Don't Dead Open Inside - S01:E03

   This theory is still in it's infantile stages, but it will soon grow. It has a lot of strong support in the first season and I'm eager to share all of these points with you. If you are actually starting to follow along (whether from curiosity, entertainment, belief or any combination therein), try watching ahead of my reviews and see if you can start to point the same kinds of things that I do. Discovery is most of the enjoyment; anticipation only goes so far.

   There's nothing too distinctive about this episode except for a few points. This episode almost runs as it implies.

   Without further ado, SPOILER ALERT! *kinda*

Tell It to the Frogs:

   Merle starts off talking to himself. Reliving some of his favorite memories. Some people, who previously gave up trying to get after Merle, try again. Merle tries to get the toolbox that is nearby, but it is too far away.

   The group returns to their base camp. One their way there everyone realizes that Merle isn't with them. Morales says it's better this way. Shane tells Carl he'll teach him how to catch frogs to eat. Finally returning to camp, everyone reunites with their families.

   That night they sit around campfires and try to avoid being seen by people. Ed complains about being cold, not realizing that it's not the appropriate time of year for that kind of weather. Shane keeps the fire and tension down.

   Lori and Rick spend some time together, Lori can't believe it. The next morning, Rick awakens and hears the children scream. The camp comes across a hunter eating a deer. They beat the hunter up and decapitate him. Darryl comes by and says that he has been following that deer for miles, and eats the brains of the decapitated head.

   They tell Darryl about Merle and he goes ballistic. They calm him down, and tell him that he was cuffed to the roof but still alive. They get a small group together to save Merle.

   Shane and Carl "catch frogs". Lori and Shane get into an argument while Ed "guards" the women. The Merle group argues about whether to go for guns or Merle first. They go to get Merle, but Rick reminds them that they need the "guns".

   Shane beats up Ed almost breaking his face in. Shane almost lost it and was on the verge of eating Ed's brains. It was a close call, but he finally found the (dying) humanity in his mind and stopped. Meanwhile, at the very end, you see that Merle's hand is dangling from the pipes, chewed off the cuff.

Notes:
   This episode, due to low zombie activity, runs very similarly to the way they intend it to.
   If Darryl WAS hunting that deer for miles, why didn't he know that it was attacked? Why did he do nothing to stop the "zombie" from mauling and eating it? Was he hunting the deer? Or the zombie?
   Shane beats Ed up so badly, because he loses all sense of humanity. His humanity is strongly based off of Lori, who all of a sudden rejects him. His sense of humanity gone, he realizes his hunger for brains. It becomes apparent next season, that Shane REALIZES that he's a zombie along with the rest of them.
   Also, Merle chewed his hand off. The group imagines the saw there, because that would have been the human way to do it.