The Walking Dead, Season 4, Episode 6: Live Bait
Pretty good episode, a stark difference from the last two episode's attempt at a focused episode. Which is surprising, considering how little actually happened in this one -- everything that happened in this episode happened way before season four's events even began, and even the end didn't show us just how the Governor got to the prison. But it's a lot more interesting. I'm honestly not sure why -- maybe last episode didn't really give us a real character development for Hershel, and that's the big problem? Hershel is awesome, and he's being Hershel, the nice old man who's optimistic and religious in the face of all the horror around him, but he doesn't really grow as a character. Maybe that's it. Whereas here, the enigmatic Governor, after being... inconsistent last season, gets systematically broken down in one of the most effective montages I've ever seen -- first being abandoned by his two loyal soldiers, then seeing Woodbury abandoned and burnt down, and basically reduced to a mere shadow of his previously proud self.
And yes, the story here really didn't deserve forty minutes to tell... there really was no need to spend so much time showing the Governor's new life in the apartment hanging out with the family, and just showing that the Governor has some capacity to do good... and the unmistakable bonding between the Governor and Megan. I suppose if we compressed the story it would've felt rushed and unbelievable, but by the same token it's a story that dragged on for a bit. There were a bunch of great moments simply because the family (including the terminal father) is given time to grow and the audience actually ends up knowing who these people are, compared to the nobodies that died last episode who I didn't realize existed until two seconds before they die.
It's a bit of a retooling from last season's Governor, who alternates between a cold, calculating mastermind and just a crazy psychopath, which is something the villain definitely needs. The journey from proud psychopath to broken-down aimless wanderer to just someone who wants to be a father once more, but knowing that this world makes it close to impossible, is told well. And we get some of the most brutal zombie takedowns in a while, with the Governor unleashing his inner psychopath while protecting Megan. How awesome was that scene where the Governor literally ripped someone's throat out? Also, on a more horrifying manner, was the way the Governor bashed the family's father's head in when he turned into a zombie, something that none of the family members expected to happen.
I'm not sure where the show is going on with the Governor. The flashbacks and references to what he did makes it clear that we're not wiping the slate clean from his inconsistent portrayals before, but he's trying to turn himself into someone else, so maybe it's this attempt to become a father figure and a protector to Megan that's going to be the crux of the Governor's characterization. We'll see. This episode ends with the Governor meeting Martinez, one of the soldiers that left him behind, and it's interesting to see if next episode will be another Governor flashback episode, to which it'll be a bit overkill in my opinion. We'll see. I enjoyed the episode, if nothing else, but hopefully the Governor would turn out better than he did last season.
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