SPOILER ALERT!
Each week I review the latest episode of AMC’s television series, The Walking Dead, and pick three scenes or characters and breakdown the differences or similarities the show might’ve had with the comic book series. For those that are privy to the comic book and the show, this is for you. Unfortunately, if you have not seen the episode or read the comic, this will spoil everything! You’ve been warned!
Season 3 – Episode 11 – “I Ain’t A Judas”
Well, this week’s episode of The Walking Dead was frankly quite the slow burn. On the whole, not a lot has changed since last episodes. Rick and the gang are a bit shook up and afraid to leave the prison after The Governor’s last assault on the prison. While we had some heated opinions being expressed by almost every character on the show, the predominant attitudes of Rick’s gang were nearly unanimous and resolute in two ways. One, Rick needs to get his psychological issues out of the way or step down and let someone else lead the group. Two, The Governor needs to pay with his life for everything that he’s done or will do.
Unfortunately for Rick and his broken spirited group, The Governor is raising an army with literally any able-bodied person that Woodbury has to offer. Fortune also seems to favor the bold as Tyreese and his group of survivors find their way into The Governor’s graces and offer to do whatever it takes to earn their keep. A sentiment The Governor seems more than willing to exploit, while Rick was more than willing to shun at the prison.
Andrea catches wind that The Governor (or Phillip, as she likes to call him) and his makeshift, blitzkrieg incursion on the prison. This prompts her need to urgently escape from Woodbury and visit the prison in order to play diplomat. Andrea reunites with Rick and the gang after she’d been separated from the group by the end of Season 2. Her welcoming was less than warm to say the least, as she was aggressively frisked and treated like an animal upon her entrance to the prison. What she expected to accomplish after arriving there is puzzling, as her loyalties to either side are still in question.
No one seems sympathetic to Andrea’s cause in the slightest as they ship her home in a spare automobile and Carol’s instruction to have sex with The Governor and kill him when he’s asleep and vulnerable. Andrea had no trouble sleeping with him the evil ol’ Gov’nah, but killing him in his sleep in cold blood –not so much.
Let’s see how this episode stacks up to the comics…
We’ll Make Great Pets!
While Andrea had escaped from Woodbury to find some sort of way of making peace with her former friends at the Prison, she couldn’t do it alone. On the finale of Season 2, we had been introduced to Michonne, as she was accompanied by her two walkers on leashes. These walkers had their jaws and arms removed by Michonne in order to avoid any sort of lethal attack from them. What we’ve now learned from this is that this is a diversionary tactic against zombies because they do not attack other zombies.
In the television series, Andrea employs this technique, with the assistance of Milton, against some stray walkers in the woods. This is to assist in distracting her presence to other walkers. Clearly, she learned this in her time spent with Michonne.
In the comic book series, Michonne uses this tactic on her zombified brother and friend as she attempts to escape the confines of her home during the early stages of the zombie outbreak.
Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer
One startling difference that we observed on last night’s episode is how Tyreese had joined up on the side of The Governor. In the comic book series, Tyreese becomes such a strong source of resilience and dependability to Rick and the gang that his legend and memory remain with the characters long after he’s gone.
In the television series Tyreese seems like a good guy that just wanted an opportunity to pull his weight, but Rick’s skepticism and mental detachment had shunned him and his group away in episode nine. As a result of that, Rick’s group has effectively decreased their numbers and increased The Governor’s. You can’t blame him really because in a zombie-apocalyptic world, survival becomes your primary goal. The Governor and Woodbury probably looks like nirvana compared to Rick’s insanity and the whole-ridden prison.
Fans of the comic book series, are probably already aware of the friendship that emerged between Rick and Tyreese. Tyreese is able to make a quick impression on Rick when they first meet as he is able to rescue Rick from trouble.
The potential to see these two at odds on the television show might put a grimace to comic fans, but let’s not forget that these two also had occasional differences with each other in the comics. I’m forecasting (and hoping) that the writers of the television series are only putting these two on opposite sides for a more grandiose unification later. It’d be a shame to have an actor like Chad Coleman wasted!
A Woman’s Worth
With much of the focus shifting on to Andrea this episode, it might be time to address some of the differences between her and her comic book version. In the earlier episodes and seasons of the television show, Andrea definitely paralleled her comic book counterpart. Both versions eventually became very assertive and strong after the death of their little sister. They also both retain their immaculate marksmanship and shooting ability.
For this episode, some notable character differences was that comic book Andrea had no qualms about her loyalty to the original group of survivors.
At the end of the episode for the television series, Andrea struggles with killing The Governor. While, she may not be a cold-blooded killer, the Andrea of the comic book series would have no qualms about killing The Governor and ending his reign of terror.
Most people would attribute the difference in character personalities to the longer lifespan of Shane and the early expediency of Dale. In the comic book series, Shane dies very early and doesn’t develop any sort of relationship with Andrea at all as it occurs in the television show. The fact that Shane and Andrea had a physical relationship and he trained her with weapons, might have affected her attraction to danger in a zombie-apocalyptic world. In the comic series, Dale was her moral center and it was actually this was the duo that ended up developing a relationship.
Let’s hope Andrea regains her moral strength and sees the light soon.
That’s all we have for this week folks. Swing by next week as we take a ride-a-long with Rick, Michonne, and Carl as The Governor ramps up his diabolical warpath.
Comment below or let me know where you think Milton will play in all this by following me on Twitter @roderickruth
Roderick Ruth
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