Our favorite moments from The Walking Dead season 3

Andrea thinks about killing the Governor in his sleep

Season 3 episode 11: “I Ain’t a Judas”

Tim says:

The season 3 moment that most resonates with me is Andrea being unable to kill the sleeping Governor. There are a few basic things at play here. The most obvious is that had Andrea plunged that knife into the Governor when he was sleeping, it likely would’ve saved a lot of future deaths. That’s what Andrea’s efforts to broker peace were all about – preventing more unnecessary death.

There’s irony in the fact that her unwillingness to kill lead to more death (that doesn’t mean I not sympathetic to her – she honestly believed she wouldn’t have to kill anyone, and of course she had some sort of romantic feelings for the Governor).

I touched on the second thing above, but Andrea’s desire to broker peace without anyone else dying was an important part of her character, and it led to her own eventual demise. We can debate all day long whether her approach was right, even if it failed in this specific case, for moral reasons or whether it’s better to be ruthless (or whether it’s best to try her approach but be prepared to be ruthless) all day long, but it’s clear that Andrea had a strong set of beliefs and she did her best to solve a problem while abiding by her worldview.

There’s a hidden reason why this moment really resonates with me, though – it was Carol who suggested Andrea kill the Governor, and that marks her transition from a meek person to a tough customer. The Carol of season one and season two would’ve never suggested such a thing. But after her experiences with Sophia and barely staying alive during the taking of the prison, she’s changed. While she regressed since, she’s mostly the same tough cookie now, six seasons later. The focus may have been on Andrea and the Governor, but the moment is really and truly Carol’s.