Season 3, episode 15
This Sorrowful Life
- Merle faces who he really is in the world when Rick considers accepting The Governor's terms for a ceasefire.
The episode begins with Rick, Daryl and Hershel discussing The Governor's offer to exchange Michonne for a truce. Rick wants them to help him carry out the mission, but Daryl and Hershel refuse, claiming that they can't bring themselves to do it.
Rick then goes over to Merle's cell and asks him to help take Michonne to the meeting site. Although Merle is surprised Rick is willing to go through with the deal, he cautions that The Governor only wants Michonne so he can torture her. Merle then agrees to do the trade. Outside, the group is laying down spike strips in preparation for The Governor's attack. Rick clearly feels conflicted as he listens to Michonne talk about how they have to give The Governor and his men as much trouble as possible when they enter the prison.
Inside Cell Block C, Carol tells Merle that he needs to pick a side. Elsewhere, Daryl is defending his brother against Glenn's remarks about Merle being responsible for what happened to him and Maggie. Daryl then goes up to his brother's cell, and they talk about how the group is regarding him. Merle points out that the group needs someone like him to handle their dirty work, and that even though they despise him, Rick is no better for agreeing to the deal.
Outside, Rick is looking for something to bind Michonne with when he sees another hallucination of Lori. He tells himself it's not real and walks away. Inside, Hershel, Beth and Maggie are praying when Rick enters and tells him that the deal is off.
Elsewhere, Merle brings Michonne outside to help him "clear walkers", then knocks her unconscious and binds her hands with wire before placing her in a car and driving off. As they head to the meeting site, Michonne wakes up. Merle explains that Rick would never be able to go through with the deal, but he can. Back at the prison, Rick realizes that Merle kidnapped Michonne and sends Daryl out to find them at the meeting site. Glenn also asks Hershel for Maggie's hand in marriage, and Hershel gives his blessing.
Merle tells Michonne that he can spare the prison group by making the trade. When Michonne points out that he still has a conscience, Merle notes that he can never take back the deaths of all the people he killed. The duo stop at an abandoned motel while Merle switches cars. However, his attempt to hotwire a vehicle results in the car alarm going off and walkers coming towards them. Merle barely manages to kill a walker that attacks him, while Michonne decapitates one with her restraints, before they jump into the car and drive off. Michonne says that Merle is an outsider, but could have become a valuable member of the group. Merle counters that Michonne is an outcast too.
Back at the prison, Glenn finds and cuts off two fingers from a female walker, specifically to get the wedding ring it's wearing. He then finds Maggie and proposes to her.
In the car, Michonne asks why Merle would want to aid The Governor, who had already tried to kill him. Merle realizes the logic in this, stops the car and cuts her bindings, before telling her that he has something to do and drives off.
As Michonne walks back to the prison, she encounters Daryl and tells him what happened. Daryl orders her not to send anyone else and continues on his way to the meeting.
Meanwhile, Merle is stopped at a liquor store and blasts music while he gets drunk in his vehicle. Walkers soon approach the vehicle, and Merle drives it slowly towards the meeting place. He jumps out and lets the car run into the site, then hides in a building as The Governor and his men investigate. He takes a hidden position and begins blasting The Governor's men. When he has the opportunity to shoot The Governor, however, Ben walks in his path and is killed.
Suddenly, a walker attacks Merle and he kills it, though not before being discovered. The Governor's men apprehend him, but The Governor orders them to clear out while he deals the matter personally. Merle tries to attack The Governor, but his best efforts are thwarted and he loses two fingers for his trouble. As Merle says that he won't beg for his life, The Governor pulls out a gun and shoots him.
Back at the prison, Rick tells the rest of the group what happened, and how he couldn't bring himself to trade Michonne. He realizes that his way of leading by authority doesn't work anymore, and gives the group the choice to either stay and fight or flee. Afterwards, he sees Michonne making her way back to the prison.
Daryl arrives at the meeting site and sees the carnage of the battle. He watches a walker feasting on Ben's corpse, only to realize that it's a reanimated Merle. Daryl tearfully watches as Merle stands up and staggers over to him, then pushes him away repeatedly. Finally, he stabs Merle through the mouth and puts him down for good before collapsing in tears on the ground.
Tropes:
- Accidental Murder; Zig-Zagged. Ben was killed because he got in the way of Merle sniping The Governor, but Merle's mission other than to kill The Governor is to take out as many Woodbury Mooks as he can.
- As the Good Book Says...: Hershel and his daughters pray, and he reads a Bible passage that happens to be very relevant to their circumstances.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Merle takes this approach as a Token Evil Teammate, and even very nearly says the trope name verbatim.Merle: Maybe these people need someone like me around. To do their dirty work. The bad guy.
- Continuity Nod:
- Merle calls Rick "Officer Friendly", much as he did when chained to the roof in "Guts".
- Just before The Governor shoots him, Merle says, "I ain't begging you!", which was said during his opening speech in "Tell It To The Frogs".
- Crucified Hero Shot: Before The Governor kills him, Merle was positioned this way.
- Death by Adaptation: Ben was accidentally killed by Merle. In the comic, he was killed around the Fear the Hunters arc, which was covered from the latter half of Season 4 up to the third episode of Season 5.
- Death by Disfigurement: By the time he died, Merle has lost his right hand and two of his fingers.
- A Death in the Limelight: For Merle.
- Defiant to the End: Merle states that he won't beg, just before The Governor shoots him.
- Downer Ending: While Merle does kill many of The Governor's men, he fails to kill the man himself who kills Merle in return and leaves him to reanimate before a tearful Daryl finds him and puts him down for good.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: Merle dies after undergoing a personal suicide mission to kill The Governor, though not before he gets one final chance to tell The Governor off.
- Fingore: The Governor brutally bites off two of Merle's fingers during their fight.
- Gorn: Not only does Michonne decapitate a walker (in graphic detail) with her restraints, but the undead is stabbed in the mouth and repeatedly in the head on-screen.
- Hassle-Free Hotwire: Averted. Merle hotwires a car while transporting Michonne to the meeting site, only for the car alarm to immediately go off and attract a group of walkers.
- Heel Realization: Merle gets it when he realizes that he not only will never fit in with the prison group, but he's spent his time being a pawn for The Governor. He ends up releasing Michonne and going on his own suicide mission to make up for it.
- Ironic Echo: Glenn cuts two fingers off a walker to procure a wedding ring for Maggie, while Merle has two fingers bit off by The Governor just before being killed.
- Killed Off for Real: Merle.
- Kill the Ones You Love: Daryl was forced to kill the now undead Merle.
- Manly Tears: Daryl cries when his undead brother stands up to face him, and is forced to put him down.
- Mercy Kill: Daryl kills the undead Merle to prevent him from existing as a walker.
- Plot Armor: A literal example, by way of human body. Merle tries to shoot The Governor, but Ben walks in front of him at the precise moment he fires, and takes the bullet instead.
- Redemption Equals Death: Merle's suicide mission against The Governor ends in his own death, but not before he kills a number of The Governor's men.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: The Governor towards Merle.
- Rousseau Was Right: The episode heavily emphasized that Merle is still a good person deep down.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: After his Heel Realization, Merle frees Michonne, negating the deal between Rick and The Governor, and attacks Woodburry on his own.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Merle calls out Rick for asking him to transport Michonne to The Governor, but still agrees to do it.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Michonne delivers this sentiment to Merle, which leads him to release her and try to redeem himself.
