Just watching it now, and my basic comments are;
Well, I guess stupidity IS genetic after all (he gets it from his Mom’s side of the family), Carl being weapons-grade-stupid with “SwampWalker”, I have very little tolerance for the stupidity of the Motley Crew, so once Carl started taunting the zombie (Do not taunt Zombie Fun Ball!), I was actively rooting for him to get eaten, or at the very least, bitten…
sadly, he got away, and SwampWalker was cheated of a meal, good thing that TWD zombies don’t just eat Braaaiiinnns, because if they did, poor old SwampWalker would have still starved even after eating Carl’s clearly defective brain matter
Dale may have been a sanctimonious, self righteous, moralistic knowitall in this episode, but he didn’t deserve to go like that, I liked his character when he wasn’t being all preachy and self-righteous
I never really had an opinion on Carl up until this point, he was sort of like the scenery, just there, neither bad, nor good, basically ignorable, yes, even during the “Carl Got Shot” plotline, i couldn’t care if he lived or died
Now, OTOH, I want him dead, he was indirectly responsible for SwampWalker attacking Dale, he stole Daryl’s pistol, and lost it in the mud, even if they do find the pistol, it’s going to need some serious deep cleaning to return it to functionality, assuming the blued steel hasn’t rusted too badly**
At the very least, the Motley Crew needs to be very clear to Carl that
1; he is a very large factor in Dale’s death, the responsibility of Dale’s death is clearly on HIS shoulders
2; he has destroyed any semblance of trust the group had in him, and must earn that trust back, starting from a negative position
3; he is clearly not responsible enough for a firearm, he will not be permitted to use one until he shows responsibility
4; if anyone should be exiled from the farm, it should be HIM, at least Randall could be useful once his loyalties have been sussed out, here’s an idea, banish Carl and keep Randall
oh, and one crazy final idea, if they’re looking for a way to “dispose of” disruptive people, people with unsure loyalties and the like (like, let’s say Randall, or even Carl), and they don’t want to use up precious ammunition, why not use resources in the area, like, oh, I don’t know, the Zombies themselves?, dig a Zombie Pit, put in a couple zombies, and put the victim in it for disposal, after the deed is done, spike one or two of the oldest, most worn-out zombies and leave the “fresher” ones for disposal duties, never have more than two zombies in the disposal pit, just in case they try to escape, and keep one person on Pit Duty (have a rotation so everyone has to do their duty at the Zombie Disposal Pit)
…also a good way to keep disruptive people in line, behave, or it’s off to “The Pit” with you…
Yes, it’s a horrible, evil, inhuman idea, but this is the Zombie Apocalypse, not Happy Wholesome Family Fun Times, the rules have changed, the “Before Days” are gone, and not coming back, adapt or perish
(**it also surprised me that nobody picked up the spent brass from the barn-slaying, centerfire brass is reloadable, and if ammo is in such short supply, I’m surprised they haven’t been reloading their cartridges, there has to be a reloading setup somewhere during their scavenging runs, in an abandoned house? in a decent sporting-goods store? scrounge up some lead wheel weights from a mechanic shop (or from abandoned cars on the road), get bullet molds, and cast their own bullets, hey there’s a use for Carl, lead-scavenger and bullet-caster, sure there’s a chance of lead poisoning, but I don’t think the lead can make him much stupider than he already is