'The Walking Dead' Season 3, Episode 12: 'Clear' Recap

‘The Walking Dead’, season 3, episode 12, ‘Clear’

Michonne, Rick, and Carl go for a supply run. Along the way, they encounter a survivor on the road who begs them to stop, but they keep driving.

They reach a roadblock, and have to drive around it, managing to get their car stuck in the mud. The car is attacked by a small group of Walkers, but they seem unfazed by it. Rick rolls down a window and dispatches them with a gun.

The survivor catches up the car, still begging for help, but Rick et al. drive away without so much as batting an eye.

The gang reaches the town where Rick used to live (King County, Georgia) and exit the car, hoping to find supplies. They enter Rick’s old police station, but find the weapons have been picked over.

On their way to the bar, they find a pile of burned up corpses, and see a trail of arrows spray-painted on the sidewalk. They follow them, and find some crazy barricade. Michonne points out that someone has made it theirs already, but Rick is sure there are still useful supplies.

A Walker sneaks up on them, and a man on the rooftops takes it out with a rifle. He then demands Rick et al. drop their supplies, or he’ll shoot. A gunfight breaks out, and Michonne heads to the roof, while Carl and Rick take cover.

Michonne makes it to the top, but the man’s gone, come to ground level. He guns down Rick, but Carl sneaks in from behind and shoots him. He drops.

Rick checks the body, and finds him wearing body armor, and that he’s still alive. He removes the mask, and finds a very familiar face. Morgan, the man he met in the first episode.

Rick, feeling duty bound to Morgan, doesn’t want to leave him in the streets. He also remembers Morgan’s son, but is scared to go looking for him, since Morgan has booby-trapped most of the town.

They drag Morgan into a building, very carefully avoiding all the traps, but it’s not easy. They drop Morgan on the cot, and marvel at his weapons and ammo cache. Michonne and Carl hastily load their bags with what they can carry, and Rick worries about Morgan, and all the ‘crazy man’ writing on the walls.

Amongst the items, Rick finds the other walkie-talkie… The one he’s been speaking to in vain. He also notices “DUANE TURNED” written on the wall, Duane being Morgan’s son. Rick says they have to wait for him to wake up. Michonne protests, saying he’s dangerous, but Rick puts his foot down.

As they wait, Carl finds a map drawn on the wall. He finds his old neighborhood, but it’s scribbled out with the word “BURNT” written across it.

Michonne helps herself to some of his food. Rick isn’t happy.

“What, we’re eating his food now?”

“The mat said ‘Welcome’.”

Carl says that he wants to go on a run while they wait. He says there’s a baby shop around the corner. He wants to get a crib for the baby. Rick isn’t too enthusiastic about the idea, but Michonne volunteers to go with him. Rick reluctantly agrees.

Outside, Carl tells Michonne she doesn’t need to go with him. A Walker approaches, and he tells her to take care of it, and he takes the opportunity to run for it. Michonne chases him down and questions him. He says he needs to do it on his own. He walks away, and she points out that he passed the baby place, but he says he needs to get the baby something else first.

Inside the building, Rick talks to Morgan, who wakes up. He reaches for a knife he stashed under his cot, and Rick walks away and Morgan attacks. Rick knocks him to the ground, and tries to get him to realize who he is. It doesn’t work.

Morgan stabs Rick in the chest, but Rick knocks him off, and holds a gun to him. Morgan begs him to kill him.

Outside, many Walkers are being lured in by animal traps, only to get stuck.

Inside, Rick bandages his wound, after tying up Morgan. Morgan continues to beg for him to kill him. Rick tries to get through to him. Morgan finally has a moment of clarity and remembers Rick. He tells him what happened, and how he waited every day for Rick’s radio call. Rick apologizes for letting him down.

Morgan yells at him some more, and then bitterly chastises him for not having to watch his wife turn. He tells him how Duane died, his wife, the Walker that he refused to kill, attacked him. He waited until it was too late to kill her, and he regrets it. Then he asks Rick if his son is dead, and he says he’s not. Then Morgan says that he will be.

Carl and Michonne reach a café, and Carl peers inside. He goes to open the door, but Michonne stops him. She tells him she can’t let him do it. He tells her that she can’t stop him from doing it, and she says that he can’t stop her from helping him.

They open the door to the café and roll in various animals in cages to distract the Walkers. They take the opportunity to run inside. Carl grabs a portrait hanging on the wall and gets grabbed by a Walker. Michonne stabs him in the head. They make a run for it, but realize that one of the animals got out and is leading a small horde of Walkers straight to them.

They run for it, and have to fight their way out. Carl manages to drop the picture, and wants to go back in, but Michonne won’t let him.

She tells him to wait in the front, and he’ll get it for him, and she does once he trusts her enough. She reveals she was going to go back in anyway, because there was a knickknack she really wanted.

Morgan says that Rick is going to die, but he tells him that they found a prison and they can take him with. Morgan advises him to just go, don’t go back to the prison. Rick says he can help him, and to come back. Morgan points out that they are taking a lot of guns, which means they need them for something bigger than Walkers. He doesn’t want to be part of it. And he warn Rick will be killed by teeth or guns, either way, he doesn’t want to relive it.

Rick tries again, but Morgan refuses. He says he has to stay and clear, and that’s the only reason he survived. Rick leaves him.

Outside, Morgan cleans up the corpses, and Carl and Michonne return with a crib and baby supplies. They head back to their car, and Michonne asks if he’s going to be okay. Rick says no, and to keep going. Carl stops and calls out to Morgan, saying he’s sorry for shooting him. Morgan tells him to never be sorry.

At the car, Rick asks Carl how it was with Michonne, and he says that he thinks she’s one of them, and that she’s a-okay. Rick ponders it for a moment when Michonne approaches. She asks if he’s seeing something, and says she knows that he sees dead people. She reveals that she used to talk to her dead boyfriend, and that ‘it happens’. He gives her the keys to the car and tells her to drive, since he sees things.

As they drive away, they pass the pile of burned corpses and see Morgan loading some of the fresh kills into the pile.

Further down the road, the pass a fresh kill in the road, and realize it’s the man who was begging them for help earlier. They stop and grab his supplies.