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

No. 10: Rick Kills Gareth

Season 5, Episode 3: “Four Walls and a Roof”

You all remember the Red Machete, don’t you? It was a time in the series when our group didn’t really hesitate before killing humans. Granted, the Terminants were awful and horrible, but it was a jarring transition from where all these guys started. Terminus was supposed to be a place of peace and tranquility for the group (there ain’t no such thing), but it ended up being a community full of cannibals.

Gareth, the leader of the Terminants, did what he could to torture Rick and the group, and Rick promised that whenever the tables would turn, he would seek revenge, and it wouldn’t be pretty. Which brings us to this episode, inside of a church, with Gareth kneeling in front of Rick, at his mercy. Rick Grimes has had many defining moments or ones that have led him down a path that he didn’t see coming.

Killing Gareth was certainly one of them because not only did he live up to the promise he made to himself, but he exerted extreme power at this moment. Using the red machete, Rick murders Gareth with no hesitation. The entire sequence is bloody, horrific, and a side of our group that became difficult to witness. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and this was one of those where a decision had to be made. Plus, they were cannibals!

Following the bloody rampage, Gabriel walks into the church in disbelief as to what has just occurred. Let’s not get into how annoying Gabriel was during this point of the series (blech!), but his judgmental comments did not faze Rick or anyone else in the group. They did what they had to do–to survive, to live, to prosper.