The Walking Dead Season 4: 7 Huge Contrivances That Led To Great Scenes

3. Martinez Trusts The Governor (4.7, "Dead Weight")

In "Dead Weight," the focus has shifted from life at the prison to life with the Governor. Going by "Brian," he has found himself a replacement family and reunited with his former lieutenant Martinez, who is running his own camp. Despite being present for the Governor's massacre of the Woodbury adults and then abandoning him, Martinez accepts him and his new family into the camp. He is smugly magnanimous as he invites the Governor to the top of a trailer to drink whiskey and hit some golf balls. Martinez talks about Woodbury and mentions that he does not think that the camp will remain protected indefinitely. The Governor does not much like his attitude, so when Martinez turns his back, the Governor whacks him over the head with a golf club. Kicking him to the ground, the Governor then drags Martinez to a pit of zombies and forces his head down until he is devoured by the hungry Walkers. It's a nice scene. The Governor's facade as reformed family man finally drops as he murders Martinez in just about the most inhumane way possible. We see his patience crumbling throughout as his former underling asserts his new dominance. When the Governor finally snaps, it's something of a relief. Not only is he the same villain that we love to hate, but...Martinez kind of had it coming. Realistically, he should have known better than to accept the Governor into his camp, and he certainly should have known better than to go somewhere alone together and then turn his back on the man. Martinez was always one of the more competent and sane of the Woodbury soldiers, and Season 3 Martinez would never have put himself at such risk. Character hubris is one thing; plot contrivance is another. Also, he was screaming his head off as the Governor forced him into the pit. Somebody would have heard him.