You know, it’s funny….when the Governor disappeared at the end of last season I joked that he was going to end up like Dr. Faulkner from Bio-Dome. I had no idea just how right I’d be, visually at least. Live Bait is all about the governor this week, we find out that he was deserted by the two Woodbury members he left alive and has been wandering for an unspecified amount of time (judging from the beard I’d say at least three months). I’m pretty sure this is all a flashback to the end of last season but given that we saw him by himself clean shaven outside of the prison at the end of last week’s episode I honestly can’t tell you where this fits in with the overall timeline, at the end of this episode he is definitely not alone so I guess we have one more governor flashback to go until we’re caught up. 
After the rundown of how the Governor was left for dead by his only remaining cohorts we follow a broken shell of a man wandering through town. It’s an odd existence, never really able to tell where his head’s at. You want to think he’s just wandering around waiting to die, and while he doesn’t kill any biters coming his way he does avoid them completely pulling some sad ninja moves along the way. Finally he comes upon an apartment building with a giant food truck parked out front, as he approaches he sees what appears to be his daughter looking down at him from a third floor window. It turns out he’s not completely nuts as he finds a family still living inside the building with a little girl who looks very similar to his beloved daughter. He takes refuge inside the building for the night and accepts dinner from the family (which he pours out the window for some odd reason). While he is very distant and, for lack of a better word, weird around the family he ends up helping them for the good of the little girl who obviously reminds him of his lost little one. First he goes to a room upstairs in the building to retrieve a backgammon set for the Grandfather in the group since he says it may just help her talk again. Then it gets even more dangerous as they beg him to go to a nearby nursing home and grab some oxygen tanks for the grandfather as he’s almost out and will die without it (stage 4 lung cancer). He’s hesitant at first but as soon as the mother tells him that the grandfather is the only one who can bring a smile to the little girl’s face he’s off and running. While he ends up getting two tanks of oxygen it’s too little too late and the grandfather passes away, now we all know where this is going but the family has been hold up in the building since day 1 so they have no clue. The governor stands watch as they say their goodbyes and when the grandfather turns he proceeds to beat his head in with a tank of oxygen…much to the shock and horror of the family. Once all is explained they understand why he did it and insist on coming with him on the road. Not far into the journey their van breaks down and they have to proceed on foot. If you hadn’t guessed already this is followed by a well timed twisted ankle and a horde of zombies just around a corner. The governor picks up the little girl and takes off through the woods with her mom and aunt following close behind. Out of nowhere the governor falls into one of the pits like they had at Woodbury where they’d keep the biters before a fight. He gruesomely kills the four zombie in the bit and promises the little girl he’ll never let anything happen to her before looking up and seeing the two Woodbury soldiers that deserted him. 
This episode definitely threw me for a loop, I never suspected they would attempt to make the deranged lunatic from season 3 into a sympathetic character, but that is what they do. There’s really not much to be said for it other than we see the G-Man looking at old pictures of his daughter and we are constantly reminded of the pain he holds. If you ask me he’s gone too far to be considered for redemption. If anything, this episode does less for making him a character too feel bad for and more for telegraphing the eventual demise of the Governor’s new adopted family. You can just feel the fact that their death will be the catalyst for his next assault on the prison. The major issue I had with this episode is the fact that it was all one episode. To explain, I don’t think they needed to hold off teasing the governor until this far into the season. There was no reason not to show him in the first or second episode, I don’t think a single person thought he was actually dead so you’re not surprising anyone. Inter-cutting these scenes with the first four episodes of the season just makes sense but instead they decide to give it all to you in one shot and not one second of footage from the prison group shows up. Not only that but, as I said before, I have no idea where this stuff is happening in the grand timeline of things….it really just makes everything far more confusing than need be. Here’s to the next episode pulling everything together and moving toward something worth watching!
A
Dash of Dissent: Rocky’s Thoughts on “Live Bait”
Well! Just when I thought this season of “The
Walking Dead” couldn’t get any worse! An episode entirely devoted to the
Governor and his sad beard wanderings after we left him last. How wonderful.
And by “How wonderful,” I mean, “This is the worst show and I hate it.”
Maybe I would care more about this episode if I hadn’t
read the comics, in which the Governor really has no backstory, really doesn’t
need a backstory, and is effective enough with his intense craziness that he
doesn’t need a journey to define him.
He takes enough full measures—he is, to steal a line from “Boardwalk Empire,”
not half a gangster—that those actions matter.
He irreversibly changes Rick and Michonne. He lives for violence and
bloodlust. He doesn’t have sad eyes and a sad beard and a sad story about
wandering across the desolate Atlanta landscape, befriending suburban families.
NO.
So yeah, I give zero fucks about this episode. And I
thought these five things were particularly terrible.
+ MORE scenes set to mopey songs? This time it was “The
Last Pale Light in the West,” but god, I’m sick of this crap.
+ MORE obvious dialogue? Like the grandfather
talking about how the Governor doesn’t understand his relationship with his
daughters because he doesn’t have any children? OH MAN I BET THAT REMINDS THE
GOVERNOR OF HIS DEAD DAUGHTER AND HE SEES THE CHANCE TO BE A BETTER PERSON AND
HE TAKES IT. BUT THEN NO ONE UNDERSTANDS HOW DANGEROUS THE ZOMBIES REALLY ARE
AND THE GOVERNOR FEELS ISOLATED AND MISUNDERSTOOD.
+ MORE dumb behavior on the part of these random
survivors? First Tara volunteers the information that she has “enough artillery
in here to kill you every day for 10 years” (even though it was a lie, why
boast about something like that, even as an exaggeration? That kind of thing
will certainly get you killed so people can steal your stash), then her sister Lily
asks the Governor to go on this oxygen run for them. If you have enough guns,
why wouldn’t you have gone yourself by now? Why rely on this random fucking
stranger? Again, this is a SURVIVAL LANDSCAPE. WHY WOULD YOU TRUST ANYONE,
ESPECIALLY SOMEONE YOU HAVE KNOWN FOR BARELY A DAY? Oh, and then you’re going
to have sex with him while your daughter sleeps nearby. GOOD IDEA. You fucking
idiot.
+ MORE redemption narratives? First Lori was
redeemed from being the awful wife and mother that she was. Then Andrea, who
jumped ship and into the Governor’s bed, even though it was clear Woodbury was
fucked up. And now the Governor himself is actually a good, misunderstood guy,
who “just lost it,” but manages to save this family in a variety of ways? I
honestly can’t tell how the writers want us to see him. Are we supposed to
think he’s a normal guy who made a few bad choices, like Rick? Or are we still
supposed to see him as sinister? And honestly, this entire episode DOES NOT
JIVE with some of the biggest, most important developments in the comics that involve
this character. NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE OR IS CONSISTENT STORYTELLING.
+ And finally, a text about this episode from my PDC
comrade, Julian Lytle, at 9:32 p.m. last night: “This is weird.” He was
certainly kinder than I’ve been (the only praise I have for this episode is the
super-bloody zombie pit fight in the end, where the Governor ripped out a
throat and then snapped a jaw apart), but I think we all get the idea.
