'The Walking Dead' Season 3 Finale Review: 'Welcome To The Tombs' It Gets Worse Here Every Day...

forbes.com ^ | 4/01/2013 @ 12:01AM | Erik Kain

[virgil283]

‘The Walking Dead’ comes to a surprising conclusion in Sunday night’s Season 3 finale. [Spoiler warning.]...I won’t lie: I was hoping for the big, dramatic showdown between Rick and the Governor. Instead, The Walking Dead’s Season 3 finale ended on a mixed note, part tragic and part hopeful.

As a season finale, I’m not sure this works. The last five or six episodes of the show have been all about rising tension. The drama, the stakes of the game, the whole arms race between Woodbury and the prison, all of it has built up to a breaking point, spilling over last week with Merle’s suicide run against the Governor and his men.

The problem with the Season 3 finale is two-fold: First, Merle’s sacrifice is rendered pointless now that the Governor has gone and killed off basically his own entire army.

Second, none of the massive amount of tension that’s built up over the course of the season has been released or resolved...........

But what we have instead is a conscious decision to carry the existing conflict between the Governor and the prison forward. Why? For lack of a better villain? To flesh out the dwindling ranks of the survivors with a busload of new characters? New extras to feed to the walkers?

None of these questions result in satisfying answers. Fundamentally, this is a business decision, and sometimes business decisions are terrible for creative endeavors.

Many moments in this episode were great. The opening scene between the Governor and Milton, especially. Carl’s internal conflict and anger over Rick’s betrayal of Michonne........"

[virgil283]

"The attack on the prison started off really solid and then ended in a confusing retreat. Each good moment seemed to trail off into confusion and indirection. If the Governor had simply shot two or three of the people and then frightened the rest back to fight again, I could have bought that. If it had all come down to the final fight between the Governor and Rick and then pow! we were given a cliff-hanger…I’d be annoyed, but I could buy it..... Now don’t get me wrong, I want some of that tension to carry over into Season 4. It’s good to end with some uncertainty. It’s a fine thing to have doubt and terror and some sort of cliff-hanger to draw us over to the next season. Instead we have an episode that really doesn’t live up to many of the recent entries in Season 3, not so much because there was a great deal riding on this episode (though there was) but because the show took the easy way out and didn’t give us what it’s promised, at least implicitly, since we first met the Governor.............That’s a shame. It’s risky to kill off a great villain and resolve an important narrative. But that’s precisely what AMC did with Season 4 of Breaking Bad, and that remains one of the most incredible, poignant, and important moments in that show’s incredible run..........Then, when it’s all said and done, she’s killed off by walker-Milton in the Governor’s dungeon. I don’t know. For all my gripes with Andrea, I would have liked to see her at least go out fighting like Merle. Not just fighting some final walker, but really fighting, going toe-to-toe with the Governor and his goons.

Ah well. Disappointing finale or no, the show has been at its best over the past few weeks. Season 4 starts up in October and I’ll be waiting eagerly enough for the shambling dead. Hopefully we move beyond the prison, however, because another season sitting around in a structure, instead of battling it out on the road, isn’t going to cut it.............."

[matginzac]

Hey, I thought it wasn’t so bad...
Yes, the gov lives on...good for the next season...no prob with that.
Andrea gone is good and bad...she kept the groans going.
The gov wasting most of his “army” put to rest ANY sympathy for him and leaves him very vulnerable...
And taking in the people left from Woodbury gives other story lines and complications...
It works, IMHO.

[Truth29]

I basically agree. I think the next to the last episode, with brother killing brother, was the better, more dramatic episode. The sudden and weak retreat from the prison and the Governor's massacre on the highway were just not believable, too quick, and the camera work was not as shocking as in other episodes. All in all, the season finale was a letdown after the huge buildup.

[cripplecreek]

Critics. Nuff said.

[House Atreides]

There are way too many whiny (and wantabe-script-writers) reviewers 2nd guessing each episode. And too many whiny commentors (of the “I’m not going to watch any more” variety) popping up.

Personally, I think the writers are doing a great job and nobody can question the quality of acting the cast is doing. I eagerly wait for Season 4’s arrival.

[cripplecreek]

I think the governor will be more dangerous without a home base. He’s now forced to go guerrilla.

I do feel that they skipped through a lot of things to get to the end of the season when they should have split it into two episodes.

As far as battling it out on the road, it may be fine in the movies but in the real world, a solid defensible base is the way to go as long as you can feed yourselves. Personally I’d clear and reinforce prison defenses. You could grow a fair amount of food on the grounds and crews would still need to go out for supplies which would provide action for the show.

[TomGuy]

The season finale was rather disappointing, lackluster, compared to the previous episode. It was as if the writers didn’t know where they wanted to go with the story line.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

I thought this season was the worst out of all of them. I got that feeling when they started off with this whole commune/Governor stuff, I was like oh no...please don’t go there because I knew it was going to get lame, get really stupid, and it did. “Yes the insane cult leader that nobody ever kills even though they have 9 gabillion chances to do so”...And we are going to get this crap next season as well because of course -—he wasn’t killed!

[matginzac]

Yep, would have liked a two hour finale but...
The gov guerrilla is an interesting idea and will see how it plays out with him on the move...kept wondering if Rick might shift everyone to Wppdbury at some point to survive easier but prison might work too. I see your tactical approach but remember there’s not an emphasis on reality on TV...if so, I think they should have found a boat!!!
Loved the Bible left behind with the quote high lighted...
And the gov throws it to the side...it’s those details that make this show great...

[kidd]

The comic book version of the governor was evil right from the beginning (at this point in the comic book Rick is missing a hand that was taken off by the governor).

The TV show started the governor out as a reasonable guy. Now he’s a grade-A psycho and a real evil guy.

Also, we were expecting a big battle, but if the writers had gone that way, it wouldn’t have been as satisfying as everyone thought it might be.

I like the direction they’re taking with the story.

[TomGuy]

“Yes the insane cult leader that nobody ever kills even though they have 9 gabillion chances to do so”...

Agree. Andrea had at least 2 chances.

And there, on the road, as he slaughtered his 'army', the others just watched. The 2 survivors just got in the truck with him and drove away.

==

That brings to mind Carl vs the Woodbury kid. Initially, that scene ended with an 'Ohhhhh????' However, later when Carl explained his rationale to Rick, it was very understandable why he did what he did. Carl seems to be a tough little guy who can make the 'hard decisions'. The little guy is growing up in a tough world. Recall that is was Rick who made the decision to bypass the backpacker a couple of episodes earlier, and later to back up the vehicle and pick up the discarded backpack.

[virgil283]

TWD ping

[cripplecreek]

The governor knows Woodbury, he doesn’t know his way around the prison. The prison with enough defenders becomes a seriously strong defensive position that even women, children and elderly can help defend.

Personally I’d be out scouting around for construction materials like concrete blocks and steel. There should also be tank trucks sitting around full of gasoline and diesel. The governor left some serious weaponry on the road as well.

[bmwcyle]

The Gov will find that other group that was in town when Doc was getting drunk. He will make friends with them and be back.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Yeah I think Carl did the right thing because he told the kid to drop the gun and the kid wouldn’t, he held it out but he wouldn’t drop it, so he shot him rather than risk the chance that the kid would suddenly lift it up and use it. Yeah the governor shooting his people while every stood around and watched is another example how stupid this season was. This show seems to be turning into another Lost, just getting uber ridiculous.

[virgil283]

The Gov will find that other group that was in town when Doc was getting drunk. He will make friends with them and be back.....Ha -that would be a terrible development. I was hoping to see Daryl ride in to Woodbury at the controls of that 50 cal........in a victory parade .....!!!

[bmwcyle]

They are a group the writer has in reserve. He can bring them into the story anytime now.

[TomGuy]

The Talking Dead had the evening poll of whether Carl should have killed the kid or taken him in. The poll was split 50-50.

[matginzac]

Totally agree...
And it leads to the question: surviving this way, what kind of life do they lead in the long run? Do they face constant challenges from other survivors who come across the prison? Or do they live happily in their compound until natural death? For the sake of the show, I think it may be the former....

[CatherineofAragon]

I’m actually fine with the way they ended the season. Even though we can’t wait to see the governor get his, David Morrissey plays the most excellent bad guy I have EVER seen. It’s like I told my husband: the only time I’ve seen more heinous villainy was the vampires in “30 Days of Night”, and not by much, either. So we still have him going forward, and meanwhile he continues to rack up debt that ensures the eventual payoff will be enormously satisfying.

I believe Carl did the right thing. The kid refused to drop his gun, and it looked to me like he was leaning in to grab Carl’s. But Carl’s attitude needs to be nipped in the bud.

Andrea....meh. I was much more upset for Milton.

The only nit I have to pick is about the bus full of Woodburians/Woodburyites. I really don’t want to see our group start a combination daycare/old folks’ home.