The Walking Dead Season 3 Ep 15 - This Sorrowful Life - Review

Fuck bye Merle your an asshole but i will miss you .

Fck Rick for being pussy

Can't wait for finale !

Where the hell was Allen when his son was shot and eaten to death?

Excellent episode! Scott Gimple you have done it again, this man knows how to write great episodes.....fact!

Though this episode was really good!
Did anyone else think it seemed way to obvious that Merle was going to die because basically the whole episode was about him starting from the opening scene?
Even though I didn't care for Merle that much, Daryl's reaction made me tear up abit.
Also loved his zombie transformation and thought it was about time we saw someone we know turn.

In the talking dead. Michael Rooker said Merle didn't have a change of heart overnight but that I guess the "good Merle" was always there. He also said his plan was not a suicide mission, his intention was to kill as many as he could with the thought that he might just make it out alive. I thought it was kinda interesting.

Great episode.

The only thing I had issues with was the car. The rims changed on it between shots. Also the chance of a car with giant chrome rims having a heavy metal CD in it are rather slim

Also when Merle went to shoot TG and Ben got in the way that bullet would have gone straight through ben like a hot knife through butter and hit the gov. May not have killed him but a 5.56 round wont be stopped by someones head!

Noticed that about the rims too.. odd.

Is anyone else worried about Daryl? I am. I mean, I know that he can hold his own in pretty much any situation, but still. He is an emotional wreck because he has just seen his brother as a walker. He is all alone. Zombies have been drawn toward the noise of the fight. He is a pretty good distance from the prison. I'm worried that he might not come back to the prison totally unscathed.

Thoughts?

I'll miss Merle, some of the shit he said was so wrong, but hilarious.

Solid episode. This season seems to have really great character development for people right before they die, so you could totally tell Merle was going to eat shit. He went out pretty brutally too. I mean the Governor bit off 2 of his fucking fingers. Holy crap. Sad for Daryl - I wonder if he's gonna pin the blame on Rick? I mean Rick was calling off giving over Michonne, but Merle already left before he could tell him so who knows, but I'd think Michonne would at least be pretty pissed off at Rick. Damn next week is gonna be a doozy

RIP Merle.

Everyone's gonna hate me for this and give me negative points, but I really didn't feel satisfied with this episode.

It was like... let's turn Merle into a complex saint and kill him in two minutes. Now, I love Michael Rooker. He's a genius. I'll miss his performance. But I won't miss Merle because the writers never really made me care for Merle. They could've, they should've tried harder. But this episode was SO rushed and disjointed. So much wasted airtime. All those Merle/Michonne scenes? Waste of time. Rick monologuing? Waste of time. Merle/Carol? Waste of time.

All I kept thinking through this episode: Merle has been at the prison for how long now? Days, at least. I honestly wish the writers had taken the time to explore the Daryl/Merle dynamic while Merle was at the prison. I really wish Merle had been given more to do before this episode. I really wish they'd delved into Daryl and Merle's backgrounds, their childhoods, their past, their relationship.

But Merle got to the prison and all we got was scenes between him and Hershel, him and Michonne, him and Carol him and Rick. When really, what we needed, was scenes between Merle and Daryl.

I get that the writers wanted me to feel bad for Merle's death and they wanted me to feel bad for Daryl, but they should've done a better job by showcasing the brothers' relationship all throughout the last episodes. They didn't, and so his death, and Daryl's reaction, left me cold.

And I'm getting really fucking tired of The Governor being invincible. Seriously, EVERY SINGLE EPISODE is about a character attempting to kill him. Yet he always gets away. Can we get rid of this bitch already?

Did Ben even die? I just...

Well since I believe it was Ben that Merle was munching on I am fairly certain he died. I also thought that the shot that killed Ben was a tumbler, as light rounds like that often are, as I thought it went into his upper chest and out the shoulder up into his face. I will have to watch it again to double check nut that was my initial thought.

I will disagree with the idea that there was a lot of wasted aritimme this episode. I think that the Michonne/Merle scenes all showed some development for both charcters. Michonne showing she can do more than stare and Merle being able to show some realization as to exactly what he has become.

I also think all of the other dialogue that Merle had with other characters was meaningful and just worked as a whole to get him thinking about what he was going to do. I think the conversation with Michonne was what finally convinced him to let her go and make a plan to hurt the Woodbury group and kill TG if the opportunity presented itself.

I also think we probably have heard more than enough over many epiosodes to determine what sort of relationship Darly and Merle had without any additonal interaction between them, so I will disagree with you there. We know they were both abused as kids and that Merle left Daryl behind. We also know that they both care for each other and are willing to go to great lengths to protect each other. At the same time we have seen that the relationship has developed past the point of Daryl blindly following his big brothers lead and realizing that his brother is deeply flawed. And while he knows that, he still trys to get the others in the group to accept Merle and get Merle to apologize and take steps that would allow him back into the group.

I thought the episode was excellent and had many good scenes and I thought Merle's final acts were fitting and his death perfect. The Governor is shown to be even more spiteful as he intentionally left Merle a Walker and while he is a lucky jerk, someone stepping into the line of fire does happen so I am not upset about the Ben taking the hit thing.

Great episode.

Personally, I don't think Merle was ever going to hand over Michonne.

I think he just fixed things so that, by the time the prison group found Michonne, the plan to hand her over to the governor wouldn't be possible anymore.

I like that idea. I hadn't considered that.

Michonne really found her tongue this episode! Interesting to see how she can be vocally effective, persuasive and manipulative in her own way.

I was like, ahhh~. And there's the lawyer.

Merle putting the whiskey bottle up to the window to make it look like the walker was trying to drink it was classic.

Some one needs to make a gif of that or point me in the direction of one. Please and thank you.

Merle Dixon.

I'm gonna miss that racist redneck asshole.

Rick did not ask Merle to do the deed for him. He asked Merle to help him and Daryl with it. Then Rick had his moment with hallucination Lori and saw the error of his ways and told Herschel he could not do it. Merle knowing that Rick was not going to be able to do it took it upon himself to do it and the reason he did it was not for the prison group so much as to protect himself and his brother. He wants to protect his brother but also knows his brother is loyal to the group.

I wonder if Daryl is going to hold a grudge against Rick now, since he was the one who asked Merle to do the "dirty deed" for him?

I felt bad the entire time since Merle cut Michonne loose. I knew it was over then. Then seeing Daryl broke my heart man. Great episode but I hated it for that. Made me sad lol

I loved this episode, and I am actually going to miss Merle, never thought that would happen.
Merle was saving the Prison Crew from themselves. He knew that if they turned Michonne over to the Gov that it would not change the outcome. The Governor would not stop until they were all dead, but it wouldn't matter if they made it through. Killing Michonne would destroy Rick, Daryl, and Hershel.
Glenn looked awfully upset that they were going to turn Michonne over.
Merle was surprisingly introspective in this episode. He had real conversation with Rick(I don't know why I do anything), Carol(who told him that he might be a late bloomer), Daryl(tv was having interference from the weather), and then that long trip with Michonne( Merle told her that he had killed 16 men since this began, just the mention of the exact number kinda said that he had not taken the killing lightly)

Guilty secret, I thought that Carol(the new improved version) and Merle (new improved version) had real chemistry. Daryl could use some of Merle's confidence (some I said, not the whole Merle demeanor)

I keep waiting for another member of the group (Daryl, Glenn, Hershel) to stand up and say that blindly following bat-shit Rick probably isn't the best move right now.

I could NOT believe he was serious about handing Michonne over!! He could not have honestly believed TG would stop so it made no sense.

When Rick was telling group about how he had considered handing over Michonne I wanted Carl to throw that stupid sheriffs hat at his feet in disgust and walk off.

Not sad to see Merle go though LOVED the drinking and herding of the zombies - smart move. I think Merle figured he could kill TG and sneak out while WB freaked out so it wasn't necessarily a suicide mission. There was a chance of survival but he was ok with however it played out. Daryl's reaction had me choked up - when he kept pushing him away at first buying him time before he had to put him down. Very sad.

RIP Merle - you were an ass but you never pretended to be anything else!

I have to say, I did NOT see the walker Merle coming! I actually gasped. I figured Daryl would find him dead and have a similar reaction to what he did- but having him be a zombie and Daryl having to kill him was so much more powerful. We haven't really seen many of our main peeps turn into zombies...(unless you count Amy?) This is why I don't write TV shows....

Norman did a perfect job in that scene. Just when I thought I couldn't love that man more.

Merle putting the whiskey bottle up to the window to make it look like the walker was trying to drink it was classic.

Some one needs to make a gif of that or point me in the direction of one. Please and thank you.

Merle Dixon.

I'm gonna miss that racist redneck asshole.

This!

Am i the only one that thinks it was a suicide mission? I know Michael Rooker said it was NOT a suicide mission but im not buying that shit! Merle knows damn well TG wants himself an Michonne dead/tortured but he was planning on taking Michonne to meet TG by himself? I dont buy it, he wouldve known that TG wouldve just taken both of them an haf them tortured an killed! Merle knows TG an knows damn well he wouldnt be like "oh thanks for Michonne! Now run along back to the prison an ill see you when we attack!"!!

I wish Merle wouldve gotten a big ass herd behind him an drove straight thru Woodbury walls then went to the meeting place!! That wouldve been epic! TG would be pissed that they were attacked at the meeting an then gotten back to Woodbury to see it in chaos an completely over-ran!!

I like your thoughts here, I agree. Merle's last act would make so much sense if it was a way to make up for all he's done and if he did die then it would be his punishment. Although on Talking Dead the actor said it wasn't a suicide mission which then doesn't really make sense considering how it all played out unless he was just being drunk and reckless. Definitely thought him drinking and blasting music was his last "hurrah" before his end.

I took Michael Rooker's comment on the scene to mean that when he first took Michonne and started heading to meet the Governor, it wasn't a suicide mission. He did initially plan on handing her over and hoping he would have his sins forgiven so to speak. I think by the time he let her go and was drinking in the car, his plans had obviously changed, and I think at that point it was kind of a suicide mission. Not necessarily that he planned to die, but that he "needed" to take out the Governor to make it up(to himself, I mean), and he knew that to achieve that, he might not make it out. So a suicide mission in that he was unlikely to survive, not in the sense that he necessarily had a death wish.

The only moment to this one that i cant quite figure is why allen left bens body when the wb crew left? Maybe due to the walkers perhaps but past that im drawing a blank. We saw how he reacted to donnas death so why leave dude (his kid right?) Laying on the ground as walker chow?

Merle putting the whiskey bottle up to the window to make it look like the walker was trying to drink it was classic.

Some one needs to make a gif of that or point me in the direction of one. Please and thank you.

Merle Dixon.

I'm gonna miss that racist redneck asshole.

+1 on this plus playing Ted Nugent as the car enters the meeting was awesome! Playing classical not so much....

I, too, was incredibly frustrated and angry with Rick for considering the Michonne tradeoff, but at the same time, I find it hard to blame him. Given the extent of what he's been through, and the backfire that's resulted from some of his past decisions, I don't find it all that unreasonable that he would lie to himself about (or not question) TG's honesty in desperate hope that he could help the rest of the group escape the Woodbury wrath. He wouldn't be the first person in history to sacrifice an individual for the greater good.

The only moment to this one that i cant quite figure is why allen left bens body when the wb crew left? Maybe due to the walkers perhaps but past that im drawing a blank. We saw how he reacted to donnas death so why leave dude (his kid right?) Laying on the ground as walker chow?

I imagine he had no choice. TG probably yanked him into the car when they took off and didn't care that Ben was left to be eaten (why didn't Ben turn?) TG isn't going to tolerate Alan's whining the way Tyrese did and there is no way Alan is going to stand up to TG.