Wow! Talk about your cliff-hangers. I’m so happy to be a fan of this show because it never lets me down. Very few episodes have been anything but compelling and suspenseful. The mid-season finale was no exception.

Like at the end of season two, we see the group come under siege and ultimately have to run for their lives in different directions. There was foreshadowing since early on in the season that they weren’t going to be able to stay at the prison for long. The fences weren’t doing that great of a job of keeping out the zombies and more and more of them were hanging around. The threat seemed more imminent and the virus that went through the group really showed how nowhere was safe, despite the high walls and the barbed wire.

The previews promised that someone was going to get killed off in this episode. I really wasn’t expecting it to be Hershel, although I always felt like he’s been on borrowed time since his amputation. Although he was still able to contribute and fend off the walkers, the world has become survival of the fittest so he continued to give off an impression of vulnerability.

Although I knew from the comics that the governor’s days were numbered, I actually thought for a while that they were going to keep him on, what with dedicating two entire episodes to his post-Woodbury backstory and his finding a replacement for his zombie daughter Penny. But when he pulled Michonne’s sword on Hershel, and then Rick made that speech about how they could all stay at the prison together, I just knew that would be the last of everyone’s favorite preaching farmer.

The governor had long since lost his mind. I think the title of the episode “Too Far Gone” refers to him a lot. Despite his being able to love again, there’s just no coming back from crazy. For a moment he looked as though he was actually contemplating what Rick said. But the reality was that regardless of whether anyone was willing to forget the past and forgive him, he would never be able to live in harmony with Rick or anyone else there. The governor’s sanity was gone and he had no illusions about that.

After Michonne leaves him hopefully to become one of his own “biters,” she disappears and Rick leaves with Carl. A bunch of the group take off in a bus and Glenn may or may not be on that bus with them. Daryl and Beth run off in one direction together, and Tyreese is seen running after the kids telling them they’re going in the wrong direction.

But what about Rick’s baby? The kids were shown holding the baby in the carrier when they came out of the building but when they saved Tyreese, they didn’t have it anymore. Then Rick and Carl find the empty carrier with blood all over it. I’m hoping we’ll see when the show resumes in February that someone grabbed the baby and she is okay. Like Hershel, the baby helped keep the group grounded in a way. While Hershel was there for spiritual support, the baby gave them hope. She was a symbol of life in a possible future. When Michonne held the baby and cried, she seemed to be grieving for a loss of innocence that the baby still had.

With Carl and the younger kids, that innocence is gone. They’ve all become quite adept at killing out of necessity without remorse. They’re growing up in a world where second-guessing can cause you or your loved ones to get killed. There’s no time to have a conscience, even though Rick is still holding on to his…selectively. Ethical lines are becoming more and more obscure.  It might have seemed cold-blooded when Carol killed Tyreese’s girlfriend, but it also sort of makes sense when you think about how she felt responsible for the two little girls after their father died, and how she wouldn’t want them to die from the virus and suffer the same fate as her own daughter Sophia.

Speaking of Carol, we still don’t know where she is, either. Now that everyone’s scattered, I’m betting she’ll catch up with the others coming up pretty soon. We’ll see what happens when the show starts back up again in February. I can’t wait!

 

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