Peace.

In the zombie apocalypse, there is no peace for the zombies until they are truly dead. 

And when the two factions of Woodbury and the prison clash among surviving humans, peace is even more elusive.

This episode features the first time Rick and the Governor get to look each other over eye to eye and try to figure each other out.

Rick, now the most clear headed he's been since Lori's death, has a sliver of hope that Andrea's efforts at peacekeeping would bear fruit in a truce.

But the Governor has other plans. He says he wants 100% surrender. He wants to win, which means Rick's group's demise. Rick and his gang shook up the relative serenity of Woodbury, even though Merle got the ball rolling by kidnapping Maggie and Glenn. In the Governor's mind, Rick has to pay.

Ultimately, the Governor meets with Rick, not for any real compromise but to size up his competition. He knows Rick, a former cop, isn't playing. The Governor tries to pour on the charm that worked on Andrea and others. It doesn't work on Rick, who sees right through that grin, his "comforting" words, his efforts to act like a vulnerable guy who felt helpless when his wife died in an accident and only became a leader because nobody else would take the helm.

Anyone who knows how "The Walking Dead" works knows Andrea's efforts are bound to fail. For storytelling purposes, a real truce would offer no real resolution or any forward movement for the viewer.

Let's get to the recap:

The episode begins in wordless fashion for about three minutes. Rick, Hershel and Daryl enter what appears to be a farm filled with silos. They're suspicious and wary for an ambush that doesn't come. Rick enters a stable where a table sits on top of a platform with two chairs, light filtering in from above. Gun up, he sees the Governor, who raises his hands up, as if to say, no mas, not shooting, just ready to talk.

The Governor breaks the silence, with that false grin of his: "We have a lot to talk about."

"You attacked us," Rick says.

"I could have killed you all," the Governor replies.

The Governor drops his holster. He sits down, a gun taped to the table. (He obviously prepped the site before hand.)

Outside, Hershel and Daryl see a truck drive up. It's Andrea, Milton and Martinez. Andrea is annoyed that they've already started. She walks in without the others.

"We can solve this," Andrea tells the two men.

"I know what you've done," Rick says with hardly disguised disgust to the Governor. "I've heard about the raids. The heads. Maggie."

'Merle did that," the Governor says.

"No. You know what I'm talking about." (As in, the Governor implicity or explicitly used Merle for his dirty work.)

"We're here to move forward," the Governor says with the sincerity of a used car salesman.

Again, outside, there's a little trashtalking. Daryl calls Milton the "butler." (Even Martinez giggles.)  Milton dubs Daryl "the henchman."

Things get a little heated when Mr. Voice of Reason Hershel says, "if things go south int here, we'll be at each other's throats soon enough."

***

At the prison, Merle argues that they just go and kill the Governor now (since Andrea didn't do it in episode 11.) Glenn thinks that puts Rick, Daryl and Hershel in danger. He says they should stay put, as Rick said. Michonne supports him.  (It's interesting that Glenn's bruises, which looked pretty bad even just a week earlier from the Woodbury beatings, have healed completely in magic TV time.)

Glenn, the token leader without Daryl, Rick and Hershel around, is all surly toward Merle, who had beat him. "It's my decision. It's final."

***

Andrea, at the farm, shows each of them a map to split territory. Rick seems willing to go with this. The Governor is not. "She's in no position to make an offer," he says. "I'm here for one thing only. Your surrender."

Rick needs no distraction from Andrea's plaintive cries, now that he's aware she has zero power. Both he and the Governor boot Andrea out. The two men then talk about how Merle started the whole mess. The Governor says "he's a wild card, but he's effective." Rick mocks him by saying that he should take responsibility for Merle's handiwork. "I thought you were a cop, not a lawyer," the Gov says. "I don't pretend to be a governor," Rick bites back. "You're the town drunk who ripped up my fence and tore up my yard."

Then the Governor cheerfully offers Rick whiskey. Rick looks a bit confused by the Governor's change in tone.

***

A few walkers arrive outside so Andrea (knife), Daryl (with his longbow) and Martinez (with a bat) go to work, each showing their zombie-killing skills. Daryl even one ups Martinez in the end with an arrow/knife combo. Daryl finds some cigarettes in one of the zombie's pockets and they share a couple, bonding for a moment, two survivors on the same side for a moment against the walkers.

Martinez gets more lines of actual dialogue than ever before. Both understand they may be having to kill each other soon.

"It's a joke," Martinez muses about the so-called negotiations. "I'm sure they'll talk, do a little dance and tomorrow, the next day, they'll give the word."

Daryl sighs. "I know."

Milton and Hershel bond a bit, too. Milton is curious about Hershel's stump. Hershel makes a joke: "I just met you. At least buy me a drink first." They laugh.

***

Inside, the men continue to talk over whiskey. The Governor says he failed as a leader by allowing Rick's group to shoot up main street. "I look weak," he says. "The whole thing crumbles."

"That's your problem, your choice."

"Isn't that why we're here? Choice?"

"If we choose to destroy everything we fought for over the past year."

The Governor talks about how he had no choice when his wife died in an accident, how helpless he felt. He won't be feeling helpless in this situation.

***

At the prison, Merle is planning to leave on his own for a little assassination work. Glenn tries to stop him. They start tussling. Michonne pulls Merle off. Beth fires a gun to shut them up, a rather odd move given that every bullet is like gold in the apocalypse. It's unclear if this really stops Merle.

***

Hershel approaches Andrea. She is torn as usual, realizes the Governor has done some bad, bad things but can't quite reconcile that with the nice man he can be. "I can't go back there," she says. Hershel is comforting: "We're family. You belong with us... But if you join us, it's settled."

***

The negotiations (if you'd call them that) are drawing to a close. The Governor notes that Rick's crew is more battle tested than his but the Governor has the numbers. "The fight will go down to the last man," he notes.

Then the Governor supposedly offers one fig leaf to end this all: he wants Michonne, who gouged his eye out. Rick is skeptical about the validity of said offer.

***

Meanwhile, Merle tries to convince Michonne to join him to kill the Governor. "You can shove it [meaning her sword] up the Governor's ***. We'll be home before you know it."

Michonne remains loyal to Rick: "You're on your own. You get people killed, it's on you."

Glenn is outside watching walkers in the compromised yard. Maggie and he make amends after their argument two episodes ago, both verbally, then physically.

***
Back to the Michonne offer, Rick says "two bit vendetta" is "beneath" the Governor. But the Governor doesn't budge. "You could save your son, save your daughter," he says, making the offer sound tantalizing.

Rick and the Governor agree to meet back in two days at noon. The Governor is expecting Michonne there on a silver platter - or more realistically, a major battle.

When the Governor returns from Woodbury, he tells Milton that they are ready to not only kill Michonne but everyone one else. Milton is not happy. "We were going to have to eliminate Rick sooner or later,' he says. He sees Andrea and cheerfully thanks her for setting up the meeting and that Rick is considering terms he offered for a truce in two days. She asks what the terms are. He doesn't say. She doesn't even bother to try to get it out of him. Even if he says something, it would be a lie anyway.

Rick also does some serious prevaricating of his own back with his group. Then again, what he says is true to a degree. The Governor "wants the prison. He wants us gone. Dead. Wants us dead for what we did to Woodbury."

"We're going to war."

He later tells Hershel privately that the Governor gave him a way out: offer up Michonne. "He'd kill her," Hershel says.

"Then kill us anyway," Rick notes sadly.

"What if he doesn't?" he wonders, grasping at straws. "What if this is the answer?"

Hershel notes that Michonne has earned her keep. But Rick says, "Are you willing to sacrifice your daughters' lives for her?"

"Why are you telling me?" Hershel asks.

"Because I'm hoping you can talk me out of it."