Season 4, Episode 6 - Live Bait [AMC] [Spoilers]

username123

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

I'm not so sure. I think the break from the prison (and the group) arc is the main draw for this episode. Like, I don't particularly see the huge appeal in the dude who plays the Guv. He's a pretty good actor yeah, but he's hugely overrated by fans of the show. Andrew Lincoln is easily the better actor and more likeable character. But we've been through the same three storylines with Rick so often and in the same way that even seeing a different actor do the same kinda thing is refreshing.

For me it's not so much the guy who plays the Guv, it's the Guv himself that's the draw, a far more complex character than Rick or anyone else left at this stage.

I like the Guv for the same reasons I liked Shane, he is capable of great good and terrible bad. The Guv would never have been able or been bothered with, getting Woodbury together if he didn't have some good in him.

I liked Merle for his complexity too. Whereas Rick, while likeable, is just a decent tortured bloke. You never know if the Guv is gonna gut everyone he was just pretending to be nice to, and that makes better tv a lot of the time.

Also, I like episodes that give snapshots of horror, like the nursing home scenes. And it's always good to see how other people survived the apocalypse.

Overall, a top class episode for me.

Flippyfloppy

So, how did he and his cronie that he met again at the end lose touch initially?

Burlap_Sack

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

So, how did he and his cronie that he met again at the end lose touch initially?

Cronie just ditched him at the start of the episode when the song kicked in.

Flippyfloppy

Burlap_Sack wrote: »

Cronie just ditched him at the start of the episode when the song kicked in.

Oh. Thought cronie just shot female walker but didn't realize he left

Burlap_Sack

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

Oh. Thought cronie just shot female walker but didn't realize he left

Actually had to rewatch the start again myself to check it out. He shoots the zombie, then looks at the governor and shakes his head as if to say whats up with you. Next scene is the gov waking up and leaving his tent to find he's been abandoned.

Lone Stone

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

Oh. Thought cronie just shot female walker but didn't realize he left

yea he did a kinda screw this im outta here look.

Scraggs

Not copping you need to shoot/stab walkers in the head and surviving 18 months(ish) really bothered me. Also only a minor thing but the so called nurse blowing on an open wound really grated! I'm surprised they left the where they were holed up it seemed ok and relatively safe although it wouldnt have made an interesting story I guess.

Flippyfloppy

Burlap_Sack wrote: »

Actually had to rewatch the start again myself to check it out. He shoots the zombie, then looks at the governor and shakes his head as if to say whats up with you. Next scene is the gov waking up and leaving his tent to find he's been abandoned.

Thanks. Been so long since I saw the governor & his men i was a bit confused at the beginning !!

Flippyfloppy

Scraggs wrote: »

Not copping you need to shoot/stab walkers in the head and surviving 18 months(ish) really bothered me. Also only a minor thing but the so called nurse blowing on an open wound really grated! I'm surprised they left the where they were holed up it seemed ok and relatively safe although it wouldnt have made an interesting story I guess.

The block of apartments did seem unusually safe....they can cross over the corridor to each other's apartments leaving the door open, no major barricades outside, also, to survive so long you'd think they'd know to keep quiet. Not like out in the open they made far too much noise with their gossiping.

Jason Todd

Just watched it, enjoyed it a lot. Loved the nursing home scene, and the scene at the end in the trench. Personally I'm a fan of David Morrissey, he avoids going down the hammy, mental route, but he's constantly disguising his emotions, so you never know when the psychopath will come out. I really thought the family would be dead by his hand by the end of the episode.

Next Week Preview

I hope next weeks episode is at least as good, because it seems strange they'd take a two episode break completely from the Prison.

expectationlost

why did the governer drive back in the direction he came from?

Grimebox

MagicMarker wrote: »

The very definition of a filler episode. I skipped through the whole thing in about 10 minutes and don't think I missed out on anything.

I might slate this show but your opinion holds no water if you didn't even watch it

Gbear

Some great stuff there.
The scene in the pit was top class.

About 4 brand new ways to kill walkers right there.

Interesting direction - him not just being a plain old baddie.

wonderfullife

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

I'm not so sure. I think the break from the prison (and the group) arc is the main draw for this episode. Like, I don't particularly see the huge appeal in the dude who plays the Guv. He's a pretty good actor yeah, but he's hugely overrated by fans of the show. Andrew Lincoln is easily the better actor and more likeable character. But we've been through the same three storylines with Rick so often and in the same way that even seeing a different actor do the same kinda thing is refreshing.

As a big fan of This Life in my teens in the 1990s, i've always liked Andrew Lincoln on screen. Whether it was his cheeky chappy character in that or in Teachers etc he's immensely likeable (and talented).

To say he's a better actor than David Morrissey though - i could never agree with that. Morrissey is a RADA trained actor who excelled in Shakespearian productions, turned in simply stunning performances in the likes of State of Play, Some Voices etc on film and is widely regarded as one of the best English actors of the past 20 years.

In fact, i'd go as far as to say this is a breakthrough role for Lincoln in many ways. It's probably the most challenging, diverse character he's been faced with. Ricks path from lost to found, leader to follower, sane to borderline insane, all the while trying to hold everything together for his family - it's a meaty role. And he's doing fantastically well.

Conversely, i feel the role of the Governor (as portrayed on screen) has been slightly botched to a degree. Morrissey has such a presence on screen and this episode is a reminder how interesting the Governor is/was/can be. I feel too much time was wasted on the Andrea-Guv thing that could have been better spent exploring this guys story. In the end it was frustrating watching Andrea flip-flop every 5 mins on the Guv, and in hindsight did nothing for the likeability of her character.

Part of the reason why this episode worked (as a stand-alone episode) is that it was the first episode where none of the main cast made an appearance.

To me what this episode felt like was when you're sitting in a G.P.'s waiting room and there's 6 people ahead of you in the queue and when the 6th person goes in, you get a brief sense of relief - "phew, well at least i'm next". And very much like a doctors, that brief sense of relief will almost wholly depend on what the doc actually says.

In short, if the mid-season Finale is not EPIC then this mini-arc with the Gov will render the entire half-season unfulfilling. They've left us dangling now with the prison - Rick v Daryl, the antibiotics, the illness, the Gov being outside the Prison......so for this to work the pay-off has to be excellent.

I appreciate the writers are taking a risk here. Cutting away from 5 episodes worth of storyline to abruptly present a flashback sequence of the Governor is a risk. It risks diluting the effect of what is happening at the prison. When you bring food to the boil and turn the gas off and come back 2 hours later , it's always a risk it won't taste as good re-heated in the microwave. And that's the risk they're taking here - will those scenes have the same impact now we've been taken away from the boil? I hope so. If they don't then the writers deserve the criticism that will come their way.

iamstop

PhiloCypher wrote: »

Come what may tho I'm pretty sure the Mega herd will come back into things by seasons end otherwise why bother showing it at all.

The Dead fest? lol It did look like the morning after a festival though.

sparkthatbled

I was quite pleased with this episode. I'm glad they have turned the show around and long may it continue in this fashion. The timing for the episode might have been a little off for some people but i thought it was a good move to get out of the prison and see what the guv has been up to. When he was giving his chess lesson to the little girl i just kept thinking that they should have had Bob giving chess lessons, such as...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0mxz2-AQ64

maximoose

Found this weeks ep incredibly boring, although I've never really been a fan of governor centered episodes. I'm sure he's a great actor as you said wonderfullife, I just don't find him particularly convincing or menacing as the Governor. Perhaps it was due to the frantic pace of the previous episode, I just felt this episode really stopped the momentum of the season.

In the preview of next weeks ep, pretty sure the guy standing beside Martinez is Kirk Acevedo? Another great addition to the cast

GavRedKing

I enjoyed it anyway, it was a change of pace and is setting up towards a good mid season finale.

The old folks home was well done.

5starpool

I've read the comics but hadn't known of the Rise of the Governer books. I've just acquired them though via my phone. Isn't technology great.

Liamalone

Thoroughly enjoyed this episode but not too fond of where it has slotted in as others have mentioned.

Enjoyed the Guv telling the family about where he came from and that the leader there "lost it"

Wabbit Ears

I really don't care for the governor character and storyline at all and found this episode insufferable. There was SO many things with the family that made NO sense from the talk about their supplies to their practically leaving guns lying around and so on and so forth in the house to making out in the truck with the others sleeping. None of it made any sense, same as that randomer in the house in the woods from a few episodes back.

So yea, it was a change of scenery but a badly written, badly acted, nonsensical change of scenery.

thegreengoblin

Surely it's not a coincidence that Andrea is gone and this season has been so enjoyable...

Wanderer2010

I cant believe how many positive reviews this season has been lavished with so far. Im going to be the one to ask it, as nobody seems to want to grasp this nettle- exactly how long can this show stay in the setting of the prison AND still remain enjoyable and engage with the viewer?

For me, the show seems to have stopped dead the second they decided to bring the people of Woodbury over to stay up with them and set up house. Season 1 was a shocker because of the fallout and setting the scene, Season 2 we learned all about our characters and how they lost their humanity, Season 3 pitched a nearby town run by a psycho against the prison, Season 4 is about dragging out the zombie threat whilst talking a lot about morality and human character, Season 5 sees Rick thinking of setting up a new cafeteria in the prison, Season 6 sees Maggie and Glynn get married in Block C etc etc....

Sadly I think this season is the beginning of the end- recycled enemies (The Governor AGAIN, lots of soap opera chat between the main characters and making the walkers more of a threat to pad out a waning story. By definition alone, this show has a very limited run time- can we still find scenes of walkers in hospitals etc 3 years from now scary? I know people might say where can they go now they are fairly safe but this is the time to wrap up the show before it jumps the shark and gets very stale. Maybe head towards that endpoint now because its currently very repetitive and has got to a point where its just not exciting any more. 4 packed seasons of drama based on a fairly thin premise is much better than 8 seasons where its left a shadow of its former self...

MadYaker

I was waiting for the governor to screw them over bigtime until I noticed his relationship with the little girl, I still think that will end in tears though. I'm loving this season so far. The whole contagious illness thing is starting to run out of steam but I reckon now that the lads have returned with the antibiotics they'll put an end to that. Can't wait to see Daryl's reaction when he finds out about Carol. Id say he'll freak but the fact of what she did should help him get over it.

Grimebox

I cannot fathom why the guys who ditched the governor didn't blow his head off at any stage

MadYaker

Maybe out of some begrudging respect for him being such a total badass?

wonderfullife

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

I cant believe how many positive reviews this season has been lavished with so far. Im going to be the one to ask it, as nobody seems to want to grasp this nettle- exactly how long can this show stay in the setting of the prison AND still remain enjoyable and engage with the viewer?

For me, the show seems to have stopped dead the second they decided to bring the people of Woodbury over to stay up with them and set up house. Season 1 was a shocker because of the fallout and setting the scene, Season 2 we learned all about our characters and how they lost their humanity, Season 3 pitched a nearby town run by a psycho against the prison, Season 4 is about dragging out the zombie threat whilst talking a lot about morality and human character, Season 5 sees Rick thinking of setting up a new cafeteria in the prison, Season 6 sees Maggie and Glynn get married in Block C etc etc....

Sadly I think this season is the beginning of the end- recycled enemies (The Governor AGAIN, lots of soap opera chat between the main characters and making the walkers more of a threat to pad out a waning story. By definition alone, this show has a very limited run time- can we still find scenes of walkers in hospitals etc 3 years from now scary? I know people might say where can they go now they are fairly safe but this is the time to wrap up the show before it jumps the shark and gets very stale. Maybe head towards that endpoint now because its currently very repetitive and has got to a point where its just not exciting any more. 4 packed seasons of drama based on a fairly thin premise is much better than 8 seasons where its left a shadow of its former self...

you raise a lot of fair points though i'd take issue with the 2 things in bold above.

I don't see the Governor as a "recycled enemy". The fact of the matter is he was the main antagonist last season, knows where the prison is and was not killed. The fact he was off-screen to date this season is arguably a mistake but it's not like he's an antagonist from Season 1 re-hashed.

Fairly thin premise - zombie apocalypse! They have a million and one directions open to them. I'm not a comic reader but i know a lot of the comic fans believe the comic did jump the shark recently. The tv show has a life of its own and can go off on different tangents should it wish.

Truth be told, almost the entire show has centred in the Atlanta region. They could, if they wanted, have our merry band head off in the direction of Washington DC or anywhere basically and encounter all sorts of people, even some sort of attempts to revive government , communication etc.

They've lots of directions they could go. Like it or not there isn't a whole lot more they can do with the Walkers. They walk around and bite people. Simple as that - the focus has to be on other people to make the show effective.

Grimebox wrote: »

I cannot fathom why the guys who ditched the governor didn't blow his head off at any stage

I'm with ya. There's only one reason i can think of for Martinez not to put a bullet in him on the spot and that's the girl in his arms, but for the life of me it'd never make sense him welcoming him back given what he's seen him do. Couldn't trust him as far as you could throw him.

Cork boy 55

Slow episode, not expected what happened, not sure what to make of it
You get slow episodes with the walking dead some good some
Governor looks like snake from the "escape to ..." films
Its a set-up episode I assume
I am guessing the Women and girls are being portrayed as sheltered and weak
to cause conflict in next episode which is called "dead weight"
A lot going on now We have

The prison 19 people recovering from Flu and 56% Death rate at prison
Carol on the road
The Abraham group Arc(from comics) is to introduced ( not sure when maybe after mid season break)

Then before Gov turns up at prison
We have Guv and his new group
Martinez group
Some other group that Martinez group appear to be in contact with(from preview)

And then the radio transmission which could be conected to one of groups above?


So I think next episode(x07) is about what happens with Gov leading up to his appearance at the prison and the end of episode "Internment" 0x5
And the last episode(x08) before mid-season Xmas break is some sort of conflict
at prison involving all or some of these protagonists.

Snake pillson

Paddy Cow

The woman's voice at the beginning, was that Carol? The whole episode I kept expecting the family to get killed and the Govoner to end up with Carol telling his story.

RoryMac

I really enjoyed that episode, the Nursing home scene was well done and the overall story taken from the Rise of the Guv was a good break from the the prison setting.

I'd imagine next week will lead us back to the same timeline as the prison and the mid season ending will be Rick and the Guv meeting up again.