The Walking Dead - S04E06 Live Bait (2013)

Review

The episode begins directly after the Governor slaughters the survivors of Woodbury's assault on the Prison, proving he really is a psychopath taken to throwing temper tantrums. Anyone else reminded of a certain President manchild? With his two closest henchmen he disappears down the highway, eventually making camp in the middle of nowhere. Next morning his henchmen have disappeared into the night and the Governor is left wandering the roads of post-apocalyptic America.

The big fella eventually makes a township, sorry didn't take note of the name - hey I suck like that, and finds a small family surviving in an apartment block. Lily and Tara the grown ladies and protectors of their group, their dad who is slowly succumbing to cancer and Lily's young daughter Megan. The Guv naturally takes a shine to Megan and Lily is attracted to the one eyed stranger. After having to kill the resurrected dad, cancer is a bitch, the group decide to hit the road for hopefully pastures greener. Unfortunately this walking off into the sunset is interrupt by a bunch of walkers and the Guv meets an unexpected old friend.

Did anyone ask for a change in tempo? I didn't, you possibly didn't, but by hell we got one as The Walking Dead dispenses with happenings at the prison to go road trip with the Governor. Not that I'm overly complaining, the storyline ain't done and I'm not a big believer in loose strands in my viewing diet, which would be the situation currently. Fingers crossed this isn't a sign of the times and the writers haven't decided to take us down a whole bunch of side roads.

Meanwhile back with the Governor and his new family unit

For any reader who has delved into the graphic novels, and hold onto your linen if you haven't there are some different decisions made on those pages as to what happens in the television show, the Governor on screen is a pale imitation to the one in the novels. Got to hand it to Rick though, he has a better time on screen with the Gov; readers of the novels will see what I did there. Okay so David Morrissey's Governor isn't the big bad we expected, and to be honest is slightly on the boring side, so I'm hoping we are simply going to get a few episodes to get the big fella up to speed again and ready to have another tilt at Rick's roughriders. Once again a thread from last season that needs sniping to keep me being a happy camper. What is interesting, in a sort of geek overload fashion, is that the Governor tells his new found family that his name is Brian Heriot, a name he read on a barn wall during his travels, which makes no sense in the overall scheme of things, why would be need to lie about his name? For anyone who has read The Road to Woodbury novels Brian was the name of the Governor's more accomplished brother, this would be more interesting from a thematic point of view, the Governor ready to adopt the mantel of his now deceased take charge Bro. I'm waiting to see how this bit of name misinformation is going to rebound with the Gov running into his former cronies. Anyone else thinking there's going to be a few fatalities amongst the survivors in the not too distant future?

So we have some new blood introduced this episode, and just how long they will survive when the Governor eventually goes rogue is probably not that high on anyone's list at the moment. Lilly and her daughter Megan provide the instant replacement family the Gov has been craving since Michonne decided to upset the apple cart in downtown Woodbury, and Tara is probably going to be another of the kick arse chicks The Walking Dead tends to deliver. Of course survival isn't a high probability in this show so we probably won't get to spend a lot of time with the new family unit. On the bright side we also get a couple of Woodbury survivors which is probably going to be problematic for the Governor in due course.

For all the zombie, sorry walking dead, fanatics out there we get a bumper crop to get your motor running. Besides grandad going all chompy on us there's a bunch of walkers to contend with and a pit with a few more as the cherry on top. While it isn't exactly raining walkers there should be enough dead bods to keep things rolling up hill.

Before I forget, talking of pits as walker traps, clearly the Governor and crew have stumbled onto an organised community, evidence by the setting of defences. Are we talking more cannon fodder for the big dude's war on Rick's forces? Guess we need to check next week to see how big the community is and whether or not big bad Brian can somehow take control of things and turn these survivors into another army.

I was also somewhat intrigued by little Megan Chambler, who clearly isn't playing with a full set of Barbie dolls. For those following the show Lizzie Samuels is clearly somewhat psychotic and has a few strange thoughts about the walkers, which is pretty close to Hershel's own outlook, minus the psycho overtones, in season two. Does Megan harbour similar dark thoughts to Lizzie, or is she simply experiencing something akin to extreme shock. Could be an interesting few episodes coming up if the writers decide to go dark side on this character. Come on y'all, we're all wishing that goes down.

Speaking of which, Megan of course is the "Live Bait" in the title of the episode and clearly is meant to bring the Governor back from the brink he is at during the course of the episode. Megan looks just enough like the Governor's daughter Penny to make the obvious connection and is perhaps a chance for the big fella to gain some sort of redemption from his actions last season. Naturally redemption isn't going to be something the dude is after, but it's still an effective metaphor for chances lost.

Bit ambivalent towards this episode to be honest, wasn't expecting a change of tempo this early in the season, and for sure wasn't expecting to spend this amount of quality time with the Gov. Still guess the storyline needs some sort of conclusion else I'll be squealing like a stuck pig, the evil part of my mind is hoping for a visualisations of happenings in the graphic novel, oh hell yes. Guess good enough bridge into the second part of the season, fingers crossed the former dictator of Woodbury gets his act together real quick and once again goes psycho. Catch you on the other side of the next episode kids.