The Walking Dead Full Recap: Merle’s Girls

This week’s episode opens as soldiers riding in a chopper appear to lose contact with whoever it is they’re talking to on the ground. Suddenly they lose control of the chopper, too, and it crashes to the ground, trailing smoke behind it. On a deserted road, Andrea and Michonne see smoke billowing up from the forest after the crash and take off after the downed aircraft.They arrive, and Andrea collapses to the ground right away, vomiting, prompting Michonne to go check out the crash site. Before she can get too far into it, though (she sees only two dead soldiers, and there were four total in the craft before the crash), a vehicle pulls up–it’s the same tan truck that’s been popping up in photos of Woodbury all summer long. Michonne heads back to Andrea’s side and waits in some trees to watch what happens.A group of survivors, including The Governor himself, start to clear away the bodies from the chopper and take out walkers as they shamble onto the scene; finally, one of the soldiers–severed in half at the waist–reanimates and The Governor “kills” it with a knife to the head.It’s an interesting counterpoint to Rick, of course–the first time we saw the leader of “our” group of survivors, he was unsure of himself, and apologetic to the first pathetic wretch of a zombie that he was forced to destroy. Our first impression of the Governor is ruthless, silent and violent.