This is it. The Season 3 finale of The Walking Dead aired on Sunday, and it pains me to say it, but… It wasn’t particularly good. Maybe even a bit crap. Welcome to the Tombs had been advertised as the epic showdown between Woodbury and the Prison that fans of the comic had been waiting for for months. Sadly it was nothing like that.

When The Governor stormed into the Prison with his army (and rocket launcher(s)) they spent a lot of time pacing around and searching the place, only to be greeted by the gunfire of… Glenn and Maggie! This didn’t last long however, as after that the majority of the fighters crapped their pants and retreated.

With Rick, Daryl, Michonne and any of the good fighters nowhere to be seen.

Talk about a letdown. I’m not too sure it was the lacklustre-ness of the finale that really pissed me and a lot of fans off – it was the false advertising. Literally every marketing component to do with the show made it out to be the epic finale fans had been waiting for since Season 3 began all the way back in October, and it was none of that. There was very little action and, quite frankly, very little of anything.

One point of the episode that seemed to cause a bit of a divide amongst watchers was a scene which showed that The Governor has really gone off the deep end. After the failure of the Prison attack, he massacres the majority of his men, save for his two lieutenants. On the positive side it’s a good indication that next season we’ll see a Governor that’s more like the comics (he was confirmed as a series regular yesterday), which involves raping people and cutting off hands. But on the negativ side, that was a complete act of insanity. Who will follow him now? The only solution I can think of is we’ll see him pop again a few episodes into Season 4 with a completely new group who have been lied to about his origins by the Governor, but otherwise I’ve got nothing.

But hey, the episode wasn’t all bad. It started off fantastically, with the death of Milton (which literally everyone saw coming) and an absolute badass line from the Governor:”In this world you either kill and you die, or you die and then kill.”He left a dying Milton in a room with a beaten Andrea tied to a chair, knowing that when he ‘turns’ and becomes a Walker he’ll kill Andrea. Pretty messed up.

However after that most things went downhill pretty fast. Rick and co weren’t even in it very much… It was mainly focused on the Governor and Andrea for some reason having a conversation with a dying Milton instead of reaching for the plyers below to get her the hell out of there. Sadly(?), it was too late…

ANDREA’S DEAD

She became one of the worst, most annoying characters on the show and a complete deviation from her badass comics counterpart. It’s a shame we never got to see her rejoin Rick’s group and hopefully grow a bit during Season 4 and beyond. Alas, walker Milton got to her before Rick, Tyreese and Michonne had a chance to save her.

Surprisingly, one of the redeeming qualities of the episode was the new angle the writers have taken with Carl; he shot down an escaped Woodbury attacker in cold blood before he had a chance to attack Carl and Hershel outside the Prison. When Rick confronted him on this, the teen explained that every time Rick or anyone fails to kill someone, later on they murder someone close to them.

Case-in-point: Merle’s death last week, Shane trying to kill Rick, one of the old prisoners whom Rick didn’t kill and later came back to eat a dead Lori as a walker (that’s what I think Carl said anyway). We have a mini-Shane in the making. I have to agree with Carl’s reasoning, and it should make for a new and interesting dynamic during the fourth season.

What can only be described as a rather big letdown (with a pretty stupid ending that will only really drag Rick down come S4), I give Welcome to the Tombs a rating of…

It’s a shame, but that’s the highest I would go. What did you think of Welcome to the Tombs? Stay tuned to UTF over the coming months for all news on The Walking Dead and share your thoughts below.

See you in October!