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The Walking Dead 3.11 "I Ain't A Judas" review
Episode 3.11
Writer: Angela Kang
Director: Greg Nicotero
THE ONE WHERE Everybody hates Andrea. Tyreese makes friends with the Governor and Rick considers giving up leadership.
VERDICT I have one big problem with The Walking Dead this season. Just one. And it's name is Andrea.
This week should have solved that. It should have either wrapped up the thread with her hanging out with the Governor, or at least given her a credible reason to still be in Woodbury. It didn't and – given how much of the episode is about precisely that – that's annoying.
The thing is, I like Andrea. Laurie Holden is a good actress and I've enjoyed the character's transition from victim to sharp-shooting leader. In some ways she seems to be on an inverse trajectory to Rick. While he falls into despair and madness, she is developing strong leadership skills and confidence.
So why the cock is she still hanging around with the bloody Governor?!
Last week, Philip dangled the carrot of looking after Woodbury in front of her nose. That was a smart move. If Andrea thinks she can help people there, it gives her a solide rason to stay in town. She's had doubts about his sanity for some time now, but this (plus her attraction to him) helps her to avoid facing the truth for a little bit longer.
But after the scene this week, where the Governor virtually says, "I am going to murder you and all of your friends," and she's just like, "Oh, okay then," she vanished over the believability event horizon for me.
An ongoing theme in the comics is that, while Rick's group are the protagonists to us, to other groups they must look terrifying . So... Andrea returns thto e prison and sees that Rick has become unhinged. But then everyone else in the group tells her what's been going on (in a scene that felt like the character was getting her own personal, “Previously on AMC’s The Walking Dead ”) and she still kept on defending the man who has instigated all of this.
What's up with this?
What the hell is wrong with Andrea? Has she developed Stockholm Syndrome, or something?
Argh!
Eventually, Andrea did swing around to the notion that, yeah alright, the Governor probably is a bit evil. But she still ended the episode back in Woodbury, and so it goes on...
Anyway, the rest of the episode was fairly light on action or plot, but there was some decent character stuff. Merle is quickly being assimilated back into the group (his attempts to get along with Michonne were hilariously half-arsed). Hershel said what we've all been thinking to Rick: “Get your head together and do something.” And was anyone else seriously chilled when the Governor started talking about arming Woodbury's children for battle? Then again – that's pretty much exactly what Rick's done with Carl. There was also another inventive – and disgusting – zombie kill. Excellent!
The most interesting development was Tyreese's group coming into contact with the Governor – and joining his team. That's new! They've got reason to fear the prison crew, so their alliance makes sense, even if Phil seems almost physically incapable of not looking shifty throughout their meeting. Then there was the brief, but sweet, scene between Rick and Carl, where the youngster pointed out to his dad that maybe it was time for him to take a break and step down from leadership. Wise words kid.
HEY YOU, WHAT'S THAT SOUND? The song that Beth sings at the end (in a moment that felt uncomfortably like one of those season one Lost endings, where everyone would stand around staring wistfully at the ocean, over a track by Damien Rice or whoever) is “Hold On”, originally by Tom Waits. Thankfully, it changes into his (bloody lovely) version for the episode's end credits.
BEST LINE
Michonne: “I did not realise the messiah complex was contagious.”
William Salmon
Read all our The Walking Dead season 3 reviews
The Walking Dead airs in the UK on Fox on Friday nights at 10pm
