Ironically falling on Easter Sunday, the Governor welcomed anxious DeadHeads to The Walking Dead’s much anticipated season finale with these menacing words: “Welcome to the Tombs.” With episodes building up to a major war between the Prison Crew and Woodbury, the tone was set for some major death and destruction, a common theme in post-apocalyptic, undead-ridden Georgia countryside.
In fact, just hours before the imminent finale, AMC released information that a grand total of 27 would be biting the dust in the finale — a pretty large body count, even for The Walking Dead. And audiences didn’t have long to wait: the Governor stabbed everyone’s favorite nerd, Milton Mamet, before the first commercial break, with the intent of siccing the soon-to-be walker Milton on tied-up Andrea.
Meanwhile at the prison, Rick and his group were packing up and appearing to vacate the premises before the murderous Governor returned with a vengeance. Good thing too, because the Governor and his citizens from Woodbury arrived at the prison moments later in full force, blowing up guard towers and taking out every walker in the vicinity. But even upon entering the prison, there seemed to be little sign of the prison crew. A point of poignancy — or perhaps perverse levity — takes place when the Governor finds Herschel’s bible open with a highlighted passage about punishment for one’s sins, a great moment in this otherwise tense scene.
Soon after the Governor and his cronies descend into the tombs in search of any life, the ambush begins. In this guerilla style attack, the prison crew manages to take out nearly half of the Woodburyites without a single causality on their side, unless you count Carl’s humanity. Everyone’s favorite brat-turned-badass preteen Carl shoots a frightened boy not much older than himself as he was surrendering his weapon in a manner reminiscent of Shane, who was of the “kill before you’re killed” mentality and who was killed off at the end of the previous season, leaving audiences to wonder if Carl is going to follow in Shane’s footsteps.
Although audiences certainly weren’t hoping anyone in the prison crew would die, having three seasons of brazen main character killing by the writers left the unlikely victory a little too, well, unlikely. Panning back to the fleeing Governor and citizens of Woodbury, audiences begin to truly see the Governor’s hysteria and craziness as he kills off his remaining forces in a rage, save for his two right hand men (and Karen, who hides underneath the body of a shot Woodbury man). Even someone without any military background, would know that massacring your entire army isn’t a great battle tactic.
After this surprising turn of events, the Governor turns, stomps into the woods, and that’s the last that audiences see of him. The Governor does not die, nor does he continue to attack the prison. He merely slips away into the woods, leaving the storyline of the third season hanging.
This is where the finale begins to pull apart at the seams.
At Woodbury, Andrea has been taking her sweet time trying to grab hold of a set of pliers Milton purposefully dropped behind her so she can escape before Milton turns into a walker and attacks. It was frustrating for all the viewers to watch her pause and hold entire conversations with Milton, seemingly unaware that time is running out.
At the same time, the ultimate dream team consisting of Rick, Daryl and Michonne set off after the Governor. Who they find instead is just Karen ( a possible future love interest for Rick) and eventually the dying Andrea, with a chunk missing out of her neck courtesy of Milton. Clearly, she should have hurried up.
Although any death of a major character is at least semi-shocking, some fans felt more than a little vindicated after learning Andrea’s fate, as for a portion of the fandom, she has been increasingly annoying since Day One, and many people could no longer stand her constant swaggering one second longer.
In the final moments, audiences see Rick leading the geriatrics and children of Woodbury, along with Tyreese and Sasha, back to the prison. Carl protests the newcomers’ welcome into the prison, again recalling Shane last season.
While Rick contemplates his son’s deep loss of morality, audiences were left with a feeling of dissatisfaction. All of this buildup, episode upon episode, just for a finale whose plot points centered around Andrea and Carl, the most irritating characters in The Walking Dead?
While everyone is still fully hoping for a killer season four in October, a sense of underwhelm is undeniable. Hopefully next time, the writers will understand what DeadHeads truly want: more Dead, more drama, and more Daryl Dixon.
