At the end of my review for last week’s episode of ‘The Walking Dead’, I speculated whether the the mid-season finale titled ‘Too Far Gone’ would be disappointing or not. Well, after seeing the epic battle for the prison unfold, I can say with full confidence that this installment of AMC’s hit zombie drama was anything but a let down. In fact, I’ll even say that it was far from it since it might be one of the best episodes so far this season.
In the last episode before the hiatus, we saw the rematch that we’ve all been waiting for as the Governor and his new group prepared to invade the prison where Rick and his group are currently residing. The showdown lead to an all-out brawl between the two sides when they couldn’t come to terms on an agreement and both sides suffered major losses, including the Governor’s new “daughter” Meghan, the moral center and father figure of the prison Hershel, and the Governor himself.
The first thing that I enjoyed immensely about this episode is how much it looked back to the source material more so than the show as a whole recently. The show had been straying a bit from Robert Kirkman’s original story lately, but not necessarily in a bad way. It was just different. Now, they decided to come back to some of those iconic moments from the pages of the Image comic, like the Governor declaring, “Kill them all!” on his tank before beginning the bloody massacre and the villain’s ultimate demise.
Speaking of his death, the fall of the Governor was something that they changed up from the comics for the better. Originally, his own people turn on him after gaining control of the prison. However, for the show, the writers had Rick, Michonne, and Lilly get their licks in before the man once known as Philip Blake met his end. This change was a welcome one because the death felt much more satisfying. Our heroes got a little bit of much desired retribution before he kicked the bucket, so I’m sure that the audience enjoyed seeing.
And while we’re on the subject of death, Hershel Greene’s murder at the hands of the Governor was absolutely heart wrenching. Not only did it hit pretty hard with the prison gang, it’s pretty safe to assume that everyone watching felt the pain as well. Not only did he fill the void that Dale left as the moral center of the group, he was like everyone’s beloved grandpa, so seeing him taken from us was a big blow. Also, in terms of moving forward, it’ll be very interesting to see how the rest of the group will act without Hershel to impart his words of wisdom and to act as sort of a conscience for everyone.
Finally, as a fan of the comics, I was wondering how the show would deal with Judith. Originally, she died with Laurie, but obviously that didn’t happen on the TV series. Now, things are sort of left up in the air with her because Rick and Carl found a bloody car seat, but she wasn’t included in the ‘In Memoriam’ section of ‘Talking Dead’, so could she have escaped with the others? I’m dying to know, but unfortunately, we have to wait until February to find out about her fate and the fate of the scattered group.
Overall, this was an awesome episode of ‘The Walking Dead’. There was an epic amount of action, some very unexpected twists and turns amidst some great scenes from the source material, and a good amount of very emotional moments. In my experience with this show, when it’s bad, it’s bad, but when it’s good, it’s freaking excellent. ‘Too Far Gone’ definitely falls into the latter category. A few months until the season resumes is far too much, but somehow I fell like we’ll get through it together.
Final score:
