After one of the best episodes this show’s ever seen, we’re back to business as usual. Let’s get this right out there: the prison vs Woodbury war is wearing thin. The producers seem to know that too, as this episode skips forward in an interesting way.
We open up with Rick arriving at an abandoned warehouse for a “peace talk” with the Governor, which apparently Andrea set up in between episodes. Both men set down their pistols to negotiate, but the Governor has a spare sidearm taped under a table because he’s the villain. Rick offers a clear truce: with the river as a dividing line, each settlement will mind their own business. The Governor, however, wants none of that. It’s Rick’s absolute surrender or nothing.
Outside, Darryl and Herschel are hanging out with Milton and Martinez, one of the Governor’s goons. Some walkers shamble up for our quota of blood and gore for the week, and the two opposing sides bond a little bit in between smashing skulls. Unfortunately, things on the inside aren’t quite as convivial.
The Governor tries to play some heavy mind games with Rick about the baby and Shane, but Rick’s too stubborn and crazy right now to get manipulated so easily. And then he makes one more offer: if Rick hands over Michonne so he can get revenge for his eye, they’ll make peace. Rick has two days to give him an answer.
Meanwhile, back at the prison Glenn and Merle get into a little wrestling match, which turns Maggie on enough to mend some fences with Glenn in a private room. That’s good – their weird broken relationship was kind of bumming me out. Rick comes back and doesn’t really level with our guys about the peace talks. He doesn’t tell them the Michonne thing – rather, that the Governor’s coming to kill them all in two days.
Unbeknownst to him, he’s right. The Governor confides to Martinez that he’s going to wipe out the prison but take Michonne alive. Milton the science nerd overhears this, so we might be seeing him flip sides. He also won’t tell Andrea about the outcome of the peace talks.
The episode ends with Rick coming clean to Herschel about his plan. This was some good stuff: tightly focused on character interaction, removing a little of the “crazy Rick” stuff that has been done to death, and reminding us that the Governor is a horrible person and making us want to see him die. There’s three more episodes left, so hopefully we’ll get to see it soon.