The 'Walking Dead' Brain-Dead Move of the Week: Sam I Am (Going to Get Us All Killed)
Every week on The Walking Dead, someone does something stupid that needlessly endangers the lives of themselves and others. Here, we commemorate those decisions in the hopes that they won’t be repeated. But of course, they know they will be.
The Walking Dead groaned back to life this week with plenty of zombie-hacking action, and even a few character deaths. Well, no, no one you actually care about died — not on this show! — but a few red-shirt Alexandrians did bite the dust. And even they might’ve been spared if someone had noticed the big honking red flags surrounding Sam.
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You remember Sam: He’s Jessie’s scaredy-cat son who probably had to change his underwear after Carol cornered him with that threatening monologue about “monsters” tearing him limb from limb. Now the poor kid has zombie PTSD — so he’s not a great candidate to stay calm and silent while walking through an enormous sea of walkers.
Still, a good opportunity to get rid of him arises when Father Gabriel volunteers to take Judith to the church to keep her safe. Jessie asks him to take Sam, too, but Sam refuses to leave his mom’s side. And Jessie lets him stay! Look, Jessie, we know you haven’t always been the best mom, what with making out with the guy who killed your kids’ father and all, but this might be a good time to start putting your foot down.
Now of course, sending a kid off under the protection of Father Gabriel is basically like signing his death certificate. But keeping Sam around doesn’t work out great, either: He starts babbling and crying out of fear of the “monsters” — thanks a lot, Carol! — and even the Magical Zombie Gut Poncho he’s wearing can’t keep him invisible anymore.
RIP, Sam. Hope there are plenty of cookies and old-timey records up there in heaven for ya.
Sam’s death, of course, sends Jessie into a hysterical screaming fit, and then she gets chomped by the herd of walkers. Which, forget Carl’s eye, is the real tragedy of this episode for Rick. He was just starting to get in there!
While Jessie’s entire family dies in the span of about thirty seconds, all the important people emerge from this episode unscathed — Carl’s eye aside. (Oh, c’mon, he’ll be fine. He’ll even get to wear a cool Governor-style eye patch.) But lesson learned: If you’re ever walking through a field of zombies with a skittish kid, stuff his mouth full of socks so he can’t scream. Or send him out first as a sacrificial lamb. Either way.
Runners-Up: The Wolf, for going back to save Denise, only to be rewarded by getting his arm chewed off by a walker and then getting shot dead by Carol. That’s what you get for caring about people, Wolfie!… Rick, for entrusting his baby girl Judith to Father Gabriel, a known coward who’s much more likely to toss Judith into a crowd of zombies to distract them than to actually fight them off. Carl’s eye might be the least of your problems soon enough, Rick.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC.
