Pharoahe Monch And Jean Grae Recap Episode 6 Of ‘The Walking Dead’

Last night, on episode 6 of The Walking Dead titled "Live Bait," fans discovered the long journey the Governor had after he disappeared in season three. With this season proving to be as entertaining as ever, XXL hopped on the phone with Pharoahe Monch and Jean Grae, two huge fans of the series, for an extended discussion about how this episode, the return of the governor and the absolutely epic pit scene where he kills walkers with his bare hands.

XXL: Well, The Governor is back. Hate him or love him?
Pharoahe Monch: My thoughts are The Governor has transformed himself into Snake Plissken and they want me to love him. But I still don't love him, I don't care how many babies he saved. How many pinky swears he did.

Jean Grae: I tried, I tried, I told myself I need to love him. I loved him for 10 minutes and then I was like, I see what you're doing! Then he brought out the awesome game set to the kid. And you tried to love that kid. But honestly, I thought they were in the house oversharing and I was fine with him not sharing because I would have shot them immediately. Especially if I was The Governor, I would have shot them on site.

XXL: I found it hysterical they let in The Governor. This man with a gun, full on crazy-man beard who probably hasn't bathed in a year, into to their house because he put his firearm and bag down.
Grae: Yeah they were crazy. They were crazy for letting him in. I was yelling to them in my mind, you stupid idiots. I like for him to be good.

XXL: You think The Governor is going to be good or go bat-shit crazy again?
Monch: Nah, they're just kind of setting stuff in motion. They want everybody to love him but fuck The Governor.

Grae: Ultimately, yeah, fuck The Governor.  They did try to pull it off and got us for a second but I think he's going to get pissed off and bring back that good ole' Governor hate.

Monch: I mean he lost his kid. He's thinking, I have a new chance to never let that happen again and show more love and they love me and I love them. Plus the Governor had sex, that was crazy, too.

XXL: Yeah, the sex scene was so left field.
Grae: but The Governor, he's got a sexual history with him because he was fucking the shit out of Andrea. We all know Andrea is a horrible person.

Monch: It had everything in the episode that will make you love him. He had sex, he played chess with the little kid. He got oxygen for a man that couldn't breathe.

Grae: And bashes him in the head [Laughs]

XXL: Yeah, the wife asking for oxygen for a man who's barely alive and The Governor actually doing it threw me so off.
Grae:  Yeah, he could have told her, he could have been like, "No I'm not going because he's going to be a fucking zombie and then I'm going to have to kill him because you guys are idiots and you don't even know what's going on. You're not even shooting them in the head." Fake ass mall cop was not doing shit. Why wouldn't you try a head shot?  You never heard any zombie thing ever? She was annoying as fuck. I would have went in and shot her [Tara] and possibly could have still have had sex with Lilly and still played chess.

XXL: Do you think Megan is going to be Penny and become The Governor's conscience?
Monch: That's where they're going with it. And then Michonne is going to stab her in the throat.

XXL: Was burning Woodbury a symbol of him forgetting his past?
Monch: Yeah, definitely that was symbolism. The whole episode was symbolism to get us to love The Governor.

Grae: He started out with the zombie who walked into the fire. Then Woodbury, then burning the picture. After the picture I was like, oh look it's more fire, I get it.

XXL: The pit scene was awesome.
Grae: One of the best zombie kills in the entire franchise was the bone ripping the zombie's face off. That shit was fucking awesome. [Laughs]

Monch: I love the thumbs through the esophagus, that was nice.

Grae: There were pretty good zombie kills in this episode because we haven't had a lot of it. All the zombie kills that happened were so fucking violent and we only had four but they were really really bad. So it was kind of a reminder that, no, it's still The Governor and he's still a lunatic.

Monch: And he did it for love.

Grae: He's a lover.

XXL: You think Martinez helps The Governor or he's done with him?
Grae: I think he has some feelings, especially because it's his team now and he's going to take full advantage that The Governor is weak and he's got this family with him. So I think Martinez is going to take it out on them. And I think The Governor is going to turn full psycho and rip Caesar's face off at some point.

XXL: What are some parts that stuck out to y'all in this last episode?
Monch: For me, the pinky swear. I don't remember pinky swearing like that. [Laughs]

Grae: I thought the funny part of the pinky swear was his shit, I cross my heart and hope to die but nobody said anything about sticking anything in someone's eye. Which I thought was the obvious way to go. I thought him agreeing to go upstairs to get the backgammon game, I was like, "Is he really doing this?" But honestly I liked the entire beginning of the episode. The first 5 minutes. He didn't even really move out of the way from zombies. He was just like side stepping like fuck it, fuck it. What a lazy ass zombie that was. That was the worst zombie we've probably seen, shitting as zombie.

XXL: Is there anything The Governor can do to get your trust back?
Monch: Nah, I'm done.

Grae:  No, I don't think there's anything even if he goes and somehow manages to talk Rick to get him into the prison. No, and don't leave him around Michonne, ever.

XXL: The Spaghettios part was hilarious.
Grae:  He threw it out the window, you bastard, don't waste that. It's a plate of spaghettios and they look like they warmed them by candle light. It was rude. I wanted to know what he was eating out of that can. That was stupid. You could have had, like, two spaghettios. Maybe it was him maintaining, I'm not trying to humanize myself.

XXL: I'm really excited to see his journey all the way to the ending of episode 5 when's he's watching the prison.
Grae: I think that the rest of them are dead at that part. I would like to think something happened and Tara and Megan, the most annoying kid ever, that they died. She's fucking annoying.

Monch: She was struggling between saving herself or running with the man who bashed her father's face in. I like the way the mother says shit to everybody without saying anything. She just gives eye gestures and hand gestures.

XXL: What if The Governor turns into a good guy and Rick turns evil?
Grae: Rick has his issues if he's start seeing Lori again. Let's just start with the fact that he made a terrible choice of being with her in the first place. She was the worst wife and mother in the entire universe. I don't want to see The Governor be good. I like him as the super villain.