Our favorite moments from The Walking Dead season 2

Dale’s Humanity Speech

Season 2, episode 11 “Judge, Jury, Executioner”

Sara L. says:

When given the task of picking a favorite moment from season 2 of The Walking Dead, at first it was a struggle to decide. I took some time and rewatched some of the episodes and it reignited my love for Dale. He was the first character on the show that I fell in love with. I may not have always agreed with him but I did admire that when he said something that he stayed true to it and was confident in his beliefs. Which included grilling Shane several times about the person he was, which I found very enjoyable.

Everything came to a head in this episode when the group came together for the last time to make a final decision regarding Randall’s life. Being that Dale is so confident in what he believes, it makes for compelling conversations and speeches. This particular speech has several iconic quotes, but my favorite is, “How are we any better than those people we are so afraid of?” and it’s so true. This is a question that now we have asked ourselves countless times but this was the first time we had ever come across an issue like this.

I think this speech proved for the first time in the series that heroes and villains are very subjective. A decision on a persons life is a very huge thing, and like Dale said, “it is worth more than a 5-minute conversation.” If Randall had been let loose or they had worked out some type of plan it most certainly could have went south. However killing him over something he may or may not do is very hard, and of course, when siding with Shane one should maybe take a step back and think if this is truly the sane option. Would this action scar them in a way some might not be able to forget?

I just love that this speech stayed with some people and paved a path of, what is right and wrong? What side do I want to be on? Also with throwing in that on an issue this big, you should not just let things happen but be an advocate for what you believe is right even if it’s a really tough call to make. I just wish that Dale was around to see that Rick changed his mind and Shane ended up meeting his fate.