Inevitably, the handcuff key gets lost, and the main group is forced to leave Merle behind.
In “Guts,” Merle’s moronic and racist actions against T-Dog cause Rick to handcuff him to a pipe on a building’s roof.
Rather, he made the unenviable choice to cut off his own hand, leading to his weaponized appendage in the future as one of The Governor’s henchmen.
The episode gave Rooker’s Merle several moments to wax on, particularly when it’s just him and T-Dog on the roof and Merle is trying to convince the guy he tried to beat up that he deserves to be set free.