Where we left off: We’ve switched from life in the prison to The Governor (or I guess we can call him Brian now) and his travels; he’s protecting a small group of three: Lily (the woman whom he had…well…sex…with), Tara (the wanna-be Atlanta City police officer), and Megan (the child who is pretty much now his); a group of walkers attacks the four at the end…Lily and Tara are…somewhere while Brian protects Megan only to run into his own group that abandoned him.
With The Governor/Brian going through a surprising redemption tale, it’s interesting to see what’s about to happen when his past confronts him. I’m not completely certain of what’ll happen, but I get the feeling it’s gonna be bloody and deadly. Dead Weight picks up where we left off last week, with Martinez helping both Megan and Brian out of the ditch that they fell into. This is cut between Megan and Brian playing chess, Megan sitting and thinking while Brian does laundry. The two get into a bit of a discussion about Brian’s father, saying his dad was mean sometimes…that he was bad sometimes. Megan then asks him, “Am I bad?” Martinez gives Brian a couple of ground rules if he’s to join their camp: He’s the leader, and no dead weight…everyone has to chip in. Brian seems a bit cold and distant…even when he’s reassuring Megan she’s not bad because her dad was mean to her…it just seems like he may be going bad again.
Brian has taken on the surrogate father role for Megan and the lover for Lily as the two are living together in the camp. Martinez, Mitch, Pete, and Brian are out on a supply run and Brian takes his gun out and walks a bit ahead…only to find a decapitated body roped to a tree with Liar being cut on a wooden plank and nailed into him…so…where’s the head? There’s a nice little scene with Lily, Tara, and new-to-us-Army-girl Alicia that hinted at some sexual tension between Alicia and Tara…so we may have a future romance in the works. As the men continue walking for supplies they find another headless body…this time Rapist is spelled out on a plank. They walk over to a nearby house…finding a third body with a gun wrapped around his chest, a self-inflicted bullet in his head and Murderer written on him.
Brian and Martinez go in to investigate the house as it sounds like there’s a walker stuck inside somewhere. With their being no electricity here except for flashlights…I must say this is kinda terrifying. Pete and Mitch follow along behind Brian and Martinez, and they walk into what I assume is a den of sorts. A door slowly opens and a walker comes out and attacks Pete. Remember those other heads I mentioned? Well they’re just casually laying on the ground chomping, waiting. One more comes and attacks Martinez, but he shakes it off and Brian gets the kill. But he stares at the walker as if he sees something he remembers.
In the house, Martinez lets Brian know that if it was just him he would have left him in the pit. Martinez goes on to say Brian seems like a different, changed man. Pete and Mitch go around searching the house and Mitch finds the nectar of the Gods…beer. HOORAY BEER. The four men sit in the den, drink beer and talk…bond a bit. When asked what Brian did when things went to hell, all he says is, “I survived.” Back at the camp now, Megan, Lily, Alex, Brian, Martinez, and Alicia are having a nice dinner but Lily tries to pry into what the old camp was like. Brian dodges around the question, dinner is finished and Brian goes to fixing a leak in his quarters. Martinez knocks, telling Brian he has a surprise for him.
Martinez and Brian stand on a camper, shooting golf balls into the distance while the two catch up on what took place after Martinez left. Martinez expresses his doubt about being able to keep his people safe while shanking some golf balls pretty badly. He says maybe Brian can help take some of the leadership duties off his shoulder…and then The Governor returns, whacking Martinez in the back of the head with his golf club and kicking him off the camper. He takes Martinez, drags him over to the pit and holds him down while the new walkers in the pit take Martinez and feast.
Back in his camper, Brian sits on his bed and Megan and Lily walk in. Clearly distraught, Lily tries to get Brian to talk to her. He says he had a bad dream…so…did he not kill Martinez? No. No he did. Martinez was killed. The whole group is gathered around trying to figure out what to do next. The theory left by Mitch is that Martinez was hitting golf balls, got drunk, and fell in. A leadership vote is suggested and it seems like that’s exactly what’ll happen but not right away. Pete, Mitch, and Brian go out on another hunt and they find another camp in the woods. Mitch suggests robbing them while Pete wants no part of it, wanting to find supplies instead of robbing. It should be mentioned Pete mentioned to Brian he could use a bit of help and survived.
After a bit of hunting, Brian walks on ahead like he sees something only to find a couple of dead bodies in the camp that used to be there. Brian says it wasn’t walker but another group that went in and killed and robbed the camp. Mitch, angry, kills the only man who lived during the raid. Mitch seems to be developing into the new Merle and I’m not so sure that’s a good thing. Brian, back in his camp, tells Lily and Megan to pack their things saying it isn’t safe anymore. He says things are about to go wrong and he doesn’t want to lose them. The plan is to leave that night and they do in a car that I assume he stole from the camp. With him are Megan, Lily, Alex, and Alicia. They drive…only to be forced to stop after seeing mud zombies. I mean it. Mud zombies. They are literally only seen from the upper half of their bodies trying to crawl back to solid ground. The Governor just stands in front of them, looking back at the car in such a sinister way.
And we’re back at the camp. Since there was literally nowhere else to go. Oh. By the way. Alex is a lesbian and is with that Alicia chick. Kind of cute and expected but there’s not much to it yet. Brian wakes up earlier than the girls and gets ready to exit the camper, only for Lily to wake up before he can leave. When asking what he’s doing, he says one thing: Surviving. He goes to Paul’s camper, heads on it, and stabs Paul in the side. He then heads over to Mitch’s camper, gun pointed at him as he walks in. The Governor lets Mitch know that Mitch was right…they should have taken the camp. He killed Pete since he knew Pete wasn’t willing to do the dirty work to stay alive. The Governor tries to convince Mitch that they will allow the camp to survive, not by doing the right or wrong thing, but by doing the only thing.
The two come up with a story to tell for Pete’s death: he died on a supply run saving The Governor and Mitch, The Governor saying, “Everyone loves a hero.” The newly led group go about setting up protection around the camp and going through every section of the camp from the armory to scheduling. The Governor and Mer—Mitch are hard at work to make sure this camp will last but I’m curious as to what will happen next. Back in his camper with Lily, he has the desire to find a better place…the people are willing to fight for it.
Just as things seem too happy, a walker is there to screw things up. Lily and Megan are playing a game of tag that goes…insanely wrong. Behind a curtain isn’t Tara…but a walker. Tara tries to drag the walker away from Lily but is unable too and just as things seem lost, The Governor comes in and shoots the walker…with walker blood covering Megan. Such a memory. He then goes back to the lake where he dropped Pete’s body, only to see walker Pete struggling to get back up to the surface. Since his leg is chained to a heavy rock. Preventing him from getting back up. Oh what fun. The Governor then drives out into the woods and stops, walks around a bit, and stops again…only to see Rick and Carl gardening. Old friends to be reunited soon — such a great occasion.
He then continues to walk, seeing Michonne and Hershel talking and an anger building in his eye with his gun pointed right at her…and the episode ends. Wow. With this being the episode before the mid-season finale, I am excited and pumped to see what’s coming next. If the clips for the next episode are any indication…we’re about to see war. Rick’s camp against The Governor’s camp…a rematch of last time. I must say, the redemption story for The Governor was really getting to me but to see him back as his old self was absolute fun. The mid-season finale, Too Far Gone, looks like it’ll be one of the best episodes — not just of the season — but the show itself. The Walking Dead is clicking on all levels consistently which has never happened before. Until next week!
Joshua Kaye (@JKaye57) is a recent college grad with a BA in Cinema Studies. A Queens, NY native, Josh hopes to one day rule all of New York, then the United States, then the world. But after he writes an Oscar winning screenplay.
