The Walking Dead: "Home" Episode Recap

One of the great things about a TV series like The Walking Dead, where every moment is fraught [...]

One of the great things about a TV series like The Walking Dead, where every moment is fraught with implications for the future and almost everything can be a spoiler, is reading the preview copy--that's what they give to news websites and TV Guide and the like ahead of time to put on the listings. Here's the summary for The Walking Dead's tenth episode of the third season, titled "Home." Let's see how closely it syncs up with what actually happens: "As the group debates their next course of action, Rick wanders after a lost friend. Daryl and Merle question their choices. The Governor restores order in Woodbury and makes plans to punish those responsible." Okay...well, what really happened? The episode opens on the prison, where Rick is clearing palettes out onto a fenced-in catwalk from which he's scouting the grounds with binoculars. He sees Michonne crawl out the back of an overturned bus on the prison yard, and continues urveying the area until he alights on Lori, standing in her wedding dress near the burial sites of the people Rick's group has lost. Walking down the stairs and across the yard, he walks to her, only to have her vanish just as he arrives. He can then see her on the other side of the fence, walking around the perimeter. As he runs to the gate to let himself out, Michonne notices and seems alarmed. Rick, in a rush, isn't thorough about closing the gates back up behind him, but Michonne takes care of that. He sees Lori at the end of a short bridge over a pond now, and walks to her again. This time she waits for him, reaching out to touch his face, smiling at him. The pair of them are enjoying a private moment, as Michonne looks on, watching him obviously standing alone at the end of the bridge, and looks scared.

Back at Woodbury, the wall has been rebuilt and reinforced with truck tires; there are a number of armed guards standing watch. In her apartment, Andrea is sitting up when the Governor knocks on her door and invites himself in. He tells her that he was impressed by the speech she gave to his community, assuring her that as long as her friends at the prison leave Woodbury alone, they have no problem with Rick's group. Andrea tells him that she needs to go see them, which visibly frustrates him. He tells her that he has done terrible things trying to keep Woodbury whole, and that he thinks she should lead the community. "They don't need to be terrorized, certainly not by their own leader," he tells her. Pushing on through Andrea's disbelief, he tells her that he really believed Milton would find a cure for the walkers if he kept Penny alive long enough. He adds that he needs time to get himself together, saying that nobody else he has is as good an option. He tells her that Woodbury needs her, that he needs her, and sets up a choice between taking care of the community or going to see her friends in the prison.

In the woods, Daryl is frustrated waiting for prospective food to come around. He suggests to Merle that they should forage for food in one of the houses, drawing mockery from Merle, who says he suspects Daryl of trying to draw them back toward the prison. Daryl doesn't deny it, saying it might not be a bad idea, but Merle says that he's not welcome there. He tells Daryl that it doesn't matter anyway since the Governor is coming for them and they're all dead anyway, then suggests they head off to go fishing. In the prison, Glenn and Carl are mapping out the prison, trying to figure out where the problems on the perimeter are and how Tyreese's group breached an area they thought was secure. Glenn worries that if walkers can stroll right in, the perimeter will be no trouble for an organized group of armed attackers. When Beth tries to diffuse the situation by saying that maybe the Governor won't attack, Michonne chimes in to tell the group about the private room where the Governor kept his aquariums full of heads. (Yeah, nobody's quite sure what to say to that one.) Glenn suggests that he and Michonne could break in and kill the Governor, but other members of the group object to the behavior. Glenn persists, but Michonne is hesitant to go back. After a moment, though, she agrees. Hershel steps in as the voice of reason, telling Glenn that last time, they weren't expected and that people were still almost killed; that they lost Daryl. Glenn simply says nobody can stop him. He contends that if the Governor is really coming, they should just leave; T-Dog and Lori weren't any safer in the prison than they would have been on the road, after all, so what's keeping them in this place if it's bound to be sieged? Glenn responds that Hershel had full use of both legs back when they were living on the road last, and there was no baby crying every four hours.

Watching the two argue, Maggie stalks off, which chastens Glenn, who agrees to stay put provided that they defend the prison. He plans to go to the tombs with Carl to find the breaches and block access while Michonne stays with the rest of the survivors in case anything happens. Suddenly, it occurs to him that there's nobody on watch. Back at Milton's lab, the Governor enters, surprising Milton by throwing a walkie talkie onto his desk while the scientist is trying to meditate. Milton explains that he was listening to alpha waves over headphones and goes to replace the battery in the walkie. The Governor asks Milton if he intends to stay in Woodbury, and Milton says yes. The Governor says that he considers Milton a friend, but that he had counted on Merle as well. He says that Martinez is a good soldier--who would take a bullet for the Governor--and asks Milton if he'd do the same. Milton says yes, and the Governor says he's uncertain of Andrea's loyalties, and asks Milton to keep tabs on her for him. Milton agrees. Andrea heads to the security wall, asking for Martinez, but is told that the guards don't know anything. She flags down Milton in the street, asking where the Governor is, and is told Milton doesn't knows, suggesting it could be a supply run. Glenn and Carl enter, with Glenn wearing a vest and shoulderpads from riot gear and covered in blood, saying that there is a steady stream of walkers making their way in near the boiler room. Hershel suggests that they're trapped between a rock and a hard place, and that it's foolish to stay holed up; the group seems to agree with him, but Glenn is adamant that they don't leave. Eventually he relents, saying that they need to scout the far side of the prison in a car, to see what the situation is. He wants to take Maggie, but Hershel doubts she's up for it. Glenn finds her in her room, asking her where she has been, but she doesn't respond. He tells her that he needs her help finding the entry point for the walkers, and asks if they're going to talk about what's going on, but she doesn't want to. She rehashes her sexual assault at the hands of the Governor, saying that he stopped short of raping her. She tells Glenn that she cooperated to save his hand, and when he reaches for her, she slaps his hand away, then pushes him toward the door, telling him to leave.

Carol and Axel head out to the catwalk, where Axel tells Carol the story of the misunderstanding that put him in prison--he robbed a gas station using a toy gun, but when the police found him and searched his brother's house, they found his brother's gun and pinned it on him. He takes out his gun, saying that he's not even sure how to use it. She starts to show him how to use it, and he tells her she's "quite a lady," prompting a satisfied grin from Carol. In the woods, the Dixons are hoping to head toward water. "I may have lost my hand, but you lost your sense of direction," Merle says. They hear a sound off in the distance, which Daryl says he thinks is a baby but Merle believes to be animals. When Daryl sees a pair of people trapped on an overpass, being attacked by a small group of walkers, he rushes up the hill to their defense. Merle walks behind him, objecting the whole way to wasting their efforts and ammunition for strangers. On the overpass are three Spanish-speaking adults (two men, on top of a vehicle, and a woman, trapped inside her car) anda baby in the woman's arm. They're trying to fight off the walkers with their handguns but zombies just keep coming. When one man's leg is caught in a walker's grip, the men drop the handgun while struggling to free him. They're rescued from a bite by Daryl, whose crossbow takes the walker out. Standing in the middle of the overpass, he takes out six more, clearing the car and rescuing the woman and baby, while Merle finally gets into the action by firing off a single shot to cover Daryl's back. Merle hangs back and watches as Daryl and the Spanish-speaking men take out the rest of the herd, though, and then opens the rear door of the car when they're finished. He goes rooting around for food in the back seat and points a gun at the men when they object. After a moment of watching the men stand by terrified while the baby cries, Daryl turns the crossbow on Merle, telling him to get out of the car. When Merle ignores him, Daryl instead turns the crossbow on the men, telling them to get in the car and leave; Merle gets out to confront him, and Daryl keeps the crossbow pointed at his brother's face while the family leaves, then storms off in silence, collecting his arrows as he goes. Once they get back into the woods, Merle demands an explanation, with Daryl telling him that the family was scared. Merle said that they were owed some kind of reward, and Daryl rejects that thinking. Merle accuses (is that even the right word?) Daryl of helping them out of the goodness of his heart, adding, "Is that something your Sheriff Rick taught you?" Daryl tells Merle that he did it for the baby, which Merle also rejects. Daryl tells Merle that he can't blame Daryl for all of his problems--that it's his own fault he was left behind, that Daryl went back for him, and that Merle cut his own hand off "way before they left you on that roof" by putting the group in a position where they had to do so. The conversation deteriorates from there, with the revelation that Merle and Daryl planned to rob the camp and make their escape back during season one, but that it never happened because Merle got left behind in Atlanta. Daryl finally tells Merle that he alienated himself from the group because he was simple-minded and cruel; Merle knocks him down, tearing the back of Daryl's shirt and revealing several scars. Merle is shocked at the sight, and clearly shaken. The implication is that their father did it, and that Merle left the house, leaving Daryl behind, after it was done to him first. It changes the nature of the conversation, and Daryl says he's heading back "where he belongs." Merle says that he can't go with him, because of his attacks on Michonne and Glenn. "I may be the one walking away, but you're the one that's leaving--again," Daryl tells Merle, who stands in the woods silent for a few moments before following.

Back at the prison, Hershel comes and offers to go with Glenn on his recon mission around the perimeter. Glenn gets immediately defensive, telling Hershel that he did what he could during their ordeal in Woodbury, which Hershel acknowledges. He tells her that he worries that Glenn's rage is going to get himself killed; Glenn says that with Daryl gone and Rick crazy, he has to step up and take charge. Hershel watches Glenn drive off and then looks out past the fence to see Rick wandering the perimeter. Back in Maggie's room, Beth comes in with the baby, asking for help feeding Judith and Hershel. The two sit, feeding the baby and holding hands, until Beth leaves to go make dinner for the others. On the fence line, Rick is wandering, staring around him, when he hears a voice calling out to him. He turns and, to his surprise, it's Hershel, standing just inside the prison fences. He crosses the bridge over the pond to see Hershel, who tells Rick that they need him to come back and step up. Rick tells Hershel that if he's so worried about Glenn, Hershel should lead himself. When Hershel asks him what he's been doing, Rick can't answer him. Hershel asks him how long he needs and whether there's anything he can help with, but Rick just gives him noncommittal answers and blank stares...until Hershel turns to leave, when Rick admits to having seen Lori. He says that he knows it isn't really her, but that he feels there has to be a reason. Hershel asks about the phone, and Rick confirms it, also admitting that he saw Shane in Woodbury. He says that he doesn't see them now, but he's waiting for something. As Hershel tries to convince him to come back in, Rick seems to hear something, and then walks away saying he can't. He crosses the bridge back into the tree line, and Michonne looks on. Axel playfully approaches Carol, saying that he's seen plenty of people crack in prison, but that the inside always made sense to him. As he begins to launch into a humorous story about his life before the zombie apocalypse, there's a gunshot and he's suddenly killed; Rick raises his rifle on the periphery and sees the Governor standing at his Jeep with both doors open while the other survivors in the yard take cover. Martinez takes a series of shots at Rick, who runs back to cover near the fence line, and Hershel, who falls just inside the fences while trying to take cover. Meanwhile someone is standing in the guard tower shooting down at the other survivors; Carol is forced to use Axel's body as a shield against the gunfire and Carl takes out his pistol to defend Beth. Stepping around the bus, Michonne joins the fray, firing a couple of shots off at the Governor before returning to her cover. After a few moments of silence, Maggie runs out into the yard with assault rifles for herself and her sister; the two arm each other and run in opposite directions as the gunman in the guard tower fires off more shots. Maggie lays down cover fire at the gunman to allow Carol a chance to take cover and grab a gun. The shooting stops momentarily as everyone hears a motor--it's a panel truck, which barrels through the prison gates and rumbles to a stop in the middle of the yard. Everyone on both sides stands back to watch events unfold; a gate drops and dozens of walkers are released from the back of the truck. They all make a beeline for Hershel while the driver of the truck exits and heads toward Michonne. Rick is out of bullets in his rifle and when he tries to fire on them, he's once again shot at by Martine. Hershel is left to defend himself in the grass against the walkers until his daughter finally kills the man in the tower. Rick runs out of bullets in the handgun while shooting down a group of walkers behind him, attracted by the gunfire. While he's struggling to get back inside the gates, Glenn arrives (passing the Governor, Martinez and the bearded, African-American guard as they make their retreat) and can't figure out what to do with the truck. Michonne starts slicing through the walkers (after having apparently killed her attacker with the sword? I may have missed it in the melee) and Hershel seems safe, but Rick is cornered by a pair of walkers and, despite his best efforts, he's inches away from being bitten because he can't hold both of them off with only his bare hands. Here's that Han Solo moment we were talking about last week, folks--at this key juncture in the battle, one of the two walkers is taken out by--you guessed it--an arrow as the Dixons arrive at the prison and join the fray. Merle takes out the other walker with a stick while Glenn and Michonne help Hershel into the pickup truck that Glenn had been using. The survivors--except the Dixons and Rick--make their way into the inner gate of the prison, leaving the three warriors stranded outside with two gates and a gaggle of walkers between them and the rest of the survivors; walkers, meanwhile, start streaming around the prison in search of access. So...how'd we do?

  • As the group debates their next course of action... - lots of that.
  • Rick wanders after a lost friend. - This one makes me giggle a little because it's such an understatement.
  • Daryl and Merle question their choices. - Yeah, I suppose that qualifies.
  • The Governor restores order in Woodbury... -Not really. That was more Andrea. The Governor kinda just...left.
  • ...and makes plans to punish those responsible. -Yeah, I suppose. It's hard to call that a "plan" exactly, just showing up and shooting, but it worked.
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