Good episode - a slow burner, yes, but it needed to be.
I found myself being quite tense - even just watching Glenn and Maggie get closer again had me on the edge of my seat. After Axel I was fearing a random surprise bullet would appear out of nowhere and stuff everything up - but THANKFULLY it didn't.
Clearly the end, particularly for Team Prison, is all about setting up all the dominoes and not all of them are going to be left standing by the end. I also liked this episode for it's exploration, at times, of leadership in a tough situation - e.g. Rick only confiding the truth in Hershel (the group's sage and elder statesman) because they need to be scared for their lives in order to have the best chance of weathering the storm that is coming. It was also interesting to have Rick pose the question of whether Hershel can risk his daughters' lives over the one life of an outsider (or rather, very recent insider) ... but yeah, as he said, Woodbury would come back to finish the job regardless.
So yeah, a quite episode, but there was lots of interesting things throughout when you get to thinking about them, I felt - like The Governor having scouts hidden around the prison to keep an eye on them (Woodbury now know that they're tooled up).
Speaking of which - the gun table - yep, that's a healthy stash of weapons and ammo. See, it wasn't just one medium sized bag.   
One question though - the steel dinner tables on the walkway - why are they stacked up on the other side? They're stacked on a side facing a huge wall and a sealed door, rather than how they were a couple of episodes prior, facing the ruddy direction in which they'll likely be attacked. 
 Originally Posted by Moon Knight
Having to stretch the season to 16 episodes; it's almost a given to have to slow the pace down a bit.
With that said, I thought it was a good effort and offered a few exchanges never before seen yet. I liked it.
Part of me wonders what they'll do for three episodes (I was actually thinking there were two more episodes, then the "next week on" voice over reminded me it was actually three more to go), but it's definitely a must to slow the pace down before a grand finale. It'd be utterly silly to have the pedel to the metal for the entire run, particularly as it would be severely limiting for the writers, but it would also prove to be very unsatisfying very quickly and it'd just been cannon fodder for 13 year old tossers. So it's a GOOD thing, definitely, to shift the pace about - this was one all about tension building - the calm before the storm - heck, not an awful lot happens in Volume 7 of the trade paperbacks, and then EVERYTHING happens in Volume 8, and that made it work all the better. 
Originally Posted by JonOfTheShred
It was pretty intense as things played out, but it is hard to believe these two groups could meet up and have an amicable discussion without it ending in hostility or violence. Don't even remember much of the episode, and it just ended a little over an hour ago. Not BAD by any means, just seemed to drag a bit too much.
Best part was Daryl and Martinez having a little contest in killing Walkers. Like how Daryl managed to snag a victory with the cleverly placed knife toss. The cigarette exchange was great as well.
I don't think Andrea is dumb for going back with the Governor. I think she's going to try and end it from the inside, especially now that she is under the impression the Governor raped Maggie.
The Germans and the Allies played football with each other on Christmas Day during World War I, and then the next day they were back to slaughtering each other, so it's totally reasonable that two disparate groups with their own weaknesses would come together to size each other up and possibly arrange a truce for different reasons (for Woodbury the reason is to lure Team Prison into a false sense of security and then betray them, but they're not that dumb).
I too enjoyed the Daryl/Martinez contest. Same goes for Milton and Hershel's chat - in any other circumstances these people could be friends, heck, if they'd come together in a different post-apocalypse context, they still could have been allies. I think they're aiming to have Milton join Team Prison (with Andrea taking him with him, I'd guess), and there was an interesting little point to make about the inevitability of bloodshed in this scenario - Daryl and Martinez both know it's going to happen, but you can tell that neither of them want it, and yet they'll probably have to face off against one another and it's even stakes in their eyes.
I can imagine there'll be a wave of anti-Andrea memes coming, or whining etc ... but she has to go back in order to facilitate an extraction for Milton (that's what I'm assuming will happen, anyway) ... plus she might be going back to try and see if she can take him out after all, now that she knows something shifty went down between him and Maggie. In the closing moments though, her exchange with The Governor was a little oddly played, so I felt anyway, I wasn't quite sure whether Andrea was taking his word for it, or whether she was suspicious/not believing him at all ... just a slight niggle with that moment.
Originally Posted by kidgloves
Unlike much of the internet, I loved this episode. Loved it. We all clearly want different things from our zombie media but I love tense situations like this.
I've actually stopped contributing to websites and reading others because I find I enjoy the episodes immensely UNTIL I look on the internet and I start to question my own judgement.
Great setup for what's to come.
I rather enjoyed this episode too - deep into the characters, and it was good to see Rick and Philip face-off - we need that time with them both on-screen, and we got it in the comics, so we want it here too. Each side has to size each other up, and in some ways it's a bit of a pissing contest. Plus it's some business that needs taking care of - you have to allow some of these possibilities for the characters to play out, otherwise you're just skipping over steps in the season arc.
Originally Posted by shootemindehead
Yeh, it's a "setup" episode. Next weeks should be better if the makers have played their cards right.
But, I felt that there should have been an episode before this one? Or at least a few scenes describing the efforts to get the meeting established. It sort of felt out of place. Episodes 12 - 13 feel very disjointed.
Grand overall though.
Not sure if I'd agree on "disjointed", but yes it is a build up/set up/tension building episode - but so many shows have those, they're a necessary step.
...
Naturally, I've knocked up some memes for the episode...
http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/s...383#post295383
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I actually would enjoy Kurt Sutter getting brought into the writers room for Walking Dead though, even if for just an episode or two. Or to help construct the Hunters arc. Or something.
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