Dead Weight (The Walking Dead)

"Dead Weight (The Walking Dead)"

"Dead Weight" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead, which aired on AMC on November 24, 2013.

Plot

The Governor (David Morrissey) plays a game of chess with Meghan (Meyrick Murphy). When reminded that it is her turn, Meghan says that she is thinking. T Martinez then tells him that they can join his group on two conditions; he is in charge and there cannot be any dead weight. The Governor agrees and they journey to Martinez's camp.

Later, The Governor goes on a supply run with Martinez, Mitch and Pete. They are following a map made by one of the other camp survivors when The Governor notices something in the distance. He finds a decapitated corpse with a sign reading 'Liar' nailed into the corpse. The group later find their goal; a cabin deep within the woods. As they approach the property, another headless corpse is found with another sign, this one saying 'Rapist.' At the front door, they find yet another corpse; this one dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound with 'Murderer' written on a sign. They explore inside and hear a walker inside one of the rooms. Pete is nearly killed but is saved by The Governor. He then notices the severed heads of the two decapitated walkers. Another walker emerges and tries to bite Martinez, but The Governor saves him as well. Afterwards, the four find supplies as well as some beer. Pete wonders what drove a person to do something like this, but The Governor says that it is "probably best they don't dwell on it." Mitch then asks what The Governor did for a living and what he did when the apocalypse first began; the Governor dodges the question, simply saying that he 'survived.' He then asks them the same question. Mitch and Pete reveal that they both are brothers and served in the army at some point; when the apocalypse began, Mitch left and took his tank with him, while Pete was serving at Fort Benning and initially stayed to provide support, but soon left.

Meanwhile, Lilly forms a makeshift nurse's station and helps bandage Alisha (Juliana Harkavy)'s hand. Tara (Alanna Masterson) notices Alisha's M4 carbine and remarks that while it is a good long range weapon, it becomes cumbersome and unreliable due to dirt and debris. Alisha jokingly asks if she is 'always full of shit', and Tara says yes. Later on, the supply group returns and they share some beer. Afterwards, Martinez shows The Governor a golf bag full of clubs and begins to practice his swing. The Governor remarks that he knew that Shumpert did not survive and Martinez reveals that after they left, Shumpert got reckless and was bitten near one of the walker pits. He finishes by saying that he killed Shumpert out of mercy. He says that he's willing to share leadership responsibilities and offers to split them with The Governor. Angry, The Governor smashes one of the golf clubs against the back of Martinez's head, and then throws him off the trailer. He then drags Martinez over to one of the pits and is lowered towards the walkers, muttering "I don't want it" repeatedly. He then lowers Martinez close enough to the walkers and watches as they drag a screaming Martinez down and devour him alive.

Soon afterwards, The Governor is shaking inside his trailer over how he killed Martinez. When asked by Lilly, he brushes it off as just a nightmare. The next day, Pete reveals to the rest of the camp that Martinez's remains were found and that he must have gotten drunk and fell into the pit. He then temporarily elects himself as leader of the group until they can properly vote on the matter in a few days. Pete takes Mitch and The Governor on another run and they come across another camp where they are split on whether to attack the camp or not. They ultimately decide to leave and later, they return to find the other camp in ruins. Mitch is frustrated that they missed their chance to get the supplies, something that The Governor secretly agrees with. That night, he tells Lilly that they have to leave the camp due to Mitch's behaviour about not taking the supplies when they had the chance. He takes Lilly, Meghan, Tara and Alisha from the camp and set out on their own but are driven back by a swarm of walkers stuck in mud blocking their path.

The next day, The Governor goes to Pete under the ruse of wanting to talk about Mitch. Once inside, he then stabs Pete in the back and strangles him to death. He then goes to Mitch and forces his way inside the trailer at gunpoint. He then blatantly reveals that he killed Pete, but forces Mitch to sit back down. He then tells Mitch that he's now in charge and agrees that they should have taken the other group's supplies. The Governor then organizes the survivors to form a rough perimeter around the camp and asks Tara to organize and catalog all their ammo. Later, The Governor drags Pete's weighted corpse along a jetty and throws it into the lake -- the same lake they referred to as dead for not having any fish.

The Governor marks a map when Lilly comes by. When asked, he says that they need to move to a more secure location (hinting towards the Prison) but Lilly believes that their current location is safe enough. Later, Tara is on guard duty when Meghan runs up and tags her, saying that she's now 'it'. Tara says that she can't play right now, but then tags her back and runs off. Meghan runs around camp looking for Tara and finds a pair of legs near the clothes lines. Thinking it is Tara, Meghan runs over only to find a walker who lunges towards her. She runs away and is cornered underneath one of the trailers. Tara tries to pull the walker off, but its leg gets pulled off and is only stopped when The Governor shoots it in the head.

The Governor goes over to the lake and reflects on what he should do next. He stares into the water at Pete's undead corpse trying to reach him. He takes a truck and travels towards the Prison. He arrives and looks at Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Carl (Chandler Riggs) digging in the prison yard. Jealous, The Governor looks away and notices Hershel (Scott Wilson) as well as Michonne (Danai Gurira) disposing the dead from the recent walker infestation. Seeing Michonne angers The Governor (bringing back memories of her killing Penny and mutilating him) and aims his gun at her.