All times central.
8:02-I don’t know why, but the idea of the Governor in a tent makes me laugh.
8:07-I guess watching the Governor as more of a human being is actually more interesting than seeing him as a cartoonish villain. I really hope we get to see that other side of him here; we saw a sliver of it with his daughter last season, but it ended up descending into craziness.
8:11-I fully expect the Governor to whip out an AK-47 and start shooting up the place.
8:22-Ah, folding your face out of sight, Governor. Symbolism!
8:24-These new girls are pretty attractive, I have to say.
8:25-So the show’s doing something really interesting here. Instead of rushing right into the clash with the prison, they’re delineating the Governor’s story and attempting to humanize him. I’ll have to wait to the end to see if it works out, but I think this illustrates an important aspect of the man’s current state of mind: he’s almost going through the motions, much as he was last year (obviously the situation is vastly different here, but still). It seems as if, as much power as he seemingly yielded last year, he’s really just a puppet to be manipulated. It may just be a weakness, but it’s a fatal one here.
8:33-This must be the story of how the Governor decided to shave.
8:35-“What happened to your eye?” “It’s gone.”
8:36-This little girl and the Governor are a better fit for each other than Rick and Carl ever will be.
8:37-Off topic: I’m so excited for The Wolf of Wall Street.
8:42-“You can lose a lot of soldiers and still win the game.” Pretty heavy-handed reflection of the Governor’s situation there. Oh, also metaphors! Chess metaphors!
8:44-So the Governor’s starting to become attached to this family, especially to the daughter. When he smashes the guy’s head in, it’s not out of malice; it’s because he cares. I think the symbolism and connection to his own family is a bit overt here, and I just don’t buy the quick turnaround. Of course, that scene also shows that primal nature within him, but it just feels a little too saccharine now.
8:46-What’s up with all these fist bumps?
8:49-You can tell he doesn’t want to leave, but he’s the kind of guy that needs validation for everything he does; that’s why he indulged in his role as the Governor. He doesn’t necessarily want to help people now as much as he wants to satisfy himself. When his family died, he lost a big part of himself, and now, he’s essentially just looking for a fix.
8:56-That stuffed animal will give you power, Megan.
8:58-Oh man, these walker kills are pretty damn cool. Whether it be ripping out the throat or ripping a head off with a bone, I love it.
GRADE: B
THOUGHTS: So, this episode tries to humanize the Governor, and it only sometimes works; the thing is, I feel like the ambition of the writers here ultimately hurts the episode. It’s a necessary transition piece, but the interactions with the three girls are so on the nose and the metaphors so overt that it gets a bit groan-inducing. However, I do like the change of pace and I admire the dedication of the writers to re-shaping this character.
Credit to AMC and The Walking Dead for all pictures. I own nothing.
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Wolf on Wall Street definitely looks like it’ll be great, as does American Hustle. I preferred part one of the Governor arc to this one, and I totally agree about the writers and their use of metaphors, and how their ambition ultimately proves to be their downfall a lot of the time. So often it feels like the writers are trying so hard to emulate other shows success in their writing, they kind of mess up everything. TWD writers work best when they aren’t trying to be “The deepest and best written show on television”, and show us the Governor punching zombies brains out. The Walking Dead isn’t Breaking Bad.