The Walking Dead - 3.13 - ‘Arrow on the Doorpost,’ or a Non-Lasting Peace - Review

Last week we went home, to Rick and Carl’s home anyway. This week we were at Geneva. It was time for peace talks.

Both sides put faces to the enemy in a series of character pairings that were brilliant. The two docs shared notes about surviving a bite and flirted over Hershel’s leg. The two guns competed on who had better killing style and longer range. The two battle-scarred leaders danced around the fact that they’ll never trust each other as they talked about peace.

There was also development for other characters. Back at the prison, Merle had one-on-one time with the two people who have the most reason to hate him – Glenn and Michonne. Glenn and Maggie cleared out lingering post-Woodbury issues with a wonderfully honest conversation. Andrea lost the last remnants of denial about the Governor when she heard from Rick, and then had it confirmed by Hershel, that the Governor had in some way assaulted Maggie.

A Rendezvous in the Woods

The show jumps right into the action from the first scene, with Rick, Daryl, and Hershel arriving at an isolated location. The suspense is fueled by a wordless few minutes as Rick and Daryl scope out the isolated structure, while back in the car, we see a close-up of Hershel’s eyes as he nervously looks around. And is Hershel packing under his pant leg? Inside the building, out creeps the enemy from the shadows. “We have a lot to talk about,” the Governor says.

The Governor makes a show of taking off his weapon. Rick holsters his gun but doesn’t take it off. Smart move. We soon see that the Governor is hiding a spare under the table.

Outside, the two groups pass the time. After Milton introduces himself, Daryl responds, “Great, he brought his butler,” which gets a snicker from Martinez. Best line of the night. Milton follows with a retort, calling Daryl a henchman, to which Daryl responds, “You better watch your mouth sunshine.”

Inside, Andrea has inserted herself into the negotiations in the role of peacemaker, but neither Rick nor the Governor is interested in Andrea’s peace - Rick, because he doesn’t believe the Governor, and the Governor, because peace isn’t really his objective. Finally the Governor lays it out: “I’m here for one thing only. Your surrender.” Andrea is dismissed.

Rick and the Governor dance around their objectives as they feel each other out:
“So you’re the governor.”
“That’s their term, not mine.”
Rick suggests the Governor isn’t taking responsibility for Merle scooping up Glenn and Maggie.
“I thought you were a cop and not a lawyer.”
“Either way I don’t pretend to be a governor.” Slam! Nice one, Rick.

We also learn that Andrea told the Governor about Shane - that Judith might be Shane’s. What?? Why would she do that? The governor tries to use this against Rick, by inserting doubt and accusing him of failing to see the devil beside him. Except I don’t think that’s Rick’s flaw. On some level he always saw Shane. He just didn’t want to lose his best friend and wanted to see if Shane could come around.

Outside, as Milton starts wayfaring into tedious conversation about recording their history, the walkers save the day. Yes, I never thought I’d say that. I guess they were getting bored with Milton too. As Daryl and Martinez posture, Andrea pushes her way through them to make the kill. The walkers make the perfect targets for Daryl and Martinez to show off what they’ve got. Martinez does some fancy bat swinging, but as soon as he gets close enough to a walker to make the kill, Daryl steals the victory from him from behind - with his arrows, and then with an awesome knife throw.

After the walker-killing competition ends, and they’ve both displayed their prowess, Daryl and Martinez have a chance for some real conversation. “This is a joke right. They won’t work anything out. Sure they’ll do their little dance. But tomorrow, the next day, they’ll give the word,” Martinez says. And there we have it – the crux of the entire episode, and a line could be used in just about any long-running conflict throughout history. Rick and the Governor are meeting, they’re feeling out each other, but they don’t trust each other and a peace won’t last. The rest is just a dance.

We get a few more great scenes from the group outside the meeting before they split up. When Milton asks to see Hershel’s leg, Hershel responds: “I’m not showing you my leg. … I just met you. At least buy me a drink first.”

A bit later, Hershel checks in with Andrea, who is near tears, realizing how vicious the Governor is. She asks Hershel what happened with Maggie.
“He’s a sick man,” Hershel responds.
“What am I going to do now? I can’t go back there.”
“You’re family. You belong with us. But if you join us, it’s settled.”
“I know.”

In the end, Andrea hesitates but heads back to Woodbury. She clearly doesn’t want to be there anymore, but maybe she hopes she can do more good there. Maybe she hopes for a second chance to kill the governor.

Inside the structure, we get another great line, this one from the governor. “Now isn’t that why we’re here? Choice? If we choose to destroy everything we’ve fought for over the past year. Want to kill everyone we know? Your prison? Back in Woodbury? People we love, Rick.” This one could be used to describe the whole series. The whole series is about choices and consequences – to fight or to trust.

The Governor tells Rick a story about his wife’s death – possibly true, possibly not – but clearly meant to soften Rick and make him more susceptible to his next proposal: Peace in exchange for Michonne. Everyone else can walk away. He has two days to decide.

As the two groups break apart, the camera captures the scene from an aerial vantage point – the two cars circle around each other like two wary cats, or two dancers.

After they’ve left, the performance continues. The Governor and Andrea tap dance around what happened, each keeping up the facade. The Governor pretends to be sincere and tells Andrea, “Thanks for setting that up.” Andrea pretends to believe him and responds, “Glad I could help.”

Rick is also less than forthcoming with his group. He tells them the governor wants the prison and wants them dead. “We’re going to war.” He later confesses to Hershel what the Governor really said. Hershel asks him why he told the truth to him. “Because I’m hoping you can talk me out of it,” Rick responds.

Summing Up

Like last week’s episode, this one was narrowly focused on a storyline – this week on the impending battle. While this episode was more talk-oriented than action-oriented, there was tension in just about every scene. This was a set up episode, but set up is critical to establishing believability in the character actions and getting the audience to care about the consequences once the bullets start flying. Remember last season’s hunt for Sophia? Many people thought the first half was too slow moving. Even Shane grew impatient. But when Sophia walked out of the barn, that was easily one of the most powerful, emotional moments in the series.

Too many shows lately have seemed overly focused on producing one shock after another, each designed to top the last, to keep a desensitized viewing public tuned in – but at the expense of the characterization. That the show spends the time to bring the characters from point A to point B, and gives us those memorable moments like Hershel telling Milton he needs to buy Hershel a drink before he’ll show him his leg, is something I will never complain about.

To be fair though, I do have a few nitpicks about this episode:

- Merle and Michonne seeming to be in agreement that he had let her go. Huh? This may be an attempt to soften Merle a little to pave a longer-term alliance with the group, but that’s not what I remember. I saw Michonne sneaking away into walker territory, and Merle not wanting to risk his skin following her.

- While I loved Maggie and Glenn’s talk, it was almost too good and too honest, to the point of being unrealistic. Glenn told Maggie he had made everything about him, not her. Maggie told Glenn she had needed him to see her. Was this the same couple last season whose drama was triggered by Glenn flaking because Maggie told him she loved him?

- And would Andrea really have told the Governor about Shane sleeping with Rick’s wife? When would this have come up? After Andrea learned that the Governor had been holding Glenn and Maggie prisoner and lying to her about it?

So what did you think? Thumbs up, or thumbs down?