The final scene between Daryl and Merle was pitch-perfect, illustrating the relationship these two had expertly.
Merle (Rooker) had his defining moment as a character, but it cost everything.
Well, that was quite an episode of The Walking Dead, wasn't it? I'll admit, I thought the episode started off pretty standard, if not interesting with the dynamic between Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Merle (Michael Rooker), Daryl (Norman Reedus), and Michonne (Danai Gurira) taking center stage. There wasn't much in the way of other plots this episode, save for one involving Glenn (Stephen Yeun) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan), so let's jump right in.
I want to get the least interesting part of this episode out of the way first, so I'm going to start with Maggie and Glenn's marriage. Honestly, this is a decent subplot in most episodes of the show, but the story told during the other minutes of this show vastly overshadows this rather small character moment. I like both characters, and enjoy seeing them happy, rather than watching them bicker and give each other the silent treatment, and there's definitely something interesting to be said about the idea of marriage in this world, but this was a terrible time to make the moment stand out. The most interesting part of the arc was watching Glenn find a wedding ring on a walker and cut it off, fingers and all. Considering the lack of impact this had during this episode, I wouldn't be surprised if one of them died, or had something very bad happen to them in the finale next week.
More importantly, though, we got to see another episode that focused on a character that was, initially, a boring and one-sided person. Merle Dixon, who already experienced a bit of a revival on the show with his return this season, was teetering on likeable villain territory. It's hard to forget how flat-out racist he was in the first season, without any dimension to support his character, but each episode made a bit of a stride to make him the person everyone wanted around to do the dirty work, as he put it. He finally got the chance to get his hands dirty this week, and thankfully it didn't play out like many would expect.
I was surprised a bit to see Rick come so close to giving up Michonne to stop The Governor. I think this is one of the darkest points for his character, as the Rick we started the show with would never sacrifice one for the good of the many. Losing Shane, and the farm, and Lori, certainly changed him, but we started to see just how bad this change could be for the group. Once he changed his mind, and came clean to the group, he suggested that his style of leading isn't working, and that the group may become more of a democracy moving forward. That won't be a big deal next week during the big fight, but come next season, it will be interesting to see if a whole new group dynamic plays out.
Despite Rick's best intentions, though, Merle took it upon himself to deliver Michonne to The Governor. The scenes between these two were fantastic, as they clearly had a mutual understanding of what the other had gone through to get to this point, and what they were each capable of. Michonne had some great lines here, which continues to be a nice change of pace from the first half of the season, and Merle was entertaining to watch as a pure antagonist. Then, the twist came, and everything changed.
Merle let Michonne go, which wasn't entirely surprising after the way the episode had been building up, but his subsequent decisions redefined his character completely. His intelligently crafted assault against The Governor and his men was great - he even got a good shot at the man himself - and the face off between the two men was short but gritty. I'll be the first to admit that I assumed The Governor had simply ended Merle right then and there with a shot to the head, but instead we got to see him become a walker, which is a rarity for main characters in this show who die. The final scene between Daryl and Merle was pitch-perfect, illustrating the relationship these two had expertly. I don't think we'll see residual effects of this moment going forward from Daryl, but a part of me thinks I might be wrong.
This was a great episode leading into the finale. Merle went from a completely hate-able character to one who will be remembered forever for a truly meaningful death. All that's left now is for the finale, which promises to be great. I'll be posting my review the day after the finale airs, so be sure to check that out here. See you all for the finale!