great examples, but the most grievous was the Governor finding her in the middle of nowhere. Twice.

All she had to do was keep running in the woods instead of into the barn and she would havemade it!

Sigh :(

Brutal. Simply brutal. And y'know what? Even if it had to happen, it's a lesser show right now than it was before this episode.

I had seen a spoiler photo of it about 2 weeks ago and was hoping that it wasn't fake.

Anyways, less governor and andrea=good episode.

On a practical note, if they kill Darryl next week -- which is what I've predicted as at least a cliffhanger for several week -- ratings will be down by at least 40 percent by the 3rd ep of next season.

TV audiences are fickle things. And without Darryl, I really believe they'll lose roughly half their female audience.

Not sure what to think about this one.

Not much of a set up for next week, so hopefully it doesn't feel too rushed. If there are going to be casualties next week, there aren't many expendables left on Rick's side (unless they want to go big). Beth and Carol are probably in danger. Herschel (unfortunately), too. I can't see Rick, Carl, Glen, Daryl, or Maggie going out just yet.

Killing off Darryl might have been what got Mazzera fired if that actually happened.

Merle had to go, he was too big a problem at this point. They couldn't have him just become one of the good guys again, but being the bad guy, staying there after what happened with Glenn and Maggie, it wouldn't fly. This was the best case for Merle, do one good thing on his way out.

The problem I have here is that I just can't bring myself to believe for a second that Rick would think that the Governor's offer to exchange Michonne for peace was legit. If I can ignore that, pretty solid episode on its own, but I do agree with Swaggs, nothing really happened here to help set up next week (except for the possibility of Darryl being the one that kills the Governor I guess).

I massively disagree that nothing of import happened in this episode or that it didn't really set up anything for next week. Merle just declared war on Woodbury for the prison. He just gave the Governor all the excuse he needs to go take an army and assault the prison. I don't think for a second the Governor believes Merle acted on Rick's behalf, but he will look for any excuse. This gives him the "moral high ground" he may have needed with his own people, including maybe Milton and Tyrese.

Remember Merle attacked the Governor and his people at the meeting site for negotiations. He came to "negotiate" with Rick, and instead he got attacked by a "member" of Rick's crew.

We'd already seen a scene after the first negotiation where the Governor makes it clear that he's not negotiating. He asked for Michonne to be brought in alive, but for everyone else in Rick's party to be killed when they showed up to negotiate. Having Merle go it alone is just the method the show chose to avoid Rick and his folks walking into an ambush and to change the location of what is presumably the final confrontation between these two groups, IMO.

I'm sure the Governor will use this to rally his people, but it really wasn't needed. He already had the fact that Rick's group came into his town to rally folks around.

I don't think that he would possess that type of power within the show to make that kind of decision. Someone in AMC higher up would surely throw his body in front of that I'd think.

Does anyone remember what the relationship between Merle and Daryl was? I can't remember and I wish they would have told us more than once or twice.

They were brothers. They made reference to it in this episode at least a couple times, although I would say it was a pretty much known relationship in the show. Have you watched the show from the start?

They could have and should have kept Merle. They had plenty of other worthless and shitty characters to kill off. I'm guessing the finale will be another filler episode to drag this war with the governor into another season.

Pretty sure that was sarcasm, Chief. ;)




Kind of a Lost "They took my boy!" thing.

No way! Merle's character arc was over. I had serious doubts starting at least 2 episodes ago that he would make it out of this season. It's not that his character wasn't fun, but his death was needed to expand Darryls. He was a man without a home. Totally untrustworthy, a complete anarchist (from a morality standpoint) who couldn't figure out how to fit in in the new order of things. He redeems himself not for his brother or the prison group, but for himself because he knows no other way out. Now Darryl has finally escaped his brothers horrible shadow and he feels like he can make his own way in the world.

dola

Besides, if pro wrestling has taught me anything it's knowing that Merle is a badass, and he get's killed by the Governor. It puts the Governor over more before the final showdown. And that's where this whole thing is going next right?

Very solid episode.

I really enjoyed it.

Sucks to see Merle go, but he went out trying to do the "right thing" in his own way.

I liked the episode (the end was expected, but still great for me), but I still don't see how they resolve the Woodbury/governor and/or prison arcs in an hour next week.

They still have the torture chair stuff, Milton's betrayal, and the stuff with Tyreese's group over at Woodbury. Maybe it goes into next season?

I'm thinking they might decide to leave the prison and there is no "final confrontation".

I'm not certain Merle was really a zombie. Michael Rucker just seems like a crazy SOB who would take bites out of extras during breaks in filming.

bath salts

You forget that Merle actually thinned out some of Woodbury's soldiers.
Plus he gave them a taste of their own medicine with the "walker" bomb/truck that they drove into the prison.

Well, all that is pretty significant, isn't it?

I feel they blew what could have been an awesome scene between Darryl and Zombie Merle. They did such a great job with Sofia when she walked out of the barn all those episodes ago back on the farm. Darryl killing Merle just felt hollow and almost cheesy. They have been disappointing me lately :(

dola, and the last episode with the Gov finding Andrea out in the middle of nowhere twice... count me as one that sighed out loud. There are many ways they could have made that work without him stumbling upon her and pulling me out of the story with a "WTF?" moment twice.

They are going to need to reboot this series before it is over!!

I hated to see Merle go, but, it seems like the writers didn't know what to do with him, so they had to kill him. He just didn't fit anywhere with the way they wrote him. I would have been happy if he had just 'disappeared' and popped up for an episode or two every now and then or made a spin off series featuring Merle, "The Adventures of Merle" or something like that.

Is the prison 1 mile, 10 miles or 100miles from woodbury?

Dola-

The gov and crew taking out a team of trained guardsmen makes me wonder why they need 50 soldiers for Ricks group. They should take the prison in 10 seconds.

They took them completely by surprise. It was an ambush. The guardsmen were tired, wary and hopeful that they were being rescued. They also didn't have fortified prison to help defend them.

This has been covered.

I'd say closer to 10 miles or so as the crow flies.

It can't be more than 4 or 5 miles. As least to me.


So they had surprise, but in the guise of the show, the people of Woodbury are just regular people who have had it cushy for most of the time, while the prison group is supposedly a group of hardened travelers that is already conditioned to fight for their lives.

Sad that Merle's gone, but glad he did the right thing in the end. Best episode of the season IMO.

Yes, sadly there have been too many of these moments through this season. The idea that she couldn't have avoided him on foot is ridiculous.

Yes.

Yo dude, we're watching a show about a zombie outbreak, need to suspend belief for about 45 mins an episode. :D

But yeah I was saying the same thing that episode... still, he knew where she was going, he knows the way to get there... we can assume she had to loosely follow the road.

My personal prediction is that either Glenn and/or Maggie die. To me, Glenn is annoying and both of them have had their screen times cut. Would not surprise me that the week after they get engaged, one of them bites it.

Also:

Read at your own risk!!

yeah, I think it's probably curtains for Glenn. and Maggie's sister(?) whatshername.

Hopefully she goes out singing.

That would suck if Glenn died. He's sweet.

I think her name is Beth, though for some reason a friend of mine calls her Doodlebug, so that's how I usually refer to her.

Here's my take on the death situation for next episode:

Prime candidates: Hershel, Doodlebug, Carol, Andrea, Sasha (Tyreses’ daughter)

Secondary candidates: Maggie, Darryl, Michonne, Glenn, Tyrese

Not likely: Rick and Carl

and Andrea kills the Governor after stepping in front of a bullet meant for Michonne? 3-1 odds on that? 5-1?

It will be interesting to see how the Governor dies. Lots of people in the mix:

Andrea, because he'll have it coming after the torturing and to make up for her not doing it earlier.

Darryl, for his brother!

Michonne, because they have a long running fued.

Glenn, for Maggie!

Rick, because he's the leader of the good guys.

Milton too, I suppose.

or maybe Walt's dog?

Good list, here is my take:

Prime: Hershel, Maggie, Glenn, Andrea, Doodlebug, Sasha
Secondary: Carol, Michonne
Unlikely: Tyrese, Darryl
Not going to happen: Rick, Carl

I just don't think they would kill Tyrese yet. Hadn't thought about Sasha, but that is probably a good choice. It's been my thought for a while that Tyrese will end up back with the prison group, replacing whoever is killed (Glenn?).

I don't see how Andrea gets out of the episode alive. I doesn't appear that very many people trust her on either side.

Hershel is a candidate just because they can't let him limp around forever. He is the current Dale, so it is just a matter of time.

I would find it very unlikely that the show would shoot itself with the female viewers by killing Darryl.

I like this list. I think Carol is a little more likely to go than Michonne. Also, I think only one of Maggie and Glenn are dying, the other stays around to mourn/suffer for a bit. I was initially going to suggest that if Maggie dies, Herschel will stay for the same reason, but I'm having second thoughts about that. Maybe its their whole family at once, all three of them.

I also remain convinced that Andrea survives, but the only reason is that she is the only character that I actively want to be gone at this point, so I fully expect her to almost die but to hang around to be even more annoying more frequently next season.



I keep seeing this mentioned. Darryl is my favorite character and my interest in the show might drop quickly if he wasn't on it. I AM NOT A WOMAN DAMMIT! ;)

I have a pet theory that Glenn will be moving on, and that Maggie is now preggers with his kid.

Prolly Lil' Ass-Kicker.