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Previously on The Walking Dead: 18 Miles Out

• Daryl beats Randall in an attempt to get information about his group.
• Rick decides to kill Randall to eliminate him as a potential threat. Dale disagrees and tries to get other members on his side.
• Carl finds a gun and heads into the woods where he finds a trapped walker. The walker manages to free himself as Carl escapes.
• Dale finds that no one agrees with his effort to keep Randall alive.
• Hershel gives Glenn a family heirloom. Maybe a sign that Hershel is accepting Glenn’s relevance in Maggie’s life.
• The house rules that Randall be killed.
• Carl walks into the barn as Rick is about to execute Randall but Rick can’t pull the trigger.
• Rick decides to keep Randall in custody until they can come up with an alternate solution.
• Out on the farm, Dale is fatally wounded by the walker that Carl encountered earlier. Daryl shoots Dale to end his suffering.

Dale’s Demise: I have had my opinions about Dale – most of them being of a less favorable nature – but I was actually saddened to see him go out the way he did. Yes, he can be annoying. Yes, he does pry in everyone else’s affairs. Yes, he has floral patterns on his shirt. As horrible as all those things are he was still the most solid moral compass left. No one else is going to be able to play his role. Shane is clearly a lost cause and Andrea is close to following suit. Rick is still being influenced by Shane’s opinions of him. Lori has settled into her role of being a homemaker. Daryl is a wild card but I don’t see him making the decision to save a life as opposed to eliminating a threat. I guess this is where T-Dog steps up? Nah…

Hardcore Carl: I don’t know what Carl experienced while in his coma but he has gradually been becoming mini-Shane. Even though he doesn’t dominate the screen as much as the elder characters he manages to be just as erratic in that compact time frame. Clearly his world has been drastically changed, as has everyone else’s, but I didn’t expect him to change so suddenly. Maybe his realization that he is, in part, responsible for Dale’s death will make him understand that he has to play by the rules before he causes more trouble for himself and the group.

Passive Aggression: Did anyone REALLY think Rick was going to follow through with executing Randall? Because if you did this may have been the first episode you’ve ever seen from this show. I knew as soon as I saw that Rick was to be in control of killing Randall that he would be gun shy. Carl’s sudden appearance is a good scapegoat for his reluctance but I can see through that smoke screen. Rick is still a decent man and he isn’t use to killing those who don’t deserve it. I’m not sure what has to happen for him to cross that line but it makes for good tension betweeh he and Shane at the moment so I’m good with it.

On the next The Walking Dead: Better Angels

Will is a (not so) recovering TV and movie addict and TVDM only helps in feeding his vices. TVDM is the best outlet for him to spread his disease -without the use of airborne pathogens...