“You seem different now. Changed.” - Foolishly presumptuous words from Martinez,
during a brief one-to-one with The Governor. That being said, it did appear at
times during “Live Bait” that Philip Blake/Brian Heriot had indeed changed,
having found a new purpose for himself as a surrogate father. However, it did
not take long for the familiar Governor to re-emerge during “Dead Weight”.
Throughout the first half of the episode there was a look on
The Governors face that constantly seemed to be suggesting that he was ready to
blow at any moment. Martinez – once a general, now the man in charge – seemed to
take delight in taunting his former leader; being the only one around to know
the truth about him. As a result he became too complacent in the assumption
that Philip Blake was a changed man.
There were quite a few loaded moments during this episode
when characters referred to The Governor as “Brian”, especially when Martinez
used the name. Martinez also had the temerity to question whether Philip/Brian
could continue to take care of his new ‘family’ (reinforcing a passing remark
from Lily, that she had never felt safer, to which Philip/Brian took umbrage). There
was always tension between the two, whenever they were left alone together.
This tension came to a head about half-way through the
episode, just after Martinez dropped to revelation that Shumpert had died. I
know that he wasn’t a major character, but it seems like a fairly pointless way
to bump-off a character – very much a case of: “... oh by the way, this
happened”. When this was said, I initially made the assumption that it was a
bluff, and that Martinez would use this to gain leverage over The Governor.
However, this was just a foolish assumption on my part, as barely a moment
later Martinez took a nasty strike to the head from a golf-club, before being
kicked off the roof of a caravan, and dragged into a Walker-pit. This was a
surprising development!
The Governor told nobody about what he had done, and
everyone would just have to believe that Martinez got drunk and fell into the
pit. As a result a new leader was elected to run the tented-community, one of
two brothers: Pete Dolgen. The ethics of the two brothers were put to the test
during a supply run, when they notice another encampment occupied by other
survivors. Mitch’s idea is that they power their way through, and take any
supplies that they need by force, while Pete refuses this notion – opting to
hunt for supplies instead. The resultant hunting expedition does not yield
much, and tensions arise between the two brothers when The Governor returns to
the encampment and discovers that the group of survivors were massacred and
ransacked by some other group (so they would have died regardless).
At first Philip/Brian attempts to leave during the night,
taking Megan, Lily, Tara and her new friend Alisha with him. This plan doesn’t
work out though, as their path is blocked by a swarm of Walkers trapped in
thick mud. They return to the camp, and Philip/Brian takes matters into his own
hands. He visits Pete one morning under the pretence that he wants to talk
about his problematic brother, but once inside his caravan, he literally stabs
Pete in the back, before choking him to death.
He then visits Mitch, holding him at gunpoint as he explains
that he killed his brother. He then reveals that he had a brother of his own,
who always had to play the hero; showing a distain for the heroic mindset and its
ineffective nature within this world. He spares Mitch’s life, and takes control
of the camp. During the course of a single episode he went from a hostage in a
pit, to the leader of a group of survivors – and gained himself a loyal and
subservient new right-hand man, with whom he shares a similar way of thinking.
The Governor is truly back! Philip Blake, the more domineering side of his
personality, ultimately won out over Brian Heriot (regardless of the efforts he
made).
Once all of this was done, all that was left was to connect
this story to the main one. The ending to this episode showed The Governor
watching over the prison. Timeline-wise this appears to be taking place around
the end of the events of “Internment” as Hershel and Michonne are seen talking,
before getting into a car. The Governor is angered by the sight of Michonne,
and aims his gun at her to close out the episode.
The fascinating character of The Governor was once again the
focus this week, and after last week’s episode appeared to show a potential
redemption for the character, ultimately he is not a good man – and he knows
that. Next week’s episode will be the mid-season finale, and looks set to be
one of the biggest episodes in the show’s entire history to date. A
confrontation between Rick’s group and the Governor’s group – which will likely
result in a high body count – and it is more than likely that we will say
reluctant farewells to some beloved characters. I have not read the comics, so
I can’t form any speculation over who will survive to see the second half of this
season, but it seems clear that not everyone will make it through such an
encounter.
I’ll try to be prepared for the worst!
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