The Walking Dead: Does Carl see himself in Ron?

Does Carl Grimes see a less experienced version of himself in Alexandria’s Ron Anderson on AMC’s hit zombie survival drama The Walking Dead?

One of the biggest story lines going on right now on AMC’s The Walking Dead includes two young men struggling to work together, Ron Anderson and Carl Grimes. Both of them have shown interest in a young lady named Enid, but Ron doesn’t want Carl anywhere near her, and seems to be willing to do anything to keep that from happening. And how can you blame him, after it was Carl’s father who executed Ron’s dad at the end of season 5.

The creator and executive producer of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, recently spoke with Variety about the incidents between Carl and Ron and why Carl might not have told the rest of the survivors about it.

"“I think Carl, he’s a very strong as a person. And so he wasn’t scared of Ron. To him, he would have been showing fear, he would have been showing weakness if he had in a sense tattled on Ron.”"

While appearing strong and handing things yourself can be a good thing, Carl may be making a big mistake by not letting the rest of the group know about what Ron is doing. It is this kind of thing that could ripple through the community and cause an even bigger divide between Rick’s group and the folks from Alexandria.

The reasoning that The Walking Dead‘s creator gave for Carl keeping the incident to himself is also interesting because it shows that Carl might want to see Ron redeem himself and become a functioning group member.

"“He’s trying to be mature as a person, to show how capable he is.Like Rick, like Glenn, he’s seen good in Ron, he’s seen potential in Ron,” Kirkman said. “He knows if Ron’s actions are to be revealed, that’ll completely ruin things for Ron. And he has hope that Ron can come through…I think he identifies with him to a certain extent.”"

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Carl went through the same kind of hardship watching his mother die and has come a long way since we first met him in season one. Carl had to take care of his father after a huge beating by The Governor and took that opportunity to grow and develop as a character. Perhaps Carl is hoping that Ron can make similar strides.

Sadly, Ron might be too far gone for redemption. He seems to have a mental imbalance that could make proving himself very difficult to the group. Either that, or he just plain doesn’t seem to want to change.

What do you think? Is Ron going through the same kind of thing that Carl did previously on The Walking Dead? Or is he just an entitled kid taking after his possessive father?  Share your ideas and comments below.