The Walking Dead is exceptional against a multitude of criteria, not the least of which is the soundtrack. It ought to hold up, after all, with an opening theme as electric as they come. Fortunately for all who enjoy a solid soundtrack, The Walking Dead delivers time and time again, somehow pairing music and action perfectly.
Whether it be a gritty southern gothic, an energetic bop about space junk, or the original score, the show’s music has an intensely transportive quality, conjuring vivid details from its accompanying scenes. Here’s why one song hits the mark better than the rest.
The Governor is the wilderness
In the season 3 episode, “Prey,” the war between Woodbury and Rick’s prison inched nearer and nearer to its breaking point. Andrea had just learned about the deal struck between Rick and The Governor, that Rick would hand over Michonne in return for the prison’s safety.
Worse still, Milton informed her that The Governor was likely to carry out his attack on the prison whether they delivered Michonne or not. Unable to accept his plan for slaughter, and unable to assassinate him as a preventative measure, Andrea made her escape from Woodbury to warn the gang at the prison.
Andrea may have finally seen beneath The Governor's mask, but she left him with the confidence of someone who had already succeeded in their mission. Thus, she could not have foreseen that he would hunt her down before she could deliver the message.
Credit where credit is due, Andrea endured a sprint through an open field, devoid of any cover, as The Governor nearly mowed her down in his truck. She managed to escape him and a slew of walkers in a dark, abandoned warehouse. She even made it to the outer perimeter of the prison.
Had The Governor not been hot on her trail, or even if she had managed to announce her presence before he tackled her, she may have made it safely past the prison’s gates. Of course, she went unheard and unseen by Rick or anyone else before The Governor captured her, simultaneously releasing the episode’s tension and mounting it anew.
Back at Woodbury, Milton met The Governor, ever more agitated by each of his plan’s obstacles. Each man spoke cryptically to the other, talking around their betrayals. The Governor hid the fact that he found and captured Andrea. Milton hid that he was the one to burn the pit of walkers, which was vital to their victory over the prison.
Although he donned an uncharacteristic sense of bravado, Milton had too recently admitted to letting Andrea leave Woodbury with news of The Governor's intended actions. Thus, he was unsuccessful in duping The Governor, who looked on with disdain in his eyes, as Milton left. Cue, “You Are the Wilderness” by Voxhaul Broadcast.
With bass a-thumping, the song’s intro accompanied the camera’s agonizing crawl through an imposing red door and around the corners of stained and battered basement walls. Setting the tone further, the lyrics aptly described the entrapment, doom, and desperation central to the episode.
The rising energy of the song’s chorus, the camera finally pushed through the sheet metal door, behind which Andrea was held, bloodied, bound, and gagged. As the camera pushed slowly in on Andrea’s face, the rising volume and near-screeching tone of the vocals made more real the frantic expression in her watering eyes. She knew it, and the viewer knew it; she was screwed.
The Governor, at first presenting as a loyal and loving guard dog, unraveled little by little until the wolf within bared his teeth. As she sat captive in his torture room, Andrea could only imagine what horrors awaited her. Such was the experience for the viewer, and it was intensified by a song that spoke volumes.
For those who suffered the weekly release of episodes, the anticipation for the plot’s continuation must have been more excruciating than any television viewing experience of the time, whether fans of Andrea’s or not.
Indeed, much of The Walking Dead’s viewership is openly anti-Andrea, and understandably so. Yet, after jaw clenching and white knuckling through forty minutes of Andrea’s attempted escape, the rising dread of this episode’s final minutes was heavy enough to elicit chills from even the most ardent Andrea haters. Although it played only for the final minute or so of the episode, that feat is due largely to the selection and placement of the hard-hitting, “You Are the Wilderness.”
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