Thank you, because I'd been thinking kind of the same thing. He's the sheriff now, etc, & this whole town is going to his head to some degree, including being the law in it.
You could argue that,
if he was not watching the woman he's interested in. The two incidents (Rick kissing Jessie, and later reaching for the gun) were designed to suggest his action was not about being the protective sheriff again...though I could see him using that as a cover if he kills Jessie's husband.
If last week's
Talking Dead preview is any clue, the tension/plotting between Pete and Rick will take a significant jump.
I think for dramatic purposes, they purposely tried to make you second guess him more than is necessary, what with the oddball music backing & then his fascination with the walker on the other side of the wall, which can also be taken in another light, that of him knowing a walker is right there. (The same way Daryl can tell the difference between a person & walker by their gate) He's in arm's reach of a walker, that he can hear & spot, & there's nothing to fear or worry about. I took that final scene as Rick being somewhat power drunk, from apparent safety, & civilization, & being thrust back into his old life somewhat
After the failure of the prison, Rick should be beyond thinking any new stronghold is safe. Whether the threats were external (the Governor) or internal (the disease), a seemingly normal, controlled environment can go to hell at any minute.
Exactly--and remember his line to Lamson (echoing Gareth)
"you can't go back, Bob" which means he's fully embraced brutality. Putting on a security outfit hardly turns him into the rick from season 1. He's predatory, and if Deanna knows anything at all (beyond her fake poker/mind reader act) is that Rick showing up completely in the ends justifies the means/dark mentality means something bad could erupt at any time.
Either she has plans for him to use his brutality, or will not survive her own plans when Rick faces off against the Wolves, et al.
Honestly though, just because she's had to put a child down before, (Under very specific & painful circumstances) doesn't suggest at all that she is in any way entertaining actually making good on her threat to that kid. She knew that was the only way to play that, without being exposed. She's doing the hard thing, because she saw no other choice. That's her philosophy now. Be the hard thing doer. It may have been all along. Why else would you take marital abuse to keep a family together for your daughter? It was the hard thing she had to do because she felt she had no choice.
Agreed. Carol is not a sadist, or the Governor, who kills as a means of absolute control under the lie of defense/survival. If Lizzie was not psychologically warped beyond help, Carol, Tyreese, Judith and the Samuels sisters would still be at the grove. Similarly, if her friends were not seconds away from being slaughtered for food, she would not have launched her deadly offensive at Terminus.
Carol only acts when necessary. She does not use death as the easy solution for her problems, so I do not see her keeping her threat to the kid.
That said, it is a bad precedent, in so much as when she inevitably slips up again or makes a misstep, & has to cover herself like this again, she's digging herself in deeper, & it's only a matter of time before that house of cards tumbles. I'm assuming sooner rather than later. Carol's bad habit is boxing herself into corners where it can get terribly sticky. I don't know that this one is ending well for her
I think Deanna will have other Rick group problems to worry about in the near future. Rick, Glenn and possibly Sasha (Deanna trying to pull the strings on her) could lead to a lot of bloodshed.
