I'm not sure killing someone that's not a walker is a 'small leap'? Especially since no survivor has given Rick a reason to. Unless I'm mistaken, this is his first human kill in the show, yes? It's hard to talk about this without spoiling things for you. There's things that haven't happened yet with main characters I would like to get into, but the TV show is stretching out.
The only questionable act by Rick was turning them away from Hershel's farm. The rest was self-defense.
Well it's expected. It's like when they went to the disease control center. Being turned away from a sanctuary is basically death. Rick 'killed' them long before he literally killed them.
I think I see what you're talking about here. His turn from a morally up-right fellow to this down-to-earth, let's-get-real, guy. Herschel was throwing him off his farm earlier, trying to protect himself and his family from Rick and his crew, but now, Rick is rejecting people on the basis of conservation. At least, he saved that person who got left behind, but the idea that he's just going to send him on his way? That's a little cold. Why not just kill him to begin with? I can understand the morality of his choice, wanting to save a person where he killed two before, but he totally undoes that by releasing him onto the streets of nowhere with Zombies potentially everywhere. More manpower=a better chance to survive. More trips into town. A possibility to stockpile food from the local markets not just relying on the farm. From my point-of-view, I actually saw them as a threat. I knew that their entrance into Herschel's camp might only make things worse where tensions were already high. Imagine? You bring in 5 other survivors into camp where you already have quite a few. Tensions rise. That feeling, the urge to survive, rises. What do you do? You get angry, nervous, and panic. Rick's first reaction was his own survival instinct. How would he survive with 5 others in his group? Food would be tight. I doubt Herschel would've approved, either. So, he sent 'em packing...in a body bag.
Oh yeah, that brings up another sort of problem with the series. In the books, Herschel's a farmer. Rick sees him as essential because: A. He can do basic medical services and more importantly B. He can grow/maintain crops of food. Herschel actually grows buttloads of crops for them in the books. He earns his keep in the group. In the show, they emphasize 'limited resources' without mentioning the fact they're on a fucking farm.
Just watched the newer episode. . .Makes me wonder if the guys around town are actually potential plot spoiler from comics: From Woodbury Will be interesting to see. It's in the same location as the ranch, just skipping that one part.
Jimmy, in the comics a long time passes. That is why they are able to harvest crops. In the show it seems as though the time on the farm has been less than a month (while as in the books it is at least one crop cycle). Crops is still an endgame survival; the farm might not have enough supplies (Harvest + what they have) to last the winter. Rick was also trying to stay on Herschel's farm because of Lori and the baby. That was why the option to leave early was non-existent, and even taking over the farm was an option. I was starting to think that (TV) Rick knew that Sophie was dead, but was putting up the charade to try and worm his way to stay on the farm. Now with Herschel on his side, he has to start thinking about the group instead of his family. Also with the survivor they rescued I believe it showed that Rick is still human. Killing the other two was justified because they were going to kill Rick/Herschel. The other was just going to be walker bait and Rick could not bring himself to kill an "innocent". Jimmy: The show is now no where close to the comics, because at the barn scene a huge difference occurs. Everything that happens from now on is unknown.
Well it could be said it was much different a long time ago, since they went straight to the disease control center, never grouped up with Tyrese, and Shane's still around. Even after all those differences they still ended up on Herschel's farm. (Plus all the differences in the beginning like the invented/altered characters like the Rednecks, the other black guy, etc.). It could still follow a sort of guideline of the comics. The twin boys aren't around either, and that whole shocking event between them, and the mechanism that establishes Carl as Rick jr. was pretty significant too. That's too bad, but again, network cabel probably wouldn't show that stuff.
The previews they showed for next episode were a bit spoileriffic! Looks like shit is going to start going down between Rick and Shane
Can we make a separate thread for comic nerds? Not only reduces risk of spoilers, but reduces my exposure to Jimmy posts generally
Casting news/spoiler The Governor will apparently be appearing in Season 3 http://tv.ign.com/articles/121/1219418p1.html
Cool to see the casting has been made, but there's still a lot of people involved that haven't been cast yet. Also gonna be watered down a lot.
Re: latest ep, "18 Miles Out" A lot of guys must be loving Lori's "when society goes to shit, men do the hunting while women do the cooking and cleaning! " mentality. What a wife! All it takes is an apocalypse to reset women's lib, I guess. Anyway, a decent episode but something was off. It was good to see things between Rick and Shane come to a bit of a head and finally address a few elephants in the proverbial room but I dunno, something wasn't quite clicking. And some inventive zombie kills doesn't make up the deficiency for me, though it seems to make others a lot more forgiving.
Didn't like the last ep at all, really. Shane attempts to kill him and everything's fine, Boy proves he can help and it's time to kill him? Yeah, that makes sense (Especially after Rick showed he's willing to kill survivors who threaten him, and Shane is nothing less than a BIG FUCKING RED FLAG at this point in the show ). I really don't like what they've done at all with Shane as a character. I know they're trying to separate themselves from the book, but the character development could have been placed somewhere better. Also TV Andrea sucks. I feel like Shane has basically stole this chracter's mojo in the show, and am thoroughly pissed.
I actually think Shane is a great slow-burning antagonist. He's a red flag, sure, but his reasoning of survival isn't completely fruity, just a lot more ruthless. In different circumstances he'd fit right in with whatever gang the injured kid was rolling with, which is what made Rick's distrust of the two scouts in the bar even more interesting. Their treatment of the kid is a bit ridiculous though, I have to agree. He's clearly no threat to them in person, I couldn't see why keeping him on the farm under close watch and having him be part of the labour force for food and shelter would be such a hassle, apart from another mouth to feed. And yeah, after he's the wheel man in their successful getaway they're still pondering whether to off him? Thanks for nothing, assholes.
But like I said, it conflicts with Rick's character keeping him around, especially after the shit that unfolded in the last episode. The slow-burn was fine at first, but it has overstepped its boundaries at this point. They might as well add a zombie character who keeps trying to kill and eat people, while Rick just giggles and says: "That's our zombie!" And where was Dale this episode? That's another character who got knocked down to 'background noise' from the comics to the show.
Shane said he offed Otis because otherwise they both would have died and Rick's son would have died for sure, and that's not untrue. I don't think it's something Rick agrees with completely but it's a big moral argument - would you kill somebody to save another life? It's not super clear cut, even though it's obvious that Shane is somebody you need to have both eyes on. Better on your side though, until you have to put him down. As for Dale, obv they chose to spotlight specific people in the cast this week. There wasn't any Herschel, Glenn, Carl, Daryl, Carol or T-Dog either. (who remembers T-Dog? )
That whole gender-role bit was like...insane. Oh, women should do the laundry and men should do the hunting. Let's go back to the 1950s, we're not even in 2000 anymore. I mean, really? Really? That argument was so flawed and over-the-top, I wanted to slap-a-bitch. I don't agree with the idea that it's her choice, so...she should be able to go suicide herself. Just give her the knife and have a go at it. That's ridiculous. That's like handing an infant a toy and telling him not to put it in his mouth. Impossible. The choice that person makes is going to be predicated on various factors including depression and anxiety. That person, when presented with a way out, will take the bait if they are severely troubled. That can all be easily alleviated by those around them.
