Season 4 of The Walking Dead is well underway with the 4th episode, 'Indifference' airing on Sunday night. It's a slightly ironic title, as, if there is one emotion you won't be feeling after this episode, it is indifference. There were a number of talking points in this episode (my particular favourite being Daryl's reaction to D'Angelo Barksdale threatening him) but the biggest watercooler moment came at the end. After getting some supplies from a nearby town, Rick takes the drastic decision to abandon Carol after her revelation last week that she killed Karen and David. This was a real shock as Rick has always been about preserving the group and ensuring they survive. You can clearly see it was a big decision for him but was it the right one? Well here we cast doubt upon that decision and look at 5 ways in which Rick's decision could come back to haunt him.
5. His Position As Leader Could Be Undermined
After 4 seasons of enduring a hellish zombie wasteland, it is understandable that the core group of survivors has evolved. Many characters joined the group in season 2 and 3, from the farm and prison respectively, and we have seen a great number of the original cast suffer grisly deaths. It's a necessary evil in a zombie show. The one constant that has run through this time is Rick's position as leader of the group, a position he initially rejected but seems to be embracing in the last couple of seasons. In the gap between seasons 3 and 4 we can see that the survivors have started to build a community in the prison, something which Rick, no doubt, had a huge say in. But how will the group react when they find out he abandoned one of their own, effectively leaving her for dead? It's not something you would expect from a leader and his reasons for doing it may fall on disbelieving ears. He is, after all, the only character who knows the truth. This decision could be the final straw for a group which has suffered numerous tragedies under Rick's leadership. The fact that Carol is not deemed a threat in any way could lead to many members of the group questioning Rick and all his decisions. This is something which has clearly irked him in the past, to the point of declaring a dictatorship at the end of season 2 and constant scrutiny of his leadership could lead to more knee jerk decisions, which would only mean more tragedy for the group.