The Prodigal Returns. Review: The Walking Dead - “Live Bait”

Season 4, Episode 6

Air Date: Sunday, November 17, 2013, at 9/8c on AMC

Rating: ★★★★★

“He just lost it … The man in charge; barely got out alive.” – The Governor

I love it when The Walking Dead has a single focused episode. “Live Bait” dissects the man behind the eye patch to show the two sides of a villain who deep down isn’t all evil. The cool montage doesn’t hurt his image either. I don’t think I realized how intricate the man is in terms of his emotions. We’ve only seen him in batshit crazy mode, so this unexplored side of him is eye opening (no pun intended). I don’t like the man—never did—but could probably manage seeing him without wanting to gouge his other eye out. Maybe.

Observations and thoughts:

Man in the Mirror

Upon viewing the opening scenes of “Live Bait,” I give a silent ‘thank you’ to the writers for this unexpected flashback of what happened to the Governor (David Morrissey) after the downfall of Woodbury. His outward appearance remains the same, yet his disposition is all wrong. He’s lost his will to do much of anything, especially where personal hygiene is concerned. I never thought I’d see the man so out of sorts. He seems like the walking dead himself, shuffling along, barely saying much of anything. It’s almost sad to watch but knowing who he is, I can’t feel sorry for him. While the mountain man look isn’t his best, it does make him appear less menacing (even with the eye patch). I didn’t see him being so compassionate considering how insane he is and his underlying need to exact vengeance. Maybe he’s over it? I doubt it but who knows; a man can change, right?

Everyone Has Feelings

The anguish in Morrissey’s eye (har, har) is enough to pull on my heartstrings. Talking about daughters is a soft spot for the Governor and Morrissey does an excellent job of portraying a broken man with nothing left to lose. What I’m learning about him is he has a heart. He keeps it closed off to keep from being hurt because that’s what he is. Since the deaths of his wife and daughter, he’s been living a new persona. We don’t know the real Governor until we see him with Meghan (Meyrick Murphy). Speaking of the little girl, how about the way the family just accepts this stranger into their home with no hesitation. I think because he’s a man, thus representing protection, they cling to him like a baby to a mother’s breast. It draws my attention to the title of the episode and gives me a bad feeling. We know who the Gov is; we’ve seen what he’s capable of. It doesn’t help knowing he meets up with his former right hand man, Martinez (Jose Pablo Cantillo).

Lesson Learned

The Gov: “You have to kill the brain.”

Lilly: “What?”

The Gov: “Your sister; she shot ‘em in the body but you have to hit ‘em here. <Touching his forehead> That’s what kills them.”

Lilly: “Why?”

Exactly my question. Why does the brain trauma take out the walkers if they no longer have that capacity? It’s probably a question I won’t get answered anytime soon, but it’s one I won’t forget either.

Random Thoughts:

I’d be remiss to mention Cantillo’s excellent acting that doesn’t demand a word of dialogue. In the flashback, he shakes his head and makes a face at the Gov to convey what Martinez is feeling. That feeling of course is ‘our fearsome leader is no more.’ You have to wonder what else was going through his mind and how easy it was to make the decision to abandon the Gov.

Lilly (Audrey Marie Anderson), Meghan and Tara (Alanna Masterson) succeed in breaking down the Governor, making him human again. “You protect ‘em, keep ‘em safe; just try to make ‘em stronger until they can protect themselves.” While these are David’s (Danny Vinson) words, they become a sort of mantra for the Governor now that he has something to live for again.

Ladies, you don’t leave your little girl with a strange man no matter how many oxygen tanks he got for your daddy. Ever. This is the damn zombiepocalypse where the reanimated dead aren’t the only danger around.

I have to mention the walker in the bathtub. Can you imagine being confined to a wheelchair and knowing you won’t be able to outrun the demons unleashed on the world? What sucks is the man was brave enough to save himself from one fate not knowing he was destined for an even worse fate. The whole “we’re all infected” stigma really rings true in his case. It’s deep. Think about it.

Is there always a shovel handy? Whenever a body needs to be buried, the survivors have no trouble pulling a shovel out of the ether.

Running into the woods when a zombie horde is after you, not such a great idea. I always wonder why no one ever thinks to climb a damn tree. They just keep running, tripping over roots, spraining ankles and getting eaten.

Here’s a truly random thought—why doesn’t anyone say zombie? We’ve heard “walkers” from our survivor gang, and “biters” from the people of Woodbury, but no one’s called them zombies. You have to be curious about that.

Memorable lines:

Don to the Gov: “You been out there in the world, you know how to handle yourself against those things.”

Tara: “I’m sorry I lied to you.”

The Gov: “You don’t have to be sorry.”

Tara: “Are you lying to me?”

The Gov: “No.”

Now that the Woodbury gang’s somewhat back together again, how will this impact the Governor’s new situation (or the survivors at the prison)? You have to know he won’t be called “Brian” and he won’t behave the way he used to. Will the women in his life continue to lean on this new man or will they look to get away? I’m more than excited to see where things go from here on out. Now, we need a Carol (Melissa McBride) sighting.

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Elle

Writer, mother, realist, cloud lover, daydreamer, dessert enthusiast, sweet tea addict, perfectionist, and lover of life and Christ, but not in that order. http://www.fanfiction.net/~vikingloverelle