As some of you may know, I was out of town over the weekend getting my geek on, and while I was able to catch the season finale of The Walking Dead a few hours after it aired, I was far too knackered to even attempt to review it. All for the better, frankly, because if I had reviewed it Sunday night, you would’ve found a 1,500 word essay full of loathing and rage. The Game of Thrones premiere, a day of mulling it over, and a rewatch has tempered my table-tossing fury into a solid dislike. I know, I know. You’re probably thinking, “Oh great, another review where Alex hates on something I love,” but it’s not that bad, I swear. Just hear me out….
First, let me admit I was wrong. So very wrong. My predictions about how this season would play out fell spectacularly short, and for that I offer my sincerest mea culpas. Of course, my predictions would’ve made for a much better ending to the season, but I’ll hold my complaints until after the recap.
The Governor decided the best way to deal with two problems—Andrea and Milton—was to let them finish each other off. He stabbed his former bestie in the stomach and locked him in the torture chamber with Andrea, who was still handcuffed to the chair. As he lay dying, Milton told Andrea about the pair of pliers he hid from the Governor, and since no one thought to tie her feet down—Seriously? If her legs are free then she can kick, which means she can defend herself, even if only barely. Doesn’t anyone think things through anymore?—she was able to drag the tool into her hands. Because Andrea was the worst, she couldn’t manage to have her heart to heart with Milton while simultaneously reaching for the pliers, but eventually she got free just in time to brain the newly zombiefied Milton, but not soon enough to avoid getting bitten.
At the prison, the Governor launched a large-scale attack on what at first appeared to be an empty prison. Earlier in the ep we’d seen Rick and co. packing up camp, but since the whole point of positioning the Governor and Rick as arch enemies was to have them duke it out in a bloody, violent boss fight, of course the prison group were still around. Carl sulked like the child he is about having to babysit Hershel, Beth, and Judith while the grown-ups went to war, but he eventually got to prove his manhood by gunning down a surrendering teenage boy. The Governor’s crew got spooked when they were shot at by Rick and his gang, who were hiding in the rafters. The Woodburyites hightailed it out of there, and that was pretty much it for the battle royale. The Governor shot everyone but his two lieutenants, then went on walkabout. Rick, Michonne, and Daryl went back to Woodbury, helped Andrea kill herself before she turned, and then made the bizarre and utterly ridiculous decision to bring all the old, infirm, and underage people back to the prison.
The writers were obviously attempting to end on an optimistic cliffhanger, but to me if felt like a waste of a perfectly good plot line. Why gear the whole season to Rick and the Governor having a showdown at high noon only to have the bad guy take a pass? If they wanted to stretch him out for two seasons—and I really don’t think he needs 32 episodes dedicated to his evil schemes—this was not the way to go about it. The whole thing was irritatingly anti-climactic, but I would’ve been more inclined to accept it if the resolution wasn’t dependent upon everyone making choices that should’ve been set up half a season ago. Rick’s shift from the bastard who takes a backpack off a dead hitchhiker to a guy who loves puppies and long walks on the beach shouldn’t have happened over night. And don’t even get me started on Carl. That kid’s personality is all over the map. The way the writers are treating him now, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he ends up the season 4 version of Lori and Andrea.
What did the show do right in the finale? For one, the Governor, at least up until he decided he needed a nap between Rick fights. Crazy town banana pants Governor is more predictable, but is also a helluva lot more interesting than Shane 2.0. The writers didn’t just settle for Patrick Bateman, they picked the “Bond villain” setting and cranked it to 11. Delaying the final payoff until season 4 could explain why they didn’t show any torture this season. The writers may be planning to hold his arc from the comics until later, which would at least give him something to do other than being ominous in the background. Gunning down his army was unexpected and frightening in the best way. It establishes what sort of man he is now—Rick wasn’t the only one that made some dramatic life choices—and sets him down a path he can never get off. He no longer cares about death, who causes it or who suffers from it. More than that, he is excited for the prospect of lives ending, especially if he’s the one doing the ending. It makes for a rather obvious yet still dramatic counterpoint to the new/old Rick.
The show also did right by the leadup to the shootout, which was excellent. The Woodburyites searching the barren prison was tense and exciting. When you go for a fake-out, this is the way to do it. Not only did the prison group appear to have vacated the premises, it looked like they had never been there. The place was spotless, pristine, untouched, as if the guards had sealed up the joint before the apocalypse took hold. It was eerie how empty it was, how devoid of personality. It also made me realize that despite them living there for at least a few months, they never made the prison home. They never cleared out the rest of the walkers, planted crops, or even decorated. Which begs the question: why bother fighting to the death for a something that’s little more than a place to squat? To follow that train of thought, why bring the remaining Woodburyites back to the prison at all? I like that Rick is a changed man now—really, he’s just back to being the man he was before he found out Shane was banging his wife—and him rescuing the abandoned citizens was the right thing to do. What I don’t understand is why they didn’t just move into Woodbury instead of bringing everyone back to the prison. Woodbury has electricity, running water, crops, decent living quarters, and is heavily armored and defensible, whereas the prison is the exact opposite of all of that. Neither location is Governor-proof, but by pulling the borders in closer, Woodbury would be easily protected. Then again, this is The Walking Dead. Plot logic isn’t part of the game here.
The problem with The Walking Dead on AMC is that the writers are struggling with what story they want to tell, what story the fans want them to tell, what story the studio thinks the fans (in this case I mean “fans” as in the target demo of 18-49 males) want them to tell, and what story the studio actually wants them to tell (as in fitting in with the channel’s brand). Mix in a hefty amount of studio and Kirkman interference—particularly in re: budget and story direction—and what you end up with is a show that tells a story, but not very well. Don’t think there’s not a reason why it has had 3 showrunners in 4 years.
The Walking Dead wants to be a drama about what it means to survive the apocalypse and where civilization/morality/ethics go from there, but that doesn’t bring in the ratings. AMC is out to make bank, not art (see their constant bickering with Matthew Weiner over Mad Men), and philosophical debates about the nature of humanity don’t book Hall H at Comic-Con. Zombies eating faces does. But you can’t structure a whole show out of face-eating zombies, so you’ve got this weird zone of trying to throw as many gross-outs as possible in 42 minutes but also trying to make the audience care about what happens to the people suffering the gross-outs. And that never works out well for anyone. In the end, I liked what the season finale was trying to say, but I really didn’t care for the way it was said. They had some great plots and scenes, and some much needed character development, yet most of it was wasted, left unexplored, or came out of left field with no explication. Actions and personalities were dictated not by the characters or basic human logic but by plot necessity, all of which makes the non-confrontation seem less like a cliffhanger and more like a a cop-out caused by lazy writing.
If nothing else, at least Andrea’s dead. She was the worst.
Final Thoughts
- “What would your daughter think about what you are?” “She’d be afraid of me. But if I’d been like this from the start, she’d be alive today.”
- I didn’t get too much into Carl, but his B-plot was another good thing the finale did. It set up the change in his character, no matter how abrupt, in such a way that we’ll get to watch the consequences unfold in the next season. Quite looking forward to where this is headed.
- I also didn’t talk about Tyreese or Sasha, but they didn’t do enough to merit a whole paragrah. Hopefully next season we’ll get some actual plot out of them.
- Thanks for joining me for an entertaining yet often difficult season. Season 3 was overall better than season 2 (of which a significant portion was epically atrocious). Here’s hoping new showrunner Scott Gimple can get this show back in the black. See ya’ll in October!
Alex Brown is an archivist, writer, geeknerdloserweirdo, and all-around pop culture obsessive who watches entirely too much TV. Keep up with her every move on Twitter, or get lost in the rabbit warren of ships and fandoms on her Tumblr.
I was pretty dissapointed in the finale myself, it just seemed to abruptly end without having any sort of closure. I seriously looked to see what time it was and didnt believe it was actually over when the credits started to roll. I kept expecting The Govenor to show back up at the Prison or Woodbury and have and epic gun fight and brawl to the death with Rick but it just never happened.
I also didnt understand why they wouldnt take over Woodbury, especially with so many people now, seems like all the ameneties there would be better for babies, childen, old people, and well everyone really. The attack on the prison with them rolling up and blowing the towers up and mowing down zombies and The Govenor showing his true colors and shooting everyone were my favorite moments of the episode. I am also intrigued to see what they do with Carl next season, he seems to be getting to the pissed of teenager phase, that mixed with the zombie apocalypse doesnt sound like it will end well.
I honestly followed the show more on your reviews here on TOR than watching episodes this season after being so dissapointed in Season 2. I still caught quite a few though and even though it wasnt the best finale ever I will be back for Season 4.
Cheers until October
I know everyone’s giving him grief about it but I think I’m on Carl’s side as far as the Woodbury guy. “Drop your gun” does not mean “keep edging closer to me while holding onto your gun with a damn suspicious expression on your face.” I’ll grant you, it was pretty cold to just drop him without saying anything first. So the ground is still laid for Shoot-First Carl in the eps to come.
And BOTH sides seriously abandoned the 50 cal machine gun? Really?
I had issues with Andrea’s end.She wasted so much time looking at milton,talking to Milton.She knew what wa going to happen yet she wasted so much time,enough that it got her killed,something else she had to have known.
She was stupid to the end.
I’m with everyone who wonders why Rick didn’t take over Woodbury.What kind of choice is it between Woodbury and the prison?The prison that was hit with missiles,has walkers still inside it,and obviously must be really crappy to live in.
And Carl.Man he’s manic depressive and psychotic.I don’t really fault him for killing the kid,the kid was dumb and it cost him,but Carl is acting like Baby Governor.I have to agree that it will be interesting to see where they go with that,but at the same time too much of that could get annoying.
I really want to like TWD and I do up to a point.I’m willing to stick with it,like record brealing numbers of other people,but it can be frustrating.
Kirkman,who has turned into a PR machine for the show,strikes me as someone who wasn’t quite ready and prepared for this show to be this popular,for the network stuff etc when a show generates this much money and attention.As for AMC,it’s a publically traded stock,that means profits drive the company,and it remains to be seen what that means for overall quality.
I think the prison is better. Rick doesn’t have the manpower to keep Woodbury’s walls secure. There were more people on Woodbury’s walls every night than Rick has. How do you guard 4 walls 24/7 with a dozen people and get anything else done? The .50 call is only important if you have ammo for it so it may be worthless.
Re: The story being told – I had a thought that the management may also be trying to get rid of Frank Darabont’s original characters – maybe that’s a royalty issue? Daryl’s probably safe as the most popular character on the show, but with Merle’s death, I think all the other Darabont characters are gone now.
Sad to say, it’s pretty obvious to me why they abandoned Woodbury – the prison is a set they own, not a whole shopping district they have to rent. I hate when I can see the budget on the screen.
Andrea’s death by the most unthreatening zombie in the history of the undead was just pathetic. Her dying speach read exactly like an attempt to explain stuff not written into earlier scripts. All the same, I wasn’t unmoved. I think that speaks more to the performances.
(I can’t wait to go and hear this actress speak in a few years about how she really felt about these scripts, herself – she can’t have loved them. Not really.)
New cannon fodder at the prison.
Did anyone else scream, Don’t take off your helmets? Waiting for a headshot (that didn’t come) was the most suspense I felt all episode.
I don’t know about next season. I really don’t. This ep ended and all I could think was, that’s what they were saying would be satisfactory?
the funny thing about Carl’s confrontation was that the SECOND the kid didn’t drop his weapon, I was yelling at the TV.. “SHOOT HIM!!! SHOOT HIM!!”
That the idiot kid didn’t just drop the weapon off the bat, made him suspect no matter what Herschel thought..
When I was in the service, Drop Your Weapon, meant DROP.YOUR.WEAPON and while there is a gray area.. the benefit of the doubt goes to the Marine..
I think Carl did good..
I had the opposite reaction, lol… when the episode first ended I was generally ok with it, but the more I thought about it the more little things started bugging me.
I’m guessing the writers were intending Andrea’s death to be sad, which makes it funny to me that I was so happy when they revealed that she got bit. I was really worried she would get out of that situation despite not being able to multitask the talking and picking up of pliers.
The thing that bugged me most is the whole season was about the Governor and Rick’s group being against each other, and that just didn’t get resolved at all. It felt weird to have him gun down his whole army and then just bail for the rest of the episode. I haven’t read the comics, so I have no idea what else he has left to do, maybe season 4 will make it ok for me.
I usually don’t notice things like character inconsistencies too much, I tend to just go along with things… but I did pick up on Carl being all nice and trying to help out one second, and then the next scene he’s all, no everyone needs to die… if I caught that, then it must be really obviously off. But like you said, it will be interesting to see what he does next season.
I really enjoy your reviews, so thank you for doing them, I look forward to next season! Its nice for people like me, who don’t have much experience or knowledge about how writing works, to be able to see what professionals in the field think about things. So yeah, thanks again!
I also agreed with what Carl did–at least on TV, we’ve seen that scenario too many times, where the perp is told to drop the gun and instead, tries to hand it to the other person. When said person goes to take the gun, the perp then grabs that person’s arm, grabs that person’s gun, or otherwise does something that usually ends up in a role-reversal, giving the perp the upper hand.
Carl..has been saturated with hell and murder and mayhem and violence and loss and sadness. He told Rick why he did what he did–because they tried being the ‘nice’ guys, and it cost them someone or something, EVERY SINGLE TIME. Merle’s death was the proverbial straw….Carl wants some of their own back, and the only way to do that is not be Mr. Nice Guy, anymore. That’s a tough, tough lesson to learn at 13, but when there is NO hope in sight at all, it’s a wonder the kid even wants to bother living…
Great review Alex!
Personally, I think that Carl is the one person seeing things for what they are. Terminate those who are not in “your” group, and survive everything else. What is the kid supposed to do, really? His role models are the adults around him who keep screwing up everything. The only two getting anything done and keeping people alive are Michonne and Daryl. That’s who he looks up to, and that’s why he does what he feels like he “has to do”. He absolutely did the right thing shooting the Woodbury kid who wouldn’t just drop the damn gun.
Andrea needed to die. Period.
I suppose the writers wanted us wondering where the Governor would pop up as the episode drew to a close, and I for one was ferociously disappointed that dear ‘ol Gov didn’t go all rogue sniper and start offing people at the prison from the treeline. Don’t tell me he couldn’t do it.
Other missed opportunities in the finale for me – Glenn or Maggie going on a revenge shooting rampage when one of them is fatally shot by a Woodbury-ite. Beth sacrificing herself to sheild Judith from a hail of bullets. Judith dying anyway and becoming an infant zombie, eating her way through Beth’s body before Carl finds her and puts a bullet in her tiny brain with a smirk. Rick and the Gov facing off old-west style in the drive of the prison, surrounded by walkers at the fences. Carol and Daryl riding off into the sunset on the Harley that magically never runs out of gas.
Oh well, I suppose there’s always next season.
Andrea finally not wasting script pages and screen time is fine, but what I really wanted the show to do was FIX THE CHARACTER! Show her coming out of the Woodbury experience smarter, harder, and stronger. As it is, it just felt like they got rid of her for lack of figuring out how to grow the character into something meaningful.
Like T-Dog, in a way, but far more drawn out.
@@@@@ 4, I very much agree.
Everyone they picked up at Woodbury is very old or young, except for Tyreese, his daughter and the one woman who survived the Governor’s civilian massacre. They *might* have the manpower to defend Woodbury against Walkers, though I’m not sure of that, but not against any capable humans. The prison is much more secure, especially if they stick to just their one cell block. I definitely don’t want to see them that limited though, I agree with what others have said that they should secure wherever it is that the Walkers were coming in from, and make it more habitable, (plant gardens, etc.). But they absolutely don’t have the manpower right now to defend against hostile humans.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had a scene where there was going to be a slow reveal of whether a non-villain character was alive or not and I kept repeating in my head “oh please be dead please be dead please be dead.” That pause to find out if Andrea was dead or not was agonizing.
As for the rest, I confess I watched this one in somewhat cursory fashion, having lost some interest and having grading to do, so maybe I missed a few things. Was there a reason in all that meticulous planning nobody thought to grab the truck with the big gun and use it? Or take/sabotage the cars to prevent them leaving? Was there a reason the big blow-up-the-tower gun wasn’t used on the behind-cover shooters? A reason the restrained prisoner isn’t restrained? A reason the villain watches a whole bunch of sharp objects clatter to the ground right next to the only-semi-restrained prisoner and doesn’t think twice about it? Why he just walks away leaving his two allied opponents in the same room where someone already wasn’t killed by a zombie they were locked in with and already escaped/was rescued from in the town he’s mostly emptied of people save for a few he knows nothing about? A reason why the new democracy doesn’t get to vote about taking in the strays or living in Woodbury?
As for Carl, my theory is he has a mutant strain of the plague, he was bitten, and instead of turning into a zombie, the zombie turned into Carl. So now there are two–Warm Carl and Cold Carl. Eventually the two will meet and duke it out a la Bad Kirk/Good Kirk.
But you know, I could live with all the above. For I shall praise them with great praise. Andrea is dead.
as far as the truck with the .50 cal turret goes, I’m fairly certain its tires were flat from a spike track on the ground. I haven’t re-watched it (nor do I much care to do so), but I think they show it happening as the people from Woodbury pour into the prison.
Prison vs Woodbury.
Woodbury needs twenty or thirty bodies to defend it. The Prison needs ten or less.
btow1818@14
Yeah, I was pretty sure its tires blew, but really, that doesn’t explain not using the weapon itself and even so, what, are they worried about wrecking the rims?
@Jobi, Eyeless, Billcap: I really liked the individual pieces of the finale, but hated how they were smashed together. Carl, the Governor, the attack on the prison, Milton turning all worked great and were excellently shot and acted. But nothing ever came of them. We didn’t even get to see Milton or Andrea die. Everything that has been building for the last 16 episodes fell flat with anticlimax and no payoff. Worse, there was no logic behind the absent payoff. It was stupidity on top of stupidity. Either the writers didn’t notice all the giant, gaping plot holes of idiocy or they just didn’t care. Regardless, it was very frustrating.
@tatere, btowl1818, billcap: Regarding the Governor’s artillery, I was shouting at the screen when the Woodburyites drove off. The Prisoners had enough time to hide while the Woodburyites went exploring, but didn’t think to blow the tires or, hell, just take the damn keys? Better yet, why not just hang out in their trucks and mow the enemy down why they try to escape? That was the worst defense I’ve ever seen. Absolutely pathetic. Not that the Woodburyites were any better. They left all their vehicles unattended while they went into the prison. UNATTENDED. And yes, the tires were blown on the machine gun, but the not on the other two vehicles.
@spdavid, Eric: I did a lot of screaming at the screen in the finale, and Andrea’s stupidity took up a lot of that. She just sat there, knowing time was running out. Like, she couldn’t manage to do two frakking things at once. Infuriating.
She was a great character in the comics, and a great character in the first season, but the second the writers dropped her into Shane’s path her personality was doomed. Remember all those sniper lessons she took? Never went anywhere. Like Michonne and Lori before her, the writers seemed to go out of their way to butcher a perfectly decent character. I don’t know if they only know how to write ciphers, or if they genuinely think they’re creating depth and personality, but it was terrible what they did to her in the show.
@Jobi, spdavid, johnbiltz, AO, arixan: The prison was just attacked, blown up, and shot up, and already had a massive hole in the side from when the apocalypse first hit. Rick and co. had only secured part of Cell Block C, the rest of the prison is overrun. They may have enough running water and power for several batches of laundry, but unless that water is coming from a well (and the sewage is going into a septic tank), their supplies are running low. And it’s not like they have electricity (if they have a generator, it has to run on solar, wind, or petrol, and we haven’t seen any evidence of any of that). After Merle’s great drug hunt, they’re now short on mattresses. And they were already short on supplies for their own group. All they’re doing is cramming too many people into too small of a space with no means to support them. They can’t easily expand in the prison without the manpower to do so.
Woodbury, on the other hand, is perfectly set up. It’s not overrun, it’s got power coming from somewhere, and a large enough water and sewer system to handle a lot of people. And now that at least a dozen of the townies are dead, there’s more for everyone. All they need to do is pull the borders in closer – as in move the barricaded walls closer to the town center, and they’re good to go. A little fortification here and there – especially by using Morgan’s tactics – and they’re all set. Woodbury is also easier to escape from, if the need arises. If the Governor attacks the prison again, they’re all sitting ducks. Where would you rather be trapped, an abandoned warehouse where at least there are places to hide and you have a good chance of escaping or in a pantry with no windows and only one door? Woodbury is the abandoned warehouse and the prison is the pantry.
@JanKafka: Darabont doesn’t own the characters he introduced, AMC does. It’s a coincidence, but by no means an intentional slight. I’d argue that Laurie Holden (Andrea) is stuck with the material. I’ve not seen her in anything else, so I can’t speak to her acting abilities, but I think it ultimately comes down to the script. Not even the awesome David Morrisey can overcome the freshman English class level dialogue. And yes, I also shouted at Glenn for taking off his helmet IN THE MIDDLE OF A GUN FIGHT.
@Darth, decarillion, DrB: I think the kid was scared. Anyone remember if that was the same kid who had asthma who Melissa McCall tried to get out of fighting? I think it was. Frankly, if a kid is pointing a gun at me and shouting and I’ve just nearly been killed to death by zombies and crazy prisoners I’d be a little slow to react.
However, none of that excuses Carl’s abrupt tonal shift. His transition to the dark side should’ve been gradually escalting, not just dropped out of the sky. And I want to emphasize that I really like Carl’s transition for exactly the reasons you mentioned, decarillion and DrB. It was just very poorly handled on screen.
@alex – thank you for the clarification about the characters. Maybe the loss of the characters created for the show is due to efforts to bring the show closer to the comic, and more a sign of another kind of power shift.
So agree about David Morrisey. He’s obviously giving it his all, but he’s so much better with good material. I vaguely remember Laurie Holden from the X-Files – I think Andrea is the fault of the writers, mainly because everything else wrong with this show seems to stem from the scripts. So much wasted potential in this show – her and Merle.
Enjoyed your review, as always, as well as your Wonder-Con report!
I guess I’ll again try to be the positive voice.
First off, I did actually find the episode a bit of a letdown. Not in the nitpicking logic arguments everyone else has, but just the general feeling that there was no giant cliffhanger OR giant war between Woodbury and the prison. For a season worth of “setup,” yeah, it was a bit of a downer.
But in general as an episode, I was not bothered. I like where they’re going with Carl, I like that the Ricktatorship is having its consequences, and Rick is maybe seeing the error of his ways. I like how Andrea went out (because I hate her), it was in a horror movie trope-ish kind of way, but we don’t get much of that in TWD these days. So that was fine.
As for the Governer losing his mind and shooting down his own people–yes? Why in Earth would anyone argue that he wasn’t being logical or doing the smart thing… HE’S CONSUMED WITH REVENGE AND HE’S LOST HIS MIND. So he shot everyone. He’s gone from quiet menace to Bond villian. That’s fine with me.
One nitpicky thing that absolutely incensed me? His two remaining soldiers just jumping in the truck after a brief look of horror. Why wouldn’t you shoot him in the back, at that point? If they were equally as sick and homicidal as the Governor, that would work–but a couple episodes ago, we saw his lieutenant’s human side while talking with Daryl. So that whole part didn’t work for me.
I’m still okay with the direction the episode took the show…. Just bewildered that they used it as a season finale, is all.
Also, I agree with many above that I would much rather stick with the prison than Woodbury. Woodbury is much harder to secure, requires more manpower to secure, and literally has less security measures. Everything listed that was broken/damaged in all the fights can be repaired, and without a lot of work. It’s just a better choice.
Laurie Holden was also in The Shield final season. She played exactly the same type of character as Andrea. Take that for what it is worth, but it is hard to gauge acting ability here.
As far as the finale goes in general, I disliked the episode mainly due to it not resolving the Governor arc. I’m over it, he is a terrible character.
Why the Prison?
1. It’s the home field advantage. Their record there is 1-1-0: one loss when the governor shot it up the first time, one win when they chased out the Woodburyites. They’re learning, and hopefully more fortified than they were (especially after getting the new bag of weapons).
2. The governor is still out there, and still heavily armed. He doesn’t know the prison well, but I’ll bet he kn0ws every corner of Woodbury, especially it’s vulnerabilities.
3. The refugees appear to be noncombatants, but that could change. Suppose they stayed in Woodbury, and some decided to throw out the new regime? Any rebellion would have the home field advantage.
4. With a larger workforce, they might be able to start tending crops. They’ll have to do something, and soon. They can’t do it by themselves.
5. Our Heroes have finally accepted they need others. They saw the mass of people–do they stay in Woodbury and wait for the mass murderering whacko to come back, with his rocket launcher maybe? Or do they go back to a place where they beat him once, and batten down the hatches until things stabilize? Not a perfect solution, but better than the choices.
Laurie Holden was also in Frank Darabont’s brilliant film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist, and she was terrific in that.