And so the Governor’s short road to redemption begins. What had been a surprisingly good fourth season of The Walking Dead took a major step back this week with the Governor-centric “Live Bait.” And now, instead of building on the strong season’s strong start the main question that must be answered is how many episodes will focus just on the Governor? And hopefully the answer is very few.
For anyone who has been reading my recaps since the beginning of last season it shouldn’t shock you to find out that I am not a very big fan of the Governor’s character. Just as a refresher, the Governor’s character was confounding based on the performance and his arc, rather uninteresting, and ultimately foolish. Season three did a poor job of introducing him and then sent him on a boring descent into madness that ultimately ended in him massacring his soldiers, which didn’t make much sense. To discover that he had returned at the end of last week’s “Indifference” didn’t excite me nearly as much as it did for many others. And after “Live Bait” I can’t imagine anyone but the most ardent Governor sympathizers still being excited by his return.
“Live Bait” was almost like an hour long “previously on The Walking Dead” segment. Through the magic of montage it showed the Governor’s quick transformation into emotionless living zombie, wandering various locales surviving – albeit not seeming to care very much if he did. The bulk of the episode then revolved around his returning to the world of the living by coming across a family of two adult sisters (Lilly and Tara), their dad, and Lilly’s daughter Megan. What followed were various scenes smashed together to show the major plot points of a journey the audience was not privy to, ultimately leading any connection he felt with the family and his redemption completely unknown and unfulfilling.
The near catatonic Governor was given shelter by this family for one night. After refusing to eat the meal they offered him he was guilted into carrying the cancer-riddled father of Lilly and Tara to bed because he was too weak to move. Having done that the dad asked the Governor to retrieve a backgammon set from a now zombie neighbor’s apartment because it was the only thing that would put a smile on Megan’s face. Apparently the Governor missed his family so much – as evidenced by the “photo” he carried around in his pocket – that he decided to help this one out and go get the backgammon set. So in the span of about 25 minutes the Governor has gone from aimless survivor to retrieving backgammon sets for a family he barely knows, all because he misses his daughter. If that wasn’t enough they ask the Governor to go to the nearby retirement home to retrieve some oxygen canisters so that the dying father can live a few more days.
After barely getting out alive the seminal moment for the Governor happens. Lilly is tending to a wound on his head when Megan comes in. Lilly disappears to get some ointment and that’s when the awkward conversation that brings the Governor back commences! Who knew that lying to Megan about being a pirate and then vaguely telling her what happened to his eye and his daughter would bring him back into humanity? It did because after the commercial break the Governor’s unkempt “I don’t care anymore” beard has been shaved off and he is now teaching Megan to play chess.
Clearly there are a multitude of problems with everything that has happened so far. While getting the backgammon set could be explained by the Governor’s sense of repaying the family back for letting him in, and maybe having Megan remind him of his daughter, it doesn’t seem to make much sense as to why he continues to help the family out. The opening of “Live Bait” rapidly montages through his entire transformation into a guy who is just going through the motions of survival and that doesn’t even take into account the maniacal person he had turned into by the end of Season 3. There is nothing that causes a shift in the mostly silent Governor to, all of a sudden, decide to help this family out. And if that isn’t enough, his three minute Q & A with Megan in the bathroom falls ridiculously short. All in the span of a commercial break the Governor goes from vagabond to a cornerstone member of the family.
While it makes sense for The Walking Dead to want to show the audience major points of the Governor’s journey “Live Bait” rushed through his multiple transformations way too quickly, causing both a lack of connection with the changes he is going through and most entertaining value.
The episode continues with the Governor taking the family with him once the Governor kills the recently deceased father in front of Megan – causing her to be scared of him. Lilly and the Governor get physical in the back of a truck and then it breaks down causing them to go on foot and Tara to sprain her ankle, which of course leads to them running away from a horde of walkers until the Governor gets trapped in a zombie pit that is being watched over by one of his former lackeys.
What is most the most troubling thing about “Live Bait” is that it doesn’t catch the audience all the way up to the Governor’s reveal at the end of “Indifference.” All of the momentum that had been built from the first four episodes of the season may have been salvaged if “Live Bait” was the only Governor-centric episode but it doesn’t seem like it is. It seems as though the focus will be on the Governor for at least another episode but it is very conceivable that it will be all about him until the midseason finale. Instead of allowing the Governor’s journey to be interspersed with his arrival at the prison the show has seemingly opted to tell his entire tale through episodes revolving entirely around him. And if “Live Bait” is any indication of the quality of these episodes then it might be a long remainder of the first half of the season.