Abandon hope all ye who enter here.
With the conclusion of season two episode eleven of "The Walking Dead" the dynamic of the survivors has changed vastly. As the pale undead walker attempts to gnaw off Dale's face and rips open his stomach like an over-enthusiastic kid tearing through wrapping paper on Christmas, so too does this zombie rip into a new layer of this show. With the entire group by his side, the last hope for a normal life in a new society gets plugged in the head; the humane end to the only person left seeking a worthwhile humanity.
The loss of Dale is the second major loss to the group since season two began last October. Outside of the barn walkers who were already goners and Otis who never had the chance to join our group, Sophia and Dale are laid to rest with the fat reality of the world these survivors live in. And we are left with the worst of them all.
I was a bit worried about Dale as soon as this episode kept returning to him asking for someone to back him in not killing the boy prisoner in the barn. Concluded with his final monologue at the hearing in the farm house, Dale's doom was written out in a way to ensure a lasting memory on this group. And at the very least, Andrea won't be kicking herself for not siding with Dale the last time she had the chance to. The only one who teams up with Dale, Andrea is excited to give the news to Dale that Rick couldn't go through with the execution. But Dale has spoken his monologue, made his peace with the group, and is about to meet his maker, leaving us with his final statement at the farmhouse: "This group is broken." Only fitting that the guy who Dale directed his comment to and the guy that believed this in the first place was the one that put the old man down.
While losing Dale and having some drama in this show that doesn't come from a love triangle or a girl trying to commit suicide was a welcome relief, it is unfortunate that the writers chose the fall of Dale to be the result of a stupid, dumb, ignorant kid who suddenly has become a new person to hate in the group. At the beginning of the second season, we all held our breath as Carl took a gunshot to his torso, fell to the ground, and was raced into Hershel's farm. All the way through episode ten of season two, we watched the long road of recovery for Carl, the losing of his only friend Sophia, and the slow change that looked like Carl was becoming an adult all too early. At least it seemed this way.
But apparently what the writers were developing is not that Carl was becoming a man, but rather a psychotic little demon child; Damien Thorn in a sheriff's hat. His sudden obsession with death that comes in "Judge, Jury, Executioner" is sudden and obviously problematic for the future. Between sneaking into the barn to talk to the boy, walking off on his own and trying to shoot down Dale's eventual killer, and wandering into the barn to cheer on his dad at the execution, Carl has suddenly become this strange, psychotic, foolish kid that has effected so much in the group in a short time. It's just strange to me to write this show where the Carl character becomes such a pivotal and reckless wild card.
Like I've said through several episodes lately, it doesn't make sense that all of the members of this group have survived as long as they have. The stupid decisions they make and the lack of consequences that come from these decisions is ridiculous. Finally, "Judge, Jury, Executioner" makes the group pay for the dumb actions they make. But instead of being a stupid choice by one of the adults on this farm, it is the idiotic move by an immature and semi-sadistic pre-teen. We can only assume that Daryl will notice his gun is missing, the news will come out that Carl walked off on his own and tried to kill a zombie, the same zombie escaped the magical mud moat of farm safety, and that zombie got to the farm to munch on a cow and tear Dale open.
The other storyline that is lost in the Dale finale is that Rick had actually made the decision to kill their prisoner. Though news came later that meant this boy knew where the farm was located, I am still confused how Rick could want to save this boy one minute and kill him ever so suddenly the next. Like Dale said, a boy's life is in their hands and they can't leave that up to a five minute discussion. Sure, the boy was stupid enough to admit some members of the group he was in had raped some girls they had found along the way, but is there any reason to believe that this boy has such loyalty to a group like that he would run away if untied, hurry back to his other group, and bring them into the farm with guns ablaze? Survival of the fittest would tell us this group is not going to be any stronger by killing a boy who could become a productive member of the group, especially when we have just lost another gunman in Dale. Review continues at custodianfilmcritic.com/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner/
Read more Walking Dead reviews and more at CustodianFilmCritic.com
With the conclusion of season two episode eleven of "The Walking Dead" the dynamic of the survivors has changed vastly. As the pale undead walker attempts to gnaw off Dale's face and rips open his stomach like an over-enthusiastic kid tearing through wrapping paper on Christmas, so too does this zombie rip into a new layer of this show. With the entire group by his side, the last hope for a normal life in a new society gets plugged in the head; the humane end to the only person left seeking a worthwhile humanity.
The loss of Dale is the second major loss to the group since season two began last October. Outside of the barn walkers who were already goners and Otis who never had the chance to join our group, Sophia and Dale are laid to rest with the fat reality of the world these survivors live in. And we are left with the worst of them all.
I was a bit worried about Dale as soon as this episode kept returning to him asking for someone to back him in not killing the boy prisoner in the barn. Concluded with his final monologue at the hearing in the farm house, Dale's doom was written out in a way to ensure a lasting memory on this group. And at the very least, Andrea won't be kicking herself for not siding with Dale the last time she had the chance to. The only one who teams up with Dale, Andrea is excited to give the news to Dale that Rick couldn't go through with the execution. But Dale has spoken his monologue, made his peace with the group, and is about to meet his maker, leaving us with his final statement at the farmhouse: "This group is broken." Only fitting that the guy who Dale directed his comment to and the guy that believed this in the first place was the one that put the old man down.
While losing Dale and having some drama in this show that doesn't come from a love triangle or a girl trying to commit suicide was a welcome relief, it is unfortunate that the writers chose the fall of Dale to be the result of a stupid, dumb, ignorant kid who suddenly has become a new person to hate in the group. At the beginning of the second season, we all held our breath as Carl took a gunshot to his torso, fell to the ground, and was raced into Hershel's farm. All the way through episode ten of season two, we watched the long road of recovery for Carl, the losing of his only friend Sophia, and the slow change that looked like Carl was becoming an adult all too early. At least it seemed this way.
But apparently what the writers were developing is not that Carl was becoming a man, but rather a psychotic little demon child; Damien Thorn in a sheriff's hat. His sudden obsession with death that comes in "Judge, Jury, Executioner" is sudden and obviously problematic for the future. Between sneaking into the barn to talk to the boy, walking off on his own and trying to shoot down Dale's eventual killer, and wandering into the barn to cheer on his dad at the execution, Carl has suddenly become this strange, psychotic, foolish kid that has effected so much in the group in a short time. It's just strange to me to write this show where the Carl character becomes such a pivotal and reckless wild card.
Like I've said through several episodes lately, it doesn't make sense that all of the members of this group have survived as long as they have. The stupid decisions they make and the lack of consequences that come from these decisions is ridiculous. Finally, "Judge, Jury, Executioner" makes the group pay for the dumb actions they make. But instead of being a stupid choice by one of the adults on this farm, it is the idiotic move by an immature and semi-sadistic pre-teen. We can only assume that Daryl will notice his gun is missing, the news will come out that Carl walked off on his own and tried to kill a zombie, the same zombie escaped the magical mud moat of farm safety, and that zombie got to the farm to munch on a cow and tear Dale open.
The other storyline that is lost in the Dale finale is that Rick had actually made the decision to kill their prisoner. Though news came later that meant this boy knew where the farm was located, I am still confused how Rick could want to save this boy one minute and kill him ever so suddenly the next. Like Dale said, a boy's life is in their hands and they can't leave that up to a five minute discussion. Sure, the boy was stupid enough to admit some members of the group he was in had raped some girls they had found along the way, but is there any reason to believe that this boy has such loyalty to a group like that he would run away if untied, hurry back to his other group, and bring them into the farm with guns ablaze? Survival of the fittest would tell us this group is not going to be any stronger by killing a boy who could become a productive member of the group, especially when we have just lost another gunman in Dale. Review continues at custodianfilmcritic.com/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner/
Read more Walking Dead reviews and more at CustodianFilmCritic.com