The Walking Dead - Season 4, Episode 6: "Dead Weight" TV Episode Review

Written by Steve Pattee and TGM

Directed by Jeremy Podeswa
Written by Curtis Gwynn
2013, Rated TV-14
Episode premiered on November 26th, 2013

Starring:
David Morrissey as The Governor
Audrey Marie Anderson as Lilly
Jose Pablo Cantillo as Caesar Martinez
Enver Gjokaj as Pete
Alanna Masterson as Tara Chambler
Meyrick Murphy as Meghan Chambler
Juliana Harkavy as Alisha

Review:

Warning! This discussion contains spoilers.

Brian reunites with old friends, makes some new ones, unsuccessfully attempts to leave his new digs, and successfully finds a new yet old status. All in a week’s work on this episode of The Walking Dead.

Steve: So, last week we saw Brian (aka the guy formerly known as The Governor) return to The Walking Dead, but you can almost say the man was actually back this week. In this episode, appropriately titled “Dead Weight”, Brian and his ladies join the group led by Caesar, his old second in command. Caesar makes it clear to One-Eye Bri (the name I shall now refer to him as it’s hilarious) that he, Caesar, is in charge of this shindig. That doesn’t last long.

TGM: Yeah, an improvement over last week’s episode, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that I still don’t care about Big Bad Bri Bri. I feel like a broken record when I say that, but I don’t find the character interesting, or, to be honest, particularly intimidating in the least. With that said, I did enjoy this episode much more, primarily due to the fact that I’m a big fan of Kirk Acevedo (a/k/a: the only henchman that survived the episode).  

Steve: Yeah, I too really like Acevedo’s work, in particular Fringe and Oz

TGM: This episode only compounds my confusion and frustration with last week’s episode. Why spend an entire episode trying to humanize The Governor only to make him into a stereotypical psychopath in the next episode? I do not know the timing of the show-runner change, but do you think that the decision to keep The Governor around longer was made originally by the old regime, and the new regime is now struggling to move the chess pieces around in order to set up the story that THEY want to tell? It sure does feel that way.

Steve: That’s something I’ve not thought of, but I can get behind it. The very fact that David Morrissey is signed on at least throughout this season and possibly into next is retarded at best. It just makes zero sense to keep the same antagonist and is so very lazy. Don’t get me wrong, I do like that the evil is returning to One-Eye Bri, but the decision to humanize him made me care less for him, so I’m at the point now where it’s going to take an awful lot of destruction by his hand for me to care anything at all about his character.

I will say this, though, at least “Dead Weight” was better than last week’s abortion. Even though the writers have successfully made me care less about a character I once liked, I was mildly entertained by this episode. If the zombie mud farm wasn’t impressive enough, that walker in the water that One-Eye Bri now visits to contemplate life is downright chilling.

TGM: There were definitely some good scenes this week, in particular feeding poor dumb Caesar to the zombie pit. That was pretty ruthless. I do feel that The Walking Dead is suffering from Star Trek Red Shirt syndrome this season. Too many new characters with too little screentime acting as zombie fodder, with complete lack of emotional connection, especially when we still have the Rick and Daryl conversation regarding Carol hanging out there like a pedophile's weiner at Chuck E Cheese. 

Steve: Man, it annoys me to no end they still haven’t addressed the Rick/Daryl/Carol situation. What’s worse, the way this season has been going, the whole thing will be a disappointment. I swear to Christ, if Daryl has little-to-no reaction when Rick tells him he booted Carol, fuck this show.

TGM: Well, I know these past two talk-backs have been short, but again, I feel like I’ve pretty much said everything I want to say about these two episodes.  I really can’t elaborate much more.

Steve: Agreed. The only other thing I need to put out there is am I the only one who thinks that Lilly, One-Eye Bri’s new lady, looks a lot like Maggie?

TGM: What, are you saying all us whities look alike?  HUH?  Damned reverse racist.

Well, next week’s episode is the mid-season finale.  I expect someone whose name I actually know to die, but you just never know at this point.  All I do know is that they better pull out all the stops on this one, because my interest in this show is waning pretty fast.

Video, Audio and Special Features:

Video, audio and special features will not be graded as this was a TV episode.

Grades:

 
Steve: 2 Stars Buy the digital download from Amazon US
TGM:

Click on a cover to read more episode reviews of The Walking Dead: Season 4.

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Steve Pattee
US Editor, Admin
He's the puppet master. You don't see him, but he pulls the strings that gets things done. He's the silent partner. He's black ops. If you notice his presence, it's the last thing you'll notice — because now you're dead. He's the shadow you thought you saw in that dark alleyway. You can have a conversation with him, and when you turn around to offer him a cup of coffee, he's already gone.
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