The mid-season finale of “The Walking Dead” entitled “Too Far Gone” lived up to the hype and saved this season from me being “too far gone” from ever watching this series again.  In this episode, the fans finally, FINALLY get to see Rick and the Governor battle it out in a fight scene of epic proportions.  The previous two episodes focused on the Governor, making him more of a sympathetic character. However, at the conclusion of episode seven, the Governor’s true intentions are revealed and his mind is set on an all out war with the prison hanging in the balance.

At the onset of the episode, we see the Governor convince another group of hapless survivors to get ready for a blood bath as their goal is to take the prison at any cost.  Everyone is on board except Lilly, who suspects that this is going to end bad.  Her main concern is the safety of her daughter, Megan, something that the Governor has promised her as well.  However, that promise goes out the window the minute the Governor spots Michonne and Hershel, two people who he subsequently captures and plans to use as bait.  No one in the Governor’s new camp appears to have a problem with this.  The result is the Governor’s new group gears up for a war, showing up with a tank amongst other things.

Meanwhile at the prison, Rick has problems of his own, dealing with Darryl and the fact that dismissing Carol isn’t sitting well with him.  Also, Tyreese and the hunt for his girlfriend’s killer still haunts him, and the fact that Glen and several others are just getting back to normal when the Governor shows up and sends everything into disarray.  The confrontation between Rick and the Governor is great for tension.  We get to see the hatred the Governor truly has for the prison gang.  On the other hand, Rick desperately tries to offer the Governor a truce saying they could live together, but the Governor does not hear it.  He even brings out Michonne and Hershel bound and starts the bloodshed with Michonne’s own sword by hacking into Herschel’s neck.  It was truly one of the most graphic scenes, especially if you’re a fan of Maggie who witnesses her father’s demise at the hands of a psychopath.

What happens next is utter chaos.  Characters dying left and right.  A gripping scene emerges when Lilly and her daughter Megan are off by themselves.  Lilly, distracted by her thoughts, does not get to her daughter in time to save her from a swamp zombie.  She presents Megan to the Governor, although he says nothing as he just shoots her square in the face and rages on.  He then confronts Rick and we are treated to perhaps one of the best fight scenes of the series.  It looks like the Governor has Rick beat, until a sword impales the nefarious villain.  Michonne saves Rick and finally gets her violent revenge.  However, she doesn’t finish him.  That task is left up to Lilly, who opts to put a bullet in the Governor’s head by the very gun he gave her.  I bet Andrea, Merle, Martinez and the rest of the shot up defunct Woodbury crew would have liked to shoot the Governor in the face, but Lilly got that honor.  I still have my doubts about the Governor being dead, only because no one actually saw him get killed, and bad guys always find a way to come back.

The Governor left his mark on Rick as the prison was destroyed.  All the survivors seemed to pack up into a bus and flee the once assumed safe haven.  The saddest thing though, was that it appears Judith was not accounted for.  Rick and Carl are to believe she is zombie fodder, and are completely heartbroken and shocked.  Thats how the episode concludes and yes, there are still eight more remaining in this season.  So, where do they go from here?  It will surely keep me watching to find out.  One thing is for sure, Carol did leave a mark on the youngsters of Rick’s group as they showed no mercy when it was time to step up and save Tyreese.  That girl Lizzy, who previously couldn’t dispatch her father, showed no signs of weakness when she had to shoot an intruder in the face.  It will be interesting to find out how Rick and his crew come back from this, all we know is that they “won’t look back”.

 

Positives:

– Fast-paced episode: This episode is action packed with fight scenes, murders, head shots, sword fights, and oh yeah, killing zombies.

–  Great confrontations:  We get to see Rick vs. the Governor. Every geek, nerd dweeb or spaz just rejoiced.

– Major Character deaths:  This episode spells the end of many fan favorites, including possibly a baby, and the prison. Yes, it is a character. RIP.

 

Negatives:  

–  Rushed action:  I think this episode could’ve been broken down into two episodes.  They should have thought of this instead of giving us two Governor-heavy episodes prior to this.

–  Too many unanswered questions: I know this makes good tv, but I want to know what happened to baby Judith and also Lilly’s sister. Did she meet her end or escape? I don’t want to wait two months to find out!

9/10