3.15: The Walking Dead - This Sorrowful Life

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Rick and the group are faced with a serious problem. If they want a truce with The Governor, they will have to make a huge sacrifice.

 

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** Spoilers **

"Do you know why you do the things, you do?" asks the mad man, to whom a moment of sanity feels like a sunny day after a year of raining. To Rick there just haven't been many of those days since he lost his beloved wife, and while old Rick wouldn't had even hesitated to do what needs to be done, the new Rick is a pale of shadow of the man who declared Ricktatorship.

As strange it is the title run with empty houses, wandering eyes, bloody saws and empty shell casings portrays really well the madness that is going on in this season. But luckily the vassals in the mad man kingdom aren't afraid of using their brains even if the King has lost the plot. And as strange as it seems Merle was exactly like the snake in the paradise, by whispering the truths in the ears of the listeners who heard them as lies.

Then again it was those lies that drove Daryl to climb out from the ditch and walk back in the farm. He hated the man, the wicked tongue he had, the stuff he'd made him to do. And those same things seemed to creep into other people's lives, but as strange as it seems to be, he should had taken Michonne's offer and save himself. Maybe he could had even found somebody to love.

However, he was a loner, an outcast. Merle was a man who'd lived his life doing bad things because they were all things he knew. The world had been wicked to him and he tried to use that to poison other people's lives. So maybe it was blessing in disguise that he found the end at hand of his brother - who loved him to bits. Daryl wanted him to change; to see that there are good things in life. Things that meant something, like the ring Glen put in Maggie's hand.

There is only one episode left in this season and it looks like the ending is going to be explosive, but the question is, who's going to lose their lives?

​

 

[Lenny]

I didn't expect him to be given story arc time, but after last week's focus on Andrea, it makes sense that Merle would get his redemption in the spotlight.

It's kind of a win-win for the group - a fair number of the Governor's elite soldiers have been killed, yet at no cost to the group (after all, Merle was only at the prison because Daryl was at the prison, and had made no effort to integrate himself).

The end of the Ricktatorship might not be a good sign, as it returns the group to a structure similar to the one they were in at the farm: without a strong leader, they bickered and argued what they'd do next, rarely reaching a consensus. Of course, having gone through hell, the group dynamic has changed since then and they're no longer deluding themselves that things can return to a pre-zombie state. In Hershel and Daryl, they also have voices as strong as Rick's, so at the very least there will be three key points of view in any argument (but who's to say that Daryl won't simply side with Rick?). But dress it up how you will, I think they'll struggle under a democracy.

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In terms of people dying, I still think Glen has to go, particularly now that he's gone all Captain Foreshadowing on us - "I want her to know before we all die [sic]". I think it's going to be Glen rather than Maggie, because Glen has already had his one-man vengeance show, and to put him back into a state where his actions are controlled by things done to Maggie is lazy.

I'm no longer sure that Daryl will go. I suspect he'll use battle as a chance to grieve, and that he'll disappear at some point, but he'll make it out alive as the dust clears.

Someone needs to be walker-fodder, and I think it will be Carol, who was also touched by Captain Foreshadowing this episode - "I'm not scared of anything [sic]".

On the Woodbury side - the Governor is an obvious, as is the guy heading the elite soldiers (Martinez? Whatever he's called, I'm putting money on Daryl being his killer). One of Tyreese's group got in the way of Merle's bullet for the Governor (at least I think it was him, and not the kid with asthma), so his brother is going to go out in a blaze of vengeance.

I'm not sure about Andrea and Milton. My gut feeling is that Milton will die by the Governor's hand helping her to escape. Andrea gets fatally wounded (shot? Bitten), makes it to the group, but dies shortly thereafter.

Obviously, Tyreese and his sister will join the prison gang to bolster numbers.

 

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Was Merle a bully or a coward?

 

[Huttman]

Most bullies are cowards, they just use bravado to hide their fear. This episode made me cry as Daryl is my favorite character and although he has had breakout moments before, they have always been subdued until this episode. Even before his encounter with zombie Merle, he was really starting to show his own self come to the surface, not the angry little brother of Merle, but who he has learned to be in the last year. Norman (gotta love him-thats my name) Reedus' performance about ending big bro was heart wrenching for me. Merle finally did something rather genuine as his last act and that made Daryl's pain understandable for the audience, I think. Outstanding episode, I hope we can hang on to these characters for a while. I hope.

 

[ctg]

I agree, truly awesome episode and to be honest, I too had a tear in my eye for Daryl but I had heart in my throat for Michonne. I just couldn't stop thinking that Merle isn't what he seems to be and that he will go back to Governor's side even though I saw the fear in Merle's face, when he talked to Daryl at prison.

 

[Huttman]

Well, I kept thinking that too, but he did have a change of heart to let Michonne go and did try to take out the governor before they had a chance to attack the prison. I really think his brother, Carol, Hershel and Michonne all said the right things that plucked at his heart strings. He said it himself, he has been this way all his life and change is a hard thing but he did at the end there. He even quoted where in the bible Hershel was speaking from. Such a one tracked character that really grew in a short period of time, and given enough time, I think Daryl would have been right about him. Well, he was, actually.

 

[FireDragon-16]

First of all, I have to apoligize for not updating. I had to go help out a friend Sunday night and I've only just gotten to see the episode.

On to the episode: Wow.

Merle has never been my favorite, and after I saw him at the prison when they first caught Michonne and Andrea, I was convinced that he was only going with Daryl in some sort of an attempt to get back at T-Dog and Rick. I was glad that he was able to find some sort of redemption when he changed his mind about Michonne. Although when Daryl finished him, I was bawling I'm not ashamed to admit (my brothers and dad won't admit it to save their lives, but I know they at least had tears waiting to fall ).

Glen and Maggie seem to be moving along, but I don't think Glen's going to die just yet. My money is on Carol or maybe Judith.

The Governor really needs to go, but since they've already mentioned leaving the prison as the setting for season 4, I don't know if they'll kill him off just yet unfortunately. It seems like Milton is going to get it, but I'm not sure if it's going to be from the Governor or if he's going to attempt to save someone else and get caught that way. I really want Andrea to go away, but I don't know if she'll go just yet either.

I do think that come the end of next week's episode, the prison is going to be able to count Tyrese and Sasha among their members.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Just saw the episode. I really liked it, and was surprised by the way it went down. Very good set-up for the finale.

 

[rune]

I cant say I was unhappy to see the end of Merle. However, I did feel for Daryl! Bless!

It was good that Rick changed his mind about Michonne, I thought he would.