Tell It to the Frogs - Recap

Merle is cuffed to a pipe on a roof, and appears to be hallucinating.
When he regains his senses, he fights like mad to free himself. He is
praying for divine intervention when the undead find him. The door is
jammed, and they can't get to him, so he starts bargaining with Jesus,
and asking for help to find a way of escape. He finds a belt that he
tries to use to reach a hacksaw that is just out of reach. While doing
so, he becomes angry with God, saying "I never begged you."

Rick is driving. Morales tells him that nobody will be sad that Merle
didn't come back, except maybe his brother Daryl. Glenn drives past,
enjoying his joy ride.

Lori is cutting Carl's hair. He's fidgeting. Shane tells him that this
is nothing. Shaving stings. Carl continues grousing, so Shane promises
him that if he gets through this with some manly dignity, he'll show him
something special tomorrow. Catching frogs. Carl says he's done that
before, but he's talking singular. Shane is talking plural. It's an art,
and not to be taken lightly. He has some secrets, and he's willing to
share with Carl. Carl doesn't know why they need to catch frogs, plural,
anyway. Frog legs, of course! Lori and Carl think that's ewww, but Shane
assures them that once they get down to the last can of beans, they'll
be more than ready for the legs. They banter a bit more, then Shane
notices something's going on. He jumps up and heads for the perimeter.
Dale doesn't know yet what's going on, it's too far for his binoculars
to see clearly. It's Glenn, and he doesn't know how to shut off the alarms.

Amy begs Glenn to tell her that her sister Andrea is okay. She is, and
he tells her so. They get the alarm disabled as quickly as possible, but
not quickly enough (in all likelihood). Glenn apologizes.

The truck pulls up, and Morales tells Rick to come meet everybody.
Andrea gets out of the truck and runs sobbing into Amy's arms. Lori
comforts Carl, since they don't see Rick. Shane hangs his head, then
asks how they call got out. Glenn says it was 'new guy'. Morales calls
Rick "helicopter boy" and tells him to come say hello. Rick gets out of
the truck and sees Shane, then Lori and Carl see Rick and have a sobbing
great reunion. Lori thought he was dead, so she's in shock. When her
eyes lock on Shane, she's staring daggers.

Around a campfire, Rick fills everybody in on how things transpired in
his absence. Rick tells Shane he doesn't have words to express how
grateful he is to him.

Ed builds up the fire because it's cold. When Shane confronts him about
keeping fires to embers so they can't be tracked, Ed tells him to "mind
his business". Ed orders Carol, his wife, around like she's a slave. The
group discusses how Darryl will take his brother Merle being left
behind. The truth of the matter is, Merle was a danger to the group, and
Rick did what was necessary. Dale doesn't see Darryl taking it well.
T-Dog feels very guilty for running, but Carol points out they were all
scared, and they all ran. So what's his point. He says he fixed the door
so the zombies couldn't get through. So Merle is still alive, and
chained to the roof. "That's on us."

Carl and Rick exchange I-love-yous as he tucks his son into bed. He
kisses Lori, and they spoon while chatting quietly. Lori is sorry she
left, but he tells her he's happy because he knew she was alive. She
brought along the family photo album, and he replaces the picture he had
with him during the separation. She's really upset about the state of
their marriage before the invasion, the anger and the bad times; such a
waste. He kisses her, and says this might be their second chance. She
gives him back his wedding band. She's been wearing it on a chain around
her neck. She turns off the lights, and they make love. Shane's on
lookout, and sees the light in their tent go off.

Rick wakes up to find his clean clothes laid out. He goes out and greets
his fellow campers, thanking Carol for washing his clothes. Glenn is
mourning his vehicle being stripped down. He touches base with Lori,
then tells her he's been thinking about Merle, the man they left behind.
Shane returns with fresh water. Lori is really unamused about Rick's
plans to rescue Merle. They're interrupted by a bunch of hysterical
children, and run off to find out what happened.

The kids found a Walker eating a deer, and the men kill him. They figure
the Walker was this far out because they're running out of food in the
city. Daryl has a temper tantrum because he says the deer was his. Amy
and Andrea see that the Walker was still chewing, and they run away.
Daryl says "what the hell??" and shoots it with his crossbow. He enters
the camp, calling for Merle so they have to fill him in. Rick takes
responsibility for what happened to Merle, and Daryl looks like he's
going to kill him, in honor thereof. Daryl comes completely unhinged and
tries to kill Rick. Shane gets him in a half-nelson. Rick wants to
discuss this rationally. Once Daryl nods, Shane lets him go. Rick goes
on to state that Merle does not work and play well with others. T-Dog
interrupts to say that this is not Rick's fault. He had the key, but he
dropped it in a drain. Daryl says that if that's supposed to make him
feel better, it don't. T-Dog says maybe knowing that the door was
padlocked so the creatures couldn't get to Merle will help. Rick chimes
in that it has to count for something. Daryl tells them all to go to
hell, he just wants to know where his brother is, so he can go get him.
Lori says Rick will show him.

Shane confronts Rick about why he's leaving. Rick says it's the right
thing to do. He asks Glenn to come along, and he grudgingly agrees.
T-Bone volunteers. With Daryl, that's four men leaving the camp. Shane
tells Rick that he's putting everybody in the camp at risk. He knows
that Rick knows there's a Walker this far out; they all saw it. Rick
tells him that he cleaned out the cage at the station before he left.
They can pick up the firearms when they go to get Merle.

Carl tells his dad he doesn't want him to go. Lori reiterates that Merle
is not worth one of their lives, not even with guns thrown in. Rick also
wants to help a man and his son who saved his life. Now he needs to
return the favor.

Rick tells Dale he needs to borrow his bolt cutters. Dale doesn't like
to loan out his tools. Last time he did, T-Dog did not return them.
They're still with Merle. Dale says he can have the bolt cutters if he
gets one of the guns when Rick gets back; his pick. Rick agrees. Dale's
sidekick says they also need a new hose, from the van, for the RV. Rick
says when they get back, he's free to strip the van down to nothing.

Daryl starts honking and bellowing to get moving, so the men head out.
As he's leaving, Shane tells Rick that he hates that he's going. He
gives Shane four rounds so they can take themselves out if worse comes
to worse.The van drives off.

Lori tries to comfort Carl. He says he's not worried, and asks if she
is. Lori says yes. He tells her she shouldn't be, think about it.
Nothing's killed him yet. He'll be fine.

Daryl is busy posturing, but he doesn't affect T-Dog. Glenn stops the
van and says that from here, they walk.

Lori asks Dale if he's seen Carl. He has - Shane took him down to the
quarry. There was some mighty bold talk about catching frogs. Carl tells
Shane he's not catching anything. Shane tries stirring up the water so
the frogs will go to Carl. One of the laundry ladies sees how much fun
they're having and mutters that she's beginning to question the division
of labor here. Carl still didn't catch anything. Ed sits and watches the
women hard at work.

The men are going to pick up the guns, then Merle. Darryl objects.

The ladies are talking about what they miss. One says she misses her
vibrator. Carol says she does too, and they laugh. Ed asks what's so
funny. Andrea asks if he has a problem, and he says none that concerns
her. And they're supposed to be working. This ain't no comedy club.

Lori sends Carl back to camp, and confronts Shane. Her family is
off-limits to him. She is enraged at him for telling her that Rick was
dead.

The men are trying to get around the Walkers so they can rescue Merle.

Shane watches Ed watching the women. Andrea tells Ed that if he doesn't
like how they're doing his laundry, he is more than welcome to do it
himself. She playfully tosses it to him with a smile, and he flings it
back at her so it slaps her in the face. He says it's not his job,
"Missy". She becomes angry and asks what his job is. Sitting on his ass,
smoking? He says it's not listening to some uppity, smart-mouthed bitch,
and tells Carol they are leaving. She tells Carol not to go, and Ed
says "Hey. Don't think I won't knock you on your ass, just because
you're some college-educated cooz." Another woman says next time they
see her, she'll have fresh bruises. Ed attempts to laugh it off, and
steps up his orders to Carol. Ed slugs his wife for not moving fast
enough, and the women react in a fury. Shane pulls Ed away, throws him
on the ground, and commences pummeling him damn near into
unconsciousness. Shane tells him that if he lays an unkind hand on his
wife, or daughter, or any other woman in this camp again, he'll beat Ed
dead. Ed says he understands. Carol promptly leaps onto Ed, sobbing
apologies.

The men get to the roof. Merle isn't there. The hacksaw is. And so is
his hand.

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