The Walking Dead Rewatch – Season 2, Episode 11 (Judge, Jury, Executioner)

Because The Walking Dead season 10 finale has been delayed thanks to the real-world virus, I have decided that to fill the void left in the schedule, to start a re-watch of the series. I live tweeted the episode as if it were playing live in the regular 9pm GMT slot on FOX TV UK. You can see all the tweets here or embedded below.

Episode 11 revolves around the survivors making the difficult decision surrounding Randall’s (Michael Zegen) fate. The gang are mostly on board to kill him, especially since Daryl (Norman Reedus) has found out the group he was with were happy raping innocent girls while their father was forced to watch. (Now we know that Randall wasn’t part of the saviours). The only person on Randall’s side is Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn) who spends the episode trying to convince everyone else in the group to let the boy live.

Dale makes some good points. By killing Randall, they are accepting that the society of laws and ethics is out the window and they are living now by the rule of survival of the fittest. And whilst if Randall was given a chance and allowed to become part of the group, who’s to say he won’t betray them? Randall’s group left him for dead, impaled on that spike. Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) group saved him. But nobody will feel safe with Randall wandering free.

After much, much discussion, Dale is able to convince Andrea (Laurie Holden) of sparing Randall but no one else. Rick is assigned the executioner but can’t go through with it when Carl (Chandler Riggs) sneaks in for a peek.

Speaking of Carl, he is being a bit of a douche this episode. Not listening to Shane (Jon Bernthal), talking ill of Sophia to Carol (Melissa McBride) and stealing Daryl’s gun to go throw stones at a walker stuck in the mud. Having got too close, the walker manages to escape and Carl loses the gun as he flees. Later, as Dale leaves for a walk to clear his head, he meets the walker and is unable to stop himself being torn apart.

It’s a thought-provoking episode and although there was a LOT of talking and debate, it was worth having. Randall’s group appears to have taken law into their own hands, even our group have. Would Rick be alive if he hadn’t taken action in that bar? The morality of humanity is a theme that doesn’t linger around for long enough. Sure, by season ten a new set of laws has appeared, but here and now, in season two, the world is only starting to seem unfixable.

Dale’s death was a disappointing one as he had such a better exit in the comic books. He didn’t get to see that there is still some humanity left in their group and died not knowing that his actions helped save Randall’s life…for now. This will go on to be a common theme throughout the series. Should a character find redemption or happiness, their fate is usually sealed. Only here, that fate happens whilst the character was still unaware.

Overall Rating: 7