Talking Dead with Ambrosia: Too Far Gone

Warning: Ahead be Spoilers
 And lots of them.  By now you all know Talking Dead, and if you don’t, you’re an idiot, you know it talks about the episode that just aired, and since I’m posting here as if I’m in that conversation, clearly I will be talking about the episode. I’m gonna go ahead and make this extra long just in case you ignored the warning and you’re glancing down anyway, just trying to make sure you don’t see anything that you’re not “supposed” to, so that you can’t turn around and bitch and complain that you saw spoilers here. If you’re still reading now, anything from here on out is your own fault, suckas! 

This was… wow. Okay. Where do I start? I’m jumping ahead of Talking Dead and I just want to discuss the show, like, live.
First off, the little pep talk that the Governor gives his people – and make no mistake about it, telling Hershel not to call you the Governor doesn’t suddenly make you not the Governor. Lily is starting to see through him, which is great. From that exact moment I started to get a little tingly.

Daryl’s reaction to Carol was a little…anticlimactic. But I imagine at that point he’s just like, well, it’s done. There’s not a whole lot I can do about it now. I like that he decided to go tell Tyreese, and didn’t just send Rick to go do it. Lauren Cohan’s feeling that Daryl wanted to be part of the decision makes a lot of sense, and I agree that it’s an excellent point that when the Governor showed up, Rick was suddenly, ‘I don’t make the decisions, the council does.’ Well… Carol was part of that council. She made a decision. You’re the one who vetoed it. So… Who makes decisions?

By the way, has anyone figured out if Michonne was on the council?

“I have a tank!” Okay, Guv’nah, if we’re done measuring penis sizes here, can we get on with things? The speeches that the Gov and Rick delivered to each other were poetic, and honestly, I would be interested to see them all trying to coexist n the prison together. Almost like a revisitation to the beginning of Season 3, when we first meet Axel, Oscar, Andrew and their douchebag leader. Anyway, the best part of that whole thing was this overwhelming sense that you knew – you just knew – someone was dying in the next five minutes.  Scratch that, the best part was Daryl taking the bin of guns, all ‘doo-de-doo, nothing to see here,’ while he’s arming everyone.

Once again though, the more important of a character you are, the more dramatic of a death you have to have. Hershel bravely trying to drag himself away, despite knowing that he was done for… Even though I knew it was all coming… I jumped at every swing of that sword. Tara and Lily were both like, ‘uh, no, I’m good,’ at this point, which, again, made me feel tingly. At this point I wondered if they would run to the prison camp for protection, and maybe to join them. Either way, it’s obvious at this point we’re having a moment similar to the end of Season 3,  after the Gov has gunned everyone down, and they find Karen and she explains what happened to Tyreese and Sasha.

Not sure what was up with all the storm-trooper firing, these people couldn’t hit shit. I couldn’t believe that the bus left, but then again, they had to do what they had to do, right? Good on Lizzie for that headshot. Sweet revenge by Michonne, though I would have preferred her to take out his other eye first, then run him through. My friend that I was watching with suggested that she should have cut off his arms and jaw and made him her new pet. I was actually expecting Carl to shoot the Governor off Rick, similar to the way he saved Rick from walker Shane back in Season 2, but this works. Michonne had to have a hand in taking the Gov out, it was only right. And it was fitting for Lily to pull the final trigger, literally and figuratively. The way he just put Megan down without a word, no sympathy, nothing, when Lily brought her to him… it was good for her to be the one to go, okay, boom. Loved Carl kind of losing his shit for a second thnking Judith is dead, a good foil to Rick losing his mind after finding out Lori was dead.

However, they’re all scattered again, similarly to the end of Season 2, with the exception being that in 2, they all headed off in the same direction (except Andrea). We’ve got:
1. Michonne. Where the hell did she go after helping Rick?
2. Rick and Carl. And Rick is wounded. Pretty badly. Carl’s got the only weapon.
3. Daryl and Beth. Both armed, both unscathed.
4. Maggie, Sasha, and Bob. All armed, but Bob’s got that gunshot wound.
5. Tyreese, Lizzie, and her sister. Everyone’s in one piece, I believe. But are they in the prison? Lizzie said they had to defend it.
6. Judith. Um… where did she disappear to?
7. The other 2 kids that were previously carrying Judith
8. Bus full of randos and Glenn
9. Tara and Lily

With everyone separated, where does that leave us? And there’s still the ultimate unknown out there, Carol. Will someone run into Carol? Melissa McBride is still part of the opening credits, with I know doesn’t sound like a big deal, but keep in mind that Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha) is still in the post-break credits, implying that she’s not a regular character, despite the fact that she’s been in every episode this season (except the obvious ones where no one from the prison was), and once again, she’s on the council. Then again, David Morrissey, ended up in the opening credits, even though he was only in three episodes, plus a 15-second appearance in one more.

A funny moment on Talking Dead, all the praise for Jeffrey DeMunn as Dale… he said he wanted to leave in solidarity with the exit of previous director Frank Darabont, and then he changed his mind, but the producers were like, no, fuck you, you’re out. And…isn’t Robert Kirkman one of those producers?

I can’t even begin to get into how moved Lauren Cohan was by the whole thing, but I did even comment to my friend, about that ‘last dinner’ that they all have together on the last day of shooting with whoever died? I bet that one was really emotional. I can’t imagine it not. And it goes to show what a fan favorite Hershel is that his death nearly overshadowed everything. I mean, other than the fact that the prison is lost and everyone is scattered, was anything else in that episode as important? Even the excitement over the Governor dying doesn’t quite quell the pain.

I think the idea of the ‘one-two’ punch for the Governor’s death is very satisfying. Everyone got their licks in that needed to, although I think Daryl and Maggie deserved a shot at him too. David Morrissey definitely brought such… such je nais se quoi to the role that you can’t help but like him, then you hate that you like him, so his death had to be a dramatic send off. It would have felt empty if it was quick.

Questions: Why did the Governor want the prison after saying it wasn’t safe last season?
Well, in agreement with both Robert and Lauren, yes, the Gov just needed something to do, something to take over, and yes, anything with walls is better than what he had now, and he only thought it was unsafe compared to what he had in Woodbury.  However, my opinion is that he didn’t think the prison was safe and defensible, but then he saw that it was when he attacked it. For all we know, at that point he already decided on the prison as a back-up plan if necessary.

I was happy that they pointed out that the walker they zoomed in on at the end was Clara, because we had forgotten about, my friend and I. We turned to each other and said, “Lori?” “Janis Joplin?”

So the first half of the season has ended with us still not knowing what the deal is with the rats, but yet raised a further question of who the f is dissecting them? And what exactly does Bob have in that box of his. Booze? Rats? Furthermore, what came first, the rats being fed to the walkers, or the rat that was autopsied?

All I know is this, February 9 can’t come fast enough.