Live Bait

"Live Bait" is the sixth episode of Season 4 of AMC's The Walking Dead. It aired on November 17, 2013 at 9/8c on AMC.

Plot
In a flashback, The Governor flees after his massacre of the Woodbury Army, alongside with his two most trusted henchmen: Martinez and Shumpert. They later set up camp at the military outpost where they ambushed the National Guardsmen months earlier. The Governor is sitting in front of a campfire, when a female walker approaches him. She falls into the fire, and proceeds to crawl towards him, whereby Martinez shoots her in the head. Martinez notes that Philip didn't even react to the walker approaching him or the subsequent gunshot. The following morning, he and Shumpert decide to abandon The Governor, leaving the latter to fend for himself. He then drives back to Woodbury and burns down the entire town. After several months of surviving the elements, he finally collapses on the street. Philip then notices a little girl in a window of an apartment building. He pulls himself back to his feet and investigates. He finds the Chalmers family residing inside, consisting of two sisters, Lilly and Tara, as well as Lilly's daughter, Megan, and their father, David. They, at first, warily hold him at gunpoint, but then they indulgently lead Philip to one of the adjacent apartments, after confiscating his pistol.

After hearing how Philip has survived the last few months, they ask him how long he plans on staying. He replies, "Just for the night." They also ask him his name; he replies that it's Brian Heriot (a name that he saw in paint on a barn while walking). Later, Lilly comes and offers Philip some food (SpaghettiOs); he accepts but after she leaves, he scrapes the food off the plate and out the window, and then begins to eat a can of tuna he found. He goes and returns the plate and is invited inside. Philip sits down, as he watches Megan and David play a makeshift game of backgammon. After the two sisters try to help David get up, Philip carries the elderly man to his room. David asks Philip to do him a favor and get the backgammon set that Bill Jenkins, one of his war buddies, had in his apartment up on the floor above them. Philip ventures and finds both the backgammon set, as well as a few rounds of ammo. He then hears a noise from the bathroom and finds an undead Bill lying in the tub. Philip mercifully kills him, and notices a revolver in Bill's hand, which he takes from him. He returns to the Chalmers' apartment, and gives David the game and leaves.

The following morning, Lilly comes by to give Philip his gun back and wakes him. When offered back his gun, Philip tells her to keep it and reveals the revolver that he took. Lilly asks him for one more favor before he leaves. David has lung cancer and his current oxygen tank is nearly empty, so he needs a new one. She tells Philip of a nursing home located nearby and asks him to grab one or two. Philip makes his way there. He encounters several walkers, but avoids them. Finding a cart of oxygen tanks, he begins to leave but more walkers appear. After several struggles, he is able to escape the walker-infested nursing home with two tanks. Lilly thanks him and cleans a minor head wound that Philip received. She lets Megan stay and watch him while she goes back to their apartment. Megan asks Philip how he got the eye patch. Philip claims that he was a pirate and they both laugh. He says that he'll tell Megan the truth but only if she doesn't tell anyone.

Later, Philip is teaching Megan how to play chess when Lilly reveals that David has died. Philip tells them to leave, but Lilly wants another minute alone to say goodbye. David reanimates and nearly bites Tara, but Philip is able to save them by bashing David's head with the very oxygen tank he brought from the nursing home.

After David is buried, Philip burns the old photo of his wife and daughter. That night, he goes to say goodbye, but Lilly insists that he stays. Philip says that they can't go with him, but Lilly reveals that she saw the photo of his family. She further admits that they aren't like his old family, but that Philip has become a part of theirs. They leave the building in a delivery truck parked outside. After camping at a lake, their vehicle breaks down, forcing them to abandon it and continue on foot. Philip and Lilly sleep together, beginning a relationship. Down the road, Tara ends up injuring her leg. Philip goes ahead and, seeing a group of walkers, orders them to drop their bags and run. While the rest flee, Megan is frozen in place and Philip convinces her to run to him. He then picks her up and leads the others through the woods. As they reach a clearing, Philip and Megan fall into a dugout pit and find several walkers inside. Megan cowers in a corner of the pit, as Philip kills the walkers. During this scene, gunfire can be heard in the background, and stops soon after the walkers are dead. Philip hugs Megan and swears on his life that he will keep her safe from anything that may harm her. "Cross my heart," he tells her. He then hears a surprised voice coming from outside the pit. He looks up and sees a bewildered Martinez standing above him. Philip repeats "Cross my heart" as he strokes Megan's hair, staring up at Martinez.

Co-Stars

 * Travis Love as Shumpert
 * Danny Vinson as David Chalmers
 * Daniel Thomas May as Allen (Corpse)

Uncredited

 * Melissa Ponzio as Karen (Flashback)
 * Denise Huth as Mrs. Blake (Photograph)
 * Kylie Szymanski as Penny Blake (Photograph)
 * Ellie Decker & Lauren Henneberg as Walkers
 * Unknown as Bill Jenkins

Deaths

 * Bill Jenkins (Zombified)
 * David Chalmers (Alive and Zombified)

Trivia

 * First appearance of Lilly Chalmers.
 * First appearance of Tara Chalmers.
 * First appearance of Megan Chalmers.
 * First (and last) appearance of David Chalmers.
 * First (and last) appearance of Bill Jenkins.
 * Last appearance of Karen. (Flashback)
 * Last appearance of Allen. (Corpse)
 * First mention of Ms. Wilhelm.
 * First mention of Sam.
 * The working title for this episode was "Rise".
 * The name of the episode refers to Philip's actions throughout the episode:
 * He makes no effort to dodge the walker he passes by in the town, and finally decides to lay down in the street to die.
 * He finds Bill (war veteran), who is now a walker, inside an apartment. Bill seems to have either been thrown or fallen out of his wheel chair, and subsequently landed in the nearby bathtub. Bill's legs are missing due to a war injury.
 * This walker was dubbed the "Bath Salts Walker" on Talking Dead's In Memoriam, and is a direct reference to the Bath Salts incident on May 26th, 2012.
 * The words "Live Bait" are also seen on a road sign towards the end of the episode when The Governor and the Chalmers are running from 20 or so walkers.
 * David Morrissey is listed in the opening sequence for the first time in Season 4, since being removed from the last five episodes.
 * In an interview with David Morrissey, it's revealed that the burning of the only photo that The Governor has of his family means two things:
 * He folds the corner of the photograph and blocks himself out of it. And that’s blotting himself from his past and seeing only the goodness of it, which was his wife and his child.
 * When he burns the photograph, it’s a commitment to his future, to Lily and Megan. In order for him to look forward, he can’t have any semblance of the Governor. He can’t have anything from his past. He has to commit totally to this new life.
 * This is the last appearance of Woodbury.
 * This is the very first episode where most of the material is actually taken from the novels instead of the comics.
 * The scene where Philip kills a zombified David Chalmers is taken from Rise of the Governor
 * The song included in the episode is "The Last Pale Light in The West" by Ben Nichols.
 * This is the sixth episode that a majority of the cast does not appear, the first being "18 Miles Out", the second being "Walk With Me", the third being "Clear", the fourth being "Prey". and the fifth being "Indifference".
 * This is the first episode of the series where only one series regular appears.
 * This is also the first episode of the series in which Rick is neither seen nor mentioned.

Goofs/Errors

 * When the Governor accepts the plate of food from Lilly, he scraps the food off the plate and out the window. In the next scene, he sets the plate down so he can begin eating a can of tuna he found instead. The plate however, is a clean plate where it should be dirty with leftover traces of food/sauce. When he returns the plate back to the Chalmers' family it's a dirty plate as it contains scraps of leftover food.