THE WALKING DEAD: Adair, Harvey & Smith Take The BAIT.
Season 4, Episode 6 “Live Bait”
TIMOTHY: Hey! Curtis is back! Welcome back sir!
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis My zombie huntin’ team. @TheNightDusto @timothyharvey @anniemariney
#withfriendslikethese @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
DUSTIN: Hi Curtis. So, here’s a weird thing.
TIMOTHY: What?
DUSTIN: I am looking forward to finding out what The Governor has been up to.
TIMOTHY: That… is not like you.
DUSTIN: This show being good this season has made me into a new person.
TIMOTHY: And if it all falls apart?
DUSTIN: Oh, I’ll be the same bitter jerk I’ve always been.
TIMOTHY: Well, at least we have that to look forward to.
PREDICTIONS!
• Daryl will not be happy.
• The Governor will have built a freakin’ army of jerks.
• Sometimes there will be zombies, sometimes there won’t.
• No one will have a pony. Even people who really REALLY want one.
• I’m gonna say… both of The Governor’s henchmen have… survived? Yes. Survived.
You’re wasting a prediction on ponies.
I like ponies. I had a pony. His name was Peaches.
…
Seriously. I really did. On to the recap!!!
But first, a word from our sponsors. Yes folks, It’s the recap, review and general ridiculousness that is Dustin Adair and my weekly viewing of AMC’s The Walking Dead. As always, we are joined by our Studio Audience Of One, Miss Anne-Marie, and, as stated before, returning this week, our much missed Curtis Smith.
Curtis will be providing Twitter commentary again, and this would be a good time to remind everyone that The Walking Dead is for mature audiences, and so are these reviews, so be warned… we misbehave a touch. There are also SPOILERS, which, frankly, should be obvious, but we’ve got a new SPOILERS graphic, and we’re not afraid to use it.
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis Prediction: Carl’s hat finally tells him to slaughter the group. @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
Recap!
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis Prediction: Darryl goes after somebody. @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
Dead guys, The Governor’s group drives away, it’s the end of last season.
Looks like we’re going to find out what he’s been up to these last few months.
Now it is nighttime. The Governor is standing guard as a walker approaches. She is a lovely lady walker.
She falls in the fire and The Governor just sits there like a d@#$ until that one guy, you know, the main henchman from last year, I think his name was Henchman, shoots her. He doesn’t look too happy about it.
In the morning, The Governor comes out of his tent to find that both of his henchmen have abandoned him, because he is the worst.
Because it’s not the mass slaughter of his own people that make them think he’s dangerous. It’s the apparent lack of concern for his own safety. Actually… that kind of makes sense. Doesn’t excuse the stupid driving-away-with-a-mass-murderer thing though.
The Governor heads back to Woodbury and burns that mother to the ground, I guess that’s why Team Zombie are still at the prison.
That would explain it, yes, except that we saw the townsfolk arriving at the prison, which means that Team Zombie went to Woodbury before it was burned down, and still decided to abandon it. Of course there does seem to be a bit of a zombie problem.
Then The Governor narrates about being on the road. He looks like a hobo. He is telling the story to some ladies.
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis Zombie Survival Tip: Try to look like Snake Pliskin @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me #buyafakebeard
He does look like Snake Plissken. He even sounds like Snake Plissken. Now I want Kurt Russell to cameo on The Walking Dead.
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis Is this Nickelback? @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
It certainly is a musical walking montage, curiously at the beginning of the episode, instead of its traditional wrapping up spot at the end. This season continues to shake things up. Apparently he’s been walking a really long time from the beard and hair, and he’s looking really thin. Really thin. David Morrissey has either lost a lot of weight or their costume designer has done a great job with making the cut of his clothes work for it, because the word I’m looking for here is gaunt.
He tells them that he was in a town, but the man in charge went crazy and it all fell to @#$%. He does not mention that HE was the one in charge.
Which, admittedly, would be a bit of an awkward conversation. “So, yeah, kinda went a little crazy and killed a whole bunch of people, including my girlfriend, but hey, got that out of my system, right?”
Oh, and The Governor’s preferred method of avoiding walker attacks: Stepping to the left.
He goes to an apartment building where he sees a little girl in the window.
More accurately, he lays down on the ground, exhausted… is he just wanting to die? Then he sees the girl and drags himself to his feet. Is she real or is he seeing his daughter?
He goes upstairs and discovers the ladies there; also an old man on oxygen and an adorable little girl.
The new neighbors are not particularly hospitable. They ask if he plans to stay and he says only for the night.
Real. OK then.
One of the ladies is a stone cold super-cop bitch. She says she will end his life if he tries anything and then when he say he won’t she is happy and wants to fist bump him. He does.
Do these folks seem a little too trusting? They take his gun, but they don’t search him, and that might be a terrible mistake.
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis She should be talking to the good eye. @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
The Governor says his name is Brian Harriet, which is the name of someone who has died, that he saw on the side of a barn.
The Not Cop lady comes to the apartment The Brian has taken over to offer him some food. Spaghetti O’s.
He does not eat it, he has gone gluten free, you guys.
Yeah, I’m not sure that I would eat it either. For all he knows, it’s poisoned or drugged, and this Instant Family could be way too good to be true. Ooooh. What if they’re cannibals? Oh, and the Not Cop Lady? Her name is Lilly.
Instead he eats his own stock of cat food.
Anchovies I think. Probably should have gone with the cat food.
The little girl and the old guy play Parcheesi or whatever while the ladies clean up. They talk about how the little girl isn’t eating when The Brian brings in his plate back. The Cop (Tara) holds her gun on him for a minute, then the Not Cop lady washes his plate.
There is no electricity, but there is a TV.
This is a lovely family. They will be dead soon.
Yeah… they are a little too good to live I’m thinking. And grandpa is sick, and they seem… too innocent?
They talk about the food truck outside and how they all got to back together with oxygen tanks and food and such. Basically Dad (the guy with the oxygen tank) saved them all. (Dead, so so dead)
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis Hoarding doesn’t seem so unhealthy now, does it? @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
They are just accepting The Brian into the family they even let him carry Dad to bed.
Apparently there are walkers upstairs and even after a year of zombie Armageddon, Tara has not figured out that head shots are what you need to kill a walker.
Wait. So they’ve spent all this time holed up in the apartment, and they’ve never actually killed a walker? Not one? Um. Really? Blind luck only goes so far kids… you are all so toast.
The old guy asks The Brian to go upstairs and get a backgammon set from upstairs… you know, where all the walkers are.
There’s something so defeated about him here… it’s like he’s looking for a reason to go on, and that reason is apparently backgammon.
So he goes.
He finds the board games pretty easily, but takes some time to explore the apartment.
Nice suspense here, and really eerie buildup as we see the artificial limbs on the floor and the wheelchair…
The Brian kills the walker in the bathtub. And takes his gun.
This might be the saddest walker I’ve seen in a while. Can you imagine? Looks like he shot himself, and under the circumstances, that would be… understandable, I suppose is the word I’m looking for, but sad.
So the little girl is reading when The Brian brings back the board games. The Not Cop Mom lady thanks him.
Back at his apartment, The Brian looks at his family portrait then covers his face.Then he sleeps until the Not Cop Mom lady arrives in the morning with a bag of like sandwiches.
She brings him back his gun but he says he doesn’t want it back. He has the gun from the old man in the tub. Then he tells them that you have to shoot the walkers in the brain to kill them.
She asks why like an idiot. The Brian says he does not know.
I still have a bit of trouble with them not having figured this out by now… oh I know what it is: NO ONE IN THIS WORLD HAS EVER SEEN A ZOMBIE MOVIE. Which is insane.
So apparently the Not Cop Mom lady was a Nurse and she knows that Dad is gonna die of stage 4 lung cancer soon. The Not Cop Mom Nurse lady wants The Brian to go to the local old folk’s home and get some more oxygen.
Okay, I hate these ladies. Always sending The Brian on arbitrary missions of redemption. When they die horribly I will no longer be upset.
In fairness to the ladies, the Governor IS looking for redemption. I mean, why else would he be doing any of this? Maybe for a sense of belonging, but it’s looking like redemption from here.
The Brian goes to the old folk’s home, because, you know, why not.
The redemption. Yep.
The lights are out there, too, so he brings his trusty flashlight.
Walkers are strapped to beds.
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis If he sticks around, one of those zombies will write him a check for $12. @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
And in wheelchairs. It’s pretty damn creepy.
The lady in the wheelchair. She’s the really creepy one. Another sad place. None of these people could have gotten away, could they? Just trapped inside to die by walker or starvation… nice job Walking Dead, you’ve given us a really disturbing place here.
The Brian finds all the oxygen just as all the walkers find him!! Run, The Brian, run!!
…wait… am I rooting for The Brian?… er… I mean… The Governor?
You are, and it’s OK. It shouldn’t be, but it is.
He only gets out with one tank. He brings the tank to the ladies and then the Not Cop Mom Nurse lady comes in to mend his wounds. They are going to totes bone, then he is going to kill the @#$% out of all of them.
You think so? You don’t really think so, do you? At the beginning of the episode, maybe, but by this point? And honestly, as awful as he was in the last couple of episodes at the end, we never really got the full monster the Governor was in the comics.
The Not Cop Mom Nurse lady bandages a wound on The Brian’s forehead. And she blows on it like he is a little child. The boning will start any second now.
The Not Cop Mom Nurse lady says that the little girl thought The Brian was her dad. But he is not. But why mention that? Because these people are gonna die so hard.
Oh that’s not going to play on every guilt nerve he still has, now is it?
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis Prediction: Carol hooks up with the Governor. @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
The little girl comes in and watches. The Not Cop Mom Nurse lady goes to get come ointment and leaves the little girl there to talk to The Brian.
Way to kill the mood kid.
The little girl asks all the questions of The Brian. I thought she didn’t talk, didn’t I hear someone say she didn’t talk? Why is she talking now?
She doesn’t smile. She only talks a little and she doesn’t eat much. Not sure you should be looking at this guy as a father figure, little girl.
The Brian says he will tell the little girl what happened to his eye if she can keep it secret. She offers to pinky swear. The Brian does and she crosses her heart and… OMG… hopes to die!!
Yeah, that sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me.
Then The Brian tells her he is a pirate. Oh, The Brian, you scamp.
The Governor made a funny! Hey kids, come see!
Actually, this rediscovering of his humanity is starting to worry me a little, because I really think it’s going to be him putting his past aside and becoming part of this little family and then it’s all going to be ripped away.
The Brian tells the little girl he lost his eye trying to protect someone. The little girl asks if the other person got hurt and The Brian says yes.
The little girl says she is sorry. (deeaaaaad)
The Brian decides to teach the little girl to play chess. Apparently some time has passed, and The Brian has had a shave and a haircut. The Brian tells the little girl all about the chess pieces. The little girl draws an eye patch on the king of the chess pieces. The Brian is all touched.
CHESS MONTAGE!!
The Not Cop Mom Nurse lady comes out of Dad’s bedroom to tell them that Dad has died.
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis What’s your next move Govey? @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
Considering how they don’t know about the head shots, can they really not know about the whole coming back from the dead as a walker thing?
So everyone is gathered around Dad’s bed. The Brian tries to convince them all to leave the room so he can stab Dad in the head or something, but it’s too late. Dad reanimates and grabs Tara’s head!!
The Brian grabs the oxygen tank and bashes Dad’s head in while all the women cower and scream.
Oh, the irony.
After the commercial break, The Brian is out in a courtyard or field or whatever burying Dad and the Not Cop Mom Nurse comes out to help bury the old guy.
Lots of communication here without words between the Governor and Lilly.
When he comes back to the apartment, the little girl hides behind a chair from him. Aw, she’s afraid of The Brian now. Don’t be mean to The Brian, what did he ever do to you?
You mean aside from bashing in her grandfather’s head right in front of her? Other than that, well, nothing really.
Tara says she knew it was going to happen. And she is happy The Brian saved her. She says Dad would have been grateful The Brian saved her. So they are cool.
She wants to fist bump. They do. You guys, The Brian might be the best.
If you knew it was going to happen, then why the hell did you make it so easy for your undead dad to grab you? Man Tara, you are kinda slow on the uptake here.
The Brian looks at his picture in the dark, then he sets it on fire and throws it out the window. Then he packs up his stuff and tells the Not Cop Mom Nurse lady he is leaving. She is not going to let him leave without them and she makes a good point of telling him that he can’t leave.
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis Is it wrong that I’d hoped he would’ve just walked away? @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
Now they are in the food truck. Tara tells The Brian she was not yet a cop, but The Brian tells her not to be sorry. She asks if they can make it and The Brian says they will.
Tara asks if he is lying and The Brian says no.
Finally the Governor tries to tell someone a helpful lie and makes it work.
Out by a lake, they eat. The little girl is still not happy to have The Brian around because he, you know, bashed her grandfather’s head in with an oxygen tank in front of her.
That would likely create some tension, yes.
That night, the Not Cop Mom Nurse lady and The Brian are sleeping awfully close. She turns to him and …. well… mistakes are made.
Just don’t ask him how his last relationship ended.
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis I’m not sure I’m cool with The Governor being “Brian” now. Who’s gonna be our boogie man now? @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
The next morning the truck will not start, so we’re a-walking.
Oh, and Tara is a lesbian. You know, I should have known that. I don’t think I have ever met a single Tara that was not a lesbian.
Well, I know one who isn’t, but whatever. Nice touch though, it’s not some big deal, it’s just a line that helps define the character a little more.
She falls and hurts her leg. Oh @#$%… oh no!!
Aaaaand so it begins.
Walkers are suddenly everywhere!!
Think the lesson here is that road are not your friends. Seriously, did you guys not see the last few episodes?
Everyone runs but the little girl!! The Brian tries to get her to come to him, but she is too scared! Finally she runs to him and jumps into his arms!!
Everyone runs into the woods! The Brian and the little girl get separated from Tara and the Not Cop Mom Nurse lady!
RUN, THE BRIAN!!
I am 100% on board with The Brian now, you guys.
It’s a little disconcerting, but yeah. Finally the character is interesting.
Suddenly, The Brian and the little girl fall into a pit… do you know where they are?
Oh, wow, yeah, it’s the Woodbury pit, isn’t it?
Yep, that’s right.
The walkers in the pit attack, but The Brian is crafty and cunning and he is not letting anything happen to the little girl! He kills all the walkers with his bare hands!
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis MacGruber style!!! @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me #throatrip
So just in case you might be thinking the Governor has gone all soft on us here, not so much. I especially like the pop-top walker, although Anne-Marie says she really didn’t need to see that.
Where are Not Cop Mom Nurse and Tara?!
We haven’t seen them since… since the Governor and Meghan made it across the field, but surely we’d have seen them die, right? I mean, they are still going to die, aren’t they?
Someone comes to the mouth of the pit.
Hey it’s henchman! Uh-oh.
Ah. Hello, Martinez. Have you come to save the day? Yes? No? Maybe?
Curtis Smith @Creepy_Curtis Thank you again, Walking Dead, for being COMPLETELY unpredictable! @WalkingDead_AMC @SciFi4Me
Well, that was… unexpected. You and I, we really bashed on the Governor last season, and really wanted him to be a credible threat, and now here, we’re both finding ourselves kinda hoping for him to find some redemption. Which is kinda disturbing, considering we know he’s a mass murderer.
True, but he’s interesting for the first time. Not to pick on Morrissey’s performance last season; that’s just how he was written, and we’ve been known to criticize the writing on this show from time to time. But not this season. This season has been good.
It really has. But I do have a couple of quibbles this episode.
I sort of thought you might. You made a couple of faces.
Yeah. So the Governor has been walking for a long time. Full, raggedy beard and long hair a long time. That’s at least a month’s worth of hair growth, probably more, and he makes it to this town, right? So they drive away, the car breaks down, they run, and suddenly they’re back at the zombie pit near Woodbury? So… the Governor drove them back to the last place he should have any reason to take them? And again, just what is the geography here?
I suppose he could always ask to see Michonne’s map.
I’m sure she’d love to share it. And another thing. How is it that Tara could spend all this time, over a year, and not know that only head shots kill the walkers? She never once tried for a head shot, seeing that the body shots weren’t stopping them?
Maybe she’s a terrible shot.
Possible, possible. I don’t know… really good episode, really good at making us look at the Governor a new way, and yeah, he is interesting for the first time. Of course we’ve seen him watching the prison, and we don’t know how long ago this all was happening, so where he goes from here… well. Should be interesting. I’m all for redemption stories, but I have a bad feeling about this.
So. Let’s look at those predictions of yours. This episode was short on ponies, by the way. Thin on the ground, as it happens.
As I said.
Yes, but no one expressed a desire for ponies.
The little girl, Penny II. She wants a pony. All little girls want ponies.
Nice sweeping generalization. No evidence whatsoever. Half a point.
Have I mentioned I’m not a fan of the point system?
You have. Too bad. And no Daryl this episode. Or a, and I quote, “freakin’ army of jerks”.
Tara is kind of a jerk.
That’s a no and a no. And really? Sometimes there will be zombies, and sometimes there won’t?
That clearly describes this episode to a T.
In a completely general and non-specific way, yes. But fine. That one you get. And I think you get one for the surviving henchmen, although it really is too soon to tell. We saw them at the beginning and we saw Martinez at the end, so for now, looks like you’re right.
Of course I am.
Kinda cocky for someone who only got half of his predictions right.
You have met me, right?
I have. Still on board with this Governor arc?
I am. The Brian and Penny II have won my heart. Until she dies horribly and he returns to his murderin’ ways. His waaaaaaayyyysssss.
Me too. So thanks for reading folks, and we’ll see you next week!
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