The smartest decisions in The Walking Dead: Part I

The Walking Dead Smartest Decisions: Season Two

The group sticks with Rick

When you look at The Walking Dead from the later seasons, you might assume that Rick’s leadership was a foregone conclusion, however, if you remember the end of season two, you’ll know that that…wasn’t the case.

After Shane’s attempt to murder Rick backfired, and caused a herd to wash over the farm, resulting in Jimmy and Patricia dying, Andrea being lost, and Rick having to admit that Dr. Jenner warned him that whenever someone dies, they turn, there was a moment where much of the group (Except Hershel and Daryl, if I remember correctly) seemed to question whether Rick was fit to lead. Luckily, after putting his foot down with his famous “This isn’t a democracy anymore” speech, the rest of the group decided to stick with Rick, and well, the rest is history.

What makes this so smart is that there was so much — Between Shane, his death, the confusion after the farm fell, and learning that Rick had kept what he’d learn about the virus from everybody — pulling the group away from following Rick, yet, they stuck with him. It might have been because of Rick’s response to their questioning of his leadership, the realization that Rick was right not to give them such demoralizing news when they were in such dire straits following their departure from the CDC, or the simple fact no one else seemed willing to take on the responsibility, but, whatever it was that made them stick with Rick, it was the smart move.

When you consider how well Rick led the group after that crisis, I think the evidence for how smart of a move it was speaks for itself.

Any jackass can think they should be in charge, but, sometimes, it takes a smart person to recognize when someone else is the right person for the job.