The Walking Dead 3-15: Red Dixon Redemption

Merle gets contemplative.

(Major spoilers below!)

The end-of-season body count gets started early with “This Sorrowful Life,” and with only one episode remaining, Walking Dead fans should brace themselves for more beloved (and not-so-beloved) characters to fall. Speaking of death, if The Governor doesn’t die next episode, I’m going to flip a table and choke a mofo. As much as I love to hate him, it’s time for his freaking reign of evil to end. The Woodbury vs. Rick’s Rebels battle has been building up for 15 episodes, so it’s time for some closure!

Before we get any further into the recap, let’s check with Dale.

Why, as I live and breathe! Fancy seeing you here!

Been a while, Dale. We wasn’t ’round one another too long, if I recall. I bet you don’t remember my name, do ya?

Sure I do, Steeebbiiilllrooggerr—

Merle.

Merle! Merle, it’s good to see ya. Sorry if I keep it short, but there’s this dang raccoon tearing up the inside of my RV right now and I gotta scare him out.

Raccoon? I know few things ’bout dealing with them.

Merle, I wouldn’t just go in there unprepared if I were you. This one’s crafty.

Aw, hush, little boy. Ol’ Merle ain’t never faced off ‘gainst a coon he couldn’t handle.

Four minutes pass.

Well?

Bastard took my knife-hand and tied my shoes together. I tripped and fell face-first inna toilet.

Count yourself lucky.

Thanks, Dale. Now onward, to the recap!

The episode starts off in what seems like an alternate universe, one where Rick is stupid and Merle is the voice of reason. Rick tells Merle he’s going to give Michonne over to the Governor in exchange for the group’s safety, and Merle tells him he doesn’t have the balls to actually do it. Well, the elder Dixon was right. Rick changes his mind, but not before Merle knocks out Michonne, ties her up, and heads out to hand her over to The Gov.

“This Sorrowful Life” focuses mostly on Merle and his moral struggles. He’s always been a wild card, but had a few good qualities hidden deep down. He just didn’t have the pampered upbringing everyone else had. Michonne tries to convince him he can go back to the prison and start a new life. Instead, he lets her go and tries to take on The Gov himself as a last act of redemption. Since he knows where the Governor plans to have the hostage exchange, Merle comes up with a plan of attack that is uniquely Merle. He blasts some butt rock to draw zombies in around his car and sends the car and its horde of zombies hurtling towards the Woodbury group to act as a distraction. He then picks off most of The Gov’s henchmen while they fight with the zombies, but in the end The Gov gets the upper hand on Merle and they have a massive brawl which ends with The Gov biting Merle’s fingers off mid-fight and then shooting him. Yes, Merle did some terrible things to Maggie and Glen, and certainly wasn’t what you’d call a good guy, but man did he keep the show interesting, so I’m sad to see him go. There were so many good things they could have done with his character, it really feels like his death was a season too early. Plus we were finally seeing him warm up a bit and then BAM! He’s gone. It’s just like The Walking Dead to show a character’s good side and really make you feel for them, and then kill them off!

Rick and Daryl debate what to do about Michonne.

Daryl went after Merle to stop him, and finds a zombified brother eating some fresh meat. He’s had to face the idea of losing his brother before, but to find him there, zombified and soulless, is too much for this hardened badass to take. He tearfully breaks down and tries to keep Walker Merle back for as long as possible before finally taking him out. It’ll be interesting to see if Daryl turns hard again like in the first season, or if he’ll be able to cope better with his bro’s death. Either way one thing is for sure— The Governor killed the wrong dude’s brother!

Rick fills in the rest of the group about everything that’s happening, and tells them that  he will no longer make all the decisions— everyone gets a say in what they do now. Glenn proposes to Maggie in one of the most unromantic ways ever seen on television, but given the fact that walking corpses try to eat them on a daily basis, and that I’ve been witness to worse real-life proposals, I’d say the unromantic proposal totally fit.

Likes:

• Everything about Merle this episode, from beginning to end. He was da bomb and Michael Rooker gave one hell of a performance.
• Rick coming to his senses about Michonne.
• Michonne kicking ass even while tied to a pole.
• Glen gets his wedding ring from a zombie.
• Daryl’s break down when he finds Merle.
• Rick coming to the group and telling them they were a team, and he would no longer make all the decisions. This is a very good thing, seeing as how he’s still hallucinating dead people.

Dislikes:

• Merle’s death. He did some bad things, but I’ve never wanted him to die. He kept things funny and interesting, and while his death was shocking, I felt like the character had a lot more story potential left to him.