‘The Walking Dead’ season 4, episode 6 review: David Morrissey shines, but…

There is no need to beat around the bush here: We’re not sure that we are buying what “The Walking Dead” is selling when it comes to the story of The Governor. This is a guy that the Robert Kirkman comics has established as in some ways the root of all evil; but on the TV show, he is a man much more complex than that.

Already in the time since the episode aired, we’ve flip-flopped three times about how we feel about it since it is that confusing. One half of us loves the bold move to tell an emotional story about The Governor finding a new group and trying to reconnect with the part of him that he lost courtesy of his own daughter, who clearly met a tragic end. This was a chance for redemption, and it feels like he does care about these new people.

But, at the same time, we want to see The Governor get his “Governor” on. That means being crazy, unleashing violence and revenge, and interacting with the characters. It feels almost more like he sees the prison as a resource right now than a battleground, and fans hoping for more constant curse-word action and drama will be disappointed with this.

There is almost a part of us that wants to give this episode an “Incomplete” grade because it’s so subjective, and we’ll know more about whether or not it is good two weeks down the line, when we understand more of The Governor’s intentions and what he is going to get out of this. But, we feel like that is taking the easy way out. The writers should have at the end of the day given more of an impression as to where they are going with this, and while it was interesting and emotional at times, we have to judge this as what it is for now rather than what it could be: A somewhat boring hour that could have done more. Grade: C.

What did you think of tonight’s episode “Live Bait,” and are you hoping desperately that the story of The Governor and his new life is actually going somewhere interesting? Sound off on this in the comments below! Also, click here if you want to watch the full preview for this installment.

Photo: AMC