Breaking Bad: ‘Confessions’

"Why don’t you just kill yourself?” – Marie Schrader

“He really did a number on you, didn’t he?” – Hank Schrader

Here’s a confession: I’m going to cry when Breaking Bad ends in 5 weeks. The attempt at a rare “perfect season” is still intact as we’re now three episodes in and have seen three masterpieces of television. Just when we thought that maybe this episode would be a bit of a breather for us after last week’s teaser had Hank going in to approach Jesse, presuming a long conversation between the two of them on the inner workings of the Heisenberg empire would cover 15 minutes worth of story, was instead reduced to Hank striking out in a matter of seconds before Saul Goodman busts up his party. Or possibly we would be privy to some tactical planning between all the parties involved before we hit any action sequences. Or heck maybe even Badger would come by and explain his theory about what really happened at Stonehenge.

But it seems that what Breaking Bad has intended for this final eight is to give at least a dozen people a heart attack before it’s all said and done by throwing one more intense scene at us after another. That’s how truly evil Walter White has become, he's actually affecting the health of people in the real world with this insanely awesome meth ride we’ve all been strapped into, with the final leg of this crystal blue coaster hidden from sight where literally anything can happen. Which makes the anticipation truly terrifying. It’s disturbing to be rooting for a guy that is continually one-upping himself in horrific acts time after time and it starts to bring into question our ability to empathize with the good in humanity. And yet here we are.

Watching Walt’s “confession” tape was gut wrenching. The looks on Hank and Marie’s faces were as shell-shocked as if they had gone to a Mexican restaurant and weren’t offered some table-side guacamole(*). The greatest part (worst part?) about that tape was how many elements were essentially true and could be almost impossible for Hank to argue otherwise. And kudos the show for having the tape be grainy and ominous making the situation seem that much more frightening for Hank, Marie, and all of us watching it. Put another notch in the “Dean Norris better get nominated for a supporting actor” column for this one, the devastation that he expressed when he found out Marie had accepted $177,000 to pay for his medical expenses really made it feel like Walt had knocked him out for good on this one.

(*)How hilarious was that scene in the restaurant between Hank, Walt, the Lambert sisters and Trent the interrupting waiter? I can only hope that Hank and Marie stuck around to try some of that guacamole so they had one final moment of enjoyment before witnessing the message from hell.

And while everything that transpired here between Walt and Hank would have justified this episode to be fantastic, it wasn’t even the most exhilarating part as Jesse finally gets to speak for the first time in what seems like a year. First, Walt tries one more time to play the protective father card on Jesse but as we saw in this season’s opener Jesse has become immune to his conniving ways and finally calls him out for it suggesting that if he doesn’t agree to disappear that Walt will shoot him just as he did Mike beforehand. And let’s just hope for Jesse’s sake that his new found anti-Walt-BS-meter won’t be his downfall. I’m not sure what to make of the Walt Jesse hug. Whether if it occurred because Walt truly does feel a little bad for what he’s put this poor kid through or if it was just him adapting to Jesse not believing his words anymore. Also, was Jesse crying because he knows Walt will never stop working him or because he finally just needed to break down and let it all out?

Either way, Jesse ultimately agrees to take advantage of Saul’s guy that makes people disappear by giving them new identities and even settles on Alaska as his destination of choice(**). But when Jess busts out some dope in Saul’s office prior to getting picked up, Saul has Huell pull the old switcheroo once again and swaps out the weed for a pack of cigarettes. Then finally, after tons of searching, Jesse finds that final puzzle piece and the picture of how Brock got poisoned is clear in its full entirety. And that’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. Jesse rightfully goes into a full on rage mode with the intent to put down this monster that has wreaked havoc on so many, maybe no one more so than him. First he delivers a well-deserved beating to Saul Goodman before grabbing Saul’s gun and having the episode end on a cliffhanger with him throwing gasoline all over the White residence. Based on the flash-forwards we’ve seen this season it appears that the house is absent of any kind of fire damage but even if a match is never lit, it’s still a great “what the heck is going to happen” next moment for an episode to end on.

(**) Eskimos bitch!

Other moments of note:

• Theory Time: Since the house doesn’t burn down something, or someone is going to have to prevent Jesse from doing it. Based on the fact that there are five episodes left I don’t think it will be Walt because I don’t think the show would kill off Jesse with 4 full episodes left (although who knows at this rate) and considering the frame of mind of the two characters right now there would almost certainly be a fatality coming out of that confrontation. So I’m guessing Walt Jr. comes waltzing into the house right before Jesse is about to put it up in flames, thus leading to Jesse freaking out at the idea of another innocent person getting hurt and simply give Junior a message saying that “his Dad’s days are numbered” or something along those lines, opening the door for Junior to lose his appetite for breakfast after discovering his Dad’s secret life.
• Really great opening scene with Todd and his outlaw family enjoying a little breakfast at the Route 66 Diner. The cinematography of the scene was really fun (and very Tarantino-esque) and did a great job of whetting our appetites for what is to come between Walt and this rag-tag band of meth cookers. Also, funny how Todd left out a pretty pivotal part about the end of that train heist story…
• Very cool how the show continues to repeat actions of the past in very different contexts. This time it’s Walt stating at the beginning of his confession tape his full name and his address in the exact same way he did in the pilot when he thought he was going to be arrested by the police.
• “Oh Jesus. It’s always the desert.” – So true Saul. You have to appreciate that the best drama on television can make self-aware jokes about itself.
• That guy who works in Hank’s office has the coolest mustache of all time: http://www.newscastic.com/news/the-man-behind-that-breaking-bad-mustache-817728/

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

Breaking Bad: ‘Blood Money’

"If that’s true, if you don’t know who I am, then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly.” – Walter White

Can any show, nay, any thing live up to hype it creates in the way that Breaking Bad can? It’s hard enough to be off the air for a year, get the pieces in place to set up the final act, and keep it exciting. But it’s a completely different league that Vince Gilligan and company are playing when in their 55^th hour they are able to produce one their finest segments to date. 'Blood Money' continued with the tradition that Breaking Bad has established in wowing the viewers and giving them exactly what they want before they even necessarily know what that is.

In so many ways this was a ‘greatest hits’ version of the show. We literally saw some of the highlights of Walt’s past as part of the very fun montage(*) that had Hank assembling all the evidence he ever had revolving around this mysterious and very dangerous Heisenberg character. Plus, we got to revisit many familiar scenes but with new context: the cancer returning for Walt, Jesse hitting rock bottom for a third time, Jesse being lied to by Walt for a five-hundred gagilionth time, and even one more silly Badger and Skinny Pete rant(**) to give Jesse something to zone-out to.

(*) Set to the song ‘Wordmule’ by Jim White: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijzo90Wznc

(**) Which someone has already made an animated video of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZvMAKeaEyo  I think JJ Abrams just found his writer for Star Trek III.

I won’t go any further though without discussing what transpired in the final five or so minutes where Walt and Hank have a confrontation that’s been coming ever since Walt gave Jesse some money to buy an RV. The fallout of Hank’s new knowledge is obviously going to be a driving point for a large chunk of the season as he has to weigh the benefits of turning in the most wanted man in the drug business versus destroying his family and possibly career in order for a dying man to get his justice. Theory Time: Since we have flash forward footage of a decrepit White house with ‘Heisenberg’ graffiti  painted on it, it’s safe to assume Walter has been found out by the general public. If Hank wants to get solid evidence put on Walt, which would put him in this situation, it would certainly help his case to enlist someone who was there to witness it all… a Jesse Pinkman perhaps? And it’s certainly possible Walt would want a way of disposing of such a key witness and make sure it looks like an accident…. if only he had a poison capsule of some kind…

Speaking of Jesse, can we just all give this guy a collective hug? This now marks the third time his self-conscious has bottomed-out because of the actions brought on by his former high school chemistry teacher. First it was losing his girlfriend Jane because of Walt’s negligence, and then it was after he was forced to shoot Gale Boetticher to save them, and of course now it’s the current guilt of living with the fact that Todd

shot down a kid because he was a witness to their crime. So when Walt comes back into his life telling him that he can’t even give this “blood money” back to innocent people, and when he tells him a bold faced lie about the fate of their former colleague Mike, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There are going to be more than a couple of people curious about this Robin Hood-esque character throwing away hundreds of thousands of dollars and Walt know the last thing the two of them need is more eyes looking at their direction.

I can’t believe we only seven more installments with this crew and this story but I have absolutely no doubt that it will be fantastic. Time after time Breaking Bad has given us intense moments when they call for them and they don’t leave anything on the table. Sure, they could have undoubtedly stretched this over 7 or 8 seasons, gotten bigger paychecks, more syndication rights, but instead they chose to avoid any lulls and went right for the throat. Just like Heisenberg would want it.

Other moments of note:

• Dean Norris absolutely nailed it in this one. I know the campaigns for him finally getting an Emmy nod for Hank are starting up but this seriously needs to happen. His panic attack after discovering Gale’s book in Walt’s house was terrifying and the look of horror and despair on his face as he closes the garage door was perfect acting.
• Great touch to have Marie calling Walt ‘The Devil’ as Hank opens the sliding glass door after taking one of the most pivotal dumps of all-time.
• Brian Cranston actually directed this episode, so I guess he’s kind of a talented individual?
• Skyler had a very strong moment by telling off Lydia at the carwash. I’ve never been the biggest fan of the character but it was nice seeing her do something redeeming here. Also, you know Walter can’t be very ecstatic to hear his one pristine product is a mere shell of itself these days… could be a “Just when I thought I was out…they keep pulling me back in.” situation.
• “Hello Carol.”

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

Big News for 'Doctor Who' and 'Community'

Yesterday saw some huge developments take place at the top for both Doctor Who and Community, which means we'll be seeing two drastically different shows come the start of next season.

Let’s start first with the news the eleventh Doctor is shutting the TARDIS door for one last time this Christmas. Matt Smith officially announced yesterday that after the 50^th anniversary episode and the Christmas episode one month later, he will be stepping down from the iconic role. On a personal note, Mat Smith was my first Doctor. I had heard from several people that Doctor Who was a fantastic sci-fi show that involved time travel and adventure and that if I started at the beginning of series five I wouldn’t have been lost at all with the story. So I watched all of season five in two days and immediately became a Whovian. I then went on to watch from the beginning of the new series starting with Eccleston, then to Tennant (who barely edges out Smith for my favorite), and then of course series 6 and 7 under Smith.

There was plenty of Who that existed prior to Matt Smith, and one can only hope there will be much more after him, but he was my first Doctor, and for that his tenure was of great importance to me. I do think that in terms of his time on the show, and the stories he covered, that this is the right time for him to leave. I would have loved to see him spend another full series with Jenna-Louise Coleman's Clara, or some episodes under a different show runner than Moffat just to see how he would react to a different type of storytelling. But he was able to showcase many different emotions like anyone who steps into those shoes must and when all is said and done he will be remembered for his astounding portrayal of the Doctor over the course of these four years.

I’ll be curious to see who they will get to be number 12. John Hurt was introduced as The Doctor at the end of the series finale but most of us are assuming that he won’t be an official “Doctor” and he will be more of a one-off character for the 50^th. That being said I wouldn’t mind if they did go with an older type like Hurt to change-up the pace of the story a little bit. Whomever they do decide to go with certainly has a tough act to follow and it would probably behoove them if Moffat followed Smith’s lead and left with him so that series 8 has a completely fresh feel to it like series 5 did after Tennant and Davies departed.

Speaking of show runners, the very eccentric Dan Harmon is returning to the beleaguered Community for season 5. When the show got picked a few weeks ago for a final season, die-hard fans of the Greendale Gang rang out a collective sigh of “meh, that’s good I guess.” As excited as I was that the show somehow got that fourth season, despite losing Harmon, I was equally disappointed three episodes into season four when the realization hit that this was not the same show without the genius/lunatic running this mad world that he created. And then, of course, there was the finale: ‘Advanced Introduction to Finality’ which was a down right insult to creative integrity and all but certainly would have caused a great deal of fans, myself included, to stop watching the show entirely.

But then, riding back in almost as mysteriously as he rode out(*), Dan Harmon confirmed via Twitter that he is indeed back and that all is right with the world again! Or at least we again have reason to hope that Community can return to the wild, ingenious little show that it once was. Writers David Guarascio and Moses Port took over for Harmon when he left and it’s hard to blame them too much for the failure of season four since it had always been a show reliant on the weird intricacies of Harmon’s mind, but I certainly would have liked to see them try out some new things of their own and not rely almost entirely on premises that existed before they came in.

(*) Or, you know, got fired.

I’m really glad that Chase is gone and Harmon is back for these final 13 episodes and it will be fun to speculate on how Harmon will go about treating what happened in the fourth season. I imagine he’ll debate about making the entire fourth season a dream of some sorts, but ultimately I think he’ll keep it as part of the show’s cannon. I could see him starting the season off with a Wire-esque montage of the rest of the characters graduating so that they can leave Greendale like he had intended going into season five. However he decides to go about treating the previous 13 episodes though is ultimately unimportant and I’m really thankful we’ll get one more season of a show I once really loved with all of it’s important parts back in place.

What did everyone else think of these recent developments? Comments are always welcome.

New Girl: ‘Virgins’

“Listen Nicky, you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do. I just want to make sure you don’t miss out on the things in life that are happening when you’re not thinking. Because believe you me, those are the best things in life.” – Walt Miller.

An easy indicator to judge whether a comedy is hitting, or not, is its ability to create quotable lines that have staying power combined with funny situations that don’t even need dialogue to be funny. What New Girl is able to do far more often than not is have a hilarious one-liner that you think will be the highlight of the episode until something happens a moment later that just topped it. It has been a good while since I laughed as frequently and consistently throughout an episode as I did with 'Virgins'.

It’s fairly easy to write normal moments, as well as completely absurd moments, the challenge lies for shows like New Girl in balancing them enough so that we don’t have to suspend disbelief(*) enough to laugh at the humor. So when fat, college Schmidt gets the impression that he needs a tub of lube for his “first time” we have enough previous knowledge about the character, and it isn’t an so unbelievable that it takes out of an inherently hilarious moment. As ridiculously bad as that fat suit looks on Max Greenfield it will be hard for any show to beat the physical comedy of a stoned Nick trying to help out a lubed-up Schmidt.

(*) The last 3 to 4 seasons of How I Met Your Mother are a prime example of a show that relies on ridiculous, elaborate situations to generate laughs which is why the show has become a complete shell of what it once was.

And while I won’t harp on it too much, there was just the right amount of heart contained within the overload of silly ‘Virgins’ contained. Flashbacks, when used well, are extremely effective for moments such as first meetings or to give us more of a character that no longer exists in present day, in this case Nick’s Dad. Nick obviously remembers the conversation he had with him while reminiscing about Winston’s first time and he was able to take the advice his Dad gave him and applied it to finally taking the plunge with Jess. It was a moment that didn’t seem forced and for that I am thankful. That being said, I can’t wait to see the aftereffects of opening this can of worms.

Since I mentioned earlier how quotable this show is, here’s a bunch of them and some other moments of note:

• “Sometimes I just sit in the stall and listen to you guys.” – Nick popping in on the bathroom conversation.
• “A Tuxedo is different than a suit”… “It is?!” – Schmidt informing Nick to his disappointment and surprise.
• Schmidt’s reaction to finding out Cece lost her virginity to Mick Jagger was perfect. Also, can something kind of sucky happen to Cece that is funny and not sad? (Babies, heartbreak).
• “I told you a million times, my arm was a magnet and the wall was magnetic.” – Nick justifying why he had to stay in the room when Schmidt brought his girlfriend back.
• Winston and Nick’s bizarre teenager voices were so funny. Did they use some sort of voice modifiers or were the actors actually able to sound so weird?
• “We work in the finance markets.” – Winston showing off to the hookers. Soon after he goes to explain what kind of virgin he is: “Aren’t you a virgin too? …. Just my penis baby. Just my penis.”
• “Do you sell cookies?...Not a cookie bar?” –Fat Schmidt.
• “Ugh. I’m sick of firemen always winning.” –Schmidt. I’d love to see the world through his eyes for a couple of minutes.

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

Mad Men: ‘The Flood’

“The man knew how to talk. I don’t know why but I thought that would save him. I thought it would solve the whole thing.” –Roger Sterling

It’s easy to presume that when a show or movie revolves around real time events the writing comes easy; that all one really has to do is allow for pre-existing knowledge to set circumstance into motion. But what makes Mad Men so special is the reaction factor. Just like in real life, a tragedy happens and we all scramble for explanation. And also just like in real life, after anger and mourning, life has to go on and it forces change both immediately and gradually.

I doubt there are many are people who aren’t aware of what Martin Luther King Jr. did for a race, a country, and humanity as a whole so Matthew Weiner isn’t here to tell us that story. Matthew Weiner is here to tell us the stories of Don Draper’s flaws as a parent and a husband, Peggy Olsen’s attempt to build a future, and Michael Ginsberg’s social struggles when it comes to dating a girl his Dad set him up with. But instead of all these stories going by the wayside in the wake of MLK’s assassination, they get the same amount of attention they would get any other time because the world doesn’t stop turning. As Mr. Ginsberg explains to Michael: “Nonsense! There’s no time like the present.”

But the bigger news of the episode, enough to overshadow MLK, is that Bobby Draper can indeed speak! And peel wallpaper off the wall! Yes this is the first, and I’m assuming last, time young Bobby gets a storyline and of course it comes in the midst of all of this. I have always wondered why they never tapped into the well of how Don would deal with having a son, and how he would relate those experiences to his younger self and in this case the payoff was more than worth the wait because it was an absolutely heartbreaking moment of realization(*) that Don let’s Megan witness. Also, I can’t think of a time I didn’t thoroughly enjoy a “Don hits the movies” segment, this time watching the classic Planet of the Apes. Weiner obviously wanted us to watch the end of the movie when the audience is blown away by the revelation that humans had gone on to blow up the world, leading the way the apes evolving and moving to the top of the food chain. But despite it being such a heavy-handed metaphor to the riots it was fantastic to watch the parallels between a movie and the real-life events going on at the same time of its release.

(*)“You want to love them but you don’t. And the fact that you’re thinking that feeling makes you wonder if your own father had the same problem. And then one day they get older and you see them do something and you feel that feeling that you were pretending to have and it feels like your heart is going to explode.” –Don Draper. This is by far the earlier frontrunner for Jon Hamm Emmy submission episode.

I think it might take a few re-watches (or some LSD in Roger’s case) to fully understand what the deal was with Randall Walsh(**) but this whole endeavor seemed very off in the Mad Men world. That being said it was a hilarious transgression as I wasn’t sure whether or not to laugh harder at Roger’s one-line responses or Stan’s reactions and utter disbelief that this guy was pitching them such an absurd concept. I’m not sure if there is any more to this story but I would have liked to see it saved for an episode that had a little less going on.

(**) Played by William Mapother who also played the equally creepy character Ethan on Lost. This guy is definitely getting typecast.

After setting up some character development for Dawn last leek I figured we would have gotten a much more focused reaction from her after these events. Instead she was relegated to one scene where she essentially seemed unaffected by the news and got a big hug from Joan. Peggy’s secretary had a little more to day on the situation as she pointed out to Peggy that “these fools running in the streets? It’s exactly what he didn’t want.” However; the most devastating moment and reaction from an on-screen African American came when Ginsberg was on his date and the busboy entered such a state of shock upon hearing the news that he dropped the dishes he was carrying and had to sit down because his legs could no longer support his body.

Other moments of note:

• Okay how many times can Don realistically run into Sylvia and Dr. Rosen in the lobby/elevator? Does no one else live in this apartment besides the heart attack doorman? It is interesting, though, to see Don is so concerned about Sylvia being in DC that he actually tries to get in contact with them after the riots break out. That’s an awful lot of caring for an “affair”.
• “He’s the head of accounts. He’s like Roger with bad breath.” – Peggy describing to Megan her agency’s head of accounts.
• Ted was in Abe’s seat. Uh oh. Peggy might soon have two guys seeking her affection as Teddy has shown a great deal of interest in young Ms. Olsen of late. It would be such a shame for Peggy to do anything to ruin what she has with Abe now that we know he’s thinking about having some kids with her and raising them among all different kinds of people. Aww Abe, you adorable little hippie you.
• Pete always has been on the higher end of the moral compass in terms of progressively looking at racial issues so it seemed true to character that he would be upset with Harry and tell him off: “Let me put it in terms you might understand: that man had a wife and four children.” Also, I loved how radically 70’s the two of them looked visually in that argument.
• I’m guessing the real Paul Newman wasn’t available?

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

Community: ‘Basic Human Anatomy’

"This is wrinkling my brain!"

When I first heard word that a post-Harmon episode of Community was going to try and tackle one of the biggest movie/television tropes of all time (body switching) I wasn’t just worried that the episode would fall flat but that it would go down as the lowest point in the series. What happened though was a genuinely pleasant surprise as ‘Basic Human Anatomy’ was not only a great stand-alone episode but was able to eliminate some of the bigger problems that have stuck around throughout the season.

One of the most glaring issues that has hovered around the past 11 episodes was the ongoing romance, or lack thereof, between lovable man-child Troy Barnes and political/psychiatric wannabe Britta Perry. Over the course of the season it almost became a second thought that they were actually dating which made many Britta/Jeff one-on-one moments seem even more off with the questions of “wait aren’t Britta and Troy still a thing?” sitting in the back of your head. I’m not sure what exactly the writers had planned out for this couple but whatever it was it certainly never came to fruition. At least they had the wherewithal to do it prior to the finale as opposed to letting it linger any longer.

That being said I thought it was a very beautiful to end their romantic time together, albeit a time we never truly saw on screen, and it tied in well to the rest of the main group stuck inside a classically silly Community scenario. Troy and Abed’s body switching attempt was the perfect combination of funny and weird and the writers were wise to not let us think too long about whether they actually switched bodies or not. Also, Jim Rash was pure comedy gold when it came to portraying Jeff Winger and it was hilarious when his nonchalant bad ass attitude worked naturally for turning-on Annie.

Other moments of note:

• “We have paints, puppy paint. Yes there is a difference.” – Annie on the supplies she has for their history project.
• “He’s like the pick-up-sticks of people.” –Abed as Troy stuck in Abed’s body.
• I always love an Eddie Pepitone cameo: “They’ve seen too much, let’s kill them!”
• Well it really doesn’t hurt the show at all to not have Pierce in it. It’s still probably a long-shot Community returns for season 5 but I think the writers have shown enough glimmers of hope this season to prove they can keep the show going without Harmon and I like that if there is a next season it will be a different show for sure and one without the problem of Chevy Chase’s Pierce.

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.

The Walking Dead: ‘Prey’

This week The Walking Dead posed a myriad of questions that could leave us pondering their answers for quite some time: Did The Governor install a tracking device into Andrea? Why can The Governor’s truck only go 10 mph? Are black people the only characters on this show that are a bad shot with a rifle? Will Andrea realize she couldn’t have been vaguer in explaining to Tyreese why The Governor is a “bad man”? Of the previews for shows during commercial breaks are we more excited for Mad Men or Urban Tarzan? Hopefully someday we may know the answers to some of these but for now I’m chalking this up as one of the all-time stall episodes a series has ever attempted.

We start the episode off with a flashback of Andrea and Michonne having a “girls night” around a camp fire, presumably not long after Michonne first saves her after the incident at the farm. This was clearly an attempt to show us why we should care about this relationship that was developed over several months off camera but all it did was indicate that would we need a flashback during the flashback in order for Michonne to tell us anything relevant of her past. I would have had no issue with an entire flashback episode if it had come much earlier in the season, but this late in the game a two minute segment is all anyone would have put up with.

Speaking of people who could do with a flashback episode(*), Tyreese attempts to explain a year and a half worth of events into a minute of dialogue, and while I appreciate the effort of Chad Coleman acting it out this was beyond forced. With Andrea and Milton having second thoughts on The Governor the show needed to keep some people around in Woodbury who we actually care about and have a moral conscience but we simply haven’t spent enough time with this group to feel invested in them in that way. I so want to care about Tyreese and his sister too but it’s not fair for the show to rely on the comic book mythology of the characters as justification to why we find them fascinating. They have to earn that by showing us.

(*)Well I’d almost say every character in this show could. Mostly I would be curious to watch The Governor build up a town in an apocalyptic world and watch his transgression from regular Joe to maniacal lunatic. Plus Milton would be along for the ride!

But the majority of ‘Prey’ focused on our cliché demented villain chasing down our not so cliché damsel in distress. And by “not so cliché” I mean that I wasn’t necessarily rooting for her to get away. Although Andrea has been salvaged much more than Lori had been able to, she still constitutes a major problem because you can bring back a worthless character only so far. The Governor’s pursuit of Andrea had a couple of good moments like when she unleashed a staircase full of zombies (my new indie band name) and I was legitimately caught off guard when The Governor pounced her mere inches away from the freedom of the prison.

However, two semi good moments do not a quality episode make and it has become abundantly clear that this season needed to be 13 episodes as opposed to the 16 order it got. This was stall tactics done horribly wrong. We’ve all know since episode two of this season that we were headed to a major showdown between Woodbury and our loveable(?) group of survivors holed up in the prison. There’s an old saying in storytelling: “it’s about the journey, not the destination,” and The Walking Dead is managing to stay steadfast on doing the exact opposite. This is a show that writes finales first and moves just enough pieces around in-between the beginning and the end to set it up. I have fairly little doubt that the finale will be an excellent hour of television but I will continue to wonder if there is much point in watching every episode of this show when we get essentially throw-away segments like this.

Other moments of note:

• The Governor has his very own torture chamber filled with shiny new tools. I don’t believe Andrea has any useful information for him so should he torture her it would be purely for sport.
• Milton is slowly, very slowly, turning out to be a good introduced character. I hope he somehow makes it out in the finale and teams up Rick and the others next season as it would be fun to watch him adjust to their ways. Also, the results of him lighting the zombies on fire makes it into the top 5 grossest Walking Dead moments to date.
• The scene where Andrea is attacked by walkers in the forest was a stretch even by this shows standards. I didn’t realize zombies were both quiet enough to sneak up on someone without them hearing and also strong enough to pin a living person with one arm that no longer has muscle mass.
• I’m thinking The Governor was a fan of The Wire as he was “pulling an Omar” by whistling as he stalks his prey.

What did everyone else think? Comments are always welcome.