This episode of The Walking Dead was nothing short of brutal, but has it pushed us over an edge we can’t return from?
There’s really no way to avoid spoilers in talking about this episode in any scholarly fashion. So, consider that your warning.
After the events of last week, the group spends most of this episode deciding the fate of their prisoner. Most everyone is arrayed against Dale who is working tirelessly to prevent the execution of this kid. He’s absolutely right, too. Can they kill him for a crime he might commit without selling out themselves and their ideals and their humanity.
I think the answer is clear that they can’t. But because Shane is pushing so hard to prove Rick, Rick can’t back down on the execution. He can’t get out of it and expect to lead the group. And he can’t let Shane lead the group, because that way leads to madness.
Though Dale pleads his case well to everyone, his pleas are falling on deaf ears and the course of action is set.
The character who really plays the most important part in this drama, though, is Carl.
One of the things I love most about the comic book is trying to imagine what a world like this would look like to the next generation. How would they act? How would they see things? How would their sense of morality and justice, right and wrong, be shaped by the volatile nature of constant survival?
Carl is so damaged by this world that he seems almost sociopathic. He has no empathy whatsoever. He breaks in to observe the prisoner, not because he wants to help him or set him free, but to observe him like an animal in a cage. Somehow, the world seems less dangerous to him under that harsh light and he has no qualms exploring in the woods. There, he finds a walker and there is absolutely no fear for him until it’s actually trying to eat him. Up until then, he’s content to get close enough to observe so long as he’s out of reach.
But the walker gets loose and Carl runs.
Does he go running home to cry? No. He internalizes everything, never mentioning the incident. What good would it do?
Then, after he gets back, he wants to witness the execution. It reminded me quite a bit of Yukio Mishima’s “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea” about the adolescent boys who commit a murder as a lesson in objectivity.
I found it ironic that the only thing that invoked Rick’s sense of empathy was Carl’s lack of it. When Carl chides him to kill the boy, Rick simply can’t continue. How do you react to a world where your innocent little boy is egging you on to kill a man in cold blood in some misguided attempt to “save” the group.
But Carl’s lessons in objectivity have consequences. His adventure with the walker came back to haunt him.
For all of Dale’s logic and reasoning, he’s still no match for the walker that Carl let loose and is literally torn open. And somehow, killing this man, this friend, out of mercy seems so much easier to do than killing the unarmed stranger execution-style. But will Dale’s hope of retaining their humanity die with him?
This is the part of the episode that’s troubling me. I thought this was a fantastic episode on its own face, but the show needed the balance Dale provided. He was a steady voice of reason, a man of logic, and an incredibly entertaining character. Now we’re left with Shane, Rick, and Daryl to lead the group, all super-macho alpha males, nary a thinker among them.
Will Dale’s death throw the show out of balance along with the group?
As we gear up toward the season finale, only time will tell.