The Walking Dead Episode 314
“Prey”
Written By: Evan Reilly
Directed By: Stefan Schwartz
Original Airdate: 17 March 2013
In This Episode...
Woodbury is planning for war. The Governor has given various decrees, including that Martinez collect all weapons and ammo, even personal weapons; and that no one is to leave Woodbury. Andrea is concerned, so Milton shows her something he just discovered: the Governor’s “workshop” - or what most people would recognize as a torture chamber. A dental chair sat in the center of the room, equipped with handcuffs, and a table laid out with all manner of instruments that are clearly meant to frighten and inflict pain. Andrea is shocked by this. The Governor enters, and the pair freeze. They are spying from the top of the room, a closed-off loft with a large vent. Andrea levels her gun at the Governor, but Milton makes her withdraw it. Later on, in private, Milton insists that killing the Governor won’t solve anything: Martinez will rise to take his place, and someone after that, and someone after that.
Andrea is determined to leave. After Martinez strips her of her firearm and ammo, she goes to the back gate and tries to lure Tyreese and Sasha off of guard duty. They don’t believe that Martinez is looking for them, so Andrea drops the ruse, climbs the wall, and lets her intent to escape be known. Tyreese is under strict instructions not to let anyone leave, but when Andrea pulls a knife, he knows she means business. As soon as she is over the wall, she runs. Tyreese and Sasha tattle to the Governor that Andrea escaped, and he is enraged. He leaves the rest of the preparations to Martinez and he goes out to get Andrea. Alone.
Tyreese is beginning to have his doubts about Woodbury. The fear in Andrea’s eyes, the conviction with which she left, the idea that she would rather take her chances with the walkers than with the Governor planted seeds of doubt in Tyreese. Alex doesn’t want Tyreese to make waves for fear that it will get them all kicked out. Apparently the friendship between the two is already tenuous because after Tyreese happened to save Donna’s life, she hung on to him rather than Alex. Anyway, they join Martinez on a trip out of the compound. He takes them to a huge pit in the ground that is filled with walkers. Martinez and his men start hoisting them out of the pen and loading them into livestock trailers. Martinez explains that they use every tool in their arsenal; Tyreese is shocked and refuses to set zombies on Rick’s kids. Alex warns him about making waves, and the two tussle, with Tyreese threatening to throw Alex into the walker pit.
Meanwhile, Andrea is trying to run through the woods in order to avoid the Governor, who is coming after her in a truck. She is set upon by three walkers and she takes them all out with relative ease - they are way less scary than the Governor. Andrea comes to a vast clearing and takes a deep breath before running through - it is completely devoid of cover. She hears the Governor’s truck and hits the dirt, but it is too late. He has seen her and is driving towards her. She begins to run again, making a mad dash for the cover of trees. She makes it, though barely.
As night comes, Andrea takes shelter in a school or factory or slaughterhouse or something. The Governor is not far behind, and the two engage in a cat-and-mouse chase through the dark, weathered interior. It is a sequence that could easily have been pulled from any of your better torture-porn flicks. The Governor closes in, and Andrea can either face him or run down a hall that is wall-to-wall walkers. She chooses option B, but thanks to some quick thinking and an optical illusion, Andrea lets all the walkers out into the room while she escapes down the hall. She walks calmly out the open door as she hears the Governor shooting wildly at dozens of zombies... then run out of ammo and be forced to kill them old skool.
Andrea survives the night, and is treated to a welcome sight: the prison. She approaches slowly, waving her arms so as not to be mistaken as the enemy. Rick is standing watch. As Andrea approaches, seemingly out of nowhere, the Governor springs up out of the brush and tackles her to the ground. Rick thinks he sees something, but after a careful scan of the horizon through his rifle sight, he chalks it up to another grief-hallucination and doesn’t followup.
The Governor returns to Woodbury, with his prize safely stored out of sight. He assures his people that he hasn’t found Andrea yet, but will continue to look for her. Martinez informs him that during the night, someone sneaked out to the zombie pits, doused them with gasoline, and set them on fire. The Governor instructs Martinez to go round up some more. After hearing about the altercation at the pit, he confronts Tyreese about torching the zombies, but Tyreese didn’t do it. Milton did.
And if there is any doubt as to whether or not the Governor returned to Woodbury with Andrea, he did. She is tied up in the torture chamber that was once reserved for Michonne.
Dig It or Bury It?
More than any other episode, tonight’s show was a horror movie in the truest sense of the word. The whole thing. Andrea having to talk her way out of Woodbury. Andrea running. Andrea hiding in the forest. The cat-and-mouse chase in the school. The escape from that school/factory/meat packing district. Then the hope, the relief, as she finally sees her goal... so close - and the pure slasher movie moment where the Governor pops up from the brush and tackles Andrea - and any hope of safety. That scene reminded me very much of the final scene in Friday the 13th, where Jason attacks Alice in the lake. I also appreciated not cutting between whatever was going on at the prison. It kept the story focused and on track.
Kill o’ the Week
Clearly, this one goes to Milton and the fire pit zombies. When Martinez finds them in the morning, they are a truly hideous pile of charcoal. A few of the walkers on the top of the pile did not get completely consumed by the fire. They are charred remnants of bodies, still glowing red from the embers, but twitching and moving their mouths in a desperate attempt to eat someone.
Prophecies?
Rick is tired of the fear and decides that turning Michonne over to the Governor might not be the worst idea in the world.