TWD 3x12 "Clear" episode discussion...**SPOILERS WITHIN**

[babomb]

Why don't they just booby trap the hell out fo the prison and move to Morgans and hit woodbury from there? At this point the prison isn't serving as the sanctuary that it was supposed to be. It's blown open in the back, the main gates in front are down. There's so many things they could do to even the odds against Woodbury. But I'm sure none of it is gonna happen. They're just gonna blunder their way into another conflict, we're gonna lose a couple people most likely. It's unfortunate that they're doing it this way when they have so many other options.

[Wyldwraith]

Here's my problem, The Governor is currently functioning as a villainous Mary Sue. His right-hand man is gone due to the Gov's own vindictiveness, he's lost around ten of his death-squad members, Andrea is no longer just swallowing whatever BS he throws her way, and the man has an open wound where his eye was. Effect on his ability to wage a campaign of murderous conquest? Zero. I don't expect them to flesh out, or hell, even name all the Gov's thugs..but they need to give we viewers a clear understanding of how many there still are. When he hit the military convoy it looked like he had about 12 or 13 thugs not counting himself and Merle...plus we saw upon his return with the convoy's vehicles that there were 3-4 guys on the wall who'd been holding down the fort. Call it 17 at the most generous. The ones Michonne killed, the two Glenn & Maggie did in escaping, the casualties Rick & Co. inflicted which the Governor numbered at 6 before blaming him for the guy that got Walker-bit. Four for Michonne's body parts warning, 2 on Glenn/Maggie (but for the sake of argument let's even assume the Governor considered those among the 6 he mentioned, minus Merle and then the guy he lost during the raid on the prison. That's 12 of 17 at the most generous-to-the-Governor view. So the Governor decides to arm and militarize 99% of Woodbury, generating 37 soldiers of dubious quality by Milton's count. Despite not one but 2 successful raids into Woodbury, with only 1 dead "raider" to show the people (Oscar), and despite the Governor withdrawing and leaving the people to Andrea to handle (other than sauntering out and putting down the bit guy without a word) during what's become a time of fear and uncertainty for the people of Woodbury, compounded by the unhappiness of at least some citizens at the mass-conscription....the people of Woodbury are apparently willing to be coerced into going forth to do battle with the folks that punked quite a few men they thought of as great fighters and protectors of the town. Please understand, I wholeheartedly want the Governor to be a major threat and powerful antagonist set in opposition to our protagonists. It's just that I don't want the Governor's power to be the result of conveniently ignoring major losses on his side and unsupported/unrealistic militant solidarity throughout his new conscript army. Plus the whole extended spying on the prison whilst on foot makes me nuts. Rick and Co. can't go five steps beyond the fence without 2-5 Walkers beginning to trudge in their direction, but some guy or guys can hang out in woods we've established are a significant throughway for Walkers headed towards the prison and perform any useful observing of Rick & Co? A few little tweaks, some clear exposition and you could have a Governor sitting just as pretty, but in a logically consistent manner. That's all I'm saying.

[Buzzbomb]

I was a bit disapointed with this episode... To me, the car getting stuck didn't make sense until the return trip, when it was clearer that there was a boggy area by the side of the road... and the way the zombies snuck up on the car & popped out of nowhere was lazy. Michonne going back into the cafe was a joke - getting past at least half a dozen zombies who were virtually standing on the picture, without them noticing or any biting the dust was incredulous. The sudden crossbow appearance / disappearance (it was in one shot?) I thought was a terrible edit. Also how did the crib fit into the car? Generally the rest was okay... Best bit (aside from the random hitch-hiker & Erin) was Michonne's retort to Rick while scoffing Morgan's food... "Well the mat did say welcome!". On the subject of guns, I had thought that the TWD universe must be running out of ammo one year in, but I looked on line & worked out that there was about 1 gun for every 2 people in Georgia registered between 1998 - 2012... so I guess there's probably more than enough guns & ammo to put down all the walkers (even with the cast's sometimes erratic targeting!).

[MinionZombie]

Here's an excellent fan-made video for "Clear":

[Neil]

^^ Some high points to the series. We need more of these 'on the side' personal stories...

[facestabber]

^^ Some high points to the series. We need more of these 'on the side' personal stories... I agree. I just rewatched "Clear" couple days ago. The isolation. The alone it makes you feel. Great story telling. As mentioned above I wish the surprise attack gang of zombie scares to go away. Sometimes they let lazy creep in and it cheapens it a bit.