The Walking Dead (Season 3) – “I Ain’t A Judas”

Well, Andrea, if the title of this Walking Dead episode has anything to do with you, it depends on how you look at it, because you have been a traitor. But at least we know that you’re not a Brutus, not yet, and we know for damn sure that you ain’t no messiah.

We do know, however, that you suck and are pretty useless to everyone but the Governor. Actually, you’re pretty useless to him too; you’re more of an annoyance that he gets to poke occasionally. Then again, you could be unknowingly feeding the Gov with information about Rick’s tribe or somehow weakening the tribe. Who knows, but the Gov isn’t someone to keep people around if they don’t have a purpose, so maybe you have some kind of value.

Oh, wait, I called it too early. I forgot that you gave us the gore scene of the week. Curb-hopping a zombie on a rock and making him a pet was totally awesome. Thank you for doing something cool this week, Andrea.

Still, your zombie skills don’t change the fact that you are the most gullible, naive lawyer I’ve ever seen. You’ve seen his evil! And yet you still believe the Governor when he tells you that there will be no retaliation! There’s only one explanation for such erratic and uncommitted actions from an otherwise intelligent woman – you must be pregnant! This is an interesting thought, but it doesn’t give us anything new in terms of plot. So, there’s only one one other explanation: you’re drinking too much Kool-Aid.

It kind of sucks that Glenn has clammed up since Rick’s return. It’s not entirely surprising, as Hershel so kindly reminded us in his stern lecture about how Rick had stated at the end of Season 2 that this (the tribe) was no longer a democracy. If you’ve ever been lectured by an elderly person, then you know that their words carry weight, and those words resonate. But basically members of the tribe expect Rick to take the lead… and they’re all a little scared of him right now.

Even little Carl fears his father a bit, asking for some understanding before suggesting he takes a break from being the leader. Of course, Carl’s is the voice that would push Rick forward into sanity.

You know who else is scared of Rick? Tyreese and his little group. They’re so scared that they’ve run right into Woodbury and offered to earn their keep by going up against Rick. Umm, did they forget how nice everyone else was to them? Did they forget that there’s a newborn baby there? What do they think is going to happen to the baby in the midst of a war? We’ll see how cooperative they’ll be after their night of solid rest. I have the feeling that they’re going to wake up to a world of hurt.

And what’s with Andrea and Tyreese crossing the red zone all willy nilly between Woodbury and the prison? I thought it was heavily infested with walkers, yet people are tramping through the woods without a care in the world.

Merle’s return was met with much less opposition than I expected. Of course Glenn made his point, and Michonne, who really doesn’t have much invested in the tribe, was rather indifferent to Merle’s half-hearted apology. But hey, at least the bastard is trying. I wonder if there’s any possibility that Merle’s presence in the prison isn’t part of some great Woodbury plan.

Michonne gets at the thematic heart of this episode when she talks with Andrea, which is choosing sex, love, whatever, over your friend. Without so much as an apology, Andrea leaves for Woodbury, and again ditches her friends. Although, she was going as a Judas as Carol, super slut, has suggested: “Give him the best night of his life.”

This was Andrea’s episode, but given the fact that we had time for Beth to sing and a near montage scene, we could have focused on Merle a little bit more. But I did like the singing and the tribal bonding once again. It gives us a sense of unity and solidarity before battle. In a way it’s like prayer, which brings us back to the biblical title of this episode. I also like the fact that Andrea’s character finally did something, even if she did nothing.

Rock Hard \m/