from the aftermath of The Governor’s (David Morrissey) surprise attack. To give him a rest, Carl (Chandler Riggs) suggests that his father put some of the leadership duties on Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Hershel (Scott Greene). Meanwhile, Andrea (Laurie Holden) learns of The Governor’s actions and decides to take matters into her own hands.
This week’s episode of The Walking Dead, aptly titled “I Ain’t a Judas”, was all about Andrea. Now, if you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you’d know that I haven’t been a huge fan of her character so far this season. She has been extremely neutered compared to her super badass comic counterpart, and is way too enamored with The Governor. Based on the mounting evidence that The Governor is totally insane, I had high hopes that we would finally see some real legitimate change with her character this episode. Did we get that change I know many fans desperately want? Unfortunately we did not, but I did leave this episode with a greater understanding her place in this whole mess.
The big highlight of this total Andrea focus was that her desire to save the innocent citizens of Woodbury was much clearer. In the beginning, she really placed herself dead in the center as someone who wants peace between these two warring groups. I find myself agreeing with that goal because obviously living in the zombie infested world would be so much easier if everyone simply got along. Sure, this is definitely just a pipe dream and we all know it will never happen, but I still like the idea.
Speaking of innocent citizens, there was a sense this episode that the writers were trying to humanize the entire Woodbury community. So far, the only people that got a focus were soldiers and The Governor’s closest friends. Now we know about the boy who has Asthma and the old lady who has Arthritis. While I like the idea of learning about the regular everyday folk, we know about them now because The Governor is turning them into more soldiers. This honestly throws that entire “humanization” process out the window because these characters are just going to become like everyone else we’ve seen already. It also further shows that Andrea’s desire to form peace, regardless of how honorable it is, has no hope of succeeding.
Overall though, there was no real change with Andrea’s character. There were so many opportunities and yet nothing happened. Michonne almost got to her, but obviously that lead nowhere. Despite going to The Prison and learning about the horrible things The Governor has done to Rick’s group, Andrea is still obviously under The Governor’s spell. She even tries to employ Carol’s (Melissa McBride) idea to “screw The Governor and kill him” (which was an awesome Carol moment), but who is she trying to fool? We all know she wasn’t going to go through with it. The middle ground she put herself in earlier almost entirely went away with her actions. In the end, everything is basically the same and the main events went in a huge circle. At least Rick’s group knows Andrea is alive now!
There was also extremely little action this episode. I’m fine with The Walking Dead being dialogue heavy, but the majority of Season 3 has found a really nice balance between action and dialogue. This episode really didn’t have that balance and it did take away some of the excitement.
On a more positive note, Tyreese’s (Chad Coleman) group is back! Woohoo! That was extremely exciting! But they’re now at Woodbury and The Governor wants them to fight Rick. No woohoo. As much as I didn’t want this to happen, I actually completely understand and accept why it’s the case. All Tyreese and his group saw with Rick was him going completely insane and throwing them out. They didn’t see Rick the leader, the father, the man who just wants what’s best for his group. They don’t know what he went through and who he lost before the two groups came together. This made The Governor’s manipulation of them to join his cause that much easier. With the promise of living in a protected community too! That’s a tough deal to pass down. Still, I’m really pulling for the Rick/Tyreese friendship to appear in the show, despite that seeming pretty unlikely now.
Plus, we get the sense following this episode that Rick is much more accepting to the idea of splitting responsibility. Next week’s episode has Rick, Michonne (Danai Gurira), and Carol going on a gun run while Daryl and Hershel are left to protect The Prison. Even though this seems routine, the decision to share the leadership is a big one for Rick who completely abandoned the idea of a democracy last season. It looks like that concept is coming back, and I’m totally fine with that.
Despite the good moments here and there, this Andrea focused episode wasn’t on par with the rest of the season. The plot as a whole went in a large circle, and my opinions towards Andrea have only very slightly changed.
Rating: 7/10
All Photos Credit: AMC
