Episode 407: Dead Weight – Recap

Episode 407 opens with The Governor playing chess with Meghan, intercut with the aftermath of meeting Martinez. Martinez helps Meghan out of the pit and then, after a moment, offers the rope to the Governor. Martinez offers that The Governor can join his camp, but only if they accept his two conditions. First, Martinez is in charge, and second, no dead weight. “Contribute or be cast out.”

We flash forward to the chess game, where Meghan finally makes her move. The Governor, however, needs time to think before he makes his next move (relevance, anyone?). And then we see what we’ve all been waiting for… the next shot reveals that the clothesline is strung between the RV and a tank.

KILL THEM ALL!

Anyway, that’s not quite what happens next. Things are a little tense between The Governor and this new group, which consists of Martinez and brothers Pete and Mitch. As the group searches for a cabin in the area, they find a mutilated body with a note pinned to it that reads, “Liar.”

Back at the camp, we meet Alicia, an army woman who Tara tries to impress with her military knowledge. Alicia finds the one-uping kind of cute, and it looks like we may have a new couple to ship!

Shortly thereafter, The Governor and the group stumble on two more decapitated bodies, one tagged “Rapist” and the other “Murderer.” When they search the cabin, they find the missing heads along with the turned family members that once lived there. Fortunately, the cabin has supplies, and even more fortunately, it has BEER.

Drinks are had, and Martinez admits that if it weren’t for Meghan, he would have left The Governor in the pit. We also learn that Mitch was a tank operator for the US Army, and his brother Pete was stationed nearby. When The Governor is asked what he did before the apocalypse, he says, “I survived.”

After a picnic lunch, resplendent with even more beer, The Governor and Martinez climb up onto the RV to hit some golf balls. Martinez mentions that maybe he and The Governor can “share the crown,” and then The Governor hits him over the head with his golf club and drags Martinez into the pit to be devoured by walkers.

The next day, having found Martinez in the pit and presuming it a drunk accident, Pete takes charge of the group, causing an outrage. The camp decides a vote is more fair, and they decide to conduct the vote in the coming days.

As The Governor, Pete, and Mitch patrol the forest, Pete mentions that he could use some help leading the group. Before The Governor can answer, they stumble on a large camp. Mitch suggests robbing them, but Pete refuses to interfere. Later, when they return to the large camp, they find it overrun and looted. Mitch, infuriated that another group got the supplies, kills a wounded survivor.

The Governor returns and insists that Lilly and Meghan and Tara pack their things, telling them that they’re leaving tonight before things go sour. When they try to leave, they encounter a horde trapped in the mud, blocking their exit route.

The next morning, back at the RV, Lilly catches The Governor sneaking out in the morning. When she asks what he’s doing, he simply says, “Surviving.” He then ambushes and kills Pete, and then proceeds to hold Mitch at gunpoint in his RV. Rather than kill Mitch, however, he tells him that he was right and they should have taken the supplies. The Governor tells Mitch that he is now in charge, and that if he follows him he won’t have to worry about doing the right thing or the wrong thing, because they will do “the only thing.”

The Governor lugs Pete’s corpse out to the lake and drops him into the water. The camp starts erecting a perimeter, keeping an armory, and tightening how things are run. However, The Governor urges Lilly that they can find somewhere better… if they’re willing to fight for it. Just as she attempts to convince him that it’s safe enough at the camp, Meghan, who has been playing tag with Tara, runs right into a walker, almost getting bitten.

The Governor returns to the lake where Pete, newly turned, reaches for him from beneath the surface, eerily reminiscent of his fish tanks from Woodbury. It looks like The Governor we learned to hate might be back. To top it off, we’re left with him stumbling on Michonne and Hershel in the woods. He raises his gun and—

Ugh, what a place to end! Do you think The Governor is going to pull the trigger? Or has he turned a new leaf? Why do you think he chose to kill Pete, but let Mitch live?

What are your thoughts on these last two episodes? The more Governor the better, or less is more?