Hershel:
Hershel's demise by decapitation is the big story in this episode, closely followed by that of the Governor.
I could tell that Hershel's time was coming after he was getting so much airtime in the last few episodes.
However, his unlikely survival has been surprising in the past.
Hershel's demise correlates the break up of the group that he is ultimately responsible for creating.
The present coalition of established characters (Rick, Carl, Daryl, Maggie, Glen, Beth, Carol) was created by the union that occurred on his farm, and even with the geopolitical shifts that have happened over the course of the last few seasons that core of plot driving characters has remained the stability of the show.
With the group scattered the coalition is broken. The union Hershel constructed has been undone.
This was most likely inevitable. For the show to progress this group (bordering on a kind of sorority) had to be divided. Up until this time period characters like Andrea were spun off of the original group, but the integrity of the farm group remained rigid and uncompromised.
The Governor:
The episode was rightly named 'Too Far Gone.' Even as the Governor was lying on the ground bleeding to death I still thought there was hope for him... I was wrong.
The Governor's last chance was his attempt to leave the Martinez camp on the night he was blocked by the pit of zombies. Obviously, he didn't make it.
I am still saddened by the fact that we don't know anything about the Governor. We don't even know his real name?!?!
The rise and fall of the governor this season appeared to be an accelerated version of his original Woodbury trajectory. However, this time the death of his daughter ('daughter II') barely phased him...he was simply too far gone.
The single word the Governor uses to strike down Rick's inspiring speech 'lies' sums up his entire span on the show. He created Woodbury as a kind of utopian lie, he lied to himself about his daughter being dead, he lied to inspire both of his prison sieges, his second family was a second self-lie, and even his name(s) were lies.
The Governor should forever be known as one of the best baddies in television.
Rick:
Rick's evolution in this season seemed uneven up until this episode. One of the final scenes finds Rick and Carl bleeding, crying, collapsing on one another in a fit of emotions surrounding the disappearance of Judith. It was an unbelievably touching moment.
As Rick and Carl stumble away from the prison Rick tells his son 'don't look back' in an apparent allusion to the destruction of the Biblical Sodom and Gomorra.
Is Rick facing God's retribution for having put his faith in a walled city? Did his speech against violence to the Governor's mini-army earn him his survival (albeit a miserable one)?
Or was the group a kind of prison for Rick which forced him into leadership roles that made him psychologically break?
Ultimately, the destruction of the prison, and the break up of the group, might give Rick his best chance yet to be the kind of father to Carl that he has failed to be up to this point.
This episode instantly makes Rick one of the most interesting characters going into the second half.
Tyreese:
Why is Tyreese still alive?!! This episode was the perfect excuse to rid the show of him! He's a terrible actor, his character is typecasted as 'testosterone filled thug,' and why on earth would Rick banish Carol over him especially after the maniac attacked him!?
There is no reason Tyreese is on the show. The only plot he drives is 'token black man.' He embodies the white guilt complex...'to appease the black man we are going to betray our own people (i.e. Carol) so that we can feel less racist.'
Daryl:
The writers have certainly been trying to play Daryl down this season probably because of his insane popularity.
However, giving him so little place in the show's plot is definitely dragging it.
Lets see a little more Daryl and a little less Bob (who is that guy?) and Tyreese (his acting is atrocious).
Although Daryl had an awesome Zombie escape/kill this episode he is still so little utilized.
Beth and Daryl have a 'moment' at the beginning of the season when he goes to inform her that her boyfriend died in the grocery store fiasco ('30 Days Without an Incident'). This 'moment' (whatever it was) makes a whole lot more sense now that Daryl and Beth are escaping from the prison together.
Glenn/Maggie:
It was a great relief that neither of these two died.
However, they are separated from one another. Maggie with two of the random black people (Sasha and Bob), and Glenn with the entire bus load of random extras.
Glenn is still sick and weak from his illness, but it looks like he is going to have to develop into more of a leader as he carries the bus crew.
Maggie is going to have to deal with these two random people that she seems to have little or no prier relationship with. I can't even begin to imagine how this will work out...its all very weird.
But lets be honest... how many couples can they kill before the human population has no chance whatsoever of reproducing itself?!
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