Monday, November 18, 2013

The Walking Dead: Season 4 Episode 6 - Live Bait


Hello Walking Dead aficionados, welcome back for another round!  Great episode last night.  They are really taking their time with the story this season, but in a good way.  Never would have expected us to take a timeout and catch up with what the Governor has been up to for a whole episode!  Of course, once we realized this was going on, it was even more shocking that the episode didn't complete with us being caught up!  Anyway, let's dive in and discuss the highlights. 
Discussion Points 
At the end of last week's episode, we see that the Governor is right outside the torn down prison gates.  We assume he's there for revenge, and that this week's episode would pick right up where that left off.  But, instead we follow Phillip's journey ever since he spontaneously mowed down his remaining Woodbury community with a machine gun, with the exception of Martinez and the other dude.
  • As we found out, Phillip experienced some repercussions for his actions.  He didn't completely turn off his humanity for good after the incident.  He got to the point where he had given up on life.  We saw the 3 of them camping in the woods and the Governor letting a walker come straight for him through the campfire.  Martinez saw the writing on the wall and they abandoned him when he was sleeping.  They did leave him with a truck though, so that was nice!  
  • Phillip decided to do some soul cleansing by erasing any remnants of his former life.  He burned down Woodbury and eventually burned the photo of his family.  We saw the months go by and he was just walking and walking and probably hoping to eventually die, until he came to a town and saw a girl named Megan in a window, that clearly reminded him of his daughter.
  • Over the episode we saw Phillip aka Brian (a name he read off a memorial wall in the episode) slowly earn the trust of this family.  2 women, the one woman's daughter Megan and their father.  This family has been shut out from the rest of the world for the entirety of this zombie outbreak.  They didn't even know how to kill walkers.  And they especially didn't know that they're all infected.  The father eventually died, even after Phillip painstakingly got some additional oxygen tanks for him.  He tried to warn the family to get away from the body, but they needed their moment and he had already been dead for some time.  One of the sisters almost got bit by the revived Dad, but Phillip bashed his head in with the oxygen tank.  (Can't take credit for this but on the Talking Dead they mentioned the irony of being killed by the one thing that was keeping him alive)
  • Phillip and Megan had been bonding over the episode, but this event scared Megan from trust him anymore.
  • While the father was dying, Phillip got to play chess with Megan and the clearly had a metaphorical discussion about him being the governor.  Megan drew an eyepatch on the king.  And Phillip talked about how you can sometimes lose soldiers/pawns but still win the game.
  • After the incident and Megan's rejection of Phillip, he decided it was time to move on.  Of course, he knocked to say goodbye first and was convinced to bring them all with him.  It wasn't safe to stay.  They took their father's food truck and went on the road, living in the truck for as long as they could.  Of course, this allowed the inevitable happen where Phillip and Megan's mother got together for some action in the van (while Megan and the sister were sleeping right next to them no less!).   The van broke down and they had to continue on foot.  And of course, the younger sister falls and hurts her leg and then they stumble into a walker community!  They all drop their bags and make a run for it, but Megan stands still unwilling to trust Phillip.  Eventually, she broke down and ran into his arms and you could see it in Phillip's eyes he had earned the one thing he had been craving.  And he swore to protect her from then on.  
  • Of course, as they were running they fell into a nicely dug pit that happened to have a few wakers in there.  We saw some creative take-downs by the Governor using only his hands.  It was some nasty but entertaining stuff!  In the background we could hear machine gun fire.  While, they were dealing with those walkers, it would seem that Martinez and crew were taking out the rest of them.  The episode ends with Martinez looking down in the pit at the Governor, seemingly shocked that he was still alive! 
  • So, what will happen?  I'm assuming Phillip will find a way to assimilate with Martinez and company.  But, he has a new motivation to keep this family alive and safe.  He also lied to them about who he was.  Will the truth come out now that someone who knows him is here?  And it seems like we're still aways off from confrontation at the prison.  Will next week still focus solely on the Governor and crew?  It wouldn't surprise me if it did.  But, the bigger question is what will be Phillip's intentions at the prison?  Will he want to claim it from Rick?  Will he want to join Rick to keep his family safe?  Or, will we find out he somehow has been responsible for what has happened at the prison?  Should be interesting! 
One thing is for sure, this season of the show has been on fire!  I think it might be my favorite yet.  But, let's get through a full season before saying they've worked out all of their kinks!  I'm assuming we're going on a hiatus again after 8 episodes, but I really have no idea.  Maybe by then I'll remember the names of the new women in Phillip's life! Anyway, I look forward to our discussion in the comments.  Hope you enjoyed my ramblings as always and I'll see you next week! 

9 comments:

MJ said...

Why oh why are they trying to humanize the gov now ? LOL I like him crazy !

Glad to see the Gov's guys were smart enough to leave him behind originally.
Had to laugh on Talking Dead when they talked about no moaning during sex in
the apocolypse.

Gov's killing of those in the pit was awesome ! Very fitting too - didn't
he used to have pits of walkers ??

So you think Gov will go back with Martinez ? I don't know. Gov likes to be
in charge and why would Martinez want him as boss again ? And while the Gov
seems changed - he is not the type to forgive being left.

Pretty thin that these 2 women a kid and a sick man survived all this time in
the apartment building. Extremely thin that dad had his delivery truck just
full of food when it all started, even thinner that they barely know how to kill
the walkers and yet survived all this time. LOL

Think their names were Lily and Tara.

Mike V. said...

Something tells me the Gov will be back to his crazy ways eventually! But, I guess they at least need to show his new motivations for his actions. Of course, for half of the episode I half expected him to kill that whole family. lol

TD moaning discussion was quite comical I agree!

I think he did have a pit of walkers. and I'm guessing Martinez and co dug that pit.

I dunno...the Governor may accept being left. He would've done the same thing if someone was like him. As for Governor joining Martinez. I don't know...I think it may be in their best interest to work together. As for who is in charge, well I don't want to spoil the preview I watched. lol Of course, previews can be deceiving.

I do have to say one thing...it looks like our pal Charlie from Fringe will be showing up soon!

I guess the fact that they survived all this time on their own is a stretch...but it just seemed like a few things went in their favor and that's WHY they're still alive. It's not like they're living a great existence or anything. They just have the supplies to stay alive. Now, would a truck full of food last THAT long? I don't know! lol

Lily and Tara? Yep, never would've remembered that! Thanks! lol

Anonymous said...

WHY DID THEY LEAVE THE APARTMENT BUILDING?!!?!?!!?

AND the town seems "relatively" quiet (he got all the way to the old folks home, dont even get me started on that one)...so dumb

Dawn of the Dead level dumb (leaving the mall..)

-AUStarwars

Mike V. said...

AUSW - lol All good points. Since I already responded to this in an email to you I figured I'd just paste that here:

"I got the feeling that the only reason they stayed at the apartment was because they couldn't move on with their dad. I guess they didn't want to live that way...just by "surviving". They knew "Brian" was battle tested and that he once was part of a community. I would assume that's something they'd want to seek out. But yes...from basic survival, I don't see why they would leave, unless their supplies were running low. "

As for there not being too many walkers in the town, yeah I got nothing! lol

Mike V. said...

BTW, looked at IMDB and confirmed they are doing 2 batches of 8 episodes again for season 4. So, there are 2 more episodes until February.

mj said...

Yeah- lots peeps saying why would they leave, andy r these 2 chicks trusting this total stranger so quick too.

Mike V. said...

Well, when they were willing to go into the world with him, I think a lot of time had passed. They didn't indicate how long he had been there but maybe enough for them to trust him somewhat. As for initially, I think they were looking for help and while they initially did not trust him, it didn't take long for them to just accept him because they were really struggling to take care of their dad among other things.

But, I can understand the arguments too.

Leslie said...

Behind on my commenting…..Glad to see the Gov was actually affected by killing all his people.

Quiet sex….lol, and what happened with your last girlfriend? It seems no one gives a thought to birth control in the zombie apocalypse either!

“Nasty, but entertaining”…..good description of the pit killings! Gov did have a pit of walkers before that Milton set on fire. Liked how they showed some of the techniques behind that on TD. This show has an incredible makeup and effects team!

When they were walking down the road, they let Megan lag behind the group. Kinda dumb!

As for the girls going with him, I think after being isolated for so long, you would crave interaction with someone else, so maybe the basis for trust is skewed a little.

Mike V. said...

Leslie,

I thought the same thing with leaving Meagan lagging behind. I kept thinking something awful was about to happen. Which, granted it did...but I thought something would happen to her. lol

I think I fast forwarded that TD segment. But, I'm usually just trying to get through it so I can go to bed. lol But I would agree they have a good makeup/effects team!

I kinda was thinking along the same lines with the girls trusting the Governor so easily. Plus, I think more time passed than it seemed in the episode and he gave them no reason to not trust him. And considering his knowledge on the zombie apocalypse over their own, probably helped further the case for them.