Tag Archives: Milton

Thoughts on AMC’s Interview with Laurie Holden (Andrea)

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Warning: This Walking Dead Season 3 post contains spoilers. Please wait until after watching the season finale, before reading further.

Laurie Holden as Andrea on The Walking Dead

Laurie Holden as Andrea on The Walking Dead

I’m still working on my recap post about The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 16, so I thought I’d put something quick up about this week’s Dead Alert newsletter which has AMC’s interview with Laurie Holden who played Andrea on the show. Unfortunately for Holden, but perhaps fortunately for viewers, Andrea met her demise in the season finale.

I for one was relieved, since her character had taken over Lori’s spot on the show as most annoying female character. Although her intentions were good Andrea was prone to the same irrational, irritating behavior that got Lori under my skin. I’m hoping that the show’s writers start creating better characters and that another female personality like Michonne, Maggie, or Beth doesn’t get sucked into this vortex of unlikable behavior.

Even if I didn’t care for Andrea, I do agree with Holden that Andrea’s final moments felt true to the character and organic. Although I don’t really support her following statement about Andrea not being a victim. I think that Andrea became a martyr and helped prevent deaths, so in that way her demise was positive, but she didn’t need to die. If she hadn’t wasted so much time talking to Milton, she could have easily escaped and figured out a way not to get bitten. Also she had plenty of chances to kill The Governor which she didn’t take or follow through on.

I do like Holden’s comments about Andrea’s character arc because she did travel through some serious emotional highs and lows over the course of her time on the show. And I dig the advice she would have given Andrea at the beginning of the season if she could. She should have pressed Michonne more about The Governor’s suspected misdeeds. On the flip side however, Andrea should have been willing to trust her friend over a stranger.

The interviewer’s questions about love scenes and the Woodbury prison rivalry aren’t very interesting since they’re similar to ones we’ve read in other interviews. Though the final inquiry about the Twitter photo of Holden playfully strangling David Morrissey who plays The Governor was a good one. Now that’s an ending I would have liked to see.

Did you like Andrea as a character? Were you sad about her demise?

We Didn’t Start the Fire: Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 14 (Prey)

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Laurie Holden on The Walking Dead

Andrea (Laurie Holden) on The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 14 Copyright 2013 AMC TV

Warning: This Walking Dead Season 3 post contains spoilers. Please wait until after watching, before reading further. Similarities and differences between the show and the comic are also discussed, but whenever possible, details of the comic are left ambiguous in case you decide to start it later on.

Summary: Milton tells Andrea about The Governor’s plot to massacre her friends, so she flees Woodbury to warn them. Furious that she’s chosen the prison over him, The Governor leaves to hunt Andrea down personally. Meanwhile, Tyreese and his daughter clash with Alan and his son because they refuse to blindly follow orders and they start to suspect The Governor isn’t actually the man he claims to be.

The pre-credits sequence in The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 14 (Prey) features a flashback to when Andrea and Michonne were traveling together. They’re huddled around the campfire while Michonne’s chained up walkers restlessly moan and groan. As usual, the tactless Andrea prys by asking her who they were, prompting a brilliant response from Michonne, “They deserved what they got. They weren’t human to begin with.”

Speaking of inhuman, shots of the chains morph in a brilliant transition into freaky disturbing images of The Governor creating his own little torture chamber for Michonne. That sick puppy is getting all kinds of twisted pleasure out of the process. The only reasons I see for them showing these moments are to remind us of the bond between Andrea and Michonne, as well as to foreshadow Andrea taking Michonne’s place (at least temporarily) at the end of the episode in The Governor’s chair-o-punishment.

I know I complained about Episode 12 (Clear) because it only focused on one group of people, but I actually didn’t mind the almost exclusive concentration on Woodbury in The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 14 because of how suspenseful the episode is. The majority of the thrilling elements come from The Governor’s chase of Andrea, which feels like a classic slasher film villain stalking his hapless prey (Oh hey, that must be why the episode is called “Prey!” How clever!).

Thankfully Andrea is smarter than the traditional horror movie victim, since she stabs her way out of being pinned down by walkers in the woods and sicks a horde of trapped stairwell zombies on Philip. If I were her though I would have either stayed to make sure the bastard died or stolen his truck. After all she did to escape, I couldn’t believe that The Governor cornered her near the prison and got her all the way back to Woodbury tied up without her putting up enough fight to get away. I did like the moment near the prison where crazy-ole Rick was on watch and thought he saw something in the woods before shaking it off.

I also enjoyed the parts of the The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 14 that follow Tyreese and his daughter. I chuckled when his daughter mocks him for being a terrible shot and desperately hoped when they let Andrea sneak out that they’d go with her. I’m happy that they heeded Andrea’s warning about The Governor not being what he seems., and that we got some hints about some of Tyreese’s backstory with Alan. Their conflict at the biter pit was awesome. It honestly made me think that Tyreese was the one that torched all of the zombies there at first, but then later on when Tyreese apologized to The Governor for running his mouth, I wasn’t so sure and suspected Milton of doing the deed.

That brings us to this week’s poll. Click here to let me know: Who do you think torched the walkers in the pit?

Do you think someone will warn the prison about the impending slaughter? If so, who will it be? Any predictions for the next episode?

 

 

Who burned walkers in Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 14?

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In The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 14 a mysterious figure starts a nasty fire that consumes all of The Governor’s zombies that he collected to use on the prison.

Liars, Liars Pants on Fire: Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 13 (Arrow on the Doorpost)

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David Morrissey as The Governor on The Walking Dead

The Governor (David Morrissey) on The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 13 Copyright 2013 AMC TV

Warning: This Walking Dead Season 3 post contains spoilers. Please wait until after watching, before reading further. Similarities and differences between the show and the comic are also discussed, but whenever possible, details of the comic are left ambiguous in case you decide to start it later on.

Summary: Andrea arranges for Rick and The Governor to meet on neutral turf so they can negotiate. While the two men try to hash things out, their companions unexpectedly find common ground. At the prison, Merle fights with the others about whether they should take the offensive against The Governor.

At first I had absolutely no idea where Rick, Hershel, and Daryl were at the start of The Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 13 (Arrow on the Doorpost). It was pretty exciting to see them sweeping a giant complex on the lookout for trouble. Hershel looked slick leaning out the car window with his M-16 and his gun hidden near his stump. Although once I realized what they were doing I was surprised Rick brought Hershel along on such an important mission given his disability.

Based on the trailers for this half of Season 3, I knew Rick and The Governor would have a face-to-face talk at some point, however I wasn’t expecting it to happen in Episode 13. After the previous episodes, there was nothing to suggest either Rick or The Governor was truly interested in a sit-down. There were also no actual scenes prior to Episode 13, which showed Andrea discussing terms of a powwow with either person.

Once they actually meet, poor Andrea tries to talk sense by encouraging them to “Save the bullets for the real threat (walkers),” but she’s thrown out of the room, and instead of fighting to stay, she goes off to sulk. Apparently even during the zombie apocalypse men still treat leadership like a boys club.

I know I accused Season 3 Episode 11 (Ain’t No Judas) of being the talky-est episode to date in this season, but Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 13 easily takes the prize. It was extremely frustrating to me because I felt like Rick and The Governor talk without saying anything consequential; they just dance around in circles. The Governor reveals that he doesn’t want peace, only surrender, while Rick indicates he won’t kowtow to demands. They trade verbal jabs as The Governor tries to warn Rick about messing with Woodbury’s numbers, and Rick cautions The Governor over throwing it all away.

Outside the meeting there are amusing interactions between Rick’s men and The Governor’s. They almost come to blows, before Hershel assures them there will be plenty of time for that later. As Milton intelligently points out there’s no reason they can’t explore the issues in their own way. Daryl and Martinez engage in a hilarious game of one-upsmanship killing zombies and smoking cigs. And guess what? They’re not all that different. Neither are Milton and Hershel who discuss documenting their history (pretty smart) and the science of Hershel’s survival. Good call on not showing him your stump though Hershel. I’d make Milton buy me a drink too before revealing my leg.

At the prison Merle argues very strongly in favor of sneaking out to defend his brother and to kill The Governor while they have the element of surprise. Merle tries the hard way, which ends with him getting wrestled down by Glenn and Maggie, as well as the nice way where he tries to sweet-talk Michonne. Neither work and everyone stays put. At least Glenn and Maggie make up finally with a quickie. Plus Glenn drops the “L” word. Way to go buddy! However I wanted to slap them both for leaving their watch to get busy. I kept thinking it was a horror movie and something terrible would happen because they were having sex. Thank god everything was okay.

Finally the conversation between Rick and The Governor boils down to an ultimatum: Rick can make all his trouble go away if he turns over Michonne. Did anyone believe that lying bastard would keep to his word? Hell no. Rick doesn’t and neither do we. But none the less, Rick must consider the option if Philip isn’t bluffing. So both men go back to their respective camps while intense music builds up tension. We see both Rick and The Governor lying their asses off like Axel Foley might say in Beverly Hills Cop.

The Governor says he’ll play nice, but reveals to Milton that he intends to slaughter Rick’s people and Rick avoids telling everyone about the offer on the table to trade Michonne.  Instead he lets everyone know they’re going to war while the episode ends on a creepy crane shot as Rick and Hershel discuss whether they actually should dump Michonne. Hey at least next episode should be a lot more exciting!

Click here to take this week’s poll: If you were Michonne would you team up with Merle to attack The Governor?

Were you also worried something bad might happen while Glenn and Maggie were “distracted?” Would you surrender Michonne if there was a possibility for peace? Weigh in with your thoughts on Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 13.

Thoughts on AMC’s Interview with Dallas Roberts (Milton Mamet)

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While I was watching the Liam Neeson film The Grey recently, I knew that I recognized one of the other actors roughing it with him in the Alaskan wilderness, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where I knew him from. I was 3/4 of the way through the movie when I realized “Ah ha! It’s that nerdy guy from Woodbury on The Walking Dead!”

As it turns out, the actor’s name is Dallas Roberts, and although he’s slightly nerdy in The Grey, he’s less so than his brainy character Milton Mamet on The Walking Dead. Milton is for all intents and purposes The Governor’s right hand man and confidant, although surprisingly he’s not really a tough guy. He’s a thinker, and honestly from what I can tell, a huge coward. He’d rather live in perpetual fear under the rule of a messed up dictator with his creature comforts than stand up to a man like that. Roberts plays him with a constant air of uncertainty which I like though, where you can tell that Milton is constantly at odds with himself about whether he should keep listening to The Governor’s orders.

AMC posted an interview with Dallas Roberts this week which he discusses his character a bit and working on the show. For the most part there’s no earth-shattering revelations here. Roberts admits that playing an egghead came easily since he was one growing up, and that he wasn’t expecting to have a role on the show which interacts very little with zombies. He does throw in a couple of amusing anecdotes however. One is about the playful off-screen rivalry between the Woodbury folks and the prison crew. While the other one references how Roberts initially got into The Walking Dead comics through his character on the show Rubicon, which I’ve never seen. That’s a cool connection to have and it’s nice to hear at least one person acting on the show that legitimately enjoys the comics.

The final question of the interview with Dallas Roberts, poses the issue of whether there’s any danger of Milton turning into a mad scientist. I won’t ruin it, although suffice it to say it’s both humorous and accurate.

What do you think of Milton so far? Is he a coward? Is he evil? Do you think he’ll eventually grow some scruples and sell out The Governor?