Great post. I agree that if Morgan killed Richard solely because he got Benjamin killed then it's really dumb and makes no sense based on who his character has been made out to be.

But if he was truly thinking of the bigger picture that this would accomplish what Richard wanted by getting the saviours to believe the kingdom understood who was in charge then I'm fine with it. Also it would allow Richard to sacrifice himself like he wanted.

I did think I heard them say on talking dead that it was Morgan being mad at Richard but I wasn't paying attention

 

I say he does look quite hypocritical. After all speeches he has given others about all life being precious he does this to a "friendly"? To me his behavior with the Wolves was unforgivable. And of course there's his stance against the outpost raid and the upcoming war against Negan. So Richard comes up with a plan to actually wake people up that need to fight for their own survival. A plan where he intends on sacrificing himself for what he felt was the greater good of the town. His biggest mistake was assuming he knew what the crazy Saviors would do. He doesn't get killed by the Saviors but Ben does. In the end it looks like Richard's goal will be met. But this slip up by Richard is what breaks Morgan's all life is precious philosophy?

 

Morgan snapped.

Like all the other characters people complain about, Morgan is human. Even the most Zen humans have their breaking points.

Morgan has always been fighting that struggle within himself. We are talking about a guy who went absolutely mad at one point and killed everything in sight.

So it really isn't that far fetched for him to regress after a pretty serious breaking point. Especially when you look at what put him over the edge both time. The first time was his son's death. Then Benjamin's, who he called Duane by mistake. Losing his son and then someone he took under his wing was enough to make Morgan regress back to his mad state.

If anything this is realistic. These characters are more human than I have ever seen on a TV show.

 

Even though I never agreed with it I understand his no killing ethos. I think it was based on emotional need rather than the moralistic way he explained it. I just believed he was trying to avoid dealing with the emotional consequences of killing people in a world where killing is so commonplace. Killing walkers is almost not seen as killing at all. When he explained it to Ben I don't think he stressed the importance of the emotional burden of killing but he made a lot of the noble desire to be above the anger and pain that often leads to killing someone. But that's not possible in their world. Killing has become the only way to survive because of other people's actions. Even not killing someone has consequences. He would rather not have to be in a situation where he has to make the kill or don't kill decision. But caring for Carol and being at the kingdom has forced him to kill because he has allowed himself to be around people and have friendships which come with an expectation that you look out for each other.
Richards actions lead to bens death, Richard could no longer be trusted. I think he wanted to die because he couldn't live with the consequences of his actions and Morgan could understand that feeling. He killed Richard because he was angry and he could empathise with how Richard felt having caused bens death.
I dont think he is a hypocrite I think he was at the end of his ability to control hiss emotions and he felt that he was helping the long term aim to get rid of the saviours.

 

True, my thought was that Morgan was concerned about another stupid plan since Richard said that they have to do something to make the Saviors trust them again.
Richard might as well had planned to set up Morgan by claiming that he was the one hiding the fruit.

However, to avoid that, Morgan could have told Ezekiel about it all right after the conversation with Richard. Ezekiel would have found a way to keep Richard away from doing such things, for example taking him off duty and choosing someone else for the job.
Without Richard the tension between the two groups would have been reduced, since Jared obviously had a beef with Richard and wouldn't stay away from the pick up-team.

I think that Richard reminded Morgan of himself and Morgan killed him out of self-hatred.
He remembered that terrible things happen when doing nothing, so Richard woke him up.
By killing him he not only punished Richard for having been inactive but most of all himself for not doing the right thing when his wife had turned into a walker and later killed his son.

Yet it wasn't the right thing to do. It was the doing of a mentally unstable person, especially since he strangeled him and didn't even kill him quickly.

 

I like to think that Morgan and Carol had a similar effect on one another. Carol realised that she couldn't keep killing from Morgan, and Morgan had the realisation that some people are truly bad and need to be killed for the greater good from Carol.

He's not necessarily a hypocrite, his beliefs are just being tested.

 

No he was not being hypocritical. You're forgetting that after seeing Ben die he reverted back to his old self, realizing he couldn't be the same anymore, not with what was happening.

And he gave Richard a chance, but Richard didn't want to say anything when he could have and seeing this, Morgan realized this man had to go. And he remembered Richard's plan about gaining the savior's trust, and so he killed Richard in front of them to do just that.

 

I don't hate him. It was just disappointing that he killed Richard and especially that nobody really tried to stop him.
Richard was a questionable character which became obvious when he wanted to use Carol as bait. But he surely wasn't/isn't the only questionable character having done things out of despair or rage, trauma, grief or whatever.
I found him interesting and would have liked him participate in the fight against Negan.

Morgan is mentally unbalanced, and while it is a good thing that he will now join the fight, I'm sure that Richard will be no subject anymore to anyone because what Morgan did seems to be alright and everyone is fine with it.
This is what I criticise the most on TWD.
It's just completely unbelievable that such an important community member is not missed by anyone - and that a new member is allowed to kill people of this community.

Still, I don't hate Morgan. What he went through makes people go nuts and I understand why his mental state has become unstable.
I don't see this as hypocrisy because Morgan was really convinced that problems should be solved without killing. It was his way and attempt to recover from his rampage and to restrain himself.

Time will tell what comes next.

 

If he admits that he was wrong in believing that you shouldn't kill how does that make him a hypocrite? It all depends on what his viewpoint is now. He' s only a hypocrite if he continues to tell others not to kill and still kills people himself. Most people seem to misunderstand the meaning of hypocrite. Having a change of heart NOT = hypocrisy.

 

Morgan killing Richard was the only thing in that episode that wasn't easily predictable, can you please not whine about it?

Richard got it coming. He made the plan. Phase 1 worked and got Ezekiel all wired-up. He explained phase 2 to Morgan, and he lectured him about the importance of taking part in this, so Morgan executed phase 2, and since Richard was already planning on dying for this cause, already had his grave and all, it was just the easy way to go. The fact that he got his protégé killed juste made it so much easier. I agree it was a little from left field, but I'm good with it.

 

At first, I was shocked at Morgan killing Richard. But when I thought about it, Richard wanted to die. He was willing to martyr himself to wake the kingdom up. Although the steps did not play out exactly as Richard thought they would, he woke up the Kingdom, he woke up Morgan (who now plans to kill every single savior one at a time) and he woke up Carol.

Richard is the only character in the Kingdom to recognize they were on a treadmill to death if something wasn't done. He sacrified his life --even if that sacrifice didn't happen the way planned -- to wake up the Kingdom, And it woke up Morgan and Carol as well. He never intended for Benjamin to die. Since Negan's brutal plan is unsustainable with his gangs of punks from hell, it was only a matter of time. To my way of thinking,Richard did the Kingdom, and Morgan and Carol a wake-up call from the ostrich head-in-the-sand delusions that life could remain peaceful with the Saviors. Evil bullies always grow more evil and more demanding in the face of weakness. Ask the ghost of Neville Chamberlain how well appeasement works.

This was a marvelously complex and deep story with multiple layers. I loved it. RIP Richard and Benjamin. Go get 'em ,Morgan and Carol. Death to the Saviors!!

 

My friend came up with a theory
Richard was almost goading Morgan to kill him when they were talking in the bedroom after Ben was killed . He told Morgan that he was willing to make another deal with the saviours and shared the story of losing his family, he had nothing left to live for