TWD 3x14 "Prey" episode discussion...**SPOILERS WITHIN**

[babomb]

Not the best episode for me to be honest, then again, you can see how things are turning bad for mr slick governor as the more decent Woodburry folks start wondering about his intentions/sanity/decency Also a bit pissed off at how easy it was for him to pounce on Andrea when she got to the prison 2 episodes to go people...let's hope that they are epic! I thought it was decent, but nothing too great. The 2nd half of this season has all been like that for me to be honest. The season premiere was excellent IMO. And then it just dropped off from there. With the exception of "Clear", and the episodes where they assault woodbury. I think the logical inconsistencies are starting to get to me too much. The episodes I like are the ones that make logical sense. But some of the other ones, mostly the woodbury episodes, they just don't fit well it seems. And it seems like they're getting more and more play as the season goes on. They're building up the suspense for this war so much. Which is what I want to see. So every episode that doesn't involve preparations for that annoy me a little. I was also annoyed that Andrea was taken down so easily. She was tired, but the Gov had to be beat too. He just battled it out with a dozen or so walkers. But all she had to do when she saw Rick was call out. Thought that myself, wouldn't be too shocked if he's seen treating a bite in the next episode. Me neither. That'd be a game changer though. I welcome it. It's way too late for Milton to amputate something to save him too. It's in his blood, he'll soon get the fever and then game over. Would hope to see all three survive the war and end up on "Team Ricktatorship" I'd like to see several folks from Woodbury integrate with the prison group. Even Martinez would make a good addition.

[Wyldwraith]

Parts I like, but on the whole this episode came off a loser for me, Once AGAIN the writers had to heavy-handedly intervene to make things turn out in favor of the Governor. Their reasons for doing so are as transparent as glass, as seen in the previews for next week. They weren't done having Rick agonize over the "To hand or not hand Michonne over" crap. Andrea making it to the prison would've nixed that, so I knew as surely as knowing whatever nameless Red-shirt security guy beams down with Kirk's landing party to the unknown alien planet will bite it, that Andrea had a 0.00% chance of reaching the prison. I mean C'MON, she turned loose DOZENS of Walkers on a guy armed with a pistol and whatever rounds are already in it and maybe the shovel. Not ONLY does the Governor escape a situation that's been the death of literally BILLIONS of people, but he does it with such ease and poise he still manages to prepare and successfully execute an ambush of Andrea....because of COURSE he'd just "KNOW" which of the dozen-degree compass-point angles from which she might choose to approach the prison. This goes beyond a pet peeve for me when an entire season's plot of a show is utterly shaped, orchestrated and most importantly QUITE VISIBLY directed on an episode-by-episode basis by improbably and thus poorly contrived fiat-style plot devices. If the writers couldn't think of a better way to lengthen the duration of Rick's moral agonizing over the Governor's patently transparent ultimatum, that element should have been allowed to run its course and die this episode. To continue its existence by virtue of having a single civilian perform a feat that, under the same circumstances, a single Special Forces operator would find significantly challenging, draws back the curtain for me to the degree that the show might as well have cut off, and a brief documentary-like appearance by one or more of the writers pop-up, wherein they explain that they're just so in love with the ultimatum sub-plot that they can't under any circumstances allow it to end one second sooner than is absolutely possible. When the Governor snagged Andrea the single reason I didn't turn it off was I wanted to see in car-accident-rubbernecking fashion just how bad they were going to allow it to be. This had to be in the Top 3 worst TWD episodes of all time. Right up there with emo farm melodrama. They had a BEAUTIFUL opportunity to, in a very fluid/organic manner resolve the pretense that has been the Governor/Rick's meeting/planned meeting but actually ambush and ultimatum, and decisively draw up battle lines and go classic Good Vs. Evil in the clash...but instead they chose to nix that in favor of Rick finally telling the rest of Team Prison about the ultimatum and present it like it's STILL a credible option. I don't like to judge PEOPLE based on ideas they have...especially in the area of creative endeavor...but whoever looked at the options they had and decided that this choice-path was their creative pinnacle of optimal storytelling is, quite frankly, a MORON IMO. Plus, for those of you who couldn't care in the slightest about Andrea or Michonne's fates...this farce is by extension how they turn a straightforward limited-resource/limited-manpower border war into the annoying six month+ cliffhanger that someone decided the world would end if TWD didn't end EVERY SINGLE SEASON on. We lose the next episode to prison melodrama that we the audience knows makes no difference because of what happened this episode. Which is why I rate this as among the top 3 worst episodes. It not only manages to wreck the current episode with a contrived ending, but wrecks the FOLLOWING episode before it ever had a chance.

[babomb]

Great points Wyld. Kinda the same type of thing that's been bugging me about this season. When you consider all the things they could do, and then see what they actually decide to do, it just annoys the piss out of me. Started out good with the premiere, and then they systematically destroy the season with plot device after plot device.

[kidgloves]

Thought this was a pretty poor episode tbh. Didn't help that it had the standard abandoned warehouse sequence that ive hated since the latter days of the x-files (every episode seemed to have one as they ran out of ideas). I found some of the acting and dialogue between Tyreese and Allen to be quite terrible. Nice nod to the comics with Tyreese though, not being able to hit shit with a rifle. Give the man a deluxe hammer . Also want Milton to stay around. It must have been him who torched the walkers (the ones laying in the pit were quite disturbing). Who else would it be? Why keep it a mystery? We know it wasn't Tyreese' group.

[AcesandEights]

I was thinking for a little while that maybe the Gov got bit when he was fighting off all those walkers. Interesting idea, good forethought!

[facestabber]

Good points Wylde. Though I enjoyed this episode as a whole, there are some minor annoyances. At times I feel guilty nitpicking at all because, problems and all, this has been my 3 favorite years of television in my lifetime. It is clear that TWD has grown and gathered fans at rates never before seen for the zombie genre. Commercials, action figures you name it, it now exists. Heck even a zombie survival clip on the Talking Dead, which honestly keeps me up at night KNOWING that there are people who actually believe it will happen. But my point is this huge commercial success has caused some dumbing down. Now people I said 'some'. 1. The ninja like zombie appearances are beyond horrible. As Andrea leaned against the tree I looked toward my girlfriend and said any second now a zombie should be reaching between the branches and grabbing her. As we all know I was 100% correct. Then we have a group converge on her which just happened to appear. How any of our group has survived this long when walkers can walk right up behind them unnoticed. This crap happens too much. Rick, Carl and Michonne stuck in the mud and all of a sudden they are surrounded by half a dozen or so walkers. Going for the cheap scare is probably what got the large audience to join in our(zombie fans since the 80's) cause. For some reason it works for the American Idol watching masses. But to myself it is just irritating. The writers have shown the ability to knock some episodes out of the ball park without the cheap crap. 2. To expand on Wyld's points about the plot contrived to give unrealistic advantages to the predetermined outcome. The Gov has become the new Jason, Michael Myers etc. Always knows right where to hide in wait. As Wylde has said for the Gov to know the exact approach Andrea would take is simply unrealistic. The fact that he could find her in a field was already too much but the ability to ambush her at the prison gates of friendly reunion. Minion you may be happy to hear part of me was actually excited to see Andrea back to the group....I feel stupid that the Gov's ambush got me. I knew he wasnt dead because when he goes its going to be graphic and epic. But to silence a grown man/woman without knocking them out just doesnt happen. It was just too much BS. Again I enjoyed this episode but I enjoy chiming in and read everyones responses on this show. It makes an hour episode last a week by seeing feedback.

[AcesandEights]

The ninja like zombie appearances are beyond horrible. As Andrea leaned against the tree I looked toward my girlfriend and said any second now a zombie should be reaching between the branches and grabbing her. I said the same thing to my wife! These 'ninja' zombie appearances, as you call them, are definitely overused and a sign of sloppy writing and directing. I couldn't agree more. Honestly, it didn't used to bother me, but when it's really blatant and you end up letting it slide every, or every other episode you start to roll your eyes in advance of it happening.

[Wyldwraith]

Thank you all and excellent points of your own, I particularly felt that you got what I was driving at 100% facestabber with your comments about the Governor being endowed with slasher-film-villain powers in order to force certain outcomes into existence. I thought some more about the scene where Andrea turned the Walkers loose on the Governor. If you noticed, the acoustics in the warehouse SERIOUSLY AMPLIFIED the report each time the Governor fired his pistol in rapid succession. Add to that the Walkers that no doubt saw either Andrea or the Governor's vehicle when he drove up to and parked at the warehouse, and it equals a serious oversight that there weren't 6-9 Walkers minimum in the general vicinity of the Gov's ride after all the noise. It was another case of the double-standard when it comes to the disparity of results between what happens when members of Team Prison are outside secured areas and fail to be stealthy, and what happens when Team Woodbury behaves in the exact same manner. Team Prison = Draws Walkers from every direction in 2's-3's, but Team Woodbury MIGHT cause one highly visible Walker to show up, that's seen from quite some distance away. I don't even believe it's a subjective and therefore arguable point concerning the Michonne Ultimatum sub-plot any longer. Factually speaking, time spent on said sub-plot at this juncture simply detracts from the war-footing elements of the story. It's uninteresting and, quite simply a waste of air-time. We all want to see how the second meeting that the Governor is planning to turn into a massacre will play out, we want to know how, when push comes to the make-or-break shove, how Tyreese & Sasha are going to react to finding themselves in the midst of an inhuman monster's insane quest for revenge and megalomaniacal domination or destruction of all remaining humans. We want to see if our as yet unidentified saboteur intends to go further in attempting to hamstring the Gov's evil campaign. Finally, we want to see how the fight between the opposing factions, and by extension who returns to Team Prison, gets underway and begins to illustrate the consequences of the conflict....and even what happens to Andrea. Instead we're getting at least 25-30 minutes of 60 next week of Rick "dropping the bombshell" about the ultimatum, plus a repeat of Herschel trying to convince Merle he really does have an opportunity to change how the rest of Team Prison sees him, and thereby fit in. If you combine that with a flashover to Woodbury with the Governor preening and prepping to do evil evil things to Andrea, while all the while spouting a stream of self-justification and ranting about her disloyalty maybe...that's pretty much 60 minutes right there. I could be wrong, and they might actually squeeze in Rick & Co. showing up to the 2nd meeting only to be ambushed...but IF they've incorporated that (And I seriously doubt they have,...much more likely they'll be heading off to the meeting at the tail end of the next episode. Or how else would Rick having a round-robin with the group concerning the Michonne ultimatum even come into play?) it will be near the tail-end as I said and quickly devolve into another The Governor Has All The Cards evil-Mary Sue execution of his plan. Ever so convenient that it turns out Woodbury recovered box after box after box of .50 ammo for the mounted .50.....ignoring the fact that as an extremely effective crowd (and thus horde)-clearing device the National Guardsmen, who were traveling in the same small area where at the time at least 2 massive migrating hordes were on the perimeter of (based on the movement information concerning hordes being all over the area at the Season opener) would have had extremely dangerous (and probably repeated) encounters where the .50 would've been by far the most effective means of mowing down a horde (even if it didn't kill a great many of them) so the convoy could move past/over the downed bodies. Even the torching of the Walker-filled trailer and pit will in all likelihood prove to be no hindrance to the Gov's nefarious scheming. For me at least, the writers have sucked almost all the suspense and excited anticipation over the coming war between Teams Prison and Woodbury with their compulsion to mitigate down to the trivial any setback the Gov's side suffers, and their too-convenient "it just so happened" plot devices that give advantage after advantage, and victory after victory to the Governor. Why couldn't they, I dunno, craft a story wherein while well-entrenched/supplied...the severe hardships of not only being in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, but also being at war with the only other human collective they know of, lead to an up-and-down rollercoaster of never knowing who would have the upper hand six hours from now? Even the U.S military, with their VAST technological, supply, logistical and intelligence gathering supremacy STILL struggled BITTERLY to drive out, or isolate and then neutralize insurgent-held positions. THAT is war. What they've give us this season is a boogeyman who's been on writer-fiat life support almost from the very beginning. I just wish they'd created a scary Governor...given him the scary yet realistically limited superiority in supplies/firepower required to make Team Prison sweat...and then let the conflict swing back and forth showcasing the fortunes of war. At the very first, when Glenn & Maggie were kidnapped and Team Prison sprung them it looked like that might be in the cards...but everything since has been the Governor's way, right away, at TWD now.

[Morto Vivente]

I really did LOVE this episode. The Governor/Andrea warehouse scene did feel like a slasher lol. Something someone said above reminded me of a little tidbit Glen Maz said right before the start of season 3. Anyway, once again a episode with a smaller cast really shines. Awesome. I enjoyed the Guv/Andrea stalker sequence too. As for the creepy whistle it's a lullaby called Bye Baby Bunting: Bye Baby Bunting, Daddy's gone a hunting, Gone to get a rabbit skin, To wrap his bay bunting in No doubt the Governor used to sing this to his daughter before the apocalypse hit. I think he sings it to her in an earlier episode before Michonne turned her into a walker-kebab. The ease with which he located and subdued Andrea after the warehouse sequence was a bit far fetched though, it detracted from Andrea's fate as the episode concluded. IMO a weak ending to a fair enough episode.

[MinionZombie]

I enjoyed the episode over all ... were there little issues? Sure, but I keep them in perspective as the overall picture that is TWD is so good. Personally speaking at least, paying so much mind to such minor issues would ruin the experience for me - yes, they need to do some work when it comes to setting up certain zombie appearances etc, but no doubt this is something they're looking into for season four (remember how sprightly some of the walkers were in season one by accident? remember the fence-climbing in 1x02? Yeah, they shot those mistakes down come season two). I think Martinez is too far gone - or too compromised, rather - as a result of being under the Governor's leadership. He's not necessarily an evil man, but he's done too many evil things to join Team Prison. However, I do hope (and expect) Tyreese, Sasha and Milton (who I'm a big fan of) join the Ricktatorship (Milton wants to deep down, I think, but is too frightened at this stage ... but that was before he got into direct conflict with The Governor out on the street). The torture chamber looks creepy as all get-out ... did anyone else notice the speculum (that's what they're called, right?) on the table? *shudders* Pace wise, I'm a little ancy to get to the battle to be honest ... I think this elongated build up will work better when I watch it according to my own pacing preference (e.g. back-to-back viewings) rather than week-to-week (remember how different the pacing of 2x01 through 2x07 felt when you watched them week-to-week, then according to your own far quicker schedule?) 3x16 is clearly going to be the big finale (a la 2x13), but hopefully there's enough stuff going down in 3x15 that it doesn't feel too much like a third-tease-in-a-row, you know? Like all TWD episodes, I loved it, it's my favourite show, but watching it week-to-week does make me a smidge over-eager to get into the meat of the situation. Plenty on offer to enjoy though ... Allen and Ben can still go fuck themselves, but I'd readily welcome Tyreese and Sasha (and Milton! Hooray for Milton!) ... some very cool stuff dotted throughout, certainly. Do you think it was Milton that set the fire at the pits? Totally. He's Milton: Undercover Badass. Well Minion you may have got the beginning of your Andrea vindication but she may never be able to follow through. Hahaha. Sorry just had to give you grief She's too big a character, there's so much more to do with her, and she's been away from the Ricktatorship for so long that we need her back. It looks like she'll be taking on part of the role that originally went to someone else in the comics, but it won't be as grisly. It makes sense though, they've been like two awkward peas in sort of the same pod for a while, so it's almost like Andrea is The Governor's new possession. It also makes sense that we've had to build up to him creating a torture chamber - the second death of Penny-Z was what tipped him over the edge and destroyed the last remnants of his humanity and he's been falling further and faster into his own private hell which he seeks to master by any means necessary. I'm feeling the vindication coming on though ... I knew Michonne would win people over after initial moans from some quarters, and sure enough she did ... likewise I knew/know that Andrea has been going through an extended transformation. Milton needs work on that poker face...at least he was better on his 2nd attempt (assuming the writers aren't purposely misdirecting us in some weird way). Yeah, lying isn't his specialty is it? ("He's ... out on a run?" ) ... Then again, maybe he wanted the Guv'nah to know it was him. The entire Warehouse section was awesome. They really gave the Governor / Andrea stand-off feel like a slasher. Was some of the more tense stuff they've done this season, really big fan of that entire sequence. Also think the burnt up zombies melted together was an awesome sight gag. Aye, I dug the warehouse sequence too - nice and tense with a lot of playing with sound going on. Very creepy - a one-on-one ... even if it was blindingly obvious that he wasn't dead at the hands of those walkers. The pantomime villain appearance right at the end was a bit of an iffy reveal ... and if the keys weren't in the truck, I'd have slashed the tyres - but then again, in Andrea's defense, she totally thought The Governor was dead-by-walkers ... clearly a fateful oversight on her part for which she'll be punished, but that's a common theme in TWD - making decisions that come back to haunt you, either through a lack of foresight/just-to-be-safe actions, or when trying to do the right thing you end up causing another problem (or not having enough time to complete your intended objective). And yes - the burned walkers was gleefully ghastly. A really nice touch - very gruesome, very cool. Good work KNB! No doubt the Governor used to sing this to his daughter before the apocalypse hit. I think he sings it to her in an earlier episode before Michonne turned her into a walker-kebab. The ease with which he located and subdued Andrea after the warehouse sequence was a bit far fetched though, it detracted from Andrea's fate as the episode concluded. IMO a weak ending to an above average episode. Yeah - he plays that music to Penny-Z as he combs her hair in an early episode etc ... he's listened to it a couple of times (in a recent episode too, I think, when chilling out in his flat with a drink before Andrea confronted him saying she wanted to go to the prison). ... Naturally, here's some memes - http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/s...649#post295649

[Saurian]

What if it was Martinez that torched the walkers? He did say before he hated them for what he did to his family and maybe is having a slight change of heart since warming up to daryl a bit. Be a quick turn around on the story and could make things interesting.

[babomb]

I don't like the whole "walkers-in-the-woods" thing. No matter where or how it's used. Ok, there'd be some sporadic walkers strewn throughout the woods, realistically. But it seems like everytime people set foot in the woods they're immediately swarmed by multiple walkers. It's one of those simple plot devices the writers rely on over and over. And what about all the walkers in the warehouse? That warehouse had been abandoned for 20 years before the world went to shit. What would've caused all those walkers to be grouped up in the stairwells? Aside from a simple plot device? Things much smaller than this have been recognized and criticized for years by people when it comes to other zombie flicks.. But the writers of TWD seem to get a pass on almost every cheap gag and mediocre plot device. I love the show as much as most everyone else here. But this is what we do here. We pick apart zombie flicks because we aren't your standard viewer, or "American Idol watching masses" as it was so eloquently put earlier. So it seems hypocritical to give TWD such a huge pass on things that just don't fly, especially when much smaller oversights are picked apart endlessly and in guiltless fashion when done in other films. It just seems odd that the creators of TWD strive to set this apart in many other ways, but have no problem with continuous logical oversights and endless reliance on contrived plot devices. Oh, and the burnt walkers were awesome! They looked just like the walkers from the comics.

[ProfessorChaos]

I thought it was decent, but nothing too great. The 2nd half of this season has all been like that for me to be honest. The season premiere was excellent IMO. And then it just dropped off from there. this kinda sums up how i feel.... also, was anyone else as dumbfounded by andrea's behavior during the chase sequence with the governor? as soon as she heard an approaching vehicle, given that she had just fled woodbury, she should have dropped flat to the ground....rather than standing there like a deer-in-headlights. she was pulling the same "t-rex in jurrasic park/if-i-don't-move-he-can't-see-me-LOL!" logic when she was standing right in the middle of the only window looking down into the torture room with milton. also, she could have tried taking the governor's truck while he was whistling his way around the abandoned building she just happened to go into (like 's he's some sort of bloodhound or something)....and if she found no keys, she could at least make an attempt at slashing the governor's tires, breaking his shift handle off, or doing something real quick to sabotage his ride. i honestly hope that it wasn't milton who torched the walkers, i may actually be surprised. this episode fell flat for me and i'm honestly ready for this season to end....the more i watch the walking the dead, the more i just want breaking bad to return this summer.

[rongravy]

I thought it would have been hilarious if after Rick almost saw Andrea through his rifle scope in the tower, he shrugged it off and went back to his game of Crazy Eights at the table with Lori and Shane...

[shootemindehead]

Worst written episode I've seen yet.