The Walking Dead: 15 greatest Rick Grimes moments of all-time

No. 6: Rick Goes to New Lengths to Save Those He Loves

Season 4, Episode 16: “A”

A father will do anything to protect his son, anything. Rick proves this in the season 4 finale like a frightening badass. At this point in the series, some of the group was making their way to Terminus (remember those signs?). But before they got there and came to learn about the cannibalistic society, they had an encounter with a group known as the “Claimers”.

At that point in time, this group had been holding Daryl hostage and had been keeping an eye on Rick’s group, something Daryl had no idea about. Daryl tried pleading with one of the men to let his friends live, but this guy was bloodthirsty for revenge. He planned to beat Daryl to death, rape Michonne and Carl, and then kill Rick after he is forced to watch all this happen.

Papa Bear’s protective instincts kicked in ten-fold at this point as one of the men begins to close in on Carl. Rick headbutts one of the men and nearly goes deaf in the process after the man’s gun is fired. Rick is captured once again but this time, he’s going all in to save his child. Before we know it, Rick takes a giant bite out of the guy’s neck–right into the carotid artery, and pulling out his jugular. Yes, it was gruesome.

Daryl and Michonne break free and kill the rest of the men while Rick handles the one that was about to rape Carl. Rick stabs him to death with no regrets, he had to save his baby boy. No one messes with Rick Grimes or his family–hasn’t everyone figured that out by now?