The Walking Dead: Dead Weight (S4: E7)

Martinez hauls Megan out of the ditch and then, after a moment of reluctance, drops a rope for the Governor. They’re at kind of a stand-off, with Martinez silently questioning the wisdom of providing help and shelter to someone he KNOWS is looney tunes. Lilly calls out, asking if “Brian” is OK. Martinez understands that the Governor has taken on a new identity, and a family. He agrees to allow them to join their camp under two conditions: Martinez is boss, and everyone works.

He has two guys helping him, Mitch and Pete, who are brothers. Martinez tells the Governor they need to go on a supply run. There’s a nearby cabin where they can get what they need. Along the way, the creepy gets creepier when they start finding headless corpses with cardboard labels on their chests – “liar,” “rapist,” and finally, on the cabin porch, “murderer.”

There’s banging inside the cabin, and no one is eager to go first. Martinez takes the opportunity to use his new authority and motions the Governor inside. It’s dark and a little confusing, but basically a dead mother-daughter pair attack, and are quickly put down. Afterward, the Governor is examining a photograph of the family while they sit around the fire drinking skunky beer they found. Martinez is examining the Governor, and comments that he seems different. He responds that he is different, and Martinez is pleased.

Back at camp, everyone is enjoying the gross, outdated beer when the topic of Woodbury comes up. Martinez is willing to talk about it, and Lilly is curious, but the Governor isn’t having it. (Can you imagine? “A few months ago I lost my head and massacred everyone who came to me for protection, but you’ll be fine HAHAHAHA.”)

Martinez isn’t very perceptive, and drags the Governor up to the top of a bus to hit golf balls, drunk and reliving the good old days in Woodbury. The Governor watches him like a scientist watches a rat in a maze, but Martinez is oblivious. He talks about how he can’t believe the Governor would risk having a family again after what happened to the last one, and then casually mentions the possibility of “sharing the crown” before the Governor snaps and bashes him over the head with a golf club. He gets down in Martinez’s face and growls that he doesn’t WANT to share the crown, something that you would think he wouldn’t need to EXPLAIN to a former citizen of Woodbury. Then, enraged, he kicks Martinez’s body off the bus and gets down to DRAG HIM TO THE ZOMBIE PIT and dangle him above countless groping hands and mouths before dropping him inside. EEP.

It doesn’t take long for the group to conclude that Martinez got drunk, played a bad round of golf, and “accidentally” fell into the pit. Pete, formerly military, volunteers himself for the job of leader until they can vote. People are grumbly. The Governor doesn’t look happy.

He goes with Pete and Mitch to hunt for supplies, and they come across a different camp of survivors, who appear to be heavily stocked with a lot of what they need. Mitch wants to ambush and rob them, but Pete refuses. He insists they move on and find their own stuff. After a fruitless search, they see that the camp was robbed anyway – and most of the people are dead. Mitch makes the point that they should have taken the supplies, and after stabbing a dying man in the head, he stalks off.

In the camper, the Governor tells Lilly things are going bad. He’s seen things go bad before, and it’s time to get out. He tells them to pack their things, they’re leaving at dark. They’re driving along, away from the relative safety of the camp, when they see what appears to be a bunch of zombies in the road. The Governor parks and gets out to investigate. The walkers are stuck in mud, hungry but harmless. Unfortunately there’s no way around. They go back to the camp.

The next morning the Governor knocks on Pete’s door. Pete is expecting him. He believes “Brian” is upset about Mitch’s behavior. He barely gets a word out before the Governor stabs him, killing him. He immediately goes to Mitch’s camper and confesses the crime. Mitch is angry, but the Governor is coldly practical. He tells a not-very-heartwarming story about his childhood, and how his brother was a good man who always protected people even when it didn’t help anything. Basically, he tosses Mitch a pack of cigarettes and tells him to smoke up. He’s going to need lethal recruits to protect “his” camp. Mitch does.

We see the Governor dispose of Pete’s body. He proves himself to be the psycopath we know and love by NOT putting a knife through his brain, but instead hooking a ball and chain to his ankle and dumping him in a lake so he can return later on and stare down at Pete the Underwater Walker. WHAT IS IT WITH THE GOVERNOR? Wall of aquarium heads, bodies in the lake…ICK.

Megan and Tara are playing tag in the camp, when Megan runs right up to a sheet on the laundry line and rips it back, hoping to see her aunt. (No, Megan. Just no. In all fairness, she’s too young to have seen in horror movies, though, so I GUESS.) She tries to crawl under a nearby camper but the walker follows, chomping his jaws dangerously close to her leg. Tara runs up and tries to pull the walker back, but his leg is decaying and her hands slide right off. The Governor shows up just in time to shoot it in the head and save the day. He tells Lilly they need a safer place, a better one, and takes a drive.

He drives to the edges of the prison, where he watches Hershel and Michonne. He pulls his gun and aims it at Michonne’s head, and I’m shouting at the TV about warrior instincts and PAYING ATTENTION for the love of god, when the screen goes black.

Next week is the mid-season finale, and the previews suggest people will die. Judge me all you want to, but I hope the Governor isn’t one of them. (And Daryl, obviously.)