Rick is put through the (w)ringer in the latest ‘The Walking Dead’.

We pick up where we left off last week with Rick (Andrew Lincoln) answering a telephone call that came through to the prison. A female voice who speaks of a safe haven snaps him out of his zombie killing grief trance immediately. He asks if he and the others can join them but is questioned by a male voice about how many people he has killed and the death of his wife. He is reluctant to talk about it and the caller hangs up. Hershel (Scott Wilson) comes to see Rick and he tells him about the phone call. Rick has always respected Herschel and it’s nice to see him trying to comfort Rick. Rick tells him to leave and he receives another phone call. The person knows his name and the voice reveals itself to be Lori. The other voices were Jim, Jacqui and Amy, other people who died, ghosts that haunt Rick. The phone call was just a figment of Rick’s troubled mind a build up of the guilt and grief. The mention of a safe place by the female voice at the beginning is what Rick is dreaming of finding, with the prison proving to be just as unsafe as the farm and the Atlanta camp. Rick get’s to speak with Lori, she tells him to care for their children and can gain some kind of closure. Rick is still mentally unstable but seems to have regained some sanity, probably for the benefit of the group. They’re depending on him.

With Rick out of action Daryl (Norman Reedus) steps in to talk to Carl who despite having shot is mother out of mercy hasn’t received much in the way of comfort from anyone in the group most crucially his father. Daryl started out as an aggressive loner but since has built friendships and let his soft side show. He also finds Carol with whom he’s shared the strongest bond. The point of her going missing, no one really seeming that bothered then turning up again is still a mystery at this point.

The other Dixon brother, Merle on the other hand hasn’t changed one bit since we left him in Series 1 chained to the roof of a mall. In fact he’s more terrifying than ever in this episode tracking down Michonne (Danai Gurira) with a band of Woodbury men through the forest. Michonne makes fast work of her hunters leaving Merle and Gargulio (or as Merle calls him, Neil) who is then killed by Merle after he wants to abort mission and leave Michonne for the Walkers instead of going after her. Merle goes on to find Glenn (Stephen Yeun) and Maggie  (Lauren Cohan) whilst on a supplies run, watched by a hidden Michonne. Merle asks to be taken to his brother and with Glenn pointing a gun at him says that he will go and get Daryl. After a scuffle Merle gains the upper hand (or bayonet hand in this case) and takes them back to Woodbury. Merle is a great character adding a bit of dark humour to the glum series, he’s unpredictable, scary and a joy to watch. Michael Rooker manages to make him a villain you love to hate.

Back at Woodbury, Andrea (Laurie Holden) and The Governor (David Morrisey) grow much closer. Andrea has form for choosing the bad guy’s after having a fleeting romance with Shane in Series 2. Andrea is finding herself enjoying Woodbury life, even last weeks zombie cage fight, which she scared herself by liking it. She is attracted to danger and The Governor is far more dangerous than she knows. Michonne makes her way to the prison after overhearing Glenn and Maggie talking presumably knowing where it is. Will the gang accept her and above all else trust her? The two separate worlds of prison and Woodbury are beginning to merge and with only two episodes left before the painful mid-season break things are being nicely set up.