TWD 3x15 "This Sorrowful Life" episode discussion...**SPOILERS WITHIN**

[Legion2213]

Oh wow...what a killer episode! Merle died like a fucking hero...and Daryls reaction to seeing him turned was gut wrenching stuff...can't believe we are down to the last episode now. Other points... DotD Zombie - Fuck yes! Governor - Burn in Hell you bastard! Boy I hope he gets it something horrific next week!!! Edit: Was it just me, or did Michonne have more dialogue this episode than she's had in the entire season previous? She did quite a bit of yakking for the strong, sullen silent type that we've come to know and love!

[Harleydude666]

["As I said before, I'm strongly leaning towards skipping this Season's finale and just watching it when they flood AMC with the previous season before the beginning of next season. For me at least there was just no saving this season. Even substantial improvements in interpersonal relationship interactions, overall atmosphere and a strong main-character death-sequence couldn't begin to salvage it for me. In my mind at least Season 3 is a waste, and the series would be better of retconning it into highlit necessary plot points, dispense with 95% of it, and just weld Season 2, plus say the first couple episodes of Season 3, straight on to the beginning of Season 4."] Umm, yeah, I'm gonna call bullsh**t on this. We all know and you know you're gonna watch it. Come on dude, who are you kidding. No one is too Kool to just blow off the finale. Funniest stuff I read today. You love this show and that's why you watched up until this point.

[Andy]

Not sure if your joking but Merle wanted the wire cord from the phone to restrain Michonne. I've been waiting for ya to respond minion. Good stuff. ****sorry didn't refresh page before responding to Andy. It was already answered You know what... ignore me.. that didnt even register in my mind!

[niiru]

Its taken all season but when the Gov shot Merle in the chest, and you could tell from the angle, it finally made me hate that SOB. That was just out of order. Biting off his fingers and spitting them out was fine, but a shot to the chest was out of order?

[kidgloves]

Biting off his fingers and spitting them out was fine, but a shot to the chest was out of order? Yes. Pretty much. Anything goes in a hand to hand fight(pun intended). A close friend of mine bit someones nose off in a fight to avoid a severe beating so biting someones fingers off does not make me hate someone. Going against your own policy out of spite and potentially condemning someone to walk the earth as a zombie for the rest of their days does, especially when you believe something of the person remains.

[Staredge]

I was just watching the previews for next week, and something struck me.   As they roll into the prison......where are the walkers in the outer yard??? *edit by MZ* - Tagged that sentence 'cos Neil doesn't like to know anything about the next episode; he doesn't even watch the previews.

[Trencher]

Right I guess I am in the minority here when I thought the Dawn of the dead zombie was a jump the shark moment. One of the lamest things in the walking dead up until now. Rick turning traitor on Michonne was lame and out of character, sure he flip flopped on it but it was extremely out of character. It seems to me that the writers want us to be one hundred percent sure that Shane would be a better leader than Rick the way they are making Rick out to be weak, irrational and an tremendous douche-bag. Merles redemption tour came out of almost nothing, him talking a bit to the people in the prison and bam! Suddenly he is meth-head Jesus? Give me a break. Merle always was a scumbag and just because the actor is awesome and the character is very entertaining, it does not mean he have to turn into a good guy. And Michonne turned into a pretty meek and cooperative prisoner there! It is almost like she was psychic and knew that he would let her go, or atleast she had read the script, the Michonne we have seen up until now would have fought tooth and nail trying to escape or atleast get both her and Merle killed before she got handed over to the Governor. But no, now all the characters in the show just do things that the authors thinks are cool with no rhyme or reason, and very little thought put into their previous characterization. Instead of letting the characters drive the story forward by creating a narrative that flows around what the characters do. The whole show feels more and more disjointed and it seems to me it is only going to get more like that. Gore for gores sake, stupid references, characters that does things that are "cool" rather than what makes sense.

[sandrock74]

I was just watching the previews for next week, and something struck me.   As they roll into the prison......where are the walkers in the outer yard??? I'm going to say...   Rick and the crew lured the zombies inside the prison and then took off. The Woodbury crew shows up, throws the doors open and unleash hell on themselves! Just what I'm thinkin'.

[shootemindehead]

Well, we're back up. After a couple of dodgy episodes, this one was pretty good. Sorry to see Merle go. He brought a sense of unease to Team Prison that was quite tense. I was genuinely surprised to see him offed! Poor old Daryl. Stop crying, ya little bollocks and get your act together for next week. Yeh...getting sick of Glenn now. He reminds me of guys that never had a bird and then manages to get one and then their life turns into an extension of hers. Grow some balls lad. I want the old Glenn back.   but, I know what happens to him in the comics Contrary to some here, I actually like Rick's story arc in Season 3, excluding the "I see dead people" shtick. His indecisiveness over the Machonne handover was handled well enough. Rick is tired of fighting, he's lost his missus, his kid is growing up too fast and he has a little baby now (that mightn't even be his!). He's wrecked and the biggest fight yet (with still no clear reason for it) is still on the cards and it could well mean the end of everyone. Any one of those kind of pressures alone would make anyone falter. Agree too on a 90 min finale. In fact, I'd easily have a 90 min opener too. And yes, next year will be feckin great, if 'Clear' and this episode are anything to go by.

[kidgloves]

Merles redemption tour came out of almost nothing, him talking a bit to the people in the prison and bam! Suddenly he is meth-head Jesus? Are you saying that you are shocked that Merle has suddenly become a druggie? Why would that surprise you? I'm confused. I was under the impression he was looking for anything that would "take him on a holiday". Doesn't have to be meth. Could be pot or alcohol that he found later. Its been well established he likes to do drugs.

[rongravy]

Are you saying that you are shocked that Merle has suddenly become a druggie? Why would that surprise you? I'm confused. I was under the impression he was looking for anything that would "take him on a holiday". Doesn't have to be meth. Could be pot or alcohol that he found later. Its been well established he likes to do drugs. I was hoping he'd find some crank, and then give Carol the old crankjerb. Somebody needs to knock the cobwebs off of that. Daryl ain't gonna do it...

[Morto Vivente]

Rick turning traitor on Michonne was lame and out of character, sure he flip flopped on it but it was extremely out of character. It seems to me that the writers want us to be one hundred percent sure that Shane would be a better leader than Rick the way they are making Rick out to be weak, irrational and an tremendous douche-bag. A season 2 Rick turning on Michonne would have been out of character, but a season 3 Rick; I have to disagree. The guy has gutted his best friend and his wife dies during pregnancy, only to be devoured by a greedy-bastard-walker. If that doesn't effect you what will ? Hanging onto your ideals may not be second nature after those experiences. Mistakes have been made in season 3, but if Rick hadn't embraced some degree of nihilism and just carried on as before it would have been extremely unrealistic. I had no problem with the moral ping-ponging over Michonne before he made the right choice, quite human. It would be interesting to see how Shane would have dealt with such a predicament ? Personally I don't think he'd even have waited for 2 days, with no Lori around he'd have gone right off the reservation long before.

[Christopher Jon]

It just KILLS ME, that they have all the tools, the right cast, excellent settings, brilliant zombies, and they can't manage to make the main plotline enjoyable. On that topic, we agree. The show is a wandering mess of mediocrity and greatness. All three seasons could have been cut down to three 2 hour movies.

[Neil]

Why was Merle shooting people left right and center clearly exposing the fact he was there? Why not just wait for a single clean shot of the Governor and go? And now the Governor is some hand to hand fighting bad ass? Enjoyable episode, but it does feel like the last 3-4 episodes have been 2-3 stretched out! ps: Was dead Merle suppose to look like Bub?

[Wyldwraith]

If you want some MORE unreality, Merle's knife-hand prosthetic was covered in dripping fresh Walker gore. All he would've had to do was NICK the Governor and it's game over, yet somehow, despite the knife-hand being pressed between the 2 men's chests in the clinch, plus the previous clashes, Merle couldn't get ONE cut in against a man basically armed with a fist and a pistol butt, whose depth perception is shit...which he SHOULDN'T be used to in a combat situation yet, this being his FIRST hand-to-hand fight since losing the eye...but the Governor ninja-evades every one of Merle's punches/slashes, dodge-counter attacks like something out of an arcade fighting game "CommmmBO-BREAKER!!! and THEN knocks him to the ground, quick as a snake has a foot on Merle's knife-hand arm, and its utterly the Governor's show from there. Yet this is the guy that couldn't avoid being half-blinded by the crudest of improvised weapons, in a closest-quarters clinch with a woman 45% his weight? BULLSHIT. Fiat plot device #105,322 They could've even done something grim and dramatic...have it be the TINIEST of nicks, so the Infection takes FAR longer to go symptomatic, let alone fatal. It would've made him a FAR more dangerous enemy, since he'd know he literally has nothing to lose, and wouldn't care in the slightest (like he does anyways) about getting 100% of Woodbury killed pursuing his vendetta. BUT, if the Governor was simply TOO Sacred-a-Cow, they should have had MARTINEZ fight Merle, and then have the Governor swoop in while Merle's back was turned focused on Martinez and pistol-whip him at the base of the skull to incapacitate him, haul him to his feet and THEN play out the shoot Merle in the chest sequence...but instead of the lame "I'm not going to beg you?" Merle could've said something COOL like "Hey Martinez, check your right side. Left ya a little somethin to remember me by" BOOM ::Gov shoots him:: Then have Martinez pull up his shirt and find like a half-inch shallow cut, with his shirt smeared with coagulated Walker blood off Merle's knife-hand. Because as it stands, with Merle only having killed nobodies and Ben...not only will the killing of what REMAINED of the Governor's real killers (minus Martinez) not be shown to hamper the Governor in any way, but Ben's death will a) Turn Allen from an evil amoral opportunist willing to do the dirtiest deeds for food and board, to a full-on revenge-obsessed psycho the Governor could use....if not give Tyreese and Sasha doubts about whether or not there might be some justification in the Gov's war with the "Crazy cowboy and his people." Team Prison has lost TONS of people. Woodbury has lost a few faceless nobodies that are even more devalued by the fact that no matter that ELEVEN Woodbury folk have died since Milton made up his list of "37 fighters, all told" (not counting Ben, because Tyreese/Sasha and Allen/Ben hadn't shown up in Woodbury at that point. Yet Milton was also counting Andrea, so that's 12 gone. Do you think the finale will play out with the Governor, Martinez, no psycho goon squad because ALL OF THEM have been accounted for, aside from the brunette on the wall with the assault rifle, and 25 Woodbury civilians? That's the PRECISE count. Anyone taking bets that Martinez/The Governor will STILL have a knot of 3-5 cool-as-cucumber, perfect soldier-followers in their immediate entourage, plus 30 or more Civilians? And this is a zombie apocalypse. Live people are hyper-scarce, so how many people are left alive in X group is NOT a nitpick, anymore than Bruce Willis shrinking by 3 feet between one Die Hard scene and the next would be a nitpick. Body counts are the concrete foundation on what attrition-centric zombie apocalypse stories are built. Devaluing "enemy" casualties devalues death overall in the series, and makes even more of an evil Mary Sue of the Gov and Co. Or the Nega-Mary Sue if you prefer