The Walking Dead: This Sorrowful Life, 3/24/13

 

Rick’s chatting with Daryl and Hersel. Oh—damn. Looks like Rick’s decided to go through with giving Michonne to Guv. Guess he thinks it’s in the group’s best interest. Neither Daryl nor Hershel is happy with the decision. Hershel crutches off; he wants no part of this. Daryl agrees, but very reluctantly. Rick wants one more person to with them for the hand-off and goes to find Merle. Who is busy tearing up all the cell block’s mattresses, hoping to find a prisoner’s secret drug stash. Rick tells Merle the plan. Merle says if Rick gives Guv Michonne, Guv’s going to “do things to her” and probably “take out both of her eyes.” Merle asks if Rick’s ok with that? Apparently, he is. :( “You cold as ice, Officer Friendly,” Merle drawls.

I’m trying not to be mad at Rick; he has to kids he’s trying to protect. But … <sigh>

Outside, Carl and Maggie make a bunch of noise and distract the walkers while Glenn and Daryl place barbed wire in the yard, and Michonne slaughters walkers who get too close. Then they all jump in the truck, Beth drives them (She’s old enough to drive?) Oh.) inside the yard, and Rick closes the gate. Glenn explains the wire might stop Guv’s goons trying to drive another van full of walkers inside the gates. “Good idea,” Rick says. “It was Michonne’s,” Daryl says pointedly.

Inside the prison, Carol sits stocking ammo and watching over Judith. And questioning Merle.

-- “Are you with us?”

-- “Sure.”

-- “I’m not talking about occupying the same space. Are you with us?”

-- “I’m here for my brother.”

-- “Well, he’s here for us.”

Then she tells him to "pick a damn side." He says exactly what I’m thinking, that she’s not the “little mouse” she used to be when he knew her before. Damn straight, and I totally dig her transformation from abused wife to grieving mother to what she is now: a fighter when necessary, a back-up medical person (See her actions after Hershel’s leg amputation, and a shrewd observer (See the advice she gave Andrea re: Guv.) Now, if she’d just officially become Daryl’s love interest, which I’ve been asking for ALL SEASON LONG, she’d be 100% awesome. Anyhoo, Merle tells her she’s a late bloomer; she tells him maybe he is too. Outside, Daryl tries to apologize to Glenn on Merle’s behalf. Glenn says maybe he could forgive Merle tying him up, beating him up, and then loosing a walker into the room—but not Merle taking Maggie to Guv to be terrorized and humiliated.

Daryl goes looking for Merle, finds him in the boiler room, asks him what he’s doing. Looking for drugs, Merle explains, then tells him Rick’s probably going to change his mind about giving Michonne up. Daryl just shrugs, says yeah probably, but what Rick says goes. Merle taunts him about so blindly following Rick, asks him what happened to him. Daryl asks what happened to him, with Glenn and Maggie. Merle says he (Merle) has done worse, and Daryl needs to grow up. Then Merle validly points out that everyone thinks he’s so terrible for delivering Glenn and Maggie to Guv, when Rick’s about to do the same thing with Michonne. Daryl says he just wants his brother back. Unable to handle the emotional stuff, Merle tells him to shoo. Daryl leaves.  Merle puts some stuff in a duffel bag, next to a rifle. “Looking for drugs” my ass—is Merle packing a bag to go back to Woodbury?

In the cellblock, Hershel sits reading the Bible to Beth and Maggie. Outside, Rick sees Ghost Lori. It shakes him up pretty badly. He goes inside; Hershel starts to try to talk him out of what he’s planning to do, and Rick says he can’t go through with it. YAAAAAAY! If you had anything to do with his change of heart, Ghost Lori, thanks. But, uh oh. In the uncleared section of the prison, Merle is leading Michonne along, feeding her some bull about needing to block the area off. They kill a few walkers—then he knocks her out.

Cut to:

Merle leads a tied-up Michonne through a neighborhood. He tells her about the deal, and that he knew Rick wouldn’t go through with it. But he (Merle) will. They pause for a moment so he can kill an approaching walker with her sword, and he says he’s surprised she didn’t try to run. She calmly replies she’s going to get her sword back first. He just laughs. At the prison, Rick tells Daryl that the exchange is off. Daryl’s like, good call. But, Rick says, he can’t find Merle or Michonne. Daryl volunteers to go after them. Out on the road, Merle tells Michonne that he hopes giving her to Guv will get Guv to let everyone at the prison live. Merle’s just trying to protect Daryl, he explains. She tells him she doesn’t think he’s really a bad guy.

Glenn drops by Hershel’s cell for a visit and—Awwwwwwwwwwwwww!—asks for Maggie’s hand in marriage. Hershel gives him his blessing. I cheer. Love. LOVE, DAMMIT. Glenn goes outside and cuts a finger off a female walker who’s about Maggie’s size to get her ring. Ha! Bloody right he got a ring. If you gotta settle for 1. an engagement-but-probably-never-a-marriage 2. during the effing zombie apocalypse 3. not long before you’re going to die, might as well make the proceedings as normal as possible.

Merle ties Michonne to a post so he can hotwire a car. In the process, he sets off its alarm. The racket attracts a swarm of walkers. Michonne yells for Merle, fighting as best she can with her hands tied. He gets the car started just a walker attacks, kills it, gets her in the car, and they zoom off. As they ride along, she tells him that he’s blowing his chance to become a part of Rick’s group. He tells her she’s just as much on the  outside as he is; she says at least once Guv’s done with her, she won’t have to live with herself. She suggests they just go back. He says he can’t. She asks why not—and he stops the car, slices the wires binding her hands, gives her her sword, and tells her to go back to the prison and get ready for Guv’s attack. He’s got to go handle something. Then he drives off. Ok, wow. That was very much NOT how I thought that was going to end. Elsewhere, Daryl comes across the still-alive head of the walker Merle killed just as Michonne approaches and swords it to death. He asks her if she kills Merle; she tells him Merle let her go. Daryl tells her not to let anyone come after him and runs off.

Using the car radio to attract them, Merle leads a swarm of walkers to the rendezvous point, then jumps out of the slow-rolling car and hides, leaving the music blaring. Martinez, Ben, Allen, Guv, and several more of his goons are standing around, weapons at the ready. (WAIT A MINUTE. Last week, Allen was yelling at Tyrese that he’s the one who takes care of his son, not Tyrese. So, Allen’s idea of taking care of Ben is bringing him along to kill people????) They hear the noise, approach the car, and start shooting at the walkers; from hiding, Merle starts shooting at the goons. He takes out several of them, and just as he’s about kill Guv, Ben gets in the way and is shot. Your fault, Allen!!! Martinez realizes that someone is shooting at them just as a walker attacks Merle. He kills it; then Martinez et al. find him and beat the crap out of him. Guv yells, “Leave him to me!” The two of them fight. It’s savage. Guv actually bites off two of Merle’s fingers. (Gosh, a lot of finger removal this episode.) Guv pulls out a gun. Merle says he’s not going to beg. Guv shoots him.

Maggie stands out in the yard, keeping watch. Glenn puts the ring in her hand. “Yes,” she says immediately. (Awwwwww.) Then they join the others. Rick tells everyone about the deal, and that he was going to go through with it, but changed his mind. He couldn’t give up one person for the greater good because they are the greater good; the only reason they’re alive is that they have each other. He recants his this-is-a-Ricktatorship speech from a year ago (So it’s now a democRICKcy!), and says that how they live isn’t up to him. He’s not their “governor.” They’ll vote to stay and fight, or to abandon the prison. He leaves them to think about it. Up on the watchtower, he sees Michonne returning.

Daryl arrives at the rendezvous point. He sees a bunch of dead walkers and a bunch of walkers eating freshly dead bodies ... including Zombie Merle (who is eating freshly dead Ben). Zombie Merle approaches. Daryl shoves him away a few times, finally kills him, then collapses, crying. 

I’ve been begging for Merle to die, and die horribly, since season one, so I feel not one bit of pity for him, but oh, how my heart aches for Daryl. Comfort him, Carol. :(