Walking Dead – ‘Judge, Jury, Executioner’ Episode Recap

Just when you thought that the writers of 'The Walking Dead' couldn't throw another curve ball at us, they not only do that, but hit us right in the head with it.  'Judge, Jury, Executioner' may go down as one of the best episodes in the series.

Sunday nights episode of 'The Walking Dead' was a huge lesson in morality.  What is right, what is wrong.  They have asked that question 100 times on this show, but it was never more powerful than this time.  This decision will influence them for a long time.

Basically the whole time is them weighing the option of killing the kid Randal, who Shane and Rick didn't let go while they were in the town in the last episode.  Kill him, and preserve the safety of the group, or let him live and gamble that he won't harm you.

The biggest advocate for saving Randal's life is Dale.  He believes that by them killing the boy, civilized life as they know it is done.  So Rick gives him a day to make his case for saving the boys life.  He gets a few people on his side, but ultimately the decision by the group is to kill him.

So you have Dale and Rick arguing over what's right and wrong, and in the meantime Carl is observing the whole thing.  He wants his dad to do what's right, but he's not quite getting it.  So he decides to go off into the woods with one of Daryl's guns (that he steals from his motorcycle).  While on his walk he runs into a walker that is stuck in some river mud.  It can't move, and Carl taunts it by throwing rocks.  Surprise, it gets loose and nearly snatches Carl, but he gets away.  He also loses Daryl's gun in the process, wait for that to comeback as an issue.

Now they finally come to the decision that they will kill Randal, which Dale is furious about and the only one on his side is Andrea, which is way surprising.  Rick, Shane and Daryl go to do the executing, but Carl follows them to watch.  Rick can't do it, so they decide to keep Randal prisoner a little bit longer.  Andrea goes off to tell Dale the good news, but disaster.  The walker that Carl had seen earlier is loose in the field, and attacks Dale.

They get there before the walker bites, Dale, however it has ripped open his stomach, leaving him in a terrible mess.  His guts are spilling out, the group is totally distraught because Dale has always been a voice.  Hershel tells them that he is going to die, and there is nothing they can do about it.

So in the end, Dale was fighting to preserve the boys life, and they had to take his.  Daryl shoots Dale to end his suffering.  Now, I didn't love or hate Dale, but he had one of the biggest voices in the group when it came to reason, and that will be missed.  An absolutely insane episode, and now there are only two left in the season.  Could things get more crazy?

Check out a sneak peak of next weeks episode, and check back here for the recap next week.