Did Rick disrespect Carl’s memory on The Walking Dead

When The Walking Dead killed off Carl Grimes, the producers said it was to lead the show to a satisfactory conclusion in season 8.

Most fans of the show know that Carl is asking Rick to become a good person again and stop killing would, meaning that he respects his son’s memory and doesn’t kill Negan when the time comes. However, a couple of things happened on The Walking Dead this week that made Rick look bad.

First, Rick talked to Negan on the walkie-talkie and told him that Carl had died. In what comes as no surprise to fans who read the comics, Negan took it hard — he did respect Carl Grimes. However, when Rick said what Carl wanted, he then followed up by saying that he was going to kill Negan anyway.

More from Show Snob

• The Santa Clauses season 2, episode 6 recap “Wanga Banga Langa!”
• Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 1, episode 7 preview: Non-spoiler thoughts for Part VII
• Goosebumps season 1, episode 6 recap: “Night of the Living Dummy”
• Beacon 23 season 1, episode 3 recap: “Why Can’t We Go on as Three?”
• Upload season 3, episode 2 recap: “Strawberry”

Between that proclamation and the fact that Rick shot at Jadis when she tried to escape the junkyard of walkers with him and Michonne — forcing her to remain inside with the Walkers — it seems that Rick has both disrespected Carl’s memory and is becoming a no better than Negan himself.

Bear with me.

Rick Grimes started off as a good man. He killed Shane in self-defense to protect his friends and family from the dangerous road that Shane was taking. Since that moment, Rick has become Shane. His decisions are no different than Shane’s — outside of the fact that Rick won’t kill his friends and family like Shane tried to do with Rick.

However, Rick is just as brutal and violent as Shane ever was.

At the moment, Rick Grimes is not going to mercilessly kill people for fun like The Governor, but he will kill people just to make a point, precisely like Negan does. Negan brutally beat Glenn to death while Rick assassinated a building full of people just for more food.

The only thing that makes Rick a hero and Negan a villain on The Walking Dead is that we loved Glenn.

When Rick refused to let Jadis escape with them just because she no longer “provided help,” it was the lowest he has come in a long time to a selfish and heartless human. She begged for help and he left her to die.

How is Rick better than Negan?

Now, there is the fact that Rick does not understand what Carl was trying to tell him — and that is a problem. Rick said that Carl wanted them to surrender to Negan, but that is not what Carl wanted at all. Carl wanted the fighting to stop. He wanted BOTH sides to stop fighting.

Next: Fear the Walking Dead teaser arrives

When Rick told Negan he would never stop and would kill him, it was disrespectful to the memory of his son. However, the good news is that he did it while still mourning the death of his only son. Rick still has time to understand what Carl wanted. He still has time to remember what it means to be a hero.

Rick Grimes still has the time to become the hero that we need him to be. The Walking Dead airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. EST on AMC.