‘The Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Prey’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

One unfortunate psychological act that a great deal of people take part in, is hiding their true selves from the masses and sometimes their inner circle. And what makes this so unfortunate, is that it never truly allows for people to get to know the concealer in question. For they are instead putting on a persona, one that projects an image they wish to convey, and it is one that never lasts. Because eventually, who they really are always bubbles to the surface and that can cause all kinds of trouble. For it can motivate the inner circle to potentially leave when they realize they’ve been lied to and manipulated. But what truly makes this quirk so extremely concerning… is that a great deal of sour people uses this tactic to hide their evil from the world and well, when the façade drops, or they are discovered for who they are… ugly acts tend to follow.
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Because now, their evil is unleashed and they have no qualms with showing everyone, how dark and twisted they can be and that can bring about pain and suffering for those who stick around in the hopes that the reveal is a fluke and well… the evil that eventually shines from those that try and hide it is and the ugliness that can come out of that reveal are of concern today, because that’s precisely what happened in the next episode of The Walking Dead. For after weeks of trying to contain his darkness and fool the world into thinking that he is in fact, a good leader and a great man… the curtain surrounding Philip ‘The Governor’ Blake fell away and revealed unto us just how evil this man can be, and how petty and twisted he is, and that made ‘Prey’… one terrifying tale.

Simply because, when presented with the reality that Andrea was going to expose his plans to torture Michonne and kill everyone at the Prison after she was delivered to him… he felt he had no choice but to really let loose to protect his empire. Which in turn brought forth the terror in question as he outright hunted Andrea through the countryside. Even going so far as to follow her into a warehouse filled with the dead, so he could use them and fear to flush her out and bring her back to Woodbury and this was simply… awful to watch. Because it really demonstrated the cruelty the Governor is capable of and how much anger and fury and desire for control is flowing through him and truly… he unleashed all of that here and in the end, this plot thread ends on quite the sour note. Since Andrea doesn’t get away and ends up surrounded by the other indicator of Philip’s evil potential… the torture room he set up for Michonne.

But while it was fascinating to see the Governor just…  let go and show us how scary it can be when someone unleashes the darkness within and how that can bring about grave trouble for their inner circle and others… not all hope was lost in this tale. Because this is an episode that saw a little pushback regarding the Governor’s desires for war. Since Tyreese stood his ground when he was asked to help round up walkers for the forthcoming battle at the prison, pointing out that this was too cruel a notion, even for this cruel world. Plus, Milton took things a step further by destroying the Governor’s inventory of walkers with fire, making it clear that Philip’s journey into darkness does come with a price. In that, not everyone is going to fall in line with such notions and will do the right thing, and that really did help to lighten the tone of a supremely dark and scary episode.

One that really did show us humanity at its lowest, in a painfully realistic and uncomfortable manner. Since there was an odd familiarity to Philip’s actions here. The kind that felt akin to the guy we hear about on the news that snapped and made everyone pay. The only difference here, is that he’s in charge and able to influence and do as he pleases. But all parallels aside, this really is one of the stronger episodes of season three. Since it harkens back to the theme that man is always the greater threat, while pointing out how easily evil can thrive in the absence of rules and well, now that we’ve reached a critical turning point in the Governor’s journey into darkness… the time has to come to turn our attention to an episode that genuinely ponders upon whether or not men like Philip, and humanity in general, can be saved when the modern world comes to a screeching halt and darkness reigns supreme. Until next time.

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