The Walking Dead lookback at season 4, episode 16 "A"

The Walking Dead fandom has a joke about going "In-Shane," referring to Shane Walsh's (Jon Bernthal) hot-headed reactions to most things. But never in his time in the series did Shane pull anything close to what Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) did to the Claimer named Joe (Jeff Kober).

Joe was hellbent on punishing Rick for killing one of his men, Lou (Scott Dale), in episode 11, "Claimed." Rick, Carl (Chander Riggs), and Michonne (Danai Gurira) stay in a house to allow Rick to heal after the prison's fall. He and the Governor (David Morrissey) had a terrible fight, which left Rick seriously injured. Joe and his Claimers come upon the house, and eventually, Rick kills Lou to save himself and escape the house before Carl and Michonne can return from a scavenging run.

Fast-forward to episode 16, "A." Rick, Carl, and Michonne are camped out when Joe, Dan (Keith Brooks), and the other Claimers ambush them. Tony (Davi Jay) recognizes Rick, and they know they have finally found the man who killed Lou. Before Joe can do anything, Daryl (Norman Reedus), who had joined the Claimers after losing Beth (Emily Kinney), appears and tries to end the confrontation.

Despite his best efforts, Daryl was beaten by the Claimers while Joe proceeded to threaten Rick, and Dan attempted to rape Carl. Rick becomes enraged and headbutts Joe; after a skirmish, Joe gets the upper hand and asks Rick, "What the hell are you gonna do now, sport?" Rick's answer: he promptly bites the man's throat out, killing him.

It was a brutal scene straight from the comics. In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Lincoln shared a bit about this scene, stating, "That scene was supposed to be more graphic, and we played it more graphic than that, which was a justification for the throat rip and everything because it's something any father seeing his son about to be raped would probably do."

Below Lincoln talks about the throat biting scene with Talking Dead's Chris Hardwick.

This episode ends with the whole group reunited for the first time since the prison's fall in a train car at Terminus, where Rick says, "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out..." to which newcomer Abraham Ford asks, "Find out what?" To which Rick responds, "...They're screwing with the wrong people."

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