3. Carol Confronts Rick Over Burning Bodies
That ten-thousand pound elephant looming throughout Rick and Carol's medicine-hunting excursion those charred bodies of fellow survivors Karen and David went unsaid but added a thick air of tension to their usually close relationship and friendly interactions. Rick seems to avoid asking Carol directly about the deaths, shifting topics while clearly knowing its on both their minds. This shows Rick to be torn, somewhat indecisive and quite indirect when confronted with a rather obvious challenge to his leadership. This becomes even more apparent when Carol is first to bring this tough subject up to Rick, even going so far as to ask Rick to his face why he hadn't questioned her or brought up Karen and David's deaths already. Carol makes a bold move, steps up and not only assumes responsibility for killing them but also a sense of ownership and protectiveness for her clan that seems to fall outside of Rick's somewhat altruistic captaining. If this is papa-bear Rick versus mama-cub Carol, it would seem that the mother's instincts to protect her pack bring with them a different set of morals and perspectives on doing what's right. Rick is still holding into his old code, his way if doing things and abiding by a law as Sheriff, but Carol has experienced too much and been too hardened by this brutal world to go back to conforming to how things were. She's lost her daughter, so she'll go to great lengths to protect anything she feels it's her duty to protect. From Carol's view, she has a family kin to protect from an unknown internal entity, but to Rick, who still carries with him his pre-walker set of ethics, Carol has become a liability. Of course, it's all very morally grey, but as abnomnable as Carol's actions were concerning Karen and David, there's a very understandable reason behind her actions that go beyond the wholeheartedly evil approach of the Governor or the more insane branch of survivalism expounded by Shane.