And you thought the Governor had made an amazing personal transformation -- that he had somehow become a peaceful, warmhearted, chess-playing pacifist.
Psych!
In "Dead Weight," tonight's episode of "The Walking Dead," we see that the Governor (aka Brian) is right back to being a coldblooded, power-hungry homicidal maniac. ... And that he has Michonne in his cross hairs.
Wow, that didn't take long.
The episode essentially picks up where we left off: Martinez rescues Megan and his former boss from the zombie pit and welcomes them (along with Lily and Tara) into their cozy trailer-home community. It's a group that includes two buff former military guys, Pete and Mitch.
Martinez makes sure to inform the Governor that he is now in charge (This ain't Woodbury!) and he tells him that he wouldn't have saved the Governor had Megan not been in the pit with him. It's a decision Martinez will come to regret.
Anyway, the guys go off on a supply run that has some scary moments in a cabin and includes some gruesome scenery: Two headless, camo-wearing corpses, each with a hand-scrawled sign attached to them. One says "Liar" and the other says "Rapist." In the cabin, lies another corpse, with head attached, and a sign that reads "Murderer." Apparently this guy killed the other two.
During this pleasant little trek, the guys secure some supplies, including a nice stash of beer that they later share with the trailer-park denizens. Martinez gets a little tipsy and invites the Governor to the top of one of the RVs, where he has created a makeshift driving range.
As Martinez smacks golf balls off into the distance, he informs the Governor that Shumpert is dead -- that a biter got him and "I put him down myself."
It seems like a pleasant enough get-together. Martinez even talks of giving the Governor some leadership duties ("Maybe we can share the crown."). But then, suddenly, out of the blue -- WHAM! -- the Governor smacks Martinez on the noggin with a golf club.
OMG, Mr. Evil is back!
The Governor kicks his victim off the RV roof and then drags him to the zombie pit and tosses him in. Adios, Martinez.
All this happens in broad daylight, and conveniently, no one else is around. The story the Governor will tell everybody is that Martinez most likely got drunk and fell into the pit. That night, he wakes up trembling and tells Lily that he had a bad dream.
This, of course, leaves a power void at the top that the overbearing Mitch wants to fill. But some in the RV community rather take a vote. A decision is made to table the matter for now.
Cut to: A hunting trip with the Governor tagging along with Pete and Mitch. On this trek, we learn that Pete is the compassionate one and that Mitch is a ruthless jerk.
In the woods, they come upon a small encampment of 10 or so people. Mitch wants to rob them of their supplies, but Pete wants to let them be. Mitch relents but he's not happy about it.
Later, after their hunt yields only a couple of measly squirrels, they come across the camp and discover that it has been pillaged and some of its people left for dead. Mitch goes ballistic, figuring that someone got away with supplies that they could have had. He sees one of the campers squirming on the ground and viciously plants a knife in the guy's head before he even turns. Brutal stuff.
That night, the Governor is determined to get the hell out of Dodge.
"Pack your stuff," he barks at Lily, Tara and Megan. "It's not safe here anymore."
Despite their protests, the girls are corralled into a car. They race away, only to come to a huge mud pit in the road crammed with moaning zombies. The Governor assesses the situation and decides to go back.
But apparently things are about to change. The next morning, the Governor visits Pete in his trailer. "We need to talk," he says. But instead of chatting, we get a stabbing. The Governor plunges a knife into poor Pete, who never saw it coming.
Then the Governor goes to visit Mitch's trailer, gun poised in a bloody hand. We're, of course, led to believe that he'll kill him too.
Instead, the Governor relates a story from his youth -- a tale about how his father caught him and his older brother smoking one day. Hoping to spare his little bro from Daddy's wrath, the older brother lied and said he was the one who bought the cigarettes. The older brother wound up with two black eyes and a broken rib and our man Brian got a beat down anyway. Moral of the story? It doesn't pay to be a compassionate hero.
The Governor goes on to assure Mitch that, with his help, the trailer park will be run correctly. That Mitch will never have to worry about doing the right or wrong thing -- they'll do the only thing.
With that, they decide to toss Pete into a nearby lake and tell the others that he died on a supply run. Will they believe that story? "People believe what they want to believe," the Governor says. "Everyone loves a hero."
As if the hour hasn't had enough trauma already, we are forced to watch Megan nearly get killed by a walker, who has grabbed her by her ankle. Just before he can sink his grimy teeth into her, the Governor shoots it.
But then a weird thing happens: While other RV residents rush to comfort a crying Megan, the Governor keeps his distance, just blankly staring upon the scene. Later, he goes for a drive and pulls up in the woods, just outside the prison. From his vantage point, he can see Rick and Carl tending to their garden. And then he spots Hershel and a smiling Michonne -- the woman who killed his daughter Penny and slashed his eye out.
He raises his pistol, apparently ready to fire.
So what did you think of the episode? Do you think the show made a good move by focusing almost exclusively on the Governor for two weeks? Or did you miss Rick and the prison gang?
Contact Chuck Barney at Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.ChuckBarney, or Twitter.com/chuckbarney[1] [2]
References
- ^ Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.ChuckBarney (Facebook.com)
- ^ Twitter.com/chuckbarney (Twitter.com)
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