3. Shock For Shock's Sake
I cannot question how totally shocking The Governor's slaughter of the Woodbury soldiers was, or how it demonstrated another facet of the man's personality, but hours later, I began to feel that perhaps it really was, in the end, just shock for its own sake. More to the point, this is a crafty way for the writers to get themselves out of a potential bind; with so many of The Governor's men killed at his own hand, won't it be a Hell of a lot easier for Rick and company to defend the prison? Furthermore, it allowed the writers to do some spring cleaning and get rid of some names and faces that weren't particularly interesting or note-worthy, while giving the writers the chance to feel good about themselves for shocking the audience with a ludicrous bout of insane violence. I'm split on this one, but I can't help but feel this beat was rather conceited.