After leaving Atlanta, the small group, led by newcomer Rick Grimes, arrive at the base camp. Finally, Rick is reunited with his wife and son and in his mind, everything is as it should be. However, in the previous episode, the violent, racist, and unpredictable Merle that was a part of the team in Atlanta was left behind, shackled to a pipe on a rooftop by Rick. When Merle's brother, Daryll, at the basecamp discovers this the following day, he becomes enraged. Rick, feeling guilty, decides to assemble a four-man team, including Daryll, to head back to Atlanta and rescue Daryll, along with a set of weapons and other equipment he dropped when he was swarmed by zombies. Almost as soon as he appeared, he disappears again.
While he is gone, the audience is pulled into the social dillemas of the civillians at the basecamp. The women feel as if they're doing all the chores and Rick's wife and his best friend, Shane, have a terrible falling out. We also learn that Ed, a civillian, is an abusive and controlling husband and father. Shane, upset at the situation with his now "ex-girlfriend" takes his anger out on Ed, when he sees him smack his wife in the face, through a barrage of punches that could kill. Despite the fact that zombies have taken over the planet, these civillians still struggle to stay together because of their personal issues. This episode shows a slightly pessimistic view of human nature, as if to suggest that not even a world epidemic can overcome the darkness of human nature within all of us. The plot thickens when Rick's team, now in Atlanta, discover Merle missing from the rooftop...minus a hand.
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