The Walking Dead season 4 'Too Far Gone' recap: Powerful but flawed
The Walking Dead ends 2013 with an episode that's powerful but flawed, that frustrates as much as it thrills. The chief problem lies in the fact that the show's mid-season finale 'Too Far Gone' is an episode that, from a moral standpoint, is wonderfully murky and grey… until it suddenly isn't.
We open with a dogged, single-minded Governor rousing his troops with a single aim - to take the prison by any means. David Morrissey's power-hungry miscreant is still for all intents and purposes this show's antagonist, but in recent weeks The Walking Dead has gone to great pains to emphasise that he's a human being too.
He loves little Megan, he's apparently willing to call a truce with Michonne (Danai Gurira) and he's not technically lying when he talks of losing his home, his daughter and his eye to the prison gang.
So while he might drive a tank right up to the prison's walls, when Rick (Andrew Lincoln) delivers an "Everybody can change" speech to rival Sylvester Stallone's in Rocky IV, you honestly believe that The Governor might back down.
But he doesn't. He snaps. He kills Hershel. It's the episode's biggest shock moment, but it's also just a bit much to swallow.
By The Governor's own admission, Hershel was a "good man" so why kill him? Especially in such a brutal fashion? Why wouldn't The Governor opt to kill his nemesis Michonne, who was kneeling mere feet away?
Hershel's gory demise feels like a shock tactic - The Governor is acting like a villain because 'that's what he does' and given the steps that The Walking Dead has taken to humanise the character in recent weeks, this feels like a step backward.
In killing loveable Hershel, The Governor robs himself of any humanity, any audience empathy, undoing the work of the past two episodes with one fell swoop of his sword.
It's a questionable decision, particularly given how prominent Hershel has become this season. No character in The Walking Dead should feel safe - not even Rick or fan favourite Daryl (Norman Reedus) - but their exits have to be earned and Hershel's feels cheap.
Still, there's no questioning the power of the performances on display here. Scott Wilson has been a standout all season - particularly in 'Internment' - and while he gets frustratingly little to do in his final appearance, his work here deserves recognition.
Similarly, any time Andrew Lincoln breaks down on-screen, it's incredibly affecting and the scene in which he and Carl (Chandler Riggs) both weep with impotent rage following Judith's disappearance is no exception.
Scott Gimple's time as showrunner of The Walking Dead has so far resulted in a mixed bag. His first eight episodes - last week's limp 'Dead Weight' aside - bubbled away nicely but this finale goes off the boil a little, with exceptional acting and some strong plot beats offset by other, more questionable twists.
With the prison destroyed and our survivors once more scattered and on the run, perhaps The Walking Dead is entering a new era - one in which Gimple can truly put his stamp on the show. His early efforts, though not perfect, prove that he has the potential to take cable television's biggest drama to impressive new heights.
WATCHING DEAD...
- Re: Hershel's death - mightn't it have been more satisfying to have a trigger-happy Carl, aiming for The Governor, accidentally shoot and kill Hershel - having the peace broker literally caught in the crossfire between Rick and The Governor?
- So many unanswered questions - who's mutilating the rats? What's happened to Judith? And where will the survivors go next?
- After such a long wait, it was disappointing to see Rick and Daryl's confrontation over Carol abruptly halted by The Governor's arrival at the prison.
- Megan was obviously on borrowed time, but her killer rising from the Earth in classic zombie fashion was among this episode's most memorable sequences.
- By far the scariest thing in this episode was the unnerving facial similarity between Maggie and Lilly - Audrey Marie Anderson and Lauren Cohan could be sisters, I swear.
© AMC / Gene Page
The Governor in 'Too Far Gone'
We open with a dogged, single-minded Governor rousing his troops with a single aim - to take the prison by any means. David Morrissey's power-hungry miscreant is still for all intents and purposes this show's antagonist, but in recent weeks The Walking Dead has gone to great pains to emphasise that he's a human being too.
He loves little Megan, he's apparently willing to call a truce with Michonne (Danai Gurira) and he's not technically lying when he talks of losing his home, his daughter and his eye to the prison gang.
So while he might drive a tank right up to the prison's walls, when Rick (Andrew Lincoln) delivers an "Everybody can change" speech to rival Sylvester Stallone's in Rocky IV, you honestly believe that The Governor might back down.
But he doesn't. He snaps. He kills Hershel. It's the episode's biggest shock moment, but it's also just a bit much to swallow.
By The Governor's own admission, Hershel was a "good man" so why kill him? Especially in such a brutal fashion? Why wouldn't The Governor opt to kill his nemesis Michonne, who was kneeling mere feet away?
© AMC / Gene Page
Maggie and Beth in 'Too Far Gone'
Hershel's gory demise feels like a shock tactic - The Governor is acting like a villain because 'that's what he does' and given the steps that The Walking Dead has taken to humanise the character in recent weeks, this feels like a step backward.
In killing loveable Hershel, The Governor robs himself of any humanity, any audience empathy, undoing the work of the past two episodes with one fell swoop of his sword.
It's a questionable decision, particularly given how prominent Hershel has become this season. No character in The Walking Dead should feel safe - not even Rick or fan favourite Daryl (Norman Reedus) - but their exits have to be earned and Hershel's feels cheap.
© AMC / Gene Page
The Governor, Lilly and Meghan in 'Too Far Gone'
Still, there's no questioning the power of the performances on display here. Scott Wilson has been a standout all season - particularly in 'Internment' - and while he gets frustratingly little to do in his final appearance, his work here deserves recognition.
Similarly, any time Andrew Lincoln breaks down on-screen, it's incredibly affecting and the scene in which he and Carl (Chandler Riggs) both weep with impotent rage following Judith's disappearance is no exception.
© AMC / Gene Page
Beth, Rick, Tyreese and Daryl in 'Too Far Gone'
Scott Gimple's time as showrunner of The Walking Dead has so far resulted in a mixed bag. His first eight episodes - last week's limp 'Dead Weight' aside - bubbled away nicely but this finale goes off the boil a little, with exceptional acting and some strong plot beats offset by other, more questionable twists.
With the prison destroyed and our survivors once more scattered and on the run, perhaps The Walking Dead is entering a new era - one in which Gimple can truly put his stamp on the show. His early efforts, though not perfect, prove that he has the potential to take cable television's biggest drama to impressive new heights.
WATCHING DEAD...
© AMC / Gene Page
The Governor in 'Too Far Gone'
- Re: Hershel's death - mightn't it have been more satisfying to have a trigger-happy Carl, aiming for The Governor, accidentally shoot and kill Hershel - having the peace broker literally caught in the crossfire between Rick and The Governor?
- So many unanswered questions - who's mutilating the rats? What's happened to Judith? And where will the survivors go next?
- After such a long wait, it was disappointing to see Rick and Daryl's confrontation over Carol abruptly halted by The Governor's arrival at the prison.
- Megan was obviously on borrowed time, but her killer rising from the Earth in classic zombie fashion was among this episode's most memorable sequences.
- By far the scariest thing in this episode was the unnerving facial similarity between Maggie and Lilly - Audrey Marie Anderson and Lauren Cohan could be sisters, I swear.
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