does not erase the fact he first concluded that the Michonne deal served his interests, and approached Merle about completing the task.
Yes, he did intend on giving Michonne over and included Merle in on that plan. But then Merle
entirely on his own went and got rope/bindings, made a ruse to get Michonne alone, knocked her out, bound her, and took her out to deliver her to The Governor himself. Dialogue from Merle clearly indicated he did not expect Rick to hold-up to his plan which is why he was doing it himself.
Rick goes to get bindings himself, sees the vision of Lori, decides not to through with it and goes to tell everyone he's not going to do it and finds Merle and Michonne gone.
Opening of the Episode:
Rick talks to Daryl and Herschel about the plan, Herschel doesn't like it and leaves. Daryl isn't 100% but is willing to help Rick do it. Rick says "we need someone else", implying that this is going to be a group task. Him, Daryl and someone else. That third person is Merle, Daryl offers to go talk to Merle but Rick wants to do it and do it alone.
It was not to be a one-man job, Rick seems to think it's for at least three people.
Rick Goes to talk to Merle:
Merle is searching for drug contraband in the prison bunks. Rick goes up to him and says, "We need your help."
Merle laughs.
Rick tells Merle that if they hand over Michonne Woodbury will stand down, "I don't like it, but it what needs to be done. We need to make it quiet. We need your help with that."
Merle goes into an extended monologue about the events, Michonne, what The Governor will do with her and why he does what he does. He's not sure. But he's thought a lot about Rick and doesn't believe Rick has the spine to deliver Michonne. Rick, "We need to get her to The Governor by noon," and he walks off.
OPENING CREDITS
Prison Yard
Rick watches as Michonne helps the others clear the walkers out of the prison yard., they set up the barbed-wire as "caltrops" in front of the gate. When they return inside the inner perimeter, Rick complements the idea and Daryl points out it was Michonne's. Rick and Michonne exchange looks/nods and Michonne says they don't have to win, just be more trouble than they're worth.
Prison Block Common Area
Merle watches the exchange from a window and scowls a bit, "Ain't no way."
Merle and Carol have a bit of an exchange about whether or not he's with the group. He says he's with his brother. Carol points out Daryl is with them. They have talk about Carol's change of personality now that she's not under her husband anymore, Merle takes note of this and calls her a "late bloomer." Carol wonders if Merle might be one too. Merle considers this.
Prison Work/Motor Room
Daryl finds Merle scavenging in there, Merle claims to be looking for meth. He and Daryl have a bit of an exchange, Daryl agrees Rick doesn't have the stomach to ultimately go through with the plan to hand-over Michonne, he shrugs the notion off saying "if he does he does; whatever he says goes."
Merle challenges Daryl's manhood and questions if anyone can do what needs to be done anymore and wonders aloud if maybe someone like him is needed. Someone willing to do dirty work. Daryl says he just wants his brother back. Merle watches him leave and we see he's been scavenging up telephone wires, not drugs.
Prison Building Perimeter
Rick is outside scavenging himself, he finds some CAT-5 cable on the ground and collects it. He has his nervous twitch in his hand, which we've seen a couple of time before as usually a sign he's doing something outside his moral comfort zone. (Like when he beat-up and threatened Merle on the rooftop in the second episode of the series.)
He winces and pinches the bridge of his nose in anguish and looks up to see a vision of pregnant Lori on a prison skywalk. Rick tries to dismiss the vision but cannot. He unravels the cord from his wrist in tosses it to the ground as it walks off, we see the skywalk now empty. All of this happens with Herschel reading a Biblical verse(s) over the scene (he's reading The Bible to Beth and Maggie in a prison common area.) I'm not great with parsing Biblical prose and I'm not familiar enough with Biblical verses or want to look them up right now, but I'm sure they have to deal with making moral decisions in tough situations.
Prison Common Area
Rick enters, Herschel goes up to Rick to voice his opinion that he doesn't want them to deliver Michonne. Rick says he can't/won't do it.
Somewhere in "The Tombs."
Merle and Michonne walk through under the pretense of clearing out walkers. Merle ambushes Michonne, knocking her out, he takes her sword and begins to bind her.
Somewhere in Route to Woodbury.
Merle explains what's happening to Michonne, about the offer, they appear to be in mid-conversation as Merle says he agrees with Michonne, "he would have blinked." Wryly, Michonne says, "not you." They talk some about the ambush, Merle says "I got it done, he wouldn't have," they talk more and Merle points out Rick was the guy who came back to the rooftop for Merle, he points out he's the guy needed to do the "dirty work."
Prison Lot
Rick approaches Daryl and tells him it's off, Daryl says he's not say handing over Michonne was the wrong call but taking their chances is the right one. He notices Rick's a bit "up" and asks what's wrong. Rick can't find Merle or Michonne.
Prison Work/Motor Room
They find evidence of what Merle was doing and conclude Merle is doing it on his own, Rick lets out a "dammit" and sets to go after Merle, Daryl says Rick can't track and goes in his place.
On the Road
Merle and Michonne talk more. Merle's talking out loud seemingly trying to justify what's he's doing to himself. He says that maybe doing this will save the prison and, by extension, Daryl.
Later, in a Car, on the Road
Michonne and Merle continue to talk about what's going on, Merle insisting he's doing what needs to be done. Now, here, the conversation *is* a bit odd and maybe contradictory but they also seem to speaking in hypotheticals. Michonne says Rick didn't ask [Daryl] to do this, Merle, "Because he wants it done," Michonne, "Because he respects him." This dialogue does seem to indicate Merle was asked to do this, but the rest of the episode doesn't support that as we never see Rick do it and Rick's behavior everywhere else suggests he'd not yet put whatever plan he had in motion.
Even Later, in a Car, on the Road
Michonne and Merle talk some more, Michonne gets through to Merle's conscious and he releases her. She eventually comes across Daryl on her way back to the prison, Daryl insists on continuing to look for his brother.
The Prison Lot
Rick gathers The Group and tells them about the deal with The Governor and how he had agreed to it and was going to hand over Michonne, but he's since changed his mind but Merle has already left with her and now he doesn't know if it's too late. Here the Ricktatorship, for a while, ends as he thinks things from now on should be group decisions.
Rick did not task Merle with delivering Michonne alone. Merle acted entirely on his own.
There's that one, out of place, ambiguous line spoken in a hypotheticals that suggests this was not the case and everything else in the episode indicates that Rick had yet to press the "final button."
If talking to Merle was the "go" point of the plan why, then:
Why all the secrecy when it came to Merle's actions for the rest of the episode?
Why did Merle covertly get the wires and ambush Michonne alone?
Why have Merle do this alone when Michonne has shown herself to be capable of handling a group of attackers? Merle himself knows how well Michonne can take on a group of live attackers and would point out they'd need more than just him in order to do this. (He only took the chance in doing it alone because he knew Rick would not go through with it.)
Why Merle's constantly questioning Rick's ability to stick to his plan if Merle was already carrying it out?
Why the entire character arc for Rick not only for this season but in this episode with him wrestling with his conscious when it comes to handing over Michonne? If he'd already sent Merle off to do it?
Why the shock, surprise and confusion when Merle and Michonne come up missing?
Why was Rick looking for bindings when he'd already tasked Merle with carrying things out on his own?
Why all of the plural pronouns when talking about the plan instead of singular ones. ("You" instead of "we.")
Why did Michonne go back to the prison and trust Rick if she knew he agreed to hand her over and put his plan into action?
Why involve Daryl or Herschel at all? Why not just go straight to Merle and say, "you and me have to do this without the others knowing." I mean, if his plan is for Merle to just carry this out alone why tell anyone else?
Why did Merle leave the prison without a vehicle if he wasn't sneaking out?
If Rick DID do this, why the "character redemption" for Merle when he lets Michonne go? To really suggest Merle is a better person than Rick?
If Rick DID do this, why the character arc with him wrestling with the decision he's already made and set into motion?
If Rick DID do this, why was he just a sheriff in the real-world when he's able to put on such a good act with behaving like Merle's actions were unexpected and not part of the plan? Hell he doesn't just do it for the benefit of Daryl and the rest of The Group he does it when alone for his own and OUR benefit! (The scene with the wires outside.)
Rick did not give Merle the go-ahead to ambush and kidnap Michonne and take her to The Governor alone. He was planning for them to do it as a group, particularly since it's unlikely he'd trust Merle to do it alone and also because Rick would likely want to confront The Governor himself to make sure the final deal went down smooth. It's very unlikely he would have trusted Merle's diplomatic tact when it came to hand-over, or for Merle to not flip and help The Govenror take the prison.
Rick thought he had settled on handling over Michonne but in the episode he's clearly wrestling with the notion and isn't "final" on it yet. When he speaks of it he mostly sounds more like he's trying to convince himself more than the people he's talking to, almost like he wants someone to question him on it or offer a counter argument. Probably why he talks mostly with the more "passive" or subordinate members of The Group and one he trusts and looks to for his moral compass.
Rick didn't want to hand over Michonne. He
never really wanted to, he wrestled with the idea quite a bit. Part of him saw it as the only way for survival, the other part saw it as the wrong thing to do. Hence the Lori visions, she's there to try and keep him on a moral track. He fails the test when he throws Tyrese's and Sasha's group out but he passes it here and ultimately when he lets in the Woodbury survivors, where the Lori visions stop.
