Episode opens up with Rick telling Daryl (Peg leg Hersh is there as well) about the deal to hand over Michonne and no one else knows. Daryl asks if he plans on telling her but Rick says not until after. It has to be done that day and quietly. Daryl asks if he has a plan and Rick says that they’ll tell her that they need to talk when she’s away from the rest of the group. Daryl looks uneasy and says he doesn't know about this because it isn’t like them. Hershel hops away saying it’s not.
Rick tells Daryl if they do this then they can avoid fighting and no one else has to die. Daryl nods and then agrees. Rick then tells him that they need someone else. Daryl says that he’ll talk to ‘him’ but Rick says that he’ll do it.
In the prison, Rick walks upstairs to one of the cell blocks and finds Merle ripping apart a mattress. He sees Rick and says he’s just looking for some drugs but can’t find any while claiming the prison was probably no fun if no one had drugs.
Rick cuts him off by saying they need his help and Merle just laughs at him. Rick asks if he even knows why he does things he does and makes certain choices. Merle gives no answer. Rick tells Merle about the deal. Rick doesn't like it but he says it needs to be done and Merle can help with that. Merle asks if he told anybody else but Rick just says Daryl, Hershel, and now him.
Merle talks about the times he went on runs with the Governor and vicious he was to people. Merle tells him to go on and give him Michonne but he’ll only torture her and not kill her and that Rick would let all of that happen just for a shot that the Governor MIGHT keep his word. “You’re cold as ice, officer friendly.”
Merle says he’ll need some wire to do the job. He then tells Rick that he’s right and that he doesn’t know why he does things but he does know Rick and he doesn’t have the balls to go through with the deal. Rick cuts him off and says this needs to be done by noon and then walks away.
Cue opening
Rick runs out of the prison and sees Carl and Maggie distracting the walkers while Michonne, Daryl, Glenn, and Beth lay traps in the yard. Rick also sees Michonne pulling her weight by killing some walkers while Glenn lays the traps. When they get back in the prison yard, Glenn tells Rick that they found some blown tires that they can use at the gate to slow Woodbury down. Rick says that’s a great idea but then Daryl looks at him and says it was Michonne’s.
After that awkward pause, Michonne tells them that they don’t have to win but give them as much trouble as possible. Maggie and Carl meet up with everyone and Rick just gives Daryl a look and a hesitant nod. Back inside the prison, Merle looks down at the group in the yard through a window and says to himself ‘ ain't no way….’ Carol overhears him and asks what’s he’s talking about. He brushes her off then asks if they have any whiskey. Carol tells him off and asks him if he is with them. Merle just says ‘sure’ but she clarifies not just about occupying the same place as them. Merle says he is here for his brother and Carol says Daryl is there for them so it’s not time to do shots but it’s time to pick a side. Merle tells her how she isn't the same when they first met and she used to be like a little mouse scared of her own shadow. She says it was her husband that she was afraid and agrees with Merle that she isn’t scared of much anymore. He claims she’s a late bloomer and she suggests that maybe he is too and walks away.
Back outside, Daryl walks up to Glenn and asks if he’s seen Merle and Glenn just ignores him. Daryl asks if he’s apologized yet and if he doesn’t then he’ll make him. He just asks for some forgiveness. Glenn explains to Daryl what Merle did to him and Maggie and he could maybe forgive him if he didn't terrorize Maggie but he did. Glenn goes back to what he’s doing and Daryl grabs his crossbow and walks away. Daryl then looks for Merle in the prison and calls out to him where he hears noises in the engine room. He finds him and asks what’s he doing and Merle tells him he’s just looking for some drugs. Daryl asks if he spoke to Rick, Merle says he did and he’s in but he doesn't think Rick has the balls to go through with it while Daryl says if he flops then he flops. Merle asks if he doesn't want to go through with the deal and Daryl just pauses and says whatever Rick says goes.
Merle laughs at him and asks what happened to his balls. Daryl then asks what happened with Glenn and Maggie Merle says he has done worst and Daryl needs to grow up. He claims that the group looks at him like he’s the devil and the same thing they’re planning to do to Michonne is the same as snatching up Glenn and Maggie and giving them to the Governor. He says you got to do what you have to or you die while Daryl disagrees and says it doesn’t have to be that way. Merle says that maybe the prison group needs someone like him to do all the dirty work that they can’t do. Daryl says he just wants his brother back and Merle says he standing right in front of him then Daryl walks away. Merle grabs a telephone and places it in a sack with a rifle and some other things. Back at the group’s cell block, Hershel is praying with Beth and Maggie. While the prayer goes on, Rick is seen walking in the yard looking for some wire to use on Michonne. He finds some and begins to roll it around his arm but he seems to be struggling to keep going. He looks toward the gate and sees Lori staring at him.
He looks back down and repeats that she isn’t really there but looks back up and still sees her standing and watching. Rick gets fed up and drops the cord that he found. He enters back into the prison passing Hershel who just finished his prayers and calls out to him to try to make a plea about the deal. Rick cuts him off saying that he can’t and won’t do it then walks away. Back in the prison’s corridors, Merle and Michonne go to find the breach in the prison where Tyrese’s group came from to barricade it. They kill off some walkers and when she isn’t looking, he knocks her unconscious and drags her into a room to tie up her hands and put a bag over her head.
Merle and Michonne are then seen walking on the road and he tells her about the deal The Governor gave to Rick. Michonne agrees that Rick wouldn’t have gone through it but of course Merle would. Michonne said he wasn’t straight with her but Merle says that the point is that he’s the one to get things done and does all the dirty work. They see a walker and Merle cuts it down with Michonne’s sword. He’s surprised that she didn’t run but she says she wants to make sure she gets her sword back before she escapes. Back at the prison, Rick finds Daryl and tells him the deal is off and Daryl comments that it’s a smart choice but notices something is wrong with Rick. He says that he can’t find Merle and Michonne so Daryl leads Rick back to where he last saw him. They find that Merle led Michonne into the engine room and he was able to capture her. Rick says he’s going to go find them but Daryl says he can’t track for shit so Rick says they’ll both go but Daryl refuses and says he’ll do it alone. It makes no sense for the both of them to go especially if the Governor shows up and also says that Rick is family as well.
Getting back to ‘M&M’, Merle tells her that he wants to stay with Daryl and Daryl wants to stay at the prison so he’s willing to do what he has to maybe keep the prison standing. They stop to see if a van they found is still usable and Merle says that they just have to play the hand they are dealt. Michonne tells him that even though he talks about the entire burden that he has to carry, a truly bad and evil person wouldn’t feel a thing, yet he feels something. Merle then tells her he’s killed 16 men since everything has happened then they continue walking. We see Glenn enter Hershel’s cell to talk to him. He takes out the pocket watch and explains that he didn’t know what it meant at first but now he does. He then tells Hershel that he wants to marry Maggie.
Hershel gives Glenn his blessing and then Glenn leaves. Back on the road with M&M, they find some cars in front of a building and Merle ties her to one of the building’s pillars. Merle breaks into one of the cars and attempts to hotwire. It starts but it also sets off the alarm which attracts a bunch of walkers to them. Michonne tells him to hurry up while she fights off the walkers while being able to kill a couple. A walker comes out of the building and grabs Michonne but Merle is able to shoot it before she gets bitten and cuts her loose from the pillar (hands still bind) and they get in the car and drive off.
Driving down the road, Michonne asks if all he does is do what he’s told by Rick or the Governor. He just ‘runs to anyone who needs his piss bucket to be emptied’. She says that Daryl is different from him and at least Rick needs him and respects him but Merle just screws up his chance of having a new beginning but chooses to stay on the outside by just doing what he’s told and that no one will mourn him especially Daryl. Merle says if she keeps talking she’ll cut his tongue out and Rick views her on the outside as much as him. * Cuts to Glenn finding a walker with a ring and cuts its finger off* Michonne asks if he killed any men before this all happened and how many since he met The Governor. Merle tells her that he never killed anyone before meeting him. Michonne asks why not they both just go back to the prison together but Merle hesitates and says he can’t just go back but she asks him “why?” Merle stops the car and pauses for a few. He cuts Michonne loose and tells her to go back to Rick and get ready for what’s next but he has something that he has to do on his own. She gets out with her sword and he drives off.
Michonne and Daryl cross each other in a field and he asks where his brother is or if she killed him but she tells him that he let her go. Daryl rushes off and tells her to not let anyone go after him and Michonne just looks on has he runs. Merle is seen in the car drinking some whiskey with some music blasting and taunting a bunch of walkers. He lures the walkers with the noise and heads to the field where the deal is to be held(the area where Rick and the Governor met) but jumps out of the car quickly to sneak away into a nearby building.
This catches the attention of Martinez and his and they go check out the noise. While the group is distracted by the walkers and start shooting, Merle begins to take out some Woodbury men in the chaos but Martinez also notices something is going on in the building close to them. Merle just about has the Governor in his crosshairs but Ben gets in the way of his shot by accident and gets hit in the shoulder or neck area. Then a walker suddenly grabs Merle from the side but he kills it and accidentally falls through the building’s door. He get a kicked to the face and the Woodbury men starts to kick him while he’s down but the Governor yells for them to leave Merle to him and he grabs Merle and tosses him back into the building.
The Governor then beats on him while he’s on the ground but Merle manages to get a hit in and gets up and tries to fend him off but The Governor bites two of his fingers off and spits them out and then breaks his arm back and starts to choke him. He calms down a bit and spits on him and walks back but Merle says he won’t beg. The Governor just tells him “No…” and shoots. cut to black
Glenn finds Maggie and tells her he wants to speak with her before they all have the meeting with Rick. He hands her the ring (I hope he cleaned it) and she tells him yes and they start to kiss. Everyone meets in the yard and Rick tells them all about the deal that the Governor gave him. He tells them that he was going to do it to keep them safe but he changed his mind, Merle took Michonne to fulfill the deal and Daryl went after them but he doesn’t know if it’s too late. He says that he was wrong not to tell them and he apologizes.
He mentions the night that he declared the ricktatorship and that it cannot be like that anymore and what they do is not his call. The decision is life or death and he isn’t their governor. They vote to stay and fight or they vote to leave. Rick then walks away. He goes to the watch tower and sees Michonne is coming back without Merle or Daryl. Back at the field where shit went down, Daryl is investigating and comes across bodies that have been shot and eaten by walkers. He shoots one walker that was still feasting in the head but comes across another walker eating Ben.
He realizes that the walker is Merle with a gunshot wound in the chest. Daryl begins to sob and walker Merle tries to attack him but Daryl just pushes him away a few times while sobbing. When it tries to attack Daryl a third time, Daryl takes out his knife and stabs him in the neck to the ground. Daryl then repeatedly stabs him in the face out of anger and sadness and then backs off of it and starts to cry on the ground. screen cuts to black
