When Worlds Collide… Slowly

Recapped by M. Giant · Aired 11-18-2012 · S03E06

Wondering who called Rick, and why? Rick's a little curious about that too, but he's more interested in talking the group at the other end of the line into taking in his own group. Unfortunately, with no caller ID or star 69, he's at their mercy, and they have a rude habit of hanging up on him. So he basically spends almost the entire episode hanging out in the boiler room, having increasingly mysterious conversations with different voices on the phone. The fourth person who calls him explains that the people he's been talking to include Amy, Jim, and Jacqui, and that fourth person is Lori. Yep, it's a magic phone to heaven. Rick gets to explain himself to the ghostly voice on the line and find a little closure. The connection breaks up before Lori can tell him what he needs to do, but I think he's figured it out.

The Governor has sent Merle and a search party out after Michonne since her departure from Woodbury. She quickly kills two of them, leaving only Merle and one other guy alive. After some cat-and-mouse-and zombie in the woods, Michonne is wounded and covered in walker guts, but still on the loose. Merle kills his remaining compatriot rather than continue to go after her, and goes off in search of a car to drive back to town.

Maggie and Glen hit an abandoned town on a run for supplies, primarily baby formula. Coincidentally, they're observed by Michonne, who stays out of sight. She also observes as they're met by Merle, who's pretty happy to see Glen and asks to be taken to see Daryl. When Glen says that's not going to happen, Merle gets violent, kidnapping both Glen and Maggie and forcing them to drive him back to Woodbury (where the Governor and Andrea are, by the way, screwing. Gross). Michonne was clearly in no condition to mix it up with Merle again for two people she didn't even know, but it's not as if she does nothing; she personally delivers the formula to the prison. Presumably she'll also deliver word of what became of Glen and Maggie, but that'll have to wait until week.

Merle With Bayonet Attachment leads a party of three other guys through the woods. Apparently they're on a search for Michonne, but in a clearing they instead find a little message she left them, in the form of parts of a sliced-up walker neatly arranged on the ground. It takes them a moment to figure out that she's spelled out "GO BACK" using arms for the G, legs for the O and an actual back. Merle's delighted: "She sent us a biter-gram, y'all!" One of the guys is a little freaked out, so Merle tells him to get his shit together. Also, his name is practically unpronounceable -- something like "Gardjuilio" -- so Merle's just going to keep calling him Neil. Works for me. Hearing a sound in the trees, they all draw their weapons. Merle calls Michonne out, and a moment later she drops from the trees and kills two of the men with her katana before Merle can turn around, then uses one body for a shield and darts into the woods while he fires his automatic at her. He clips her in the leg and leaves Neil freaking out with their dead buddies. Merle reaches another clearing, where there's no sign of her. "We having fun yet?" he bellows into the woods.

And now we're back inside the prison, traveling through the corpse-littered hallways to where Rick is on the phone to what sounds like a young woman. She says they can't believe someone answers, and that they've been calling since the beginning. She's not saying where she and her friends are, just that they're "Away from them." Rick tells her he has a son and a newborn and a good group and asks if they could take them in. She says she needs to talk to her group, and Rick gets desperate, crying that they need help. "We're dying," he whispers. "We're dying here." She hangs up, promising to call back in two hours. Hey, speaking of calling people back, has Rick completely forgotten about Morgan? I guess waking up at sunrise every morning must get pretty tiring.

Back in the cell block, the rest of the group's eating gruel. "Everybody okay?" Rick asks, coming in all cleaned up and saying he just wanted to check on Carl before going back to get rid of the bodies in the boiler block his own self. He seems satisfied to hear that Axel's working on the generators and that Glenn and Maggie are making a run later to find ammo and baby formula, so he stomps back out. Well, thanks for checking on everyone.

Merle returns to collect Neil, who now really needs to get his shit together. After pausing to make sure their dead compatriots don't get up again (this involves each of them putting a blade through a dead eye), it's time to give pursuit. "She ain't runnin', she's huntin'." Merle says. "So are we." I don't know, Neil looks like he'd rather be runnin'.

Inside Woodbury, the Governor comes up to Andrea, who's mostly over last night's display of ultimate zombie-fighting. At least she's not so upset that she does anything more than lecture him about it. Furthermore, she wants to contribute to the effort of running the town; namely, to work the wall to keep her marksmanship up to scratch. The Governor's willing to have her learn archery and everything. But I doubt he'd be so willing to put her up on a guard post when there's a Dixon brother out there and expected back, if he knew what she did last time.

Rick nervously waits for the return call, which, when it comes, is now a man's voice. He says their place is safe, with no bites, attacks, turnings, solicitors or anything. But he's worried that Rick's dangerous and asks if he's killed anyone. Rick admits that he has. "People who threatened me, who threatened my group." The guy wants to know how many. "Four," Rick says, which seems a little low to me. But he gives the rundown: the two guys in the bar; Tomas, whose head Rick split with a machete; and Shane. "He lost it... who he was," Rick explains. The man asks how Rick lost his wife, and Rick wonders how he knows about that. "You have a boy and a baby," the voice duhs and repeats the question. Rick says he would rather not talk about that, so the man obligingly hangs up. Nice one, Rick. Maybe let someone else handle the job interview time.

Andrea sits on the wall with a teenage girl, who's armed with a fancy compound bow that used to be her father's. "So I totally killed him for it," she wise-asses. Andrea says that wasn't why, so the girl admits, "My dad wasn't himself and my brother wasn't either." Andrea says she killed her sister. But she leaves out the part where she was nice enough to wait around until she woke up zombie. "Sucks, right?" the girl says. A walker steps into view from outside the wall, and the girl wastes two arrows trying to hit it. So Andrea breaks protocol by jumping down off the wall, chest-bumps the walker onto its back and stabs it in the eye with her knife. This leaves her even more pleased with herself than usual, and the girl snaps, "What is wrong with you? This isn't a game." Andrea has the grace to look chastened after being lectured by a teenager on acing like an adult. Oh, and she may have also just realized that she's a big stinking hypocrite.

Rick's still hanging out in the boiler room when Hershel comes stumping in, asking to sit down. Rick somehow gets Hershel a chair without acing like he's remotely welcome. Hershel opens the conversation by saying says he still feels his missing leg. Rick says he's sorry, so Hershel reminds him that he saved his life. Which is why, at this exact moment, Rick is sorry. The ice thus broken as broke as it's going to break, Hershel quickly changes the subject to Lori, telling Rick that she was sorry and had planned on telling Rick as much, and that after all he's done for them, he can take as much time as he needs. Rick says this isn't safe enough, but Hershel says there's no place better. So Rick tells Hershel about the phone call from a place that's even safer. Hershel picks up the handset and listens (without commenting on what, if anything, he hears), and Rick asks him not to tell the group yet. Hershel offers to sit with him, but Rick Can Do It All By Himself.

Merle and Neil run through the woods. Michonne materializes behind them, and Merle just barely pushes Neil out of the way before Michonne bisects him as well. He quickly disarms her with his knife and bayonet, and they grapple while Neil freaks out about the slash in his chest. Now here come three walkers out of nowhere. Michonne slashes wildly at one from the ground, but all that does is spill all its guts out on top of her. So, you know, gross. Neil manages to get his shit together at last and kill one from off of Merle, but by the time Merle kills the second, the third is dead and Michonne is gone. Again.

Daryl, Oscar and Carl are working the prison hallways. There's something breathing behind a mostly blocked door, but since it seems moribund, Daryl says they'll take care of whatever's inside on the way back. As Oscar hangs back, Daryl tells Carl a long, sad story about the day he was out playing with the other neighborhood kids and his mom incinerated herself by smoking in bed. So like Carl, Daryl had nothing left of her. Carl responds to this bout of understanding by announcing, "I shot my mom." He says that he ended it and it was real. "Sorry about your mom," Carl says. Daryl says, "I'm sorry about yours." Yeah, I think Carl won that one.

Andrea visits the Governor at home, at his summons, aware that she's in trouble. "We don't need you on the wall," the Governor says. Andrea admits that she liked the fights. "I didn't like that I liked them." This isn't news to the Governor, who noticed that she stayed to the end. And he figures she likes him too. This isn't actually much of a deductive leap, given Andrea's historical liking for things that are creepy and disgusting.

Merle promises Neil a beer when they get back, because they're done for the day. He collects their friends' weapons and tells Neil that Michonne's headed for the Red Zone and is as good as dead. They'll just tell the Governor they killed her. But since Neil's balls suddenly dropped during the recent engagement, he digs in and insists he doesn't want to lie to the Governor. Merle suddenly comes over all agreeable, enough to even learn how to say "Gardjulio," but then just shoots Neil in the face. Well, at least now Neil doesn't have to lie to the Governor. Everybody wins!

Covered in blood and limping slowly, Michonne collects the rest of her stuff from where she stashed it. Four walkers are closing in, but she doesn't even have to bother fully drawing her sword as they walk right on by her as though she's not there. Looking down at her zombie-gut covered self, Michonne realizes that to them, she isn't. And to think she wasted all that effort dragging two whole walkers around for the whole winter when she could have just worn one.

Rick answers a third call, this one from another woman, who's surprised he didn't want to talk to the caller about Lori's death. "You should talk about it, Rick," she says, while Rick's looking at the grisly final resting place of his wife's remains, which he, you know, stabbed the shit out of earlier. Rick suddenly wonders how she knows his name, which is an excellent question, given that he never said it to either of the callers. And so he gets hung up on again. Rick, the calls are coming from inside your head!

Michonne limps into a trashed town and ducks out of sight as a Suburban rolls up. And who should get out but Glenn and Maggie! They kiss a bit before getting down to the business of breaking into and looting a store. Maggie tells Glenn to grab the duck on the floor. "A kid growing up in a prison could use some toys," she says. Michonne takes all this in from her hiding place, but if she appreciates the exposition she's getting, it doesn't show on her face.

Andrea's out back in the Governor's garden for another drink while he admits that his life pre-apocalypse was pretty humble, except for one thing. "So how long's it been?" he asks, then chuckles nervously as he realizes she took him the wrong way. "Since you had whiskey this good," he clarifies. He admits that he doesn't mind forgetting stuff in favor of Being Here Now. He says she doesn't have to be ashamed of liking the fight, or fighting it. "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die," he quotes, freshening her drink. Andrea says she's not planning on dying and he says he isn't either; it just happens. "Other things happen," she says, giving him The Look. So that's a pretty clear hint and the thing that happens is macking. I think I would have preferred the dying. The Governor, her, me... I don't really care at this point.

Michonne watches as Glenn and Maggie gather their haul outside the store, which includes a "baby formula jackpot," batteries and any number of other canned goodies. Maggie says something poetic but only borderline sensical about home and suddenly Merle yells from out of nowhere, "And where is it y'all good people are calling home?" with his gun pointed at them. Glenn and Maggie draw on him right back before Glenn recognizes him, which only takes a moment. Recognizing Glenn in turn, Merle is happy to set his gun on the ground and approach, his hand and bayonet raised, because Glenn and Maggie are still aiming at him. "You made it," Glenn obviouses, not looking too excited about it. Merle asks if his brother alive and Glenn says that he is. Merle asks to be taken to him, offering to even forgive Atlanta. Glenn doesn't answer, giving Merle's built-in weapon a nervous look. Merle claims he did it himself after finding a medical supply warehouse. Glenn offers a deal: they'll go back and tell Daryl that Merle is here and he'll come meet him, but Merle says this encounter alone is a miracle and that they can trust him. "You trust us," Glenn insists. "You stay here." Instead, Merle draws a backup gun and starts shooting. Michonne stays hidden while Glenn and Maggie scatter and then somehow, Glenn comes around the car to find Merle's gun at Maggie's head. He orders them back in their vehicle. "We're not going back to our camp," Glenn says, wisely not referring to it as a prison, and Merle agrees that they're going somewhere else. Glenn nervously agrees and Michonne watches them all go, leaving the cans of baby formula behind in the shopping bin.

By M. Giant

Daryl, Oscar and Carl are still exploring. Oscar finds an abandoned pair of bedroom slippers in a cell, much to his excitement, so they're a little distracted when a zombie comes wandering in, six inches from Daryl's face before any of them is aware of its presence. All three of them shoot it in the face, which is a terrible waste of ammo and Oscar figures it came from a cell at the end. Daryl examines it and pulls a knife out of its jowls. "That's Carol's knife," he realizes. Not sure what else he realizes.

Rick answers a fourth call and asks, "How did you know my name?" The female voice on the line says, "Because we know you. And you know them, Rick. The people you were talking to today, that was Amy, Jim, Jacqui." "Lori?" Rick asks as the tried-and-true technique of a focus-pull indicating shifting reality is deployed in its proper context. "What happened, Rick?" she asks over the noisy line. "Baby, what happened?" Rick sobs that he loved her, but he couldn't put it back together. He says he made a deal with himself to keep her alive and then fix it, but there was never time. Lori tells him that he has their baby and Carl and the group, and that she loved him too. She starts cutting out just as she's urgently telling him he needs to do something and the line goes dead. In the normal way, that is. But I can't help wondering if maybe Hershel, when he picked up the phone, heard his severed foot talking to him.

Andrea and the Governor are in bed together, which, in an episode that includes beheadings, a viscera-shower, and Merle still somehow manages to be the grossest part of the show. When a knock comes at the door, he throws on his robe and meets Merle in the hallway. "Company?" Merle asks shrewdly before reporting that he lost all three of his men. The Governor's unhappy enough about that, but when Merle admits that they got caught in a crowd and he also lost Michonne's head and her sword, he looks pretty pissed. But before he can lay into him, Merle gives the good news, which is that he's brought in someone else he knew from Atlanta -- who knows Andrea. "From the looks of 'em, they're set up pretty good. I'll find out where." And he goes to do just that. And the Governor returns to Andrea and mentions none of it.

By M. Giant

Rick again returns to what currently passes for the group, where Beth is stirring a pot and Hershel's holding the baby. He actually looks at his children for the first time since Lori died and meets Lil Ass Kicker, which appears to be her name indefinitely, since Rick doesn't seem bothered to give her one. He smiles at her though, so that's something.

Daryl sits in a hallway, repeatedly poking the point of Carol's knife into the floor. That can't be good for it. He's clearly been putting off dragging a walker out from in front of that loose door and dealing with what's behind, but he finally does it, ready to stab whatever's behind it. Luckily it's just Carol, exhausted and half dead, but alive. Daryl scoops her up and carries her off. Which is the least he can do, given the way he was treating her knife.

Rick carries the baby out into the yard, followed by Carl, Hershel and Beth. Rick says she looks like Carl (only without the stupid hat) and hands her off to him to go check something out he's spotted in the distance. Walking to the outer yard, he gets to the fence and sees a pretty curious sight: the usual crowd of walkers at the fence, only a little larger. But none of them take notice of Michonne, who walks right up among them, staring at Rick, and holding that shopping basket of baby formula. Pleased to meet you, I'm sure.

M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, or just e-mail him at m.giant[at]gmail.com.

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