Welcome to the Tombs

Welcome to the Tombs is the sixteenth and final episode of Season 3 of The Walking Dead and the eighth of the second half of the season and the Season 3 finale. It will air March 31, 2013 at 9/8c on AMC.

Plot Synopsis
The Governor brutally beats Milton for torching the pit of walkers. Milton wonders what Penny would think of her father now. "She'd be afraid of me," the Governor admits. "But if I'd been like this from the start, she'd be alive today." The Governor brings Milton into his torture chamber, where Andrea is bound to the chair. He declares his plans to kill everyone at the prison.

The Governor orders Milton to gather his tools and kill Andrea, but Milton instead attacks the Governor. The Governor overpowers Milton and stabs him in the gut. "You're gonna die and you're gonna turn, and you're gonna tear the flesh from her bones," he tells Milton before leaving the room, "in this life, you kill or you die... Or you die and you kill".

Meanwhile, Rick and the survivors pack up the prison and load supplies into the cars. Rick tries to talk to Carl, but Carl ignores him. Looking up to the catwalk, Rick sees a hallucination of Lori staring back at him. As Daryl mourns his brother, Carol praises Merle for improving their odds against the Governor. In the cell block, Michonne forgives Rick for considering the Governor's offer and thanks him for allowing her into the group.

Back in Woodbury, the Governor assembles his troops. Tyreese informs the Governor that he and Sasha will not join the fight but offers to stay behind to guard the women and children. After a tense moment, the Governor consents. The Governor and his soldiers arrive at the prison, where they shoot up the guard towers, mow down the walkers in the prison yard and storm the cell block. But they find no sign of Rick's group.

Back in the torture chamber, Milton slumps against the wall and tells Andrea that he secretly left a pair of pliers by her feet. He tells her to stab him in the head once she cuts herself free.

Meanwhile, the Governor splits up his troops to investigate the dark prison corridors (known as the "tombs"). Smoke grenades go off and the prison alarm sounds. Walkers attack the Governor's men, forcing them to retreat outside where Glenn and Maggie ambush them with gunfire. The Governor's army quickly flees the prison.

In Woodbury, Tyreese checks in on the women and children. He and Sasha agree they may have to slip out when the Governor returns. Milton asks Andrea why she stayed in Woodbury after learning her friends were alive. "I wanted to save everyone," she says. "Even the Governor, for a while." He urges her to hurry with the pliers. She removes her shoes and tries to grab them with her feet.

Back at the prison, Hershel, Beth and Carl watch the battle from the adjacent forest. A teenage boy from Woodbury escaping on foot runs into them. As he's putting his gun down to surrender, Carl shoots him. Rick and the others decide to chase down the Governor. Carl tells Rick he wants to fight, then brags about killing one of the Governor's soldiers. Hershel clarifies that the "soldier" was just a scared boy on the run. "He drew on us," Carl insists.

Meanwhile, the Governor halts the retreating caravan in the middle of the road. "What the hell are you doing?" he screams. The Woodbury residents refuse to fight, insisting the prison is not worth their lives. Enraged, the Governor opens fire and slaughters them, as Martinez, Allen and Shupert watch in horror. Allen points his gun at The Governor but is easily taken down with a shot to the head. The Governor gets in his truck and signals to Martinez and Shupert. They reluctantly get in.

Andrea grabs the pliers with her feet then drops them. Milton is dead, but his fingers start to move.

As they prepare for pursuit, Rick again asks Carl about the shooting. Carl admits the Woodbury boy had surrendered. Still, he says, "I couldn't take the chance," pointing out that Dale, Lori and Merle all died because Rick did not seize opportunities to kill potential threats.

Glenn and Maggie offer to help guard the prison in case the Governor returns. Rick, Michonne and Daryl leave in pursuit of the Governor. Rick's group finds the aftermath of the Governor's roadside massacre. Karen, the lone survivor, approaches them with her hands raised.

Meanwhile, Milton rises as a walker. He shuffles toward Andrea, who manages to cut through her bonds with the pliers just as Milton reaches her. Their screams echo through the hall.

Tyreese and Sasha are standing guard at Woodbury's gate when Rick's group arrives with Karen. She explains to Tyreese how the Governor killed everyone and tells him to stand down. Rick mentions that Andrea never made it to the prison, and suggests she could still be in Woodbury. They head to the interrogation room and notice a pool of blood under the door.

Inside, Milton lies dead and Andrea huddles against the wall. Her neck has been ravaged. Michonne cries as Andrea apologizes for her actions and insists on shooting herself. "I know how the safety works", she says as she asks for Rick's gun. Michonne stays with Andrea while the group waits outside. A gunshot sounds.

Afterward, Rick's group returns to the prison with a school bus filled with Woodbury's survivors. Tyreese leads the survivors into the prison. "They're gonna join us," Rick tells Carl. Rick looks up at the catwalk. Lori is nowhere to be seen, and Rick knows that he has made the right choice.

Co-Stars

 * Travis Love as Shupert.
 * Daniel Thomas May as Allen.
 * E. Roger Mitchell as Paul.
 * Tanner Holland as Jody.

Uncredited

 * James Barker as Walker.
 * Edi Carson as Walker.

Trivia

 * "The Tombs" (as called by T-Dog in "Killer Within") are a portion of The Prison that is infested by walkers, as mentioned by Glenn in "Home."
 * This is the second episode where Carl kills a human.  The first time was in the episode "Killer Within" where he shoots Lori, although he killed Lori out of mercy and the teenager willingly.
 * Last appearance of Andrea.
 * Last appearance of Milton.
 * Last appearance of Allen.
 * Last appearance of Paul.
 * First and Last appearance of Jody.
 * This episode marks the second time a survivor has committed suicide since TS-19.
 * This episode has the most deaths in it, counting 27 deaths in this episode.
 * The episode's title possibly refers to The Governor's army being ambushed in the Tombs, and/or the Woodbury refugees being taken back to the prison to join Rick's group.
 * Following the events of this episode, the group now has around 30-40 survivors.
 * However, most of them, if not all, consist of people from Woodbury who were incapable of fighting and/or have a debilitating sickness.
 * In the comic series, Rick's group had the most casualties and were forced out of the prison. However, in this episode, The Governor's army ended up being massacred by their own leader, and the remaining Woodbury citizens that were set aside as incapable of combat were taken into the group, leaving Woodbury as an empty town.
 * Andrea says "I know how the safety works" to Rick when asking for his gun to commit suicide with to prevent her reanimation. Andrea had previously said the same exact line to Rick in "Wildfire", when she threatened to shoot him as he approached her cradling Amy's corpse.
 * Andrea is the fifth main cast member to die.
 * This season finale marks the first season finale in which Rick's group is able to hold their own in their home and was not driven out by walkers or other survivors.
 * In TS-19, the group was forced to leave the CDC before it exploded and in Beside the Dying Fire, walkers overran Hershel's farm.

Deaths

 * Jody
 * Paul
 * Allen
 * Milton Mamet (Alive and Zombified)
 * Andrea
 * 22 Unnamed Woodbury Soldiers