The Walking Dead Review: Running Scared

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This was such a disappointing episode in a pretty top notch season of The Walking Dead.

With only three installment remaining and the presumable battle of the prison and Woodbury on the horizon, tensions should be high, the suspense should be riveting and the final actions and decisions made by the characters should be compelling.

Except "Prey" left me rolling my eyes, laughing at the things being done and the silly dialogue being said.

Close Up of Andrea

On top of that, pretty much the entire episode focused on Andrea, a character who has been written to make some of the worst choices, all while trying to prove she can play with the big boys. It's become so hard for me to even want to root for her. I'm often just wondering what ridiculous thing Andrea is going to do next.

I dislike hating on Andrea, especially because she could and should be a strong likable kick-ass character. And perhaps everything she has done has been leading up for her to make some major redemptive move and defeat the Governor from within, but I've become so exhausted with her in general that I'm not sure if it'll be enough.

The other option, I guess, is she meets her end in some dramatic fashion, but I'd rather she come out alive and seriously change from her experiences.

I had assumed on some level that her returning to Woodbury in "Arrow in the Doorpost" was to stop the Governor by pretending to be on his side, but it wasn't until Milton told her the Governor's plan and she saw his little torture chamber room that she finally (finally!) was ready to do something.

Then it killed me listening to her tell Milton that he needed to realize the Governor was a bad guy, as if she'd been so wise to the whole ordeal the entire time.

Her "Martinez needs your help" trick to get Tyreese and Sasha to leave was hilarious. I couldn't believe she actually thought they would buy that ploy and I was glad that the two didn't. At least Andrea just bucked up and told them she was leaving and the Governor couldn't be trusted.

I do like Tyreese and wish that he'd had more screen time this season since his appearance in "Made to Suffer." It was good to see that he wasn't a perfect shot and that he disapproved of the walker pits.

Unfortunately, his whole beef with Allen (who I completely forgot about and didn't even realize who he was at first) seemed a bit forced in a way to make them have tension within their own group.

Did anyone really think Tyreese would have fed Allen to the waiting walkers in the pit? No, Allen will find some other way to die by season's end probably.

Now, will the Governor die by the finale?

I'm not so sure on that one.

I did like certain aspects of the Governor hunting Andrea. It was a good use of the dark building for the cat and mouse game, allowing walkers to pop in here and there, the Governor to whistle like a creep, evilly stalking her.

I was expecting him to use his tape recorder to trick Andrea into knowing his location, but at the same time I thought that he saw the top of her head when she was hiding in the moonlight.

I do have to give Andrea credit for being clever enough to send the pack of walkers on the Governor. It was creepy when she opened the door to see them all standing in the stairwell.

And though I knew that the Governor wouldn't die this time around, it was a great tense moment when he jumped on her right as she was outside the prison. I actually thought she would make it and the completely silent Rick trying to scope out the situation added to the scene.

So, what is the Governor going to do to Andrea after her attempted escape? She's locked in his dungeon of doom, but will he ever get the chance to do something?

There's always been a pretty decent inclination of his sadistic side, but we haven't really seen him unleash it. Is he a ticking time bomb that we've barely scratched the surface on?

I certainly worry for Milton, who is the presumed suspect of setting the walker pits on fire. The Governor isn't a forgiving man, and although I think Milton would be an interesting addition to the core prison group, I've got a feeling his time is coming.

As much as this episode was supposed to be the dramatic turn of events, especially where Andrea was concerned, it felt tiresome, silly and, save for a few moments, lacking a gripping and absorbing atmosphere.

Although, it was a shock that Andrea was able to run so far in those boots. You think that distance in that footwear would have been painful, but she was able to outrun the Governor's vehicle.

I'm not sure what the next stage is going to be as I feel that the real battle won't even begin until the finale, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to spending time with characters like Daryl, Rick, Glenn, and yes, even Michonne. It will be interesting to see how the prison group reacts to finding out about the Governor's deal and what their strategy will be for defeating the one-eyed villain.

Prey Review

Editor Rating: 2.7 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 3.6 / 5.0 (151 Votes)

Sean McKenna was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. He retired in May of 2017. Follow him on Twitter.

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