The Walking Dead Volume 6: This Sorrowful Life: 06 (Walking Dead (6 Stories))

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Merle is put down by his brother, Daryl, following his sacrificial death by the hands of The Governor. Emotion wise this episode was very powerful. Seeing Daryl find his brother like the way he did was very sad. Merle went out like a hero, in an attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of his brother, making his death even more sad. Sorry for the lateness this week, but AMC chose not to provide screeners. I’m assuming this will be true for the finale as well, so… look out for that.

Actually really liked Season 2, where the weakest episode ("Cherokee Rose") was very good still, but do share others' feelings about many episodes being on the talky side and moments of slowness. The previous Season 3 episodes to me were very good to brilliant, of which this episode "This Sorrowful Life" is one of the best. And a strong reminder of how Seasons 1-5 of 'The Walking Dead' to me were absolutely brilliant and seeing the show in its full glory days (Season 6 was uneven, Season 7 was a huge disappointment and am still debating whether to watch Season 8). It is as emotional, complex and as tense as one would expect , at the same time it has adrenaline and guts. I will say that it’s really difficult to reconcile the Merle here with the one we met in Season 1. Hell, he didn’t say a single racist thing while traveling with Michonne! It even seems a bit questionable to learn he hadn’t killed anyone until he met The Governor, given he was a drug abusing, gun-blasting maniac when we met him, who was already knee deep in the zombie apocalypse. But given how over the top Merle 1.0 was, I’ll take this much more nuanced portrayal – especially when it was in the midst of such a strong episode. The writing generally is intelligent and thought-provoking, with lots of tension and emotional resonance and still shows signs of character complexity and multiple layer storytelling. The climactic parts are thrilling and terrifying as well as uncompromising.Goldman, Eric (March 24, 2013). "The Walking Dead: "This Sorrowful Life" Review". IGN . Retrieved March 24, 2013. While I can’t say I was sad about Merle’s death, it certainly played out as the strong, “going out on his own terms” scenario it was meant to and certainly a great send off for a character whose presence I once loathed. And man, Norman Reedus then actually had me legitimately emotional. Reedus was excellent conveying Daryl’s absolute despair at seeing Merle now a zombie, as he broke down in tears and initially couldn’t bring himself to do anything more than shove Merle away. The juxtaposition between this and how he then absolutely destroyed Merle was an excellent way of showing the extremes going through Daryl in that moment. Meanwhile, Merle tells Michonne that this is his chance to save Daryl and the others. Michonne notes that Merle has a conscience, but Merle disagrees, saying he’s killed 16 people since the apocalypse began.

The episode was directed by Greg Nicotero and written by Scott M. Gimple [2] and shares its name with the sixth volume of the comics. [3]

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So what is a repentant Merle to do? Redeem himself? No. Change who he is? No. He does the one thing that comes naturally: He looks out for his little brother’s interests. And that is the beauty of the episode. Merle does not metamorphose into a saint or a kind hearted butterfly. He leads walkers to where the Governor is hiding and kills as many of his former friends as possible, all to help his brother. Honestly, if the shoe had been on the other foot and he had to kill the prison group to secure Daryl’s safety at Woodbury, he would have done it. Hell, he shot that poor asthmatic teenager without a second thought. Also revealed in the DVD commentary was an alternate version of Merle's death after the fight between him and the Governor. In the first draft of the script, the Governor initially wanted to capture Merle instead and only kill him after he would watch Daryl's death. The Governor would have told the beaten Merle "I'm gonna kill Daryl and you're going to see him get torn apart." The Governor would then begin to walk away before suddenly changing his mind and shooting Merle dead. Appreciated the ever strong and still progressing story and character building. Michonne gets more interesting every time and the episode is a masterclass of character development when it comes to Merle. The human drama is balanced well with the more action-heavy scenes. Also that the pace is never dull or rushed, deliberate but tight. There is a lot of tension and the ending is memorably heart-breaking.

Merle’s last stand was another terrific sequence. The slow reveal of what his plan was played perfectly – as it first looked like he was being suicidal drawing those zombies near his car, until we realized he was luring them all towards the Governor’s men. And using the gunfire of those men fighting off those zombies to mask his own gunfire taking them out was ingenious! This mixture of man vs. zombie vs. man was really one of the best we’ve seen on this show. Glenn and Maggie officially become a married couple in this episode, with Maggie unspokenly changing her surname to Rhee.Michael Rooker proved in this episode how brilliant of an actor he is once again. In the scenes he had with Michonne and Daryl, Rooker brilliantly conveyed Merle's desire to redeem himself. Norman Reedus also delivered an incredible performance, brilliantly portraying the emotional devastation finding Merle had on Daryl. Andrew Lincoln, David Morrissey and Steven Yeun also delivered great performances in this episode. It has been enjoyable to watch Yeun get more and more impressive as the series goes on. Glenn cut off two fingers from a walker to obtain a wedding ring. Coincidentally, the Governor bites off two of Merle's fingers during their fight. This is actually because the same prosthetic fingers were used for both of the scenes. As said by Greg Nicotero during his and Laurie Holden's Q&A at Walker Stalker Con Chicago 2014, Merle's death was not planned during the initial writing of the season. Merle's death came up on the last seconds before the initial shooting for the episode began. Merle was supposed to be a recurring character in Season 4. Nicotero also said there was a version of the episode which depicts Milton and Andrea tried to kill the Governor by putting a bomb that Milton made inside the Governor's apartment. But the writers decided to scrap it out because they felt it doesn't feel like The Walking Dead. This Sorrowful Life" is basically Merle's episode. His big goodbye. So, you can look at it two ways: you hated Merle all along and you were yelling "Good Riddance!" as Darryl kabobed his brothers head or you were starting to like Merle and felt like there was a redemption to be had, which we sort of see in this episode. I believe this factor will impact how you feel about this episode.