# The Walking Dead; 2.11 "Judge, Jury, Executioner" (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768 "2012-03-05T01:15:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/161 "2012-03-07T14:36:30Z")
When Lori was going on about “it’s too far and there’s too many walkers and you could run off the road,” I yelled right at the screen: “Or crash someone else’s car you dumb bitch?!” Good lord I can’t stand her and her stupid face. And now it turns out her son’s just as bad. (Which I guess I should’ve expected.) I hate the both of them. But because there is no justice, neither of them will get et anytime soon. Damn. Darryl, however, continues to be made of awesome. He just rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/162 "2012-03-07T14:51:26Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > First, I’m happy Dale’s gone. Second, what is “The Love That Pays the Price”? The title of this episode is “Judge, Jury, Executioner.” I’ve changed the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/163 "2012-03-07T15:15:19Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Maybe the steer was asleep, and the zombie knocked it over. Unless [tipping](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/821/is-there-really-such-a-thing-as-cow-tipping) is truly a gender specific bovine weakness. Despite Cecil’s stubborn refusal to admit error, cow tipping is a myth. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/164 "2012-03-07T15:22:36Z")
There is no way Carl would have gone rooting around in someone elses stuff, and sure as hell no way he would have stolen, of all things, a gun. He’s been raised around gun safety, he’s been raised to know what is right, and even being a complete shithead like he’s written to be this ep., I just can’t see him violating some of the basic principles he would have been immersed in his entire life. And yeah, I was rooting for the stuck zombie to eat him once he actually left the high ground to walk within arm’s-reach to point a gun. Idiot, a gun is not for clubbing, and I doubt you’re going to intimidate the thing. Stand back somewhere \>10’ and shoot, or leave. Don’t fuckin’ close distance and waver “Oh, I don’t know what to do about this horrible killing beast zombie…should I shoot it or just get closer and closer so it might grab me…golly, I’m conflicted!” Idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/165 "2012-03-07T15:41:09Z")
> [@thinksnow](#): > > There is no way Carl would have gone rooting around in someone elses stuff, and sure as hell no way he would have stolen, of all things, a gun. He’s been raised around gun safety, he’s been raised to know what is right, and even being a complete shithead like he’s written to be this ep., I just can’t see him violating some of the basic principles he would have been immersed in his entire life. I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous. There are always people who do things they’ve been taught aren’t right. That’s how bad things happen! And we’re talking about a 12-year-old kid who is in the midst of a collapse of civilization, with danger, death, and murder all around him. He, as well as everyone else, are suffering from severe emotional trauma, perhaps PTSD and who knows what else. And suddenly it’s unrealistic that he would ever “go rooting around in someone else’s stuff” and steal “of all things, a gun”? He’s watched as people around him have been attacked and eaten by the living dead, by nearly daily acts of bloody mayhem, and “rooting around in someone else’s stuff” and taking “of all things, a gun” are somehow beyond the pale of belief? Seriously? Carl’s actions flow perfectly logically from the situation and circumstances he finds himself in. He’s fucked up and he’s doing fucked up shit. “Rooting around in someone else’s stuff” and taking “of all things, a gun” are the _least_ fucked up things about Carl right now. That’s aside from the fact that even under perfect circumstances, children sometimes disobey their parents. “Rooting around in someone else’s stuff” and taking “of all things, a gun” are not among the most unbelievable things that _non_-fictional 12-year-olds get up to in the real world, regardless of what their parents have taught them. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/166 "2012-03-07T15:45:31Z")
> [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](#): > > Honestly, one zombie cornering a steer like that is bullshit. A steer that size is so much faster and stronger than a living human that it’s totally ridiculous a lumbering zombie could have caught it. Steers are young and high strung and they spook so easily a zombie couldn’t even have gotten near it. Maybe the steer had earlier been attacked by a pack of wild dogs which were then scared away from their kill. Okay, I’m really fanwanking it right now. I know it. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/167 "2012-03-07T15:47:47Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Maybe it wasn’t from their farm, but from another farm, and collapsed after wandering aimlessly since the outbreak. > > You know, a bum steer. You, sir, are udderly shameless. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/168 "2012-03-07T16:02:13Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Despite Cecil’s stubborn refusal to admit error, cow tipping is a myth. Durn right. Waiters and waitresses really hate to seem them walking into the restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/169 "2012-03-07T16:19:19Z")
[quote=“Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington, post:153, topic:614768”] Honestly, one zombie cornering a steer like that is bullshit. A steer that size is so much faster and stronger than a living human that it’s totally ridiculous a lumbering zombie could have caught it. Steers are young and high strung and they spook so easily a zombie couldn’t even have gotten near it. QUOTE] This might be true on big ranches, but on family farms like Herschel’s, the cows are used to people. We would run five or six steers at a time, and if I was in the pasture with them, the biggest problem was keeping their snotty noses out of what I was doing, and keeping them from stepping all over my feet. I have no doubt that if I wanted to walk up to one slowly (like a zombie) and slit it’s throat open, it wouldn’t have a problem until it was too late to get away. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/170 "2012-03-07T17:11:46Z")
Slit with what? Let’s say the fleshy parts of the fingertips have rotted away. The result are bony spikes, not tiger claws. Even if the steer walked right up to the zombie and licked it, how does the zombie mortally wound the steer? It seems rather unlikely that it could rip the critter open. Bite a big animal=big animal runs away or tramples you. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/171 "2012-03-07T18:47:37Z")
> [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](#): > > \ > > Apparently it is the bad farming practices which anger me the most about this show. :P\ There are plenty of stupid things going on; we can each pick and choose which ones get up our nose. 🙂 **Furious\_Marmot** , I have to agree about the steer-slitting; I can somewhat go for the zombie opening up a human stomach, but I’m having trouble with the steer - that’s cowhide the zombie was cutting open. It’s pretty friggin’ tough. Oh well. Maybe the same thing that re-animates the dead gives them tiger claws. Why not? ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/172 "2012-03-07T19:04:36Z")
Oh yeah, and another thing! Between the time the zombie was busy using both hands to gut Dale and the time it was struggling to hold him or grab him or whatever, why wasn’t Dale able to push the thing off of him? If you’re wrestling with someone/thing on top of you and you have free and unfettered access to its shoulders or neck or torso, you shove it off you! (and seriously, how did he not hear it coming or see it in an open field?!) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/173 "2012-03-07T20:10:19Z")
> [@thinksnow](#): > > Oh yeah, and another thing! Between the time the zombie was busy using both hands to gut Dale and the time it was struggling to hold him or grab him or whatever, why wasn’t Dale able to push the thing off of him? > > If you’re wrestling with someone/thing on top of you and you have free and unfettered access to its shoulders or neck or torso, you shove it off you! > > (and seriously, how did he not hear it coming or see it in an open field?!) There are any number of possibilities to explain that. 1. Dale is old and feeble. 2. It might have been a big fat zombie. 3. It was night. 4. It was in a big field at night, where there are sounds coming from everywhere (including a dying cow). ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/174 "2012-03-07T20:50:42Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > There are any number of possibilities to explain that. > > 1. Dale is old and feeble. > 2. It might have been a big fat zombie. > 3. It was night. > 4. It was in a big field at night, where there are sounds coming from everywhere (including a dying cow). #5 Dale had served his purpose on the show and the writers had no clue what to do with him next. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/175 "2012-03-07T21:42:26Z")
> [@limegreen](#): > > This might be true on big ranches, but on family farms like Herschel’s, the cows are used to people. We would run five or six steers at a time, and if I was in the pasture with them, the biggest problem was keeping their snotty noses out of what I was doing, and keeping them from stepping all over my feet. I have no doubt that if I wanted to walk up to one slowly (like a zombie) and slit it’s throat open, it wouldn’t have a problem until it was too late to get away. I really disagree. I live and work on our family farm, and our steers are only pushy like that when they’re about to get fed. Otherwise, they’ll nose up to you to a certain point, but if you make a sudden move or try to touch them, they run away and start observing again from a distance. I just can’t imagine them letting an unfamiliar, rotting creature get close enough to them to touch them, let alone rip out their stomachs. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/176 "2012-03-07T21:54:52Z")
> [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](#): > > I really disagree. I live and work on our family farm, and our steers are only pushy like that when they’re about to get fed. Otherwise, they’ll nose up to you to a certain point, but if you make a sudden move or try to touch them, they run away and start observing again from a distance. I just can’t imagine them letting an unfamiliar, rotting creature get close enough to them to touch them, let alone rip out their stomachs. I agree with you, but we’re just going to have to fanwank this one. People keep calling it a “steer,” but maybe the zombie happened upon a cow about to give birth. Let’s not nitpick the show to death. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/177 "2012-03-07T22:21:49Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > 1. It might have been a big fat zombie. Did you even watch the show? We got a pretty good look at the zombie in the daylight when Carl was playing with it. It was not fat, at all. It looked to weigh maybe 100 to 120 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/178 "2012-03-07T22:23:50Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > I agree with you, but we’re just going to have to fanwank this one. People keep calling it a “steer,” but maybe the zombie happened upon a cow about to give birth. Let’s not nitpick the show to death. How about, it’s become a stupid show? That is the answer after all. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/179 "2012-03-07T22:49:51Z")
Dale was an even bigger idiot in this episode than usual. He reminded me of many of the usual suspects kn GD threads–short on actual policy arguments and long on repeating certain words as if that’s all that needs to be said (such as “society” and “humanity”). ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768/180 "2012-03-07T22:58:10Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > Did you even watch the show? We got a pretty good look at the zombie in the daylight when Carl was playing with it. It was not fat, at all. It looked to weigh maybe 100 to 120 pounds. Dale was a 65 year old who didn’t look all that musclebound, so I can believe that he couldn’t bench 100 pounds while terrified and trying to avoid getting bit. What I’m not so sure about is bare-handed disembowelment by the zombie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-walking-dead-2-11-judge-jury-executioner-open-spoilers/614768.md?page=10)