"The Walking Dead:" Eye to Eyes

Well, I apologize for not recapping last week. My computer bit the dust. But I’m back with this week’s recap of “Arrow on the Doorpost.” Be warned, ahead lies VERY detailed spoilers.

Rick and Daryl are checking out an area with several large grain silos. Hershel remains in the car as lookout, holding a big gun. Daryl stumbles across a dead walker and then he and Rick separate to check out what appears to be an abandoned barn filled with furniture. The governor walks in and he and Rick stare at one another. He holds his hands up with a cocky smile that quickly fades. “We have a lot to talk about,” he tells Rick as the credits roll.
Rick tells the governor he attacked them, and that made things pretty clear. The governor says he didn’t kill them all, and that should be what makes thing really clear. The governor asks Rick to put down his weapon and says he’ll do the same, so they can negotiate in good faith. He does so, holding his hands up one more time. Rick reluctantly puts his gun away, as well. He sits down at a table and the camera reveals a gun underneath, pointing at Rick.
Daryl and Hershel meet up, and Daryl says things don’t feel right. A truck rolls up and Andrea and a few others from Woodbury pull up. Andrea is surprised to hear the governor is already there. She walks into the barn. “I wanted you to talk. Too many people have died for no reason.” She tells them they can solve this. Rick says he knows all about the governor: the heads, and Maggie. Andrea looks puzzled but neither man elaborates.
Back at the prison the others are loading weapons and preparing for war. Glenn calls Carl over and tells him to stash some at the loading dock. “What we should be doing is loading some of this firepower in a truck and paying a visit to the governor,” Merle speaks up. Glenn points out that a thousand things can go wrong with that plan.
“I’ve known you both at different times,” Andrea tells them, adding that they both stepped up to the plate for the greater good. Rick lays out an offer: a map where they can set boundaries and not cross them. The governor shoots him down flat and says the only offer he’ll accept is Rick’s group’s surrender and tells Andrea to step outside. She does so, looking frustrated and upset. One of the governor’s men shuts the barn door, leaving Rick and the governor alone.
“You’re beholden to your people,” Rick says, asking if Merle was his lieutenant. Governor blames Merle for grabbing Glenn and Maggie in the first place and said he was in the process of sorting things out when Rick’s people showed up at Woodbury. The governor tells him he knows about Rick’s baby and Andrea told him it might be his partner’s, and wonders if he’s taking care of Judith as restitution for “failing to see the devil beside” him.
Milton approaches Daryl and Hershel and says there’s no reason they can’t all talk about the issues themselves. There’s a loud sound, and the group moves to see several walkers approaching. Andrea stabs one in the eye and Daryl and one of the governor’s men begin taking more out, having a macho pissing contest between the two of them which Daryl wins by taking out several in a row. The two of them seem to bond momentarily but the governor’s man says despite whatever deal that Rick and the governor come to, “Tomorrow or the next day, they’ll give the word.” Daryl says he knows.
Milton and Hershel talk about how Hershel lost his leg. Milton asks Hershel to show him his stump and Hershel says they just met and Milton could at least buy him a drink first. They both laugh.
“If we choose to destroy everything we’ve fought for over the past year, we’re gonna kill everyone we know,” the governor tells Rick. He tells Rick he was at work one day at the phone rang. His wife had been in an accident. He sat there all night knowing he would never see her again. “Just an accident. No one’s fault.” He says she’d left him a voicemail asking him to call her but he hadn’t yet. He’s always wondered what she wanted with that voicemail. Rick takes a drink of the whiskey the governor had brought and silence stretches between the pair.
Glenn is repairing fencing at the prison, and he watches several walkers lingering outside the perimeter. He walks back inside and sees Merle. “You’re not going,” Glenn tells the other man, who’s packing up a bag filled with weapons. “If you’re going to live here with us, it has to be on our terms,” Maggie tells him. Glenn and Merle begin to fight and both Maggie and Michonne grab him Merle off Glenn. The whole group is startled when a gun shut goes off. It’s Beth, aiming at the ceiling.
Hershel excuses himself from Milton and moves over to talk to Andrea. He asks her how it’s going inside. She admits they kicked her out. She says she doesn’t know what she’s doing there. “What happened with Maggie?” Andrea questions. “He’s a sick man,” Hershel tells her. She is in tears and asks what she’s going to do now. He tells her she’s family, and she belongs with them. “But if you join us, it’s settled,” he tells her. “I know,” she confesses.
Rick and the governor are still sitting in silence, and then the governor gets up. He admits he didn’t want any of this. “They chose me because there was nobody else around.” He says they still think he knows what he’s doing. He picks up holster and puts it on. He says they know they’ve brought back guns on that trip out he made last week. He says his people aren’t combat-tested like Rick’s people are, but the governor has  more people than Rick does. “This fight will go down to the last man. So let’s end this today. Let’s not do this. We can walk away.” Rick stares at him. “You have something that I want. The one thing that makes this all right.” Rick says he’s not giving up the prison. The governor says he doesn’t want the prison, and they’re not moving on. He takes his eye patch off, revealing the injury to Rick. “I want Michonne. Turn her over and this all goes away.” He asks if she’s worth it: one woman, worth all those lives in his prison. “Is she?”

Merle tells Michonne she knows he’s right. “Folks here are strong, good fighters. But they ain’t killers.” She tells him he’s wrong. Rick is a killer. Maggie is too. And even Carl put down his own mother. He asks her if she’s coming with him or not. He tells her she can “show gun the governor’s ass” and he’ll take care of the rest. “You’re on your own. You get people killed, it’s on you,” she tells him.
Glenn is outside watching the walkers again. He turns to see Maggie emerging, carrying a gun.  She says it’s her watch and he tells her he’s got it. She she asks if she can keep him company. “It was a hell of a chokehold,” he tells her, referring to her grabbing Merle before. “When we got back from Woodbury, I made it all about me. You needed your space,” he tells her. She says she didn’t need space from him. She just wanted him to see HER. She says she’s always with him. He apologizes and the two embrace. He tells her he loves her and they kiss. He tells her he can’t do this and looks out at the horde of walkers. They duck inside and quickly get undressed.
The governor is waiting for Rick’s answer. “I don’t get it. You’ve obviously got big plans,” Rick tells him. He asks him why he’s risking it all over a two-bit vendetta. “Killing Michonne? Sorta beneath you, don’t you think?” The governor says Rick could save his son, and his daughter, and everyone he knows. “It’s your choice,” he says. “If I give you Michonne, how do I know you’ll keep your word? That you’ll stop?” Rick asks. The governor sits forward. “You can have everything you want. I told you, I don’t care about you. You think about it.” The governor says he’ll give him two days and he’ll see him at noon. Everyone packs up to leave, and Andrea climbs in the truck with the governor and the group from Woodbury as the groups head their separate directions.
The groups arrive back at their locations.
The governor tells Milton to keep an eye out and when Michonne shows up, kill the others and leave her alive. “That way we avoid a slaughter,” the governor tells him. Milton points out that IS a slaughter. The governor says they’ll have to kill Rick sooner or later, there’s no way they can exist together. He moves over to talk to Andrea, thanking her for setting things up. He tells her he and Rick agreed to terms and they should know soon. She asks what kind of terms and he simply smiles.
“So I met this governor,” Rick says, back inside the prison. “Sat with him for quite awhile.” Merle says Rick should have killed him when he had the chance. “He wants the prison. He wants us gone. Dead.” Rick looks around at his family. “We’re going to war.”
Rick stands outside, holding onto the fence. Hershel comes out and stands beside him. “The group’s taking it as well as can be expected.” He says Michonne and Merle think they should strike first. That he and Carol thinks they should hit the road. “He gave me a choice. A way out,” Rick admits. He tells Hershel that he wanted Michonne. But that he would kill the rest of them anyway. “But what if he doesn’t? What if this is the answer?” Hershel asks why he didn’t tell them. “They need to be scared.” Hershel says they are. “Good, cause that’s the only way they’ll accept it.” Hershel says Michonne saved most of their lives. “She’s earned her place.” Rick agrees. “Are you willing to sacrifice your daughters’ lives for her?” Hershel asks why Rick is telling him. “Because, I’m hoping you can talk me out of it.”
The camera pans over to the perimeter fence and the walkers, and then fades to black.

Did you watch tonight’s episode? What did you think? Comment below, or follow me at @WalkinDeadAngie on Twitter! I want to hear your reactions!
“The Walking Dead” (2010)
Starring: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Laurie Holden
Creator: Frank Darabont