Now that Philip has concluded his brief vacation as Brian, the plucky anti-hero, he’s back to Governing the only way he knows how: Murdering and subjugating everyone in his immediate vicinity. The Governor may be evil and heartless, but at least he’s effective. Let’s go over how Philip took out the trash in this week’s episode, “Dead Weight”.
Martinez makes an intensely stupid decision right from the start by allowing the Governor out of the walker pit and giving him the option to join his group.
Remember that time he had a tantrum and killed everyone in your last group, Martinez? Good call. Philip and his adoptive family settle in to the RV camp and gets to re-acquainting himself with a supply run to a survivalist’s shack.
The group comes across a series of be-headed and mutilated corpses with their crimes written on their chests. Now that they’re properly on edge, they enter the shack to gather potential supplies. A zombified mother and child ambush them, leaving the Governor to save the day. He neutralizes both walkers single-handedly.
There’s a small celebration back at camp with food and skunky beer. Everyone’s a bit buzzed by the end and wanders off to do their own things. Martinez, still a bit drunk, visits the Governor at his trailer and they play golf on the roof. Martinez reveals Shumpert died from a walker bite not too far back and he could use some help running the camp. Philip replies with a vicious golf club strike to the back of Martinez’s head and kicks him off the trailer. Panicked and dazed, Martinez tries to call out for help while Philip drags him to the walker pit and holds his head in. The zombies take the bait and the Governor drops the rest of the body in. Goodbye Martinez.
The next day, the body is discovered and everyone assumes Martinez had accidentally fallen into the pit. Pete and Mitch assume leadership of the camp and take the Governor on another supply run. They find another small group of survivors camped out in the woods.
Mitch wants to hold them up and steal their supplies, but Pete refuses to stoop so low and they move on. On the way back to camp, they discover the small survivor settlement had been hit by another group of raiders. All the supplies are taken and everyone is dead. Back at the RV camp, the Governor tells his “family” that the group is falling apart and they should leave.
During the attempt, they find the road blocked by a large mud pit filled with stuck walkers. They turn back.
In the morning, Philip goes to Pete’s trailer claiming he wants to talk about Mitch. Pete lets him in and turns his back, at which point the Governor clamps his hand over his mouth and stabs him in the kidney. Pete falls to the ground and the Governor strangles him to finish the job. Now he visits Mitch to explain what he’s done and that he’s installing himself as the new leader of the group.
Afterward, Philip takes Pete’s weighted body and dumps him in a nearby pond. He visits the undead Pete occasionally. It’s starting to feel like the new head aquarium.
After whipping the camp into shape and organizing the vehicles and people into more defensible positions, he takes a trip to spy on the prison and Rick’s group. He spots Michonne and Hershel outside the gates. Philip points his gun and the episode concludes.
If you stuck around to watch the previews you might have noticed a very iconic scene being mirrored from the comics. If you noticed, then you should know things are about to get very, very bad. Brace yourselves for the mid-season finale next week.
What happened at the survivalist shack and what do the “judged” represent? It seems like the survivalist had his family and a couple others in his small group.
One may have violated his wife and the other covered for him, prompting the “liar” and “rapist” corpses. The “murderer” corpse died from a self inflicted wound and not decapitation, so that could have been the father after he killed the others.
His wife and child may have perished later on, without his support. As for what they represent, it could be foretelling how groups are likely to destroy themselves from the inside or that human brutality is always a constant threat. It could even be a mirror of the Governor, reminding him of the man he was and still is.
Why does the Governor kill Martinez and Pete? It all originates from his new family, although he kills Martinez for a few reasons. Philip wants full control of the camp so he can do what he needs to to keep his family safe and Martinez is an obstacle that needs to be removed for that to happen.
Also, Martinez is the last Woodbury survivor that could potentially tell Philip’s family about all the monstrous acts he committed. As for Pete, he died simply because he didn’t have the stomach to be a leader in this new world. The Governor could have forced him to step down, but I think the murder was needed to shock Mitch into submission. With two leaders dead and the other effectively neutered, Philip took the reigns.
Is the Governor still trying to redeem himself or does he believe he already has? Let’s get one thing straight, though Philip is a very strong leader and manipulator, he is completely insane. I thought he was just a sadist before, but seeing how he’s acted in this new camp has led me to believe that he’s really not all there. He seems to be constantly at war with himself.
He doesn’t hesitate to kill when it would benefit him in some way, however small, but then he appears damaged by it later. He wants to bury his past atrocities and protect his new family by committing a whole new set of atrocities. What’s the point? The Governor might as well be a different person depending on where you’re standing.
If he believes you to be part of his family, he’s swell and you’re golden. If you’re anyone else, he’s probably stabbing you at this very moment. He may believe he’s doing the right thing, but all he’s really doing is using his family as an excuse to keep on killing. I have a feeling that’s going to backfire on him.
