The Walking Dead S04E07 Review: One-Eyed Bastard

The Walking Dead, Season 4, Episode 7: Dead Weight

Decent episode, though I'm unconvinced the previous and this episode needed to be split into two episodes instead of being condensed into one, or one-and-a-half at most. The Governor (a.k.a. Brian) is kind of flip-flopping between his past psychotic self and his attempts at being a good father. He tries his damn best to be a good part of the community ran by Martinez, but old habits die hard. At least he's got some motivation, though -- a justification to do what's necessary to protect his adoptive daughter. It's kinda hard to root for him, though, when he feeds Martinez (who gets a lot of characterization this episode, actually trying to make nice with Brian) to a pit of zombies, chokes one of the other leaders of the community to death and forces another to basically be strong and hard enough to be the leader he wants to. There are some really weird plot choices, Martinez being super-accepting and not at all paranoid, quickly buddy-buddying with the Governor only to be fed to zombies seconds later, or the very quick way that Mitch or whatever that dude's name is quickly accepted the Governor even though he just admitted to killing his brother. 

It's... it's all not bad scenes, it's just that these characters that aren't the Governor are introduced and discarded within minutes of each other that I didn't even get to learn their names. Hell, I haven't even remembered which one of Tara and Lily is the one banging the Governor and which one is the one that's into girls, and we're presented with another slew of new characters. It's all done relatively well from the side of the Governor... on one hand, taking two episodes just to show the Governor was a bit too much. On the other, the really rapid sequence of the Governor going aimlessly to finding his heart to returning to form as a psychopathic villain really does feel forced... and pointless, because the Governor ends up being psychotic, with a bunch of followers and ready to besiege the prison, something he's already in at the end of season three. We do get some perspective as to his mindset and motivations thanks to these two episodes, something that we never really got in season three due to keeping his origins suuuuper mysterious, but still, it does a lot but at the same time not quite enough. 

There are some really nice horror pieces, like the zombie that attacked Megan at the end and literally fell apart as Lily (or Tara) is grabbing at its feet. Or the zombie in the lake that the Governor tried to get rid of the evidence, or Martinez's death, or the swamp zombies, or the decapitated heads of the 'liar' and the 'rapist'... but ultimately those are just set pieces, and I find a bit of disconnect o this whole Governor plot. I dunno. I just find that these two episodes tell a very good story, yet at the same time it's not a particularly necessary or interesting one.