If you haven’t seen last night’s episode titled “This Sorrowful Life”, read no further. If you have, please continue.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
In a word… WOW!!! This was as powerful and poignant an episode of The Walking Dead as anything they have done to this point in their three season run. The last two episodes prior to this saw a game of chess between Rick and the Governor. It was a feeling out process between the two leaders. Last nights episode they sort of took a back seat to Merle Dixon, his brother Daryl and Michonne. A couple of weeks back the Governor made Rick an offer that if he hands over Michonne, he would leave Rick’s people alone. Of course the Governor has no intention of keeping such a promise and deep down Rick knows as well. Regardless, Rick still struggles with what to do.. In the end, it’s Merle’s dubious honor to see this deal through.
“You’re cold as ice Officer Friendly.”…. Merle to Rick
Later on Daryl and Merle have what would turn out to be their last conversation together. Merle questions Daryl’s manhood into wanting to follow Rick’s lead but Daryl stands strong stating that we can’t survive without working with others. It’s a different world now.
Merle misleads Michonne into thinking Rick needed them to do something and as they walk through the prison hallways and fend off walkers, Merle strikes at Michonne knocking her out. When Rick has a change of heart after seeing Lori’s “spirit” he is too late, Merle is gone and Michonne with him. Daryl decides to go after them to bring them back.
But something happens on the way to the Governors…
After hot wiring a car and fighting off walkers, Merle and Michonne make their way towards Woodbury and the Governor. This is where the turning point for Merle takes place. The exchange between him and Michonne may seem insignificant but it sheds a human light into both their souls and their lives prior to the zombie apocalypse. Who they are now wasn’t always who they were. I guess the same can be said of the Governor himself. Merle decides to set Michonne free and tells her to head back to the prison and prepare for war. When she asks what is he going to do, Merle replies with, “I’ve got something to take care of.”
Back at the prison, Rick confesses to the others the deal that he was willing to broker with the Governor. He shows his regret and tries to reinforce that it’s them as individuals who has gotten themselves to this point of survival, not him. He also warns them that war was coming at their door. At this point they await for Daryl’s arrival.
The next few scenes shows Merle savoring the last of his whisky and listening to music while walkers gather and follow his car. He is luring them into the Governor’s camp. He intends to take down as many of his men as possible. Merle may not look at it as a suicide mission but we know it is. He takes out many of his men but misses the Governor when someone else steps into his line of fire. Attacked by a walker that Merle now has to fight off, gives the Governor’s men time to find and stop him from further damage.
This leads to a showdown between Merle and the Governor. They have one last battle with each other but a weakened Merle stood no chance. Beaten, Merle tells him that he won’t beg or plead for his life, the Governor takes out his gun and shoots him.
Daryl finally arrives. As he looks for his brother you know one of two things were going to happen… either he’ll find him being feed on and forced to put him out of his misery or as we saw, has turned into a walker himself. All courtesy of the Governor. Daryl is forced, albeit reluctantly, to kill his brother. Make no mistake, Merle from day one was not a hero by any stretch of the imagination. His standing within Rick’s group was his own doing. He was certainly the ultimate survivor having escaped being handcuffed on a rooftop by cutting off his own hand. No, the sadness you felt while watching was for Daryl. Daryl up this point had evolved quite a bit and wasn’t the loner he started out being. One could only hope that this doesn’t change. Will he blame Rick for this? You know he’ll blame the Governor for sure. The secret to any show’s success, is to leave its viewers asking questions and wanting answers. This is such a show and a brilliant one at that. FYI, starting tonight at 8pm EST, AMC will have the Zombie Apocalypse marathon of The Walking Dead covering every episode leading up to the season finale on Sunday, March 31st. If you have time to kill (no pun intended), this is a great way to catch up on what you’ve missed to this point. Till next week…
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
