***SPOILER ALERT***
Well that didn’t last long. It took all of about fifteen seconds for Michonne to stage her comeback. And by comeback I mean decapitating one part of the Governor’s search team and stabbing another member. Maybe the fact that she spelt out “Go Back” out of a mangled body should have been a good sign that, hey, maybe it’s not the best idea to try and follow a loner with a sword.
And what exactly is the point of following her? Does the Governor plan on adding her to his floating head collection? Are they going to torture her to death? Whatever it is, it’s probably best that Michonne keeps running. Just like the rest of the world.
Now in another semi annoying twist, there’s a "new group" that’s being introduced. This time there’s a mystery woman on the other end of that call who says she’s safe but can’t exactly say where. Is this just another goose chase or some other Herschel savior coming from out of nowhere? When the group found Hershel and his farm it was because Carl almost got killed. Maybe it takes the killing (or maybe not?) of Lori for another miracle to come out of nowhere.
Now all the sudden a new character in the Governor’s group named Neil seems to be playing the role of the miscast protagonist. The guy who can’t find the guts to be a blood thirsty killer, so he’s lost in no man’s land trying to figure out how to survive without having a backbone. The whole town seems to be filled with people who don’t know what they want. Andrea just got over being five feet away from leaving and now she wants to “contribute” to the town as a shooter. And as we’ve seen too many times before, the longer someone remains indecisive, the more their chances go up of dying.
The dueling stories in this episode are the chasing of Michonne and Rick playing a game of phone tag with his mystery savior. Both chases don’t seem to be going well. When Rick refuses to say how his wife died the caller hangs up, leaving Rick in a state of rage. Hershel tries to get close with Rick and instill some wisdom on him, but in Rick’s usual semi-asshole state of mind, he doesn’t even allow him to sit in the cellar with him. It’s almost a miracle that the group has survived Rick’s stubbornness. Time after time he refuses to allow anyone to show any real emotion. Hard not to wonder if his coldheartedness is going to come back to bite him (no pun intended). It’s hard enough to take care of two kids as a single father without adding in the stress of millions of walkers.
If Rick is being coldhearted, then Darryl is turning into that one uncle that everyone has that you want to hangout with and tell your problems too. Daryl and Carl exchange stories about how their mothers died and then they go on searching the prison. This kind of meeting may seem insignificant, but the types of relationships that form in this world can go a long way.
The relationship between Andrea and the Governor is what could lead to trouble. She’s still naïve and thinks that the Governor can do no wrong. The fact that she knows absolutely nothing about his evil could lead to a total blindside on her part when she finds it all out. Every character seems to be going on their own path with no idea where they’re headed. When “Neil” starts to show a little opposition and talk back to Merle, he ends up with more lead in his head than answers.
Now the episode turns into a mind game. The mysterious person on the other end of the line tells Rick that he should open up more about his wife. That sentence may seem innocuous, but the fact of the matter is that she called him by his real name. Somehow this person knows who he is. Could it be Carol who’s been lost for a few days now? A member of the Governor’s camp? Place your bets on Carol but in this sick, twisted world there’s no saying who might be still alive.
The Governor even seems to be slipping up under Andrea’s spell as he makes an under the table sex reference. It’s becoming more and more evident that one of the Governor’s secrets is going to slip out. He’s letting his guard down too much and showing more humanity than he needs to toward a relative stranger. Finally, it all comes to a point when they hook up in the garden and move to his bedroom.
One question is answered about how far away the group has really been from the Governor all this time. Michonne stumbles upon Glenn and Maggie looking for baby food, while Merle comes from the other side looking for trouble. Upon finding Glenn, he lets his guard down and promises that he’ll leave them alone as long as he takes them to his brother. Merle keeps pushing his limit more and more trying to see how far he can get into the mind of Glenn. His inching closer and closer shows that he has no intentions of playing games. Soon his impatience blows over when he shoots his gun and takes Maggie hostage. For no apparent reason, Michonne seems intent on sitting and watching when she could have very easily saved Maggie. Obviously, this is all part of the master plot, but it’s hard to think that all of these little mini slip ups aren’t wearing on the fans. How many times can these beyond obvious teasers keep happening until people get sick of it and abandon the show? The main producer, Frank Darabont, has done a good job at keeping the balance steady so far, but it’s only going to last so long.
Aaaaaand then everyone loses their minds. At this point it’s almost impossible to tell if Rick has finally snapped. The phone rings again and after waiting to answer, he again implores how this mystery person knows his name. The mystery voice reveals enough to say that she is Lori. From there Rick collapses and goes on a long rant about how he had to do everything to save her. Soon the voice on the other end breaks up and Rick hangs up without saying a word.
Merle goes on to interrupt the sex scene between Andrea and the Governor with the news that he has hostages from Andrea’s old camp.
In a slightly anticlimactic move, it turns out that Carol has simply just been sitting in a closet in a hallway for the past however long she’s been gone.
In the end, Rick walks toward the edge of the fence to find that Michonne has now showed up in her bloody camouflage with the products that Glenn left sitting on the curb. It’s lasted this long without Rick meeting the Governor, but now it’s inevitable that they must now cross paths. The only question is how many more people will die leading up to that meeting.
