The Walking Dead Season 3 Finale
Episode 16: Welcome to the Tombs
In Depth Synopsis and Episode Review
This is the moment we have been anticipating since the
mid-season premier. This attack has been gradually and tensely building up to
the climax we find ourselves today at. Andrea is still locked up in the Gov’s
workshop, Daryl is getting over the loss of his brother and Rick awaiting an imminent
attack.
On last week’s installment we saw the sad departure of Merle,
the infamous character that we saw briefly in season one and properly uncovered
his true colors in the conclusion of last week’s episode. Michonne was never
handed in and the Gov lost eight men including one of the two survivors that
entered in with Tyreese and Sasha.
We begin looking at a bloodied Governor starring down the
camera and beating a poor victim to near death. Is it Andrea? Has he caught
Rick?
No its Milton. He has found out about Milton’s loyalty to
Woodbury’s people by putting their concerns above those of Rick’s so called and
made up threat to Woodbury.
The Gov is pinning the blame for the eight lives lost in
last week’s solo attack from Merle on Milton’s actions. Milton asks what the
Gov’s daughter would think but all he gets in a sinister tone, “she would be afraid.”
The Gov throws him into the same room as Andrea and tells him to collect some
tools behind her (one of which he knocks on the floor behind her). The Gov says
that he isn’t leaving this room until he kills Andrea.
Milton’s loyalties have been tested over the past few weeks and
he then in that split second chose to fight against the thing that has been repressing
him for a long time. He turns around and attempts to stab the Gov but his weakness
is Milton’s downfall and the Gov responds by stabbing him in the chest. He says
I told you will kill her and now you are going to rip her apart once you turn. A
brutal start to the episode sets the bar to what looks to be an action packed
episode.
Rick and the others are preparing for an attack, moving their
things into the cars to look like they are moving out (really they are just
moving there things away and out of any of the fighting). And yes ghost Lauri
makes another appearance in front of Rick. Rick still isn’t out of the woods
with the whole crazy lark yet but he is on the road to recovery. He is helped
by a confrontation with Michonne as she tells him that she basically forgives
him for considering the Gov’s proposition.
It’s very hectic at Woodbury and the Gov gives another
falsified speech about how Rick is a danger to Woodbury’s life style. He puts off
the interests of Tyreese and Sasha as they opt to stay put and protect
Woodbury, they have no intention of killing anyone. Then they head out to siege
the prison.
The Woodbury army charge into the prison with clearly planned
out tactics but yet like a bull in a china shop when it comes to stealth,
blowing up both watch towers and firing exploding ammunition to alert anyone in
the vicinity. They pull up and take out the Walkers in the area before using a
car to knock down the gate. There isn’t any resistance and we are made to think
that perhaps Rick and everyone has retreated.
They enter the prison still unchallenged and into the living
quarters (cell blocks) that they have recently called home. The Gov finds only
a highlighted section of the Bible reading: “And shall come forth; they that
have done well, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil,
unto the resurrection of damnation”. But as you can imagine and giving the Gov’s
recent state of mind, arguably more crazy than Rick as of late, that this quote
files straight past him with no impact whatsoever.
Meanwhile Andrea is still locked and strapped to the Gov’s
chair. Milton is still alive but not for much longer. You can hear the pain he
is in after every word he speaks to Andrea. He gives her an escape route with the
tools he dropped behind her but tells her to hurry, he knows his fate is
already decided and now a waiting game. His last question is to ask why Andrea
stayed at Woodbury. Her reply is subtle and you really understand the tug of
war Andrea has been experiencing. She wanted to save everyone including the Gov
and she didn’t want anyone to die.
The Woodbury intruders wander around the dark unsafe side of
the prison and spilt into groups. A flash bang gets thrown into the wanderers
and panic breaks out. An alarm goes off and Walkers appear. You clearly see the
manipulation of the Gov. These aren’t soldiers, they are everyday citizens in a
dark new world. They flee and once outside undergo fire from Maggie and Glen
from the catwalk above.
The retreat begins and one lone teenage boy runs into the concealed
Hershall, Carl and Beth. The boy obviously scared begins to put his weapon down
until the unexpected action of Carl opening fire takes place. Carl has definitely
been hit hard since his mother’s death. He vulnerability died with his mother
and since then has grown more into his dad’s footsteps. But he is still young
and his actions are more to prove a point to his dad than anything else.
After the rest of the Govs men retreat out of sight the
prison settlers regroup and Rick learns of his son’s actions, reluctant at
first to believe them but he has learnt to listen Hershall’s judgement.
We then witness the definition of brutality and how evil the
Gov has become. He catches up with his fleeing Woodbury crew and halts their
retreat. He orders them to go back and he gets an unresponsive reply from his
people. They say Rick can have the prison and to just leave them but the Gov
drowns out all excuses and you see anger and the crazy click wash over his
face. He opens fire on everyone in front of him. He turns around to find Allen nervously
point his weapon at him. The Gov without hesitating shoots him in the head and
makes use of his nerves as his weakness. He departs the slaughter vicinity with
the only survivors to his knowledge, Martinez and Bowman. There is though one
other survivor.
Rick is about to go after the Gov to finally end this
chapter, with Michonne and Daryl. He confronts Carl and I think his reasoning
to why he killed that boy shocks even Rick. Rick is sort of blamed by Carl for
the death of him mom and some others due to his lack of being able to react to
decisions in the correct manor in Carl’s eyes. Carl says he couldn’t take the
chance and reacted correctly. This could be the wakeup call Rick has needed in
order for him to begin his correct parenting again and to look after his young
boy.
Rick and Michonne, accompanied by Daryl and his signature motorcycle,
pull up to the slaughter and neutralise the remaining Walkers that have turned
in the after math of the slaughter. They find one survivor and thus are
informed of the brutal turn in the Gov’s mood.
But there is trouble elsewhere as Andrea is still trapped
and Milton is now deceased, about to turn any second. I was sad to see Milton
depart and I think he could have been a valuable member to Rick’s group. But
his attributes are too similar to Hershall in my opinion apart from his medical
attributes. Andre is clawing at the pliers with her feet and is just able to
get them up to her hands Milton turns and begins to walk towards her. She
releases one strap and before she can release the second we go blind and are out
casted behind the big metal door to play with our imaginations as a result of
the brutal sounds we hear. Is Andrea okay? Did she escape in time?
Rick soon arrives at Woodbury with the survivor form the onslaught
on the road and gains access to Woodbury after a brief firefight and discussion
with Tyreese and Sasha. The survivor’s confession is their ticket inside. Rick
says that he heard about Andrea heading to the prison and that she never made
it. He believes she is where the Gov locked up Maggie and Glen.
They approach the door silently and tension builds up as you
can see a flow of blood underneath the door. They open the door and find the
deceased Milton and a burning up Andrea lay out on the floor. Andrea escaped
but just a little too late. Her fate is sealed, as was Milton’s, when a bite
mark is made clear on her neck. For the first time we see Michonne open up her
emotions and cry. Her friend says she wants to kill herself why she still can.
Michonne replies that she isn’t going anywhere. Her final words were “I tried”,
referring to the fact she didn’t want anyone to die. The emotional end to the
second episode in a row wasn’t as effective as the first but still very sad to
lose another character with use from the beginning. You here the echo of the
gunshot rattle through the corridor to tie up another departure of one of the
original cast members from season one.
In the final scene we see Rick pull up to the prison with
the remaining Woodbury settlers including Tyreese and Sasha. He announces to
his son that they are going to live here now as he storms off in a huff. He
takes one final look up at the catwalk, where he has been haunted by his dead
wife for a very long time now, and sees nothing. Hopefully this means the end
to crazy Rick.
Overall it was a great episode but no it didn’t live up to
the expectation as a result of the tension building up over the weeks. The
events make up a great episode but not in my opinion of a season finale. It
felt very anti-climactic, especially for the attack on the Prison which has
been the center of the plot for almost eight episodes now. The loss of Andrea was unexpected and I was
convinced we would lose Beth due to her absence from the majority of episode. I
was also surprised we didn’t lose one of Rick’s friends at the prison during the
attack.
You could argue that this was going to happen and as soon as
these amateur solders, (as the Gov sees them), witness gunfire that they would retreat.
I think though this should have been explored earlier leaving the final war, we
was almost was promised from the build-up, to unfold in front of us.
I was hoping for a new challenge next season as well, this isn’t
yet clear but we could have another battle with the Gov when we return. I would
like to see Rick and his group thrown out of the safety of the prison as well
when we return and back to traveling around again. I would love to see a season
set in the city, I know this isn’t very convenient due to the higher expense
this will create but I would love to sacrifice the number of episodes for a
different setting. A motive I can’t yet think of would obviously be needed in
order to enter the heavily infested city’s though. We could perhaps see a break
from the Gov, which I think will be best. By his absence from a season we can
witness a new challenge and also give time for the Gov to regroup and rearm
with a proper army of troops and not just a group of everyday citizens. 8.5/10
0 comments: