And that's a lot of "ifs" and "maybes" that you're projecting out there. Yes, the racism is problematic, but the brothers were coexisting with T-Dog and the group for weeks, right? And while there may be tension, everything seems like it was working, right?
So instead of this "walking timebomb" that you're assuming will happen, let's focus on what we know, instead of what we think might happen.
Fact is the group was surviving and Darryl and Merle were probably the primary hunters of the group (like the squirrels hanging near Darryl's bike). Also, fact is that despite Merle being a gigantic douchebag to T-Dog, it wasn't so bad that T-Dog wanted to kill him. He had the keys to the cuffs and he ended up deciding to try and save him, right? (Nevermind the contrivance of the keys falling down the hole... the intention was there). Now, let's assume T-Dog doesn't trip and he ends up freeing Merle... despite Merle's racism, wouldn't that act go a long way to at least making a tolerable relationship between the two? That would be a more reasonable assumption than this "walking timebomb" scenario since it's based on actions of the characters and not just words, right?
