After a lengthy ordeal with a deadly, new illness at the prison, The Walking Dead took us on a little detour with the latest episode to catch up on the Governor and his goings-on. Live Bait focused solely on the elusive madman’s whereabouts since slaughtering his own army at the end of last season, giving us a breath of fresh air as we reel back from the flu that plagued the prison. While I missed the folks back at the slammer, I loved the idea of a Governor-exclusive episode.
Walking Dead fans familiar with the novel Rise of the Governor will recognize the many similarities between that book and this episode. The Chalmers family, for example, was in the book, only there wasn’t that little girl with them. The overall theme of the episode though was pretty similar, and as I loved Rise, it helped me to really enjoy this episode.
Another comic book character, Lilly, who serves a small role in the actual comics but ends up killing multiple main characters in a row, has been adapted as one of the Chalmers sisters for the show. One can’t help but wonder if Lilly from the TV show will end up doing the thing she does at the climax of the prison/Woodbury war, but I’m hoping not, just to keep things less predictable.
I enjoyed seeing the Governor take on the name of Brian, his new alias. It was interesting to see him create a new identity for himself and shed that Governor skin. However, I’m not sure whether he’s trying to distance himself from those atrocities he committed, or if he’s just keeping that a secret to manipulate these new survivors he’s found into following him. I’m predicting the latter because of the obvious symbolism during Philip/Brian and Megan’s chess scene, where the former Governor said, “You can lose soldiers but still win the war.” To me, that screams that the Governor does not consider his war with the prison group over and that he’s still plotting his revenge.
This new little girl, Megan, is obviously the Governor’s new Penny. She has a very similar role to that of Penny in the Rise novel, and it’s interesting to see even a sociopath like the Governor actually care for someone other than himself. As dastardly as I know the Governor still is on the inside, I believe him to be genuine with his intent to care for Megan. Penny was so important to him so it makes sense that seeing her in need of his help unlocked his paternal instincts to care for her. The unfortunate part about that is, if anything happens to Megan, and something probably will, the Governor is going to go BERZERK.
Finding Martinez at the end of the episode didn’t seem too likely for me, but it’s got me interested about the next episode. Martinez obviously found another group, and he will probably bring the Governor into the fold as he didn’t look too upset to see him. I’m thinking that the Governor will rise to power once again within this new group and use his cunning manipulation to head straight back to Rick Grimes and company for a little payback. I’m thinking the midseason finale is going to be the absolute massacre that comic book fans have been fearing since the start of season 3.
But what was up with Philip/Brian ditching the Spaghetti-O’s? Chef Boyardee might not be gourmet, but it’s got to be better than that kitten food he preferred to eat. What a waste of processed spaghetti rings.
The Jeremy Dick 