5 times Rick Grimes made the right choice and 5 when he didn’t

What bad choices did Rick Grimes make?

Sophia – When Rick left Sophia alone to hideout along the river, it was obvious something bad would happen. Why would you leave a child alone in a world where the undead constantly tries to kill people? Whatever his reasoning was, it ended up being a horrible decision. It caused much grief among the group, and Rick, trying to make things right, had to end her suffering by shooting her reanimated corpse.

Banishing Carol – fans are divided on this one. Was it was a good or bad decision to banish Carol after she killed Karen and David? Both characters did what they had to do, but at this point, Carol was a long-standing member of the group as well as a strong fighter and leader. She was valuable to the group and proved this when she saved them at Terminus.

Attacking Pete – now, Rick’s intentions in the situation were good. Pete, an abusive husband, was beating his wife Jesse and possibly his sons. Rick wanted Pete to know he was aware of what was going on, but the animosity between these two had been building, and things got out of control. The residents of Alexandria have been sheltered within the community’s walls and aren’t used to what goes on outside of those walls. Rick, a season apocalypse survivor, has lived a much different life than anyone in Alexandria has experienced. So for him to attack Pete, the community doctor, and go a rant about his group being the ones to control who lives in Alexandria, was a bad introduction to the rest of the residents.

Giving Ron a gun – Again, with the best intentions, Rick thought he could bond with Ron by helping him learn how to defend himself by teaching him how to shoot a gun. Ron didn’t like Rick or his son Carl, and when he saw Carl holding hands with Enid, who he thought was his girlfriend, this added to his hatred. That topped with the fact that Rick was the one who killed his father, Ron’s hatred of the Grimes family continued to fester. He tried to pull the gun on Carl, a situation that Carl could defuse, but when he tried to pull the gun on Rick, Michonne intervened, and the bullet went wild and shot Carl in the eye. There were many other ways Rick could have taught defensive skills to Ron instead of giving a moody teen a gun.

Trusting Jadis – Rick should have never put his trust in Jadis and her garbage people. He didn’t know much about them, they spoke in broken English, and they lived in garbage. They tried to kill him with their armored walker, and there were all sorts of red flags with this group. But, Rick, knowing the power of their common enemy, Negan, thought they could join forces and end Negan’s reign. Thank God for Shiva, or Carl would have had his brains bashed in.

Luckily for Rick, many of his poor choices resulted in positive results. For example, banishing Carol allowed her to save them at Terminus, and the Jadis/Anne thing worked out, as she ultimately saved him when he was blown up at the bridge.

Regardless of all the bad choices, Rick Grimes is and always will be a badass.

The Walking Dead will return to AMC for its final season on August 22.