Walking Dead Weekly: Season 3, Episode 14 – ‘Prey’
Welcome to Walking Dead Weekly! As the title implies, each week (bearing a new episode of course), we’ll be taking a look at the latest episode of the AMC series. I’ll let you know how I felt about each weekly offering, and will also compare it to what Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard were doing with the comic at the same time.
Last week’s Arrow on the Doorpost post was arguably the most boring episode of The Walking Dead since the series premiered in 2010. Aside from the revelation of the Governor’s true intentions (he doesn’t want the prison, he just wants Michonne), the plot came to a standstill while Rick and Phillip talked about nothing of interest for the entire 42 minutes. Back at the prison it was nice to see Glenn and Maggie finally make up, but beyond that, there was absolutely nothing to see. Arrow on the Doorpost was a sub-par episode by any means, but following Clear from the week prior, you have to wonder what the production team was thinking; I’d rather have watched no episode at all than have had the series dragged down by that stinker.
Does this week fare any better? Read on and find out! As always, there are plenty of spoilers below, so don’t read any further until you’ve seen the episode!
Episode Thoughts – ‘Prey’
In last week’s edition of Walking Dead Weekly, we noted (via an embed of a strongly worded tweet) just how fed up fans were getting with Andrea; twitter is consistently full of Walking Dead fans calling for the death of the character, or at least for her to smarten the hell up. I’m sure those same fans were excited when they tuned into AMC tonight, and learned that Andrea took center stage in this week’s Prey.
Prey opens with a snow covered flashback; Andrea and Michonne sit around a fire and chat (back while they were still friends of course). Andrea asks how Michonne came across her leashed, de-limbed walkers, and its revealed that she knew them before the apocalypse happened. Michonne wasn’t a fan however, as she states that they “weren’t human to begin with,” and that “they deserved what they got”.
After a rather clever transition, we’re in Woodbury, and it looks like the Governor has been busy. He stands in a makeshift torture chamber that we haven’t seen before, and the camera cuts across a multitude of gruesome tools and devices. Who is this room meant for? Why is Phillip checking things out? Luckily, we’ll get some answers before the episode closes.
At the end of last week’s episode, Milton learned that the Governor had no intention of following through with his deal with Rick; whether Michonne was surrendered or not, Phillip had plans to simply kill everybody. Milton quickly reveals the truth to Andrea, who (after she states that she has to kill the Governor… and then doesn’t) decides that it’s time to leave Woodbury for good.
After an entertaining sequence featuring Tyreese and his horrible shooting ability (he always preferred melee in the comic), Andrea warns him about the Governor, jumps the fence, and makes a run for it. Like the good Woodbury citizen that he is (for now), Tyreese quickly reveals her leaving to the Governor, who spins her escape into a story of loneliness and vulnerability.
Governor Phillip naturally decides to go after the nearly defenseless Andrea, and it becomes quite clear what this week’s title, Prey, is referring to. The remainder of the episode focusses on an awkward cat and mouse game between the two, with Andrea cleverly hiding for a period of time, making a noise and being seen, getting away again, and repeat. These scenes are (for the most part) good looking, well produced, and rather reminiscent of classic slasher movies, but on the other hand, they’re also completely unnecessary, and get very boring after the very first one. These scenes are likely included to convey to us just how fucked up the Governor is (which we all already know), and just how badly Andrea screwed up (again, which we already know).
For a brief moment, we catch up with Tyreese and his group. Martinez brings them to a pit full of walkers, and explains just what they’re going to do with them. Tyreese, being the stand-up guy that he is, has a problem with this; he’s seen the prison, and it’s full of kids and innocents that don’t deserve any of this. When the zombie pit is later torched, the blame is put on Tyreese and company, who in actuality had nothing to do with it. It isn’t officially revealed before the episode closes, but it’s quite clear that Milton was the firestarter.
Andrea finally gets away from Governor, and using her internal GPS, quickly makes it to the prison fence. She raises a hand, and opens her mouth to call out to Rick, when a hand suddenly silences her and pulls her to the ground. Thought dead just moments ago, the Governor catches up to Andrea in the nick of time. Rick raises his scope in their direction, but Governor is too strong, and Andrea is neither seen nor heard. Honestly, I gasped a little at this moment; Andrea escaped, she had this, she was about to call out, and that unexpected hand reaching around her mouth made me jump. I was expecting her to get to the prison (seeing as that was the main purpose of the episode existing), leading to a truly shocking moment when she is pulled away.
The episode closes with Martinez (and later Milton) asking a bloodied Governor if he found Andrea. As the Governor does, he lies to both of them, and states that he’ll continue looking in the morning. The camera cuts, and we’re led through a familiar, winding hallway; the door to the Governor’s “workshop” pushes open, and a bound, gagged, and terrified Andrea sits in the cold, hard chair. The credits begin to roll, and the only thing that’s on our minds is just what Andrea’s fate may be.
Now, Prey may not have been as bad as last week’s Arrow on the Doorpost, but it became pretty damn clear in the first few minutes that this hour was simply going to be another full of filler. Just like last week, we’re largely in the same place that we were when the episode started; Andrea is simply physically trapped now, instead of bound in the emotional trap that the Governor had her in before. We really learned nothing new this week about any of the characters or their intentions, and none of the events that transpired had anything to do with the coming war. If I ever have to watch Prey again, it will be too soon. Season three of The Walking Dead is without a doubt the series’ best season (so far), but I have to say that the way this is going, I’m now quite looking forward to the finale.
Next week we head back to the prison with another episode written by Scott Gimple. Gimple will takeover as showrunner on the next season of The Walking Dead, and also wrote the phenomenal Clear from just a few weeks ago. Watch the preview for This Sorrowful Life below, and let us know what you thought of this week’s episode!
Comic Comparison
Unfortunately, this week’s uninspiring episode really had nothing to do with the comic. The AMC series had the Governor chasing Andrea down for its majority, which is something that never happened on paper. The only real comparison (or foreshadowing) here is the “workshop” that Phillip was preparing at the beginning of the episode, and that Andrea was trapped in at the end. It’s awfully reminiscent of the location where he repeated raped and tortured Michonne in the comic (especially the chains); as much as fans are hating on Andrea at this time, I’m sure they don’t want her to meet her end like that.
That’s all for tonight! As always, thanks for reading, and we’ll see you back next week!
