Alternative title: ‘The Zed Wedding.’
I allude to the infamous event from Game of Thrones’ The Rains of Castamere episode because there are many parallels to be drawn: both contained wholesale bloodshed, and named character deaths, at the hand of one of the series’ villains, an older man, a father, who lusts for power. However, Too Far Gone did not contain the punch of the horrible Red Wedding, being so built-up and hyped (with the advert for this week’s episode promising people would die). There was also, I’m afraid, a sense of what I like to call ‘Plot Armour’ in place for many of the named characters, which reduced the effectiveness of the episode.
It opens with the Governor capturing Michonne and Hershel, somehow getting the drop on Michonne (which makes little sense, but I guess we have to go with it). He then convinces his camp that their survival is contingent on them claiming the prison/Rickopolis, and they go with that, mainly because he lies through the teeth about Rick’s group.
Side note: the Governor seems to have been in charge for about a week, and yet no one asks why he’s so bloodthirsty, or even questions his logic. It plays quite odd, but I suppose it must play like that to create the conflict.
So the Governor stashes Meghan and Lilly by a river, and leaves them entirely alone, with barely any protection, completely assuming that everything will be safe. Again, which makes little sense. In fact, the more I think about this episode, the more I find little holes in it, slight faults which dampen its impact.
There is a stand-off, where the Governor holds Herschel and Michonne hostage, and demands that the Rick ‘n’ Rollers leave the prison, insisting that he speak to Rick alone because, really, this is all about Rick in his mind. The hero who must be shown to be less than that, to be worthless. It’s a somewhat silly stand-off, again, mainly because this new group don’t question why Rick should leave/die when he is begging to share the prison with them, when he says there are sick children inside. They don’t even blink when the Governor holds a sword to Herschel’s throat. It’s really odd.
At this point, Rick gives a great motivational speech, and I really thought that the Governor would buy into it, but that Carl would ruin the peace, killing the Governor. That would have been tragic, and interesting. Sadly, the Governor merely proves his madness by chopping into Herschel’s neck, sealing his fate, and starting the battle for the pRickson.
After that, the fight plays out. I was a little nervous that they would kill one of my favourite characters – Michonne, Tyreese, or Darryl – but the Plot Armour was apparent enough that I didn’t worry too much. It was also weird that no one tried to help the Governor fight Rick in hand-to-hand combat, or that Michonne waited ages before she enacted her revenge, ran the Governor through. And then Walkers turn up in odd places, because it’s plot convenient, and a Walker proves to be a perfect shield against high-powered bullets for Darryl.
And that’s before the monumental idiocy/negligence of the children of the group looking after Judith alone – with not one adult thinking to secure her when a TANK SHELL EXPLODED AGAINST THE SIDE OF THE PRISON – who, at some point, just leave Judith behind to get eaten, but stay together and arm themselves to protect Tyreese at the last minute. Oh, and these same kids are magically strong, as they can fire pistols without being knocked to the ground/breaking their shoulders from the recoil.
The group end the episode like the plot throughout: fractured, battered, and lacking much coherence. It sets up the rest of the season for some interesting episodes and plot choices, but there was such a painful lack of common sense throughout this episode (which I’m considering more and more during this write-up) that it undercuts the power of character deaths. There’s even little satisfaction at the Governor’s demise: just a bullet through the head from Lilly, who executes him the same way he executed the zombified Meghan. It lacked finesse, just seemed rushed, like a teenager trying to hurry a sexual experience.
Darryl killing a tank was cool, though. I’ll give it that, but not much else.
