Walking Dead Recap: I Ain’t A Judas

This week in The Walking Dead‘s episode, “I Ain’t A Judas”, we see Andrea reuniting with the survivors, but it isn’t exactly a happy reunion… (PLease Note: There are FULL episode spoilers ahead!)

The episode begins with the group desperately needing Rick to either assume his role as the leader and come up with a plan of defense against the Governor, whether they leave or stay. We see a heart to heart with Rick and Carl where he asks his father to give up the leadership role for a while; it’s too much and he needs the time off. Carl tells Rick to let Daryl and Hershel take control for a little while, but only time will tell if Rick listens to his son or not.

At the prison Merle is still seen as a threat to the group, mainly by Glenn because Michonne can’t care enough to give a damn but when “Farmer meets Black Sheep”, Merle and Hershel do more than bond over their limb loss, but Hershel sees the little bit of good that might be hidden deep in the angry Dixon. It seems that Merle has kept his promise he made on the roof to be a better man, at least by reading the good book because “Woodbury had a damn good library.”.

At Woodbury, the Governor begins to take precautions in case the survivors at the prison decide to attack again, namely arming everyone above the ages of thirteen with weaponry, effectively creating a child army within the walls, much to Andrea’s dismay. It’s because of this that Andrea decides to leave the prison to see the survivors from Atlanta at the prison, with the Governor telling her if she goes, she shouldn’t come back. We also see the introduction of the Governor’s infamous eyepatch, first seen in issue number 43 of the comics.

Andrea leaves with the help of Milton and a walker escort, and end up meeting up with Tyreese and company along the way. Having just left from the prison, they are great potential sources of information, and Milton takes them back to the Governor where they tell him all he needs to know about Rick’s mental state (or lack thereof) and I for one am a little concerned that Ben and Allan might deflect to the Woodbury army but another part of me knows that Tyreese is going to somehow warn Rick. I can hope, at least…

When Andrea returns to the prison, it is clear that not only is she the odd man out, but that she is even more an outcast than Merle is. She notices almost immediately Rick’s instability, and through Carol, finds out why and the fate of both Shane and Lori. What I found interesting was that there was a lack of any mention of Dale, whom Andrea seemed rather close to throughout the first and second season. What Carol has to tell Andrea though is not surprising; she tells her to go back to the Governor and to sleep with him (not hard for Andrea) and when he is asleep, to kill him.

Heeding Carol’s advice and with the help of the survivors allowing her to take a vehicle back, Andrea again returns to Woodbury and into the arms of the Governor who seems more than happy to have her back. Whether it is because he really cares for her or because he wants answers, we’ll likely have to wait until next week to find out. One of the last scenes is Andrea standing over the Governor’s bed as he sleeps, holding a knife and contemplating his death, but in the end she can’t go through with it. Is it because she loves the Governor? Perhaps because she thinks that the prison survivors and the Woodbury survivors could call a truce? With the episode rather calm considering last weeks roller-coaster, I felt it a necessary one to get into the mind of Andrea’s character a little bit more. She’s strikingly different from the comics, but I’m hoping that sometime soon, we’ll see comic-Andrea return.

What did you think of the epsiode? Sound off in the comments!