Well, the Governor is crazy again. The slightest possibility
of being in power, and the Governor murders his way to the top! Unsurprisingly
played, guy.
"Dead Weight" was the second episode of "The Walking Dead" that focused on the Governor arc, away from
Rick and Co. and their prison digs, and I think next episode is when these two
plots will finally intersect again. But for this past hour, we got all the
stuff that transformed the Governor/Brian from the somewhat redeemed guy he was
last week to the once-again-totally-unhinged dude we recognize. Oh, you’re
going to stab some guys you just barely met because you’re convinced you’re a
better leader than these strangers? Cool!
Ultimately, my problem with this whole develop-the-Governor
more storyline remains: In the comics, the Governor is just a ruthless, cruel,
insane guy who doesn’t need any backstory. He works perfectly as an unhinged
and anarchic force of nature that Rick and Michonne have to deal with as a
preparation for what kind of world this has become. Character development wasn’t
provided, and wasn’t required.
But with this arc he’s given in this format, the
show is wasting our time. Oh, he’s crazy again? Why not just have him be
totally insane from the jump, to be more in line with the comics and how they
rightly handled him? Because providing really repetitive, expected,
not-subtle-at-all backstory is not compelling.
So here’s the gist of the episode, so I don’t choke on my
own hatred: The Governor/Brian and his new mini-family are brought into
Martinez’s rag-tag camp, where he’s ruling things with a small group of other
male enforcers. (One of the guys has a tank, which will of course come in handy
when the Governor inevitably faces off against the prison again.) The Governor/Brian
is welcomed into that fold as long as he can contribute, but Martinez’s
constant dropping of hints about the Governor/Brian’s old life—you know, the
homicidal one he hasn’t shared with his new girlfriend Lilly or her daughter
yet—pisses him off, so he smashes Martinez’s head in with a golf club and then
feeds him to a pit of zombies. Martinez’s idea to “share the crown” with the
Governor/Brian dies with him.
Then a guy named Pete, whose brother is the tank guy, takes
leadership of the camp, but when he refuses to attack another group of
survivors and steal their supplies, the Governor decides he’s too soft to rule.
So he pays him a visit and stabs him and chains him up and then dumps him in
the lake (which, admittedly, makes for a very cool visual toward the end of the
episode, when Pete reanimates and then struggles to swim to the top of the lake
to feed), and then he visits Pete’s brother and is basically
like, “I’m gonna run this town tonight; want to be the Kanye to my Jay-Z?” And
the dude agrees because, you know, what else is he going to do?
So now the two of them are running things, with the Governor
pointing out that “Everybody loves a hero”—ooh, tidings of Woodbury much? And
then the Governor calmly shoots a zombie who was trying to eat his adopted daughter,
but instead of going to comfort her, he just walks away. Because he’s a survivor,
guys! And survivors don’t need families. They just need groups to boss around
and guns to point at Michonne’s pretty smiling face. Because of course, the
Governor is going to storm the prison. Of course.
And for my fellow comics readers, if that thing that is supposed to happen doesn’t happen soon,
then I don’t even know. THEN WHAT’S THE POINT OF EVEN WATCHING THIS SHOW AT
ALL?
Anyway, yeah, so this episode. Not great, but at least it
moved things forward. And here, have my favorite eyeroll-inducing lines of the
week. So many to choose from!
“Because we’re good—all of us,” the Governor’s new
replacement daughter says to him. Yeah right, kid. You don’t know shit about
Brian.
“I’m more of a Smith and Wesson girl. Less fuss.” Yes,
writers, we all understand that Tara is a lesbian. Does her foreplay with the
other militaristic female in the group REALLY have to revolve around guns? I
know it’s the apocalypse, but they can’t talk about anything else? Maybe they
can compare tips about how they both remain so hairless although practically
all modern technology has disappeared? HOW ARE YOU SHAVING YOUR UNDERARMS?
“Double thanks for the suds.” Oh goddammit Tara is terrible.
“Some things you don’t come back from. Either you live with
them or you don’t.” Thanks for that Hallmark card wisdom about living through
tough shit, Martinez! Jeez, I’m glad you’re dead.
“People believe what they want to believe.” Yeah, I’ve never
heard that one before. Really bringing the originality with these scripts, writers!
