The show is doing a great job of showing their humanity slip away

But now that you mentioned human decency, Rick's group is protecting themselves from other humans? Knowing what we know, human decency in ZA is not we (audience) sees it. That standard gets dropped quick when fighting for survival.

As Michonne says "the guy shot at us and is still living and not left out to be zombie food (paraphrasing), I'd say he had a good day

 

Again, I find it ironic that months ago Rick was BEGGING someone to take him in & let him stay somewhere to be safe. He offered working to earn his keep, etc. Now he's turned away one set of good people and one person on the road in need.

 

I believe that the decision that, to keep their loved one's safe is more important than keeping this stranger safe, is a very "human" decision.

You got to remember that it was a very different time back then, with very different circumstances. Even so it really was an unwise decision on Hershel's part. His family could have been killed and/or robbed by allowing the group of strangers to stay.

 

Humanity wasn't as much of a threat as it is now.

 

nail on head

coincides with this season's tagline "fear the living"

 

I would have definitely asked questions before picking him up and would be sure to not show him where the prison is

 

One of the things that bothered me about not picking him up is that they lost the chance to gain any information. If you're trying to survive, knowing which end is up would be very valuable. They could have searched the guy for weapons, let him in the car, pumped him for information and then set him down somewhere less vulnerable if they didn't want to keep him.

On the humanity side, not everyone has lost it. Hershel told Rick he was wrong about Tyrese, and Daryl risked his life for the Spanish speaking folks on the bridge.

Someone on Talking Dead posed an interesting question. Would they have picked up the hitchhiker if it was a child? All of the hypotheticals listed in this thread about traps etc. could still be true. So, I wonder. I know the producers would never allow it, but in a real situation... would you drive by if it was a twelve year old? A 10 year old? Keeping in mind Carl is just a kid, but pretty capable of killing people and zombies.

 

I can see where this is going...

You can save the hitchhiker, and probably gain from it in some ways - concrete: information & manpower, abstract: virtue & humanity

You can save the hitchhiker, and probably lose from it in some ways - concrete: belongings & lives, abstract: safety & freedom

If you think there is no loss in pulling over for the hitchhiker because it gives rise to two predictable outcomes: gain in safety (no threat), no loss in resources (no robbery), then the Tyreese incident shows that the main dangers lie in subjective approach based on experience and heuristics.

I don't think it is possible to evaluate the probability of a certain outcome by assessing how similar it is to random events you have experienced before, and how similar these random events surrounding those processes are. For example, if you toss a fair coin and wind up with heads repeatedly, isn't the probability of a head in the next toss still 50-50?

Which is kindda why I'm in agreement with the idea of assessing risk by pulling over and asking questions. Nice post, very succinct.

 

I think they would have picked him up on the way back. Or at least stopped and assessed him. I think it was purely maintaining focus on the mission at hand that led them to just pass him by without a thought. Going into a unknown situation with a complete stranger along just doesn't seem smart and they'd be real asses to question him and then leave him.

 

I would never pick up a hitch-hiker now, let alone during the zombie apocalypse. That guy would be out of luck with me passing by. I don't think anyone would stop for me, why should I stop for him? It's just the way of the world.

 

I don't think so...

It's easy talking the talk, when you're on the outside looking in.
But come to think of all they have been through, if you were in their shoes, I don't think you would stop to pick
up a stranger. Besides it could have been some kind of trap, being backed by a bunch of muggers, waiting for the
car to stop, so that they could assault the passengers and rob them of their belongings.
I've seen quite a few people, wondering if they would stop, if it was a woman or a child.
I assume it wouldn't be possible for a woman and/or a child, to survive for a year or so, without being part of a
team (except Michonne of course ). So there would still be some kind of trick... I don't know guys...
After a year of such insanity, I think we could expect nearly everything.

 

The hitcher was a plot device to illustrate Rick's descent into inhumanity. The situation you outline may have been a rational reason for it (although concealed muggers would undoubtedly have opened fire once it became clear that the car wasnt going to stop), but the coldness displayed, the casual way in which the guy's backpack was retrieved, was clearly indicative of the message intended. The biggest question I had was how the hitcher could have survived on foot in the middle of nowhere...

 

QFT. Excellent first post. Welcome to the forum.

 

I thought that as well, but we don't know the hitchhiker's story. Maybe he had been part of a group until recently, and got kicked out or accidentally seperated like Andrea.

 

But yes, it was definitely a device used to show us the evolution of the character's viewpoints, not only Rick's, but everyone's. I'm not sure i'd call it a descent into 'inhumanity' as much as just into brute survival of ones own group, and all the darkness that comes with that.

 

Yes

This episode got me very upset. I love the show and I understand that Rick has been acting differently but leaving the hitchiker behind twice is not like him. Picking up the backpack on the way back was the last straw for me. What kind of example did this set for Carl? The results of course showed up on the last episode of the season. What else could you expect?

 

Exactly my point. The first time I saw him, I thought of a possible trap but by the time we see him the 2nd time, it's clear he is really panicked and alone. And the backpack thing... unthinkable for this group that is supposed to be the ones with a bit of humanity left. That was governor-like behavior: kill everyone else (or let them be killed) and grab their belongings....

 

Yes, I would have picked him up. He could have been an asset to the group - he obviously had survival skills to make it as far as he did. Rick should have reverted back to cop mode; if the area was free from walkers, which it seemed to be, get out, frisk him, look through the backpack, ask him a few questions and take away any weapons he may have had.

It showed how much Rick's humanity has changed - he couldn't let Merle die of thirst, but let someone get torn apart by zombies.

The guy could really have added to Team Prison.

 

I agree. he might've known where the cure was. or maybe where the safest place is. or any other useful life saving stuff.

 

It reminds me of an scene for an movie [Johnson Family Vacation] which I saw which involves this guy who taken his family on an roadtrip. He first came across an male hitchhiker and let him walk. Then about two seconds later, he was coming across another hitchhiker. This hitchhiker was an extremely pretty female hitchhiker. So he decided to pick up her. Little did they know, she was crazy.

Moral of the story is the male hitchhiker could be sane.

I wonder if that hitchhiker in 3x12 was an female, would Rick stop and pick her up??