When asked about the season finale of
The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman was recently
quoted as telling EW, “the Rick Grimes that comes out of this is really going to shock people.” That would be a dream come true for this comic fan, because the Rick Grimes that came to television is really too tidy for my tastes. There’s a lot more grey area in the comics, a lot more that he has to live with, and I really want to see that reflected in the show. Here are some of his greatest hits so far though:
1. The Gang at the Bar
This was a good ‘ole fashioned shootout! Rick knew his opponents were getting ready to draw, and got the drop on some tough customers who were about to kill him. This never at all came across as any kind of moral concern. It was a clear cut case of self defense, presenting Rick as a cool, capable action hero.
2. Randall
Rick was confronted with a hard choice. Would he kill a young man to protect the location of his group, or let him go and take his chances? He wrestled with it mightily before Shane ultimately took the decision out of his hands, but Rick was not ready to make the more controversial decision here.
3. Shane
Once again, Rick got the drop on someone who was gunning for him. He figured out Shane lured him into the woods to kill him, and take his wife and kids for himself. They up the ante by making Rick kill a former friend, but this is also a clear cut case of self defense.
4. Tomas the Prisoner Leader
Would Rick kill the prison inhabitants to make a safe home for his family and group? Tomas forced Rick’s hand by trying to kill him multiple times during a zombie killing mission, so Rick really had no choice but to take him out. Again we get pretty much a clear case of self defense.
5. Backpack Guy
Rick didn’t murder him, so much as let him die by not helping him. In the comics, Rick has a hierarchy of who he cares about and wants to protect the most, so this kind of behavior is in character, but the coldness and callousness of it is shrugged off, or actually not even addressed at all.
6. Loner in Shack
This poor guy was just minding his own business, when Rick and the gang bust in looking for safety, and this guy winds up dead because of it. Rick's team does sacrifice him to save themselves, but the poor sap is basically presented as too stupid to live, and like with Mr. Backpack, there’s no moral quandary or price to pay, it’s almost an isolated incident.
7. Michonne
Here we have Rick in a real troubling moral situation again. The Governor has offered a trade – he will leave Rick and the prison alone, if he turns over Michonne to him. Even winning a battle against Woodbury could cost the lives of Rick’s family, so he actually considers this offer very carefully. We know you can’t trust the Governor to keep his word, and Rick knows damn well he would be sending Michonne to untold horrors and tortures. She would surely suffer the slowest, most painful death the Governor could devise. Rick does eventually decide against it, but just barely, and would have more or less been killing her himself
8. Woodbury
Rick racks up a few kills in the ongoing feud, over multiple confrontations. I'm not shedding any tears over what he had to do here though, this is war, and casualties come with it.
9. Lou
Rick wakes up to the sounds of screams and agony. Something awful is happening in a house he thought he was a safe temporary haven. He needs to sneak out undetected, but runs across Lou, and they immediately start fighting. Did he need to kill Lou? We don’t know the whole story of what was going on in there, but the gang we’ve met through the episodes “Claimed” and “Us” seem like a pretty bad bunch.
10. On its Way?
Hopefully Rick does something really brutal, or something with some moral shades of grey, in the season four finale of
The Walking Dead. Shane killed Otis. Carl killed that kid who was maybe surrendering from Woodbury. Carol killed Karen and David. Look at Merle, look at the almost striving for redemption Governor. These are the characters that have had to live with questionable decisions and moral heartache on
The Walking Dead, therefore making them some of the most interesting. Compare Rick’s list so far to an early one from the comics:
Honorable mention - First Zombie Kill
Rick got lucky here because his first zombie looked pretty undead at this point. The zombie kills can become a bit gratuitous or obligatory on the show, but I think it’s important to note that at first that has to be very difficult, in this fictional world where the concept and even word “zombie” don’t seem to have existed, to bash skulls of human looking monsters, to make that disconnect between living and dead, and do the gruesome things it takes to survive. Just look how much trouble Morgan had, unable to put down his zombified wife, Hershel’s confusion over what they were, and eventually Lizzie’s.
It's time for Rick to truly get his hands dirty on The Walking Dead.