The Walking Dead: Home, 2/17/13

As he looks through binoculars out over the prison yard, Rick sees Michonne … and then Ghost Lori, over by the graves. He runs to her; she disappears. Then he sees her outside the gates. He runs to her, past a very confused Michonne. He approaches. Ghost Lori smiles at him, caresses his face. Back in the yard, a thoroughly baffled Michonne watches from a distance as Rick stands there all alone reaching out to nothing.

At Woodbury, the wall has been repaired, it seems. Somber, well armed guards keep vigilant watch, and there is no one out on the streets. In her room, Andrea hears a knock at the door. It’s Guv. He praises the speech she gave to calm the townspeople. Andrea cuts to the chase, asks if he’ll retaliate against her friends. Guv says no. She says she wants to go see them. He completely ignores that—Seriously. He doesn’t acknowledge it at all.—and he says he’s not fit to lead anymore, asks if she’ll do it, leaves her to think about it. Out in the woods, Daryl and Merle are hunting. Or, trying to, but they’re not finding anything. Daryl suggests they go to the prison. Merle says by now, Guv and his henchmen are probably attacking and killing Rick et al. Then he calmly suggests he and Daryl try their luck at fishing?

In the prison, the group minus Rick stands around discussing prison-defending strategery because, like everybody except Andrea, they know Guv’s coming. Carl shows Glenn on a chalk diagram where he (Carl) found Tyrese’s group. It’s an area they thought was secure. If walkers can get in, Glenn says, it’ll be cake for Guv and his peeps. Beth says maybe he won’t come; Michonne says, um, dude had heads in fishtanks. He’s crazy. He’s coming. Glenn proposes sneaking back into Woodbury and killing Guv. Maggie storms off. Hershel says Rick wouldn’t allow this; Glenn says Rick’s in no condition to be making decisions. (So I guess they’re all well aware of The Madness Of Rick, and are just leaving him to work through it.) Hershel talks Glenn out of the assassination, proposes they leave the prison. Glenn says no, not with Hershel missing a leg and Baby Judith crying all the time. They'll stay at the prison, Glenn says, and defend it. Glenn tells Carl to come with him into the tombs so they can try to find the breach. Michonne volunteers to help; Glenn asks her to stay with the others in case anything happens. So, now that Rick’s mentally AWOL, does she no longer have to leave? Hope so.

Back at Woodbury, Guv visits Milton, asks him to keep an eye on Andrea because he (Guv) is not sure “where her loyalties lie.” OMG STOP SAYING THAT. “Not sure if I can trust her” will do just fine, you pretentious prick. Elsewhere, Andrea asks Karen, one of the armed peeps patrolling the wall, where’s Martinez. Karen will say only that he left. Andrea asks Milton where’s Guv. Milton tries to convince her, quite unconvincingly, that Guv went on a supply run. Andrea stalks off. She knows damn well where he’s gone.

Glenn and Carl return, report that the tombs are overrun. Hershel again brings up deserting the prison. Glenn says no; they’re staying. He’ll take Maggie and drive around to take a look to see where the walkers are coming in. Hershel asks if Glenn thinks Maggie’s up to that. Glenn goes to check on her. She’s just lying on her cot. He asks her what’s wrong. She tells him what Guv did to her, making her take her shirt off, bending her over a table, and all the rest. Glenn asks if he raped her; she says no. Glenn reaches for her; she shoves him and tells him to go away. He does. I’m … not understanding. Is she mad cuz she thinks Glenn would have been disgusted by her if Guv had raped her? Does Glenn feel like she allowed herself to be victimized? #couplestherapy Outside, Carol and Axle are stacking crates and tabletops to hide behind. She shows him how to use a gun. They flirt a wee bit. I cannot approve of this, for we all know that Carol and Daryl are meant to be. For pete’s sake, THEIR NAMES RHYME.

Out in the woods, Daryl and Merle are traipsing along, arguing about which body of water they’re closest to, when Daryl hears a baby. Merle says it’s probably two raccoons having sex. Right. Sure, Merle. They come across some people under attack from walkers, a Latino family, two dudes up on a truck and a lady with A BABY in a car. They (mostly Daryl) help kill the walkers; then Merle starts looking through their stuff, ordering one of the men to “Slow down, beaner.” *sigh* Daryl points his bow at Merle, tells him to get out of the car, tells the men to get in the car and leave. They go. Daryl and Merle have it out. Daryl says he didn’t leave Merle; he went back for him when Merle was left on that roof, but he was gone. And it was Merle’s fault he had to cut his hand off. “You asked for it!” (Somewhere, T Dog is laughing.) Merle says it’s funny that Daryl and Rick are so close given the fact that Daryl and Merle were planning to rob the camp. Daryl says well, it didn’t happen. Merle says only because he wasn’t there to help. Daryl says yep, like when they were kids, “Who left who then?”, and calls Merle a simple-minded piece of shit. (LIKE.) An enraged Merle grabs at him, tears Daryl’s shirt—and becomes very disturbed upon seeing scars on Daryl’s back. 
-- Merle: “I didn’t know he…” 
-- Daryl: “Yeah, he did. He did the same to you. That’s why you left first.” 
-- Merle: “I had to. I would have killed him otherwise.” 
(Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ok. I’m theorizing that the Dixon brothers were victims of terrible childhood physical-or-probably-sexual abuse. :( Daryl handled it by becoming an antisocial loner; Merle, by becoming an obnoxious racist loudmouth. Ok, he’s still a gigantic asshat, but I am one degree less mad at Merle for his bigotry. ONE DEGREE.) Daryl says he’s going back to where he belongs. Yay! Merle says, but he (Merle) can’t go with him because he tried to kill “the black bitch” and “the Chinese kid.” Daryl says, “I may be the one walking away, but you’re the one leaving. Again.” He leaves. After a moment, Merle follows.

At the prison, Beth takes Judith to Maggie, and I’m glad to see that baby-cuteness can penetrate Maggie’s mental funk. Outside, Hershel tries to keep Glenn from going off alone, but Glenn goes anyway. Hershel then tries to talk to Rick, calling him over from aimlessly wandering outside the gates. Rick admits he’s been seeing Ghost Lori, and that he saw Ghost Shane back at Woodbury. Hershel asks, was that them on that “phone call,” too? Rick nods, says he knows they’re not real, but it has to mean something, right? Hershel pleads with him to come inside and get some rest. Rick refuses and heads back into the woods. Inside the gates, Axle and Carol stand chatting when, BOOM! Axle falls dead of a bullet to the head. And with that, we bid adieu to the last of the prisoners. Outside the gates, Guv and his henchmen open fire. Maggie runs out with weapons; they return fire, but Guv et al. are better armed. They get everyone pinned down, then drive a truck through the outer gates, leaving them wide open and uncloseable. Inside the truck is a gaggle of walkers. The driver runs off after releasing them into the yard. Note the high degree of asshole-ishness: Guv didn’t want them shot; he wanted them eaten alive. Sure everyone will be dead soon, he and his henchman head out. A shocked Glenn returns, just in time to see Guv drive off. Michonne runs through the outer yard, slicing and beheading the imported walkers. Rick runs out of bullets and is about to be walker food when Merle and Daryl arrive just in time, join in the fight. Making this the first—and probably last—time we’ll ever be glad to see Merle. Glenn drives over to Hershel; he and Michonne get him in the truck; they join Carl, Carol, Maggie, and Beth inside the inner gate. Rick, Daryl, and Merle are stuck outside.

So … did Tyrese’s group leave?