Remember when the previous episode of The Walking Dead ended and we were left with all of those questions? Yeah, well...hold on to those. This episode is completely dedicated to The Governor. Feel free to re-read that sentence and feel as discouraged as I do. Here's where we are after the "Live Bait" hour:
We pick up where he left off after the Woodbury fiasco. The Governor, Martinez and Shumpart had stuck together for a little while, but The Governor awoke one morning to discover he was alone in their camp. My assumption is his two henchmen abandoned him...not that they were eaten by Walkers. So off The Governor goes, walking through deserted towns with an awful beard and depressed disposition. It's almost like Castaway without the ocean or volleyball. We're only 4 and a half minutes in and I'm already wishing for a commercial...but then he sees a child in a second story window. My interest is peaked.
Introducing Lilly and Tara, two sisters held up in an apartment waiting for the National Guard to arrive. Heh. That's going to be one hell of a wait. They live with their father, who is dying of lung cancer, and Lilly's adorable daughter Megan, who does not speak. Tara is a badass, or at least she thinks she is and she makes all kinds of threats about killing The Governor if he tries anything funny. He tells the group his name is "Brian" and he is just looking to stay the night. When dad asks "Brian" if he has kids, the one-eyed liar says no.
Later on in the evening "Brian" retrieves a backgammon set from room 303. The dying old man thinks that special game might help make his granddaughter talk again. Megan is over the moon to be playing backgammon with her grandpa, and I'm wondering why The Governor is suddenly so accommodating.
When Lilly wakes "Brian" up the next morning, The Governor's family picture is sitting on the coffee table. She ignores it and hands "Brian" some food for the road. He tells Lilly to keep his gun (he'd found another one in 303), but she's not super eager to let him go. Lilly is worried. She explains that her dad has about 2 days of oxygen left and she asks "Brian" to go to the old folks home nearby to retrieve more oxygen tanks. Well, it's not like he has anything else to do so he complies with that request as well, snagging a couple of tanks and dodging a hoard of Walkers. What a standup guy.
Lilly visits "Brian" in his apartment and nurses his wounds. She tells him that he won't need any stitches....and she then says one of the best lines I've heard on this show. "Nobody ever mentioned just how boring the end of the world was going to be." Honey, you don't know the half of it. You should have been on the almost endless search for Sophia in Season 2. Lilly also explains that Megan initially thought her dad was coming home to her when she looked out the window and saw him on the street. He had gone out for some beer and lottery tickets more than three years ago and never came back. Bummer. Megan arrives just then to ask "Brian" about his missing eye and they have a little chat, complete with a pinky promise. Apparently the kid is talking again...and apparently she likes scary looking bearded men with eye patches.
The Governor shaves and bathes (thank you) and settles in at the apartment building. He teaches Megan how to play chess as Tara and Lilly care for their ailing father. I guess we scrapped that whole backgammon thing. Megan gives her king an eye patch so he looks like "Brian." Yes, kid. He would love to be king. The game is cut short when Lilly announces that her dad is gone and had probably passed a little while ago. Clearly this family does not know that dad is about to open his eyes and look at them like they are dinner. The Governor gets nervous. He tries to get the girls out of the room but they're still mourning. Dad makes a grab at Tara and "Brian" bashes his head in with an oxygen tank in front of everyone. He didn't really have a choice, but damn.
They all cope with this in different ways - Megan goes back to not talking, Tara tells "Brian" they're cool now because he saved them, and The Governor burns his family picture. Is he leaving that life behind him now? Perhaps. Lilly, Tara and Megan leave the apartment building with him and they are ready to follow him anywhere. They take off in a food truck (convenient), which doubles as a mobile home. Megan is having a tough time getting close to "Brian" now that he bludgeoned her grandpa, but luckily Lilly is giving him all the closeness he needs. They totally get it on in the truck, and I'm pretty sure Tara and Megan are sleeping near them. It's good to be the king?
The food truck ends up breaking down and the group has to begin a new journey on foot. Tara loses all of her badassery when she trips and effs up her ankle. To make matters worse, she does so right near a mass of Walkers. Time to run...but Megan freezes. The Governor calls her to him like a dog and that seems to work okay. Mission accomplished - he banged the mom, and now he's got a daughter. He promises Megan that he'll never let anything happen to hear...just as Martinez arrives.
Oh. Shit.
The episode ends there, so I am anticipating that the next hour will also feature The Governor's journey. Now that Martinez is back, I'm also assuming "Brian's" identity will be revealed. Will there be a power struggle? Is Tara screwed now that she has the sprained ankle? Do I care? Not really. I'm more concerned about the Grimes group, the prison, and Carol. I need to know where Carol is. If The Governor ends up running into her in the next episode, that would be awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment