Live Bait (406)

[GateWorld]

THE WALKING DEAD - SEASON FOUR LIVE BAIT EPISODE NUMBER - 406 In the wake of Woodbury's destruction the Governor is taken in by a small family, and soon finds that he has become an indispensable part of their lives. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >>

[Gollumpus]

Snake Plissken.

regards,
G.

[Baron Of Hell]

I would have liked this more if I was watching the season all at once. This delayed things I really wanted to see like the fallout about Carol with Ty and Daryl. I think this is my least liked episode just because it is interrupting the story I want.

[VampyreWraith]

^I pretty much agree.

I did like the episode. I thought it was really good(a bit slow though, but that's not really that bad a thing to me). I don't really like the way that they spent the whole episode on the Governor. It's good that we're seeing what he's been up to since the end of last season, and having him be the focus of the entire episode allows the audience to really get to know and feel for him; but I don't really like how we had nothing on the main group, because I really wanted to see what was going to happen there. I get the feeling that next week will be the same since the Governor hasn't reached the prison yet, so we don't seem to be at the point in his story that last week's episode left off at.

I hope he doesn't end up seeing that family as a weakness, and ends up killing them because of it(especially since he ran into that guy at the end). I liked the Governor as a bad guy, but I hope he keeps trying to protect that family. For most of the episode I was worried that he was going to kill them because he seemed to be growing attached to them(kind of seeing them as the family he lost). Burning the picture of his family probably means that he wants to let go of his past and move on(but it can't be that easy). I thought it was really cool that he risked his life to get the oxygen for the old man, who he knew was going to die anyway, just to give his family a little more time with him.

[fems]

I kept waiting for a scene at the prison only to see the credits roll up! Like the others, I was eager to see how Daryl would take the news about Carol, but it got delayed for another week! Maybe even more if, indeed, the next episode will pick up where this one left off as the preview suggested...

At first, I thought the governor would attack the prison again when we saw glimpses of him outside it in previous episodes, but now I'm wondering if maybe he's going to them to either ask them for help [against his former associates] or for shelter (for him, or maybe just the girls). It would explain why he's all alone in those moments and considering the new life he's seemed to make for himself with the sisters and little girl, I doubt he has an army lying in wait for revenge.

I don't even know if he's really a villain anymore or if he simply needed a purpose. He certainly did his best to create Woodbury (was it?) but then the power went to his head and [curing] Penny was his priority all along, not the town itself. After Penny was killed and he saw his revenge going up in smoke (or more like killed just about everyone) he was on his own and just being, as we saw in this episode. He looked ready to die when he fell down until he saw Megan in that window. Him going out to get that boardgame for her at the old man's request and later risking his life for the oxygen tanks at the woman's request seemed to conflict with his 'evil' nature: to me, it looked more like he had found a new purpose [protecting the family from the outside world] and now that they're all on the road, I wouldn't be surprised if they become his new priority. Penny is gone but Megan certainly resembles her and he now has a new girlfriend and a very clumsy (and hopefully soon-to-be-killed) wannabe cop as well.

Running in to his old pals didn't seem like a good development and considering the kind of work Merle did for him, I'd say these guys are dangerous and probably a bit deranged as well. After all, they stuck by him after he killed all of their own people and didn't leave until they realized that he was useless and didn't care about anything anymore. That is, assuming they left the morning after the walker-in-the-campfire-incident and not that days or weeks had passed between that and him waking up alone. Anyway, they're probably cruel and now they have him and two attractive (enough) women, which probably means trouble...

I would have preferred the events with the governor and the prison group to take place side by side rather than catching a glimpse of him every now and then until this episode to explain what he's been up to this season and probably another one to bring it to the point where he's standing outside the prison.

[magictrick]

I thought this was one of the best episodes of the season. It takes a strong writing team to make the audience feel some empathy for a villain like the Governor, and that's exactly what was happening in this episode.

It's great to see the separate storyline and how it will eventually lead the Governor back to the prison. I wonder what will happen when his new adopted family finds out the truth about his past, will be interesting to see.

Looking forward to more next week.

[LoneStar1836]

I didn't mind the episode focusing only on the Governor. Yeah I want to see what happens next after last week's ep with the Governor standing outside the prison, but I need to know just what he's been up to all this time. As far as no Rick and company, I don't mind the break. I can pretty much guess the fallout from the Carol thing...Daryl not being too happy with the others being pretty much like Maggie was.

Jumping back and forth between the past Governor and the present prison wouldn't have worked as well for me. Here you were only focused on the one character at a particular place in time which granted didn't make for an exciting episode even though I thought it flew by pretty quick. I don't think he can be fully redeemed, but I may be surprised as to why he shows up at the prison. Whereas I currently think he's there to get some revenge but then again....

[squirrely1]

First off I was a bit annoyed that we were stuck with the Governor the whole time. I think they did it though to immerse the audience into his life and try and drum up empathy and attempt to redeem the character. I agree with Lone Star though...not sure he is completely redeemable and I struggled with the believability of it all that he would actually risk his life like that for the oxygen and so forth. Maybe he was so depressed and "ready to die" with nothing to live for that this more or less like fems says....gave him something to live for again. But there were things that bugged me about it. Like dumping the spaghetti-o's out the window? I mean really? you have such plentiful food supplies that you can waste like that? I know that is a little thing...but it bugged me. I was about to forgive him...but wasting the Spaghetti-O's ....Nah...that's unforgivable

If you watched the Talking Dead....(Oh BTW.... Chris Hardwick's comments at the end regarding his father's passing was just so heartfelt.....made me cry) anyway... if you watched that...you would think they are going to try and to forge an alliance between Rick and the Govenor. I just wonder if he didn't show up there at the prison in order to get help or try to make peace. We know that they are going to have to leave the prison soon...maybe his peace offering will be to help Rick and Prison company to fight off walkers together in order to help them stay alive enough to vacate the premises. I just think it goes back to the enemy of my enemy is my friend dealio SO I guess we will see.

Anyway....it's was a pretty good ep....but I'm not entirely ready to sign on with the Governor just yet... I think he's still a loose cannon and mentally unstable. So I guess time will tell.

[kennythewraith]

it wasnt a bad epsidoe and Morrissey is still doing a fantastic job. I just dont like how the govenor is being written. i never read the comics but i researched the character after it was anounced he be on the show and i was expecting a even more deadly and crazy villain than Ledger's Joker. I feel like they are trying to make him a sympathetic figure when he should be all out, balls to the wall evil.

[LoneStar1836]

it wasnt a bad epsidoe and Morrissey is still doing a fantastic job. I just dont like how the govenor is being written. i never read the comics but i researched the character after it was anounced he be on the show and i was expecting a even more deadly and crazy villain than Ledger's Joker. I feel like they are trying to make him a sympathetic figure when he should be all out, balls to the wall evil.

I have read the comics and agree that they have taken a more sympathetic approach to the character. The one in the comics was pure evil so it took very little to hate the vile person he was and wish the most horrible death possible on him, but that made him pretty much a one dimensional character. Kirkman wrote a prequel book about the Governor, but honestly I could care less about who he was before because he was such a disgusting, evil person in the comics.

I like that this Governor is not so one-dimensional. You can get conflicted feelings about him, and yet he is still a terrifying person. I still want the Governor on the tv show dead in the end, especially for killing Andrea.

[kennythewraith]

I have read the comics and agree that they have taken a more sympathetic approach to the character. The one in the comics was pure evil so it took very little to hate the vile person he was and wish the most horrible death possible on him, but that made him pretty much a one dimensional character. Kirkman wrote a prequel book about the Governor, but honestly I could care less about who he was before because he was such a disgusting, evil person in the comics.

I like that this Governor is not so one-dimensional. You can get conflicted feelings about him, and yet he is still a terrifying person. I still want the Governor on the tv show dead in the end, especially for killing Andrea.

i feel that they could make him more than one dimensional without making him watered down but while i wish they werent taking this route with his story...i do admit this is still a good character and he still is intimidating and more interesting than just a pure psycho, i just wish he ends up more violent and ruthless before he dies, which his death is something we all know is coming.

[the fifth man]

I thought this was one of the best episodes of the season. It takes a strong writing team to make the audience feel some empathy for a villain like the Governor, and that's exactly what was happening in this episode.

It's great to see the separate storyline and how it will eventually lead the Governor back to the prison. I wonder what will happen when his new adopted family finds out the truth about his past, will be interesting to see.

Looking forward to more next week.

I could not agree more with this post. This episode was exceptionally good IMO. I can't wait to see where they are headed with the Governor.

[LoneStar1836]

i feel that they could make him more than one dimensional without making him watered down but while i wish they werent taking this route with his story...i do admit this is still a good character and he still is intimidating and more interesting than just a pure psycho, i just wish he ends up more violent and ruthless before he dies, which his death is something we all know is coming.

He hasn't been as violent as in the comics, but frankly some of the things he did in the comics aren't exactly fit for cable tv. The show gets an M rating, but what he did to Michonne in the comics goes beyond what I bet they are willing to show. Along with how they have decided to change what has happened to other characters.

In the comics

Spoiler:

when Rick first met him, he cut off Rick's hand. Just don't think they wanted to do that in the show as well as Kirkman having once later said he would have not done that to Rick. Later on, the Governor beheads Tyreese. That could still possibly happen, but I seriously doubt they kill Tyreese before they leave the prison.

And then you have the repeated rape and torture of Michonne, when he held her, Rick, and Glenn hostage. I honestly think that is the only thing that they have not done on the show that pushes the Governor to the level of evil he is in the comics. They came close enough to showing that part of him when he implied that he was about to rape Maggie to make her talk.

Otherwise I think they have shown enough to get him close to the comic book Governor without going over the edge. What's different from the comics is there was very little attempt at humanizing him, where as the show as taken steps to do that, especially when we first got to know him, and then with this episode. The Governor in the comics by that point would have most likely never attempted to save that child in the pit like at the end of this episode. He'd have probably picked her up and thrown her to the walkers himself in order to save himself.

[Halfifrit]

I didn't see that coming, but was pleasantly surprised. I don't dislike him anymore, however, the personality shift was strange, whatever will happen to the rage inside him.

I like the girl, and wonder if the death of her will tip the governor off his nice game. This can only be a facade, it always ends bloody. I can't imagine the sisters surviving long, why leave that apartment so abruptly.