The Walking Dead - S4E7 - Dead Weight

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Previously on The Walking Dead, ‘Live Bait’

This episode begins alternating between two scenes: The Governor and Megan being pulled out of the hole by Martinez and his men and The Governor hanging laundry to dry while playing chess with Megan. In the first scenario, Martinez learns that the Governor is now going by “Brian,” but doesn’t give up his ruse. And while one of his men, Mitch, thinks they already have too many mouths to feed at their nearby camp, Martinez says that the Governor and his new family can come back with them provided the Governor understands that he’s in charge and everyone contributes. No dead weight.

In the other scene, Megan says that the Governor never lets her win the game and he points out that his father used to always beat him. She asks if he was always bad and he says sometimes. Then he reassures Megan that she is good when she says that her father was mean to her all the time. She asks if they’re all good and he doesn’t respond to that, just that he’s “thinking.” The camera pulls back to reveal that there’s a tank next to their trailer.

The next day, he’s going on a run for supplies and Lilly says she’s going to set up a nurse’s station at the camp because they really need one. He’s bothered by the fact that the trailer they’re living in has a leaky roof, but Lilly says the camp is fine and they’ll make it better. Later, as Lilly patches up the hand of a woman named Alisha, Tara gets her flirt on with Alisha.

The supply run is actually Mitch, Pete (they’re brothers), Martinez, and the Governor heading to the house of a survivalist someone in their camp knew about it. Mitch keeps antagonizing the Governor by calling him “One-Eyed Bri.” On the way to the cabin, they find a headless body tied to a tree with a sign on him that reads “liar.”

There’s another closer to the house with a sign that reads “rapist.” On the front porch they find the man has killed himself by shooting himself in the head. His sign reads “murderer.” Brian notes the man was holding a picture of his family - a wife and daughter. They get attacked by walkers inside the cabin, but the Governor takes them both out.

It’s nighttime and they’ve lit a fire inside the cabin. Martinez tells the Governor that if it had just been him in that hole, he wouldn’t have brought him back to camp. He then says the Governor seems different. Mitch and Pete have found beer and they all start to drink except the Governor. He carefully avoids talking about himself, but Mitch reveals that he’s a tank operator and took off with one when shit hit the fan. Pete was also military, but as Mitch points out, he was too loyal to leave where he was stationed until he had to. The Governor seems to take note of all of this.

Some time has passed and they’re back at their camp, eating and drinking outside. The Governor still won’t talk about his old camp and says it’s best to leave the past in the past. Lilly says their new camp is good and it’s the first time she has felt safe. You can see the Governor didn’t like that shit at all. Tara and Alisha head off and it’s obvious they’re a couple. Martinez is totally drunk and heading home when Megan tells the Governor that their roof is leaking again. Martinez tells him he should fix that, the Governor says he will, but you can tell he didn’t like that either.

Martinez comes back and says he has a surprise to show the Governor. He takes him to his trailer where he has golf clubs and balls on the roof. He’s hitting balls and drinking, and tells the Governor that Shumpert (I still can’t believe they named that brotha that) is dead. He’d gotten reckless, was never the same, and got bitten. Martinez had to put him down. He says that the Governor is lucky he found a family to bring him back, but that he couldn’t do it knowing that he’d just lose them again. This makes the Governor question whether or not he can keep the camp safe. Martinez says he can try and offers to “share the crown” with the Governor.

Then the old Governor, who has been slowly seeping back throughout the whole episode, emerges when he hits Martinez in the head with a golf club, kicks him off the roof, and then drags him to the nearby walker pit and feeds him to the walkers, the whole time screaming, “I don’t want it!”

Later, Lilly finds him shaking and upset in their trailer. He says it was just a bad dream. The next day Mitch informs the camp that they found Martinez - or what’s left of him - in a pit. Pete announces that he’s in charge, even though some members of the camp want to vote on a new leader. Pete says it will be temporary and they can vote in a few days.

Mitch, Pete, and the Governor are out on another run when they spot a camp of people. Mitch wants to roll them for their shit, but Pete says they’ll find their own supplies. The Governor has already spotted that Pete is too weak to lead and Pete did admit to him earlier that he’d need some help with everyone coming to him for answers. They only managed to get a few dead squirrels and condensed milk on this run, and Mitch calls bullshit. Later, they find that the camp they were spying on was attacked, the people killed, and their supplies taken. Mitch is pissed! They could have been the ones to murder those people and take their shit, damnit! One of the men isn’t dead, and Mitch wastes no time in stabbing him in the head even though Pete reasons they might have been able to save him.

The Governor rushes into his trailer and tells Lilly and Megan to pack their shit. He can’t risk losing them “again.” Lilly is confused, but does as she’s told. That night, they’re in a car, with Tara and Alisha, getting the hell outta dodge, but they’re stopped when the road is blocked by a ton of walkers stuck in mud.

The next morning, they’re back at their trailer when the Governor is getting dressed to leave. Lilly asks what he’s doing and he says, “Surviving.” He heads to Pete’s trailer and kills him. Then he goes to Mitch’s trailer and tells him, at gunpoint, that he’s in charge now and Mitch is going to go along with it. When Mitch asks what they’ll tell the others, he says that they’ll say he died on a supply run. “Everyone loves a hero.” Later, the Governor pushes Pete’s body into the lake.

More time has passed and the Governor is running a tight ship: they nearly have a fortified perimeter, well-stocked armory, the pits are capturing walkers that they’re burning. The Governor tells Lilly he still wants to find them a better place, but she calls the camp home.

Megan is playing tag with Tara when she encounters a walker in their camp. Tara tries to save her as the walker tries to pull Megan from under a trailer, but she can’t get a grip on its legs. The Governor shows up and shoots the walker in the head. Later, he goes to the lake to think and watch Pete, who is chained below, trying to claw his way up.

We see that is the moment that he has decided to take the prison. He watches Rick and Carl by the crops and comes across Hershel and Michonne talking outside the prison. He points his gun at them - without them seeing him in the woods - and we fade to black.