This Sorrowful Life is the fifteenth episode of Season 3 of The Walking Dead and the seventh episode of the second half of the season.
Plot Synopsis
Daniel tells Bruno, Cristiana, Mariana, Inês and Diana about The Governor's offer. Daniel doesn't want to accept it and Cristiana convinces him that even if they hand Marcelino to The Governor, he'll still kill them. They decide not to accept The Governor's offer.
Cassandra and Caramelo overhear Daniel's conversation with the others and decide to take Marcelino to The Governor themselves.
The survivors work together to lay spike strips at the prison gate. "We don't have to kill them all," Sophia later tells Daniel of the plan, which Marcelino conceived. "We just have to make their getting at us more trouble than it's worth."
In the cell block, Diana asks Inês if she thinks they'll survive the war against The Governor. Inês tells them that she believes they will, telling her that they went through much worse, before and after the apocalypse. "The Governor is just the typical high school popular jerk who likes to make our lives miserable, like Paquete" Inês says, while putting Ben in his playpen.
Outside, Marcelino tells Caramelo that he will find a way to make up for his cruelty at Woodbury, but asks for some forgiveness. Cassandra then sneaks up from behind and hits Marcelino in the head with the butt of a shotgun. They tie Marcelino's hands with a rope and hit the road on foot.
Hershel, Maggie and Beth are praying in the cell block when Daniel enters. He pulls Hershel aside and declares the deal is off.
Later, Cassandra and Caramelo walk Marcelino down an abandoned road and explain The Governor's proposition. Cassandra says Daniel wouldn't hand Marcelino to The Governor. "But not you two," he says.
Daniel and Gonçalo search for Marcelino but they can't find him, Leandra tells Daniel that she can't find Cassandra and Caramelo either, concluding that they abducted Marcelino. Gonçalo leaves to track them down.
Meanwhile, Cassandra tells Marcelino that she's only protecting the group from The Governor, "this is the only way".
At an abandoned motel, Caramelo tethers Marcelino to a post while Cassandra and Caramelo search for the keys of a car in a house.
Marcelino is able to free himself. Cassandra and Caramelo try to stop him but are easily knocked out. "I got something I gotta do," Marcelino says as he grabs Caramelo and Cassandra's guns and puts them in the car, "Go back to the prison", he tells them as he drives off. Cassandra and Caramelo decide to go after Marcelino, following a trail of oil that was being left by the car.
In the car, Marcelino drinks a bottle of whisky as walkers mob the vehicle. He blasts music and slowly drives down the road, letting walkers gather in his wake.
Marcelino arrives at The Governor's meeting spot and jumps out of the car. He hides in a building as The Governor and his men investigate the blaring music. They begin shooting at the walkers.
Amid the gun blasts, Marcelino opens fire on The Governor's men. He aims at The Governor but accidentally hits John, who gets in the way.
A walker attacks Marcelino and they tumble outside, where he's discovered. The Governor beats up Marcelino. "I ain't beggin'," Marcelino says weakly as The Governor raises his gun and shoots him.
Daniel gathers the group and discloses The Governor's offer. "I couldn't sacrifice Marcelino, he earned his place," he says. "I'm not your Governor. We choose to go. We choose to stay. We stick together." He concedes that he doesn't want to be the only person making decisions for the group.
From the guard tower, Daniel watches Gonçalo making his way back to the prison, without Marcelino, Cassandra and Caramelo.
At the feed store, Cassandra and Caramelo spot a walker feasting on John's corpse: It's Marcelino. Caramelo wants to shoot him with a sub-machine gun he grabbed from a dead Woodbury Soldier but he's not able to go through with it. When Marcelino tries to attack, Cassandra grabs a gun and shoots him in the head.
Deaths
- John Steel
- John Marcelino
- Seven Woodbury Soldiers
Trivia
- Last appearance of Steel.
- Last appearance of Marcelino.
- The name of this episode refers to Marcelino accepting that he cannot be a part of Daniel's group and knowing there is no place left for him to go.
- This episode's cover features Cassandra in the prison.
- Johanne is the only main cast member who did not appear in this episode.
- The songs Marcelino plays to attract the walkers were "Fast and Loose" by Motorhead and "Turn It Up" by Ted Nugent.
- When Marcelino attracts walkers to the meeting point is similar to when The Governor released walkers out of a truck into the prison yard (dubbed a "Walker Bomb" on Talking Dead.)
- The wheels on the car that Marcelino took from the motel appear to change in one scene before he jumps out, but the car has two different wheels on one side.