Lacks leadership? definitely not, watch the end of the episode, he shot Sophia, thing Shane should have done, he started the whole thing.

 

[MENTION=5668]shanewalking[/MENTION] is correct. Rick putting down Sophia shows that he is capable of doing the rough stuff.. Shane just stood there with the rest of the group.

 

I think Rick felt he had to put Sophia down because he, Daryl and Carl were the only ones who were still believing she was alive. I 'm not sure why Shane didn't pull the trigger, shock I guess, but it was left to Rick to take care of Sophia. That showed extreme leadership, you could see the pain in his face as he stood there, but the group was almost begging for someone to do something. He may have even been thinking of, "What if this were Carl?", he was filled with guilt over losing Sophia, and then he saved her from her suffering.

 

Hershel and Otis were the ones handling the walkers in that manner, who knows what may have happened if he just handed the pole off to just anyone.

 

That's exactly what I thought

 

In my opinion he wants to handle the pole over to Hershel because he wanted to help the group by shooting all of those walkers. Hershel was the only man that wasn't shooting. Lori, Carol, Maggie or Beth had not controlled the Walker on the pole. That's the first thing I thought when I saw this scene. When Shane killed the Walker on Rick's pole and he finally got his hands free there where only a few left so he didn't help anymore. And when he killed Sophia, you defenitely saw that he stood up as a leader.

 

Rick was trying too hard to kiss Herschels ass and not doing enough to protect everyone physically. He let his guard down again and put the group and himself in danger. Shane saw the threat and eliminated it. And save me the whole Shane was scared to shoot Sophia thing. This is the same guy who led the group into attacking the barn, went right up to that door, ripped it open, and stood in front of everyone to take them out. Shane has the most balls in the entire group combined. Rick ended it because he felt obligated too. He knew he was wrong and Shane was right. That's the least he could do.

 

I still can't get over Herschels stupid "I just pooped my pants" look.

 

Well, what do you mean? He screams at Hershel to take the pole and you wondered why? And I gave my view/explanation about that situation.

 

Ok he doesn't lack leadership because of this, just common sense. He could have easily stopped Shane.

 

[MENTION=3451]Nachtbringer[/MENTION]
Sorry man you're right. I saw the video again and the screaming to Hershel way is earlier than the shoot-out

 

Well this isn't specific to the instance you're talking about, but Rick woke up in a hospital gown in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, joined an already-established group of survivors and became their leader. I'm pretty sure that takes some leadership skills

 

because if he'd given the pole to someone else and stopped shane, we'd never ever see sophia again and learn what happened to him. this is a tv series.

 

If you've ever been in a leadership position among a group of people, you understand quickly that being the leader doesn't necessarily mean being the strongest in each and every skill. It means playing your cards right, keeping people happy, and making decisions that aren't always the most superficially proactive. I think Rick has been a decent leader.

 

The way I took it was that Hershel laid down the rules to Rick to continue to stay at the barn. He told Rick if you want to stay you have to honor my views about the walkers, they are family and friends. Rick knew it was his only way to remain at the barn so he agreed and then the situation came up with the walkers in the swamp where Rick was asked to help bring them to the barn. When Shane started the situation at the barn, Rick asked Hershel to take the pole because it was understood really only between Hershel and Rick what they were doing. In the heat of that moment I don't think he'd have the time to explain to the others why there was a walker on the pole and not to kill it. They would look at Rick like, 'why the heck are you giving that to me!!' So he figured Hershel was the only one besides Jimmy I guess who could handle it. He didn't want to shoot it in the head because of the rules he felt he had to follow in order to stay at the farm. And what went down with Shane happened so fast that Rick didn't have much time to figure another way. He was trying to get Shane to stop saying, you don't have to do this brother. It's one of those too many things happening at the same time situations. I hope this may help a little at least.

 

Rick took a knife to a gun fight and STILL..he is the one alive and leading. That alone is enough said for me.