Yah Carl has grown cold and am wondering what next season holds for him. Rick needs to rebuild their relationship and get Carl more involved in his thinking process. Carl may have been right about Toby, but it is not like he was alone, tough call when you a kid can feel like Judith, Herschel, and Beth are counting on you to protect them.

His reaction to Woodbury folks arriving is concerning though.

 

Carl thinks he's all grown up.

 

that was a bad example to try and show carl being cold since the kid did not put the gun down as instructed, he was trying to pull a fast one on carl so carl popped him, plus he was a guy on the opposing side so f**k him!

Carl did right!

 

I think he's similar to Shane now. He said that Rick should have killed Andrew and The Governor in cold blood.. That's what Shane would have done. Like Randall.

 

hopefully there will be no next season for carl. he's pissing me off with his damn kidlike voice, cant hear it.

but at least he takes the right decisions, and is not a emotional gayass like the others.

 

I agree I hope he screws up and gets taken out next season. I understand why he did what he did, same thing with stupid Andrea, had she killed the Guv when she had the chance she would still be alive, he makes a good point, but irk I just don't like his punk ass.

 

I truly believe that they're setting it up to pit father against son here. That's what is happening. Really.

 

One of the new kids is gonna get a crush on Beth and Carl is going to kill him.

 

Agreed. When someone is pointing a gun at you and tells you to drop yours, you drop yours, not slowly move toward the person with a clear close range head shot. Carl did right.

 

Surviving while "keeping your humanity" all comes down to being able to quickly read people - and even then it's very easy to make a mistake. The fact is, considering the state of the world, people get less chances to show that they are in fact good people. Today's society: Beat your wife? Jail for a while, second chance. Do it again? Jail for a while again, third chance. And so on and so forth. In a ZA, however, there is no jail - there are no "second chances". There is one answer only to people who do evil things, and that is to kill them. Don't want to be killed? Don't do bad stuff. You get one chance. Anything more than that puts others at risk.

That said, there is nothing wrong with what Carl did in terms of how the Show was filmed. The Woodbury kid was told to drop his weapon. He not only did not do this, but was slowly and deliberately moving toward Carl, Hershel, Beth, and the baby with his weapon still in hand. That was the kid's chance. Were he surrendering, as Herschel claimed, he would have done what he was told and dropped the shotgun. Carl gave him that chance, his one chance. If he wanted to live, he should have taken it. He didn't. There was absolutely no way to know if the kid was going to try and pull a fast one or not, but, it can be inferred from the situation that he was. Why?

A person surrendering does not want to leave any measure of doubt as to whether he or she is truly surrendering. Leaving a measure of doubt (i.e. NOT dropping your weapon) is, at the very least, an attempt to see if an opening might occur to gain the upper hand. This is not surrender, it is a clear intent to be aggressive if an oppurtunity arises.

Now, I am not convinced that the show writers were thinking this way. I think it's very possible that the show writers do want Carl's "humanity" to be called into question. If so, they should have had the kid drop his weapon, put his hands way up, and then still had Carl shoot him. A case could still be made that, even then, it would have been the right decision. Woodbury had just attacked their home, basically without provocation. But at least it would have been debatable.

As it stands, I don't see that there is any debate whatsoever - Carl 100% did the right thing. Assess the person's intentions, judge them on the spot. It's the only way. In fact, Carl has done this consistently, and accurrately. Did he execute Tyrese's group? No, he contained them (as he should have and was able to) and watched them to ascertain whether they were good or evil. Did he want to execute the kid in season 2? Yes. But, Daryl established clearly that this kid was bad news. There was no debate. The simple fact is, the kid was saved by Rick, and left by the other group. Even so, he had to be tortured just to give some dirt on the other group. This tells you easily that the kid was bad news, otherwise he would have been thankful, would not have wanted to go back to the evil group, and would have told them everything immediately in an attempt to build trust.

 

wow, way to wish death upon a brave little kid.......GOOD JOB!

 

I think everyone is forgetting that Carl was just an innocent kid when the ZA started. The other characters grew up in a normal world and didn't have to live with an enduring threat to their lives everyday. Carl is growing up in a very dangerous enviroment. Killing walkers has become the same to him as playing a game of touch football is to kids in a normal society. He has no playgrounds, or county fairs or movie theaters or any other "kid stuff" to do. He is growing up in survival mode. The main goal is to stay alive. The walkers are a danger because of their instinct to feed but humans are dangerous because of their reasoning and greed. Carl has witnessed this his entire young life. You can tell he tries to cling to the "good" way of life because he stares at the old family portrait but once he is back out in the ZA world he goes right back to the idea of "survive by any means". In the real world this makes him wrong, but in his world it is all he knows.

 

I am not a Carl fan, he is a brat who needs a good spankin'. He did prove a pretty good point to Rick, but I think Rick needs to take more time with Carl to bring him back to reality before he really looses it.

 

While I might have dropped that kid too in that specific situation at that time, I think Carl is going to be an issue next season. Way too hardened for his age...but is he too hardened for the times?

 

I think what Carl did could be looked at as right and wrong.. Me, I would have dropped the kid with no questions asked. You're assaulting my home and attempting to kill my family. There is no discussion, you die. On the other hand, I think Rick needs to give him a smack in the mouth. He talked to his father like some common chump on the side of the road and Rick has NEVER disciplined him accept when he stung Carol by calling her stupid for believing Sophia was in heaven. He's been allowed to act like a grown up but keep in mind, this is a 13 year old kid we're talking about. I love his character but I think Rick needs to act more like his Father at some point than his friend. The way the boy was inching towards Carl could only mean one thing, he was going to make a move. As our psycho gov said, kill or be killed. I think Carl was right.

 

I like how you put everything. GREAT POST. Yeah he could use some disciplining but when he told off rick and mentioned all the deaths that could have been prevented, he did have a point and left Rick speechless. I don't think Rick even had anything to say at that point.

 

This, all of this. I am glad you wrote it so I didn't have to!!!

 

When you tell someone to drop their weapon and they don't, you drop them. He was right about what he told Rick about the others. Carl is cold, he doesn't know much else at this point. Rick needs to discipline him more. He is busy trying to keep the group safe. He is relying on others to help with his kids. Carl isn't listening and thinks he can do whatever he wants. At least he isn't wandering off anymore.

 

Oh I agree he did the right thing. I just don't like him I do think he needs a smack in the mouth. I get the world he is growing up in has made him have to grow up quick, but he is losing his humanity, and I think that is the one thing Lori did not want for him

 

ok I aggree, killing the kid possibly was the best way. but this scared retarded kid definitely doesnt assaulting anybody's home, or attempting to kill someone. it was just some retarded kid, not a bad ass soldier, which could represent a serious danger.

humanity is not needed in a zombie-apocalypse world. humanity is a possible reason, why you may not survive. For example because you cant get over it to kill some of your family because they are getting zombies. humanity is just not needed in a surviving situation. thats the reason why all of the emotional people are dead, like lori, dale and andrea. at the end I guess just the objective thinking people will survive.