The Walking Dead review of S3 Ep14 “Prey”

This is the darkest episode to date, which may come as a surprise to some if you have never read The Walking Dead graphic novels.  “Prey” focuses primarily on Andrea and her quest to rid herself of the Governor.  After a full season of mishaps, misjudgments, and mistakes, it’s about time that Andrea opened her eyes and got the hell out of Woodbury.

The episode opens with a disorienting flashback of Andrea and Michonne around a campfire.  The flashback seems out of place, and doesn’t add much to the storyline of the episode.  It’s only interesting and redeeming factor is that Michonne’s eyes get watery as she reveals that her two walker “pets” were not good people.  Overall, this revelation of actual ‘feelings’ had a disturbing effect on me.  I didn’t think Michonne was capable of crying.  In my mind she is kind of like a female Chuck Norris that had tear ducts amputated at birth. 

The episode quickly cuts to the quaint little town of Woodbury.  The Governor is keeping himself occupied with his new little playroom full of torture devices and (eek!) gynecology instruments.  Apparently, he plans to use these items on Michonne.  Disturbing much.

Milton, who is completely incapable of keeping a secret, discloses the Governor’s plans to kill everyone at the prison.  He also reveals to Andrea the Governor’s torture chamber through an overhead ventilation room.  Then Andrea, in the worst display of ninja skills ever, stands within open view of the vents while the Governor walks into the room.  Like a 2-year-old, she apparently thinks that if she doesn’t move, maybe the Governor will mistake her for a tree or something.  I don’t know.  Luckily (and surprisingly), the Governor doesn’t see Andrea, and both Andrea and Milton are able to exit the torture room without the Governor’s notice.

It finally becomes apparent to Andrea that she must leave Woodbury and warn her friends of the Governor’s plans.  She narrowly escapes, but not before turning over her gun to the Governor’s henchman who are collecting weapons for the imminent Woodbury-Prison showdown.  Before Andrea jumps the fence, she also confides in Tyreese and tells him that the “Governor isn’t what you think he is,” which is probably the vaguest advice ever.

That day, Tyreese and his daughter, and the two generic white guys in their group get recruited to zombie pit duty.  Once Tyreese figures out that the zombies are being collected for militant purposes, Tyreese objects and is sent back to Woodbury.

Meanwhile, Milton (who again can’t keep a simple secret), unintentionally discloses to the Governor that he informed Andrea of the Governor’s plan to murder everyone at the prison.  The Governor gets pissed and decides to chase after Andrea himself.  After the Governor leaves, someone (we don’t know who), sets the zombie pits ablaze.

The episode then cuts to Andrea running like a seasoned marathoner through walker country.   She gets into a couple of exhilarating tumbles with the walkers, but it’s nothing that she can’t handle.  Then, surprisingly she is spotted by the Governor (who just happened to know exactly where Andrea was) in his big beige truck.  Then the chase is on!

Honestly, I don’t know how the Governor was able to find Andrea with his magical tracking skills.  I think he must have implanted a GPS tracking device in her with his manly parts or something.   I mean really… not even Prince Humperdink was that good of a tracker.

Andrea escapes the Governor by running into the woods and finds an old factory where she plans to hide.  Even though there are probably dozens of buildings in the area, the Governor with his magical tracking powers finds the building where Andrea is hiding.  Then Andrea and the Governor play a little game of hide and seek where Andrea’s life is on the line.  Andrea is able to win however, as she tricks the Governor into walking into a crowd of zombies.

Andrea finally makes it to the prison after daybreak.  Just as she is about to call out to Rick, who is standing post, the Governor comes out of nowhere, grabs Andrea, and covers her mouth.

The scene then cuts to the Governor back at Woodbury.  He finds out about the zombie pit arson incident, and confronts Milton.  Milton, finally gains some cajones, and sort of tells the Governor that he’s the one that did it.  Like a scorned lover, Milton defiantly storms off, and the Governor is left dumbfounded.

The last scene cuts to the Governor’s torture room where Andrea can be seen shackled to the dentist chair with her mouth covered in duct tape.

Things are not looking good for Andrea, to say the least.

The next two episodes of The Walking Dead are bound to be the most promising in violence.  And you can bet your chickens that one main character is bound to die.  My bet is on Herschel.  

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The Walking Dead: Compendium One at Amazon.com

(Seriously, if you haven't read this yet... get off your ass!)