Previously on The Walking Dead: “The Suicide King“.

Following the fact that last week’s episode ended with Rick going cuckoo banana nuts, it’s no surprise this week’s episode starts with Rick still going cuckoo banana nuts. The surprise, however, comes in the fact that we’re treated to a five-minute cold open that is completely devoid of dialogue. It’s a great scene, even though it’s basically just Rick chasing Lori’s ghost around like a sick puppy; it’s actually really sweet, even though it’s Lori, so everyone else is likely just pissed that she’s still on the show. This open does bring some comedy, too: Rick runs right by Michonne, who is now camped out in an overturned bus in the prison yard, and she just watches him caress the wind and gives him the sidest of side-eyes she’s given anyone.

Meanwhile, in Woodbury, Andrea is still Andrea. The Governor tells her he wants her to take his place as the leader of the town; he claims to have seen the error of his assholiness. That’s totally likely, right? Or maybe he’s just manipulating her again. After all, Andrea is still Andrea. He also claims to not want to retaliate against Crazy Rick and his Party Posse. Sure, Governor…

Out in the woods, Daryl is trying to convince Merle that they should go to the prison. He says, “There’s a pot to piss in.” You can’t argue with that logic.

Now that Rick is out hugging the wind, the prison group is falling apart. Glenn really wants to go charging back into Woodbury and kill The Governor for what happened to Maggie, but nobody else is on board with that plan, including Maggie; she just huffs out of the room, and I guess that’s enough to convince Glenn that he should probably drop it. Again, the group is lost without Rick leading them; this is evidenced by the fact that they forget to put anyone on watch.

Behind Andrea’s back, The Governor goes to Milton (you know, John Ritter’s long-lost brother) and tells him to keep an eye on her. He’s still a paranoid Jerkface McBunghole. Nobody trusts Andrea anymore, not even Karen (you know, Michelle Rodriguez’s long-lost… well, you know Karen). The Governor is doing things without telling Andrea, and she’s all pissy about it.

I hate how what happened in Woodbury has changed the relationship between Glenn and Maggie. Glenn’s angry all the time, and Maggie is closing herself off. She finally tells Glenn what exactly happened while they were being held in separate rooms; she tells him how she was made to strip naked and was bent over a table. She says she made that choice because they threatened to cut off Glenn’s hand, if she didn’t comply. She tells him that she wasn’t “raped” (although, that sounds pretty damn close to rape). Glenn tries to comfort her, but she’s still not ready for it.

Elsewhere in the prison, now that Daryl is gone, Axel (the rednecky prisoner) is taking the chance to start hitting on Carol. You can bet your ass he wouldn’t have the balls to do that, if Daryl was still around.

While Daryl and Merle are wandering through the woods-I swear they could be in the exact same place they were before or 100 miles away, and I wouldn’t know-they hear a baby crying (although Merle thinks it’s raccoons mating; he’s… he’s slow). It’s actually a family who are surrounded by walkers on a bridge over Yellow Jacket Creek; Daryl immediately goes in to help them, but Merle is like “I’m not helping anyone who’s never cooked me a warm meal or fellatiated my piece.” He has such a way with words, right? They do both, eventually, help the family; after all the walkers are dead, Merle starts digging through the family’s car to help himself to their things. Daryl isn’t having any of that, so he points his crossbow at the back of Merle’s head and tells him to get out of the car. The family drives off, and Daryl and Merle head off back into the Hundred Acre Wood and have a family spat of their own. We see just how much Daryl has changed in his time away from Merle, and Daryle sees it, too; that’s what finally makes him decide to traipse along back to the prison. Merle reluctantly follows him, even though he knows the group won’t like it. Axel better watch out; Daryl’s coming home.

Against the advice of Hershel, Glenn tears off in his shockingly clean pickup truck “out there”, but he totally promises he’s not going back to Woodbury. After watching Glenn, absolutely go off on his way back to Woodbury, Hershel hobbles over to the fence and starts calling for Rick. After what had to be three minutes, RIck finally acknowledges him, and they have a discussion wherein Hershel tries to convince Rick to stop dancing with spirits and come on back inside, but Rick isn’t having any of that; he says he has “stuff” to deal with, and it requires him waiting for Lori’s ghost to come back or something. He’s not sure, but he knows he doesn’t want to be inside when it happens.

Over in the prison yard, Carol and Axel exchange some flirtatious banter, and they’re really getting along well toget-HOLY SHIT AXEL JUST GOT SHOT IN THE FUCKING HEAD! That’s how out-of-nowhere that was, and it was sadistically awesome. Is it The Governor? Of course it’s The Governor; did anyone other than Andrea actually believe him when he said he wouldn’t go to the prison? I guess Axel won’t have to worry about Daryl, now. After his death, a hellacious gunfight breaks out, and Carol is forced to hide behind Axel’s dead body, which winds up getting shot a comically high number of times; she really can NOT catch a break, can she? I mean, other than not dying, and all. The gunfight quickly snaps Rick back to reality, and it brings Maggie running out with guns blazing, too. That’s all they needed: danger… well, more danger, and now they’re back working as a team… for now. A torrent of bullets go flying back and forth; everyone takes cover except The Governor. He just stands out there and doesn’t appear to fear death at all; Rick may be insane, but he’s not The Governor’s brand of insane.

Suddenly, everyone stops firing because they hear something coming. Lori’s ghost saving the day? Yeah, no. It’s some ninja driving a box truck filled with walkers. She crashes through the fence, lets them out, and then hightails it out of there.The Governor decides it’s time to leave, instead of finishing the job for some reason, and they all jump in their truck to go on back to Woodbury.

Rick gets cornered by three walkers up against the fence, and you think maybe he’s going to die (no you don’t; he’s Rick); then Daryl saves the day… a little late, but okay. Merle is there, too, and he quickly tries to ingratiate himself to Rick by helping kill the walkers. Eventually, Glenn comes Driving Miss Daisy back up to the prison-and leisurely passes The Governor, I might add-and picks up Hershel and Rick and, presumably, the ghost of Lori past, etc. They get back to the prison, and now Rick is all kinds of pissed, and I doubt it’s a good idea to have a pissed off crazy man after you; I mean, just look what The Governor did: case in point.

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