Kudos to some of the posters here for nailing all the points. Bob was indeed bitten and was going to be a gonner anyway. :thumbsup:
The termites dropped Bob off at the church to get a reaction from the group (get them to do something dumb), and they thought they'd succeeded when they watched the heavily armed group leave, thus walking right into the trap.
Dunno what the A was for, but the nathaniel hawthorne reference seems intentional - maybe I missed the tie in to events of the show.
I thought the same thing when I saw the "A". There are many themes in the show that parallel "the scarlet letter", including notions of morality, sin, repentance, etc. Gabriel has the idea (like the puritans) that his previous actions condemn him to hell no matter what, while Rick and the group have descended into a world of moral relativism where sins are balanced against good and what is needed / required.
I'm feeling confident darryl rescued some people. not sure who else will be with him. But he wouldn't have said "you can come out now" or whatever if it was (just) Carol or Beth. Especially Carol.
Exactly, Carol wouldn't be hiding and taking orders from Darryl. I can't imagine Beth would have already been rescued that quick, so I think Carol and Darryl rescued someone else and are bringing them back to the group.
And did you notice Maggie & Glenn pulling back in revulsion at the church slaughter? I think there is gonna be a fundamental, philisophical schism in the group
That might have played a part in their decision to go ahead and split up. You'd think that after all they'd gone through, they'd never want to split up again, but Maggie and Glenn maybe recognized that they can't be a part of the world that the rest of the group is descending into. They'd rather take their chances on a mission with a purpose. Something I don't get though, is why any of the crew (Rick etc) would want to stay at that church. What's the point? It isn't a strategic asset like the prison, there's nothing particularly useful about the place, and there doesn't appear to be anything in the area worth going after. Regardless of whether they plan to go to DC or not, why not set out on the bus together and split up at a later time when they come to a point where it makes sense? I don't get what Rick & co are sticking around for.