Rick kills the living. The world hasn’t been gone for long before selfishness and violence rise up over decency and kindness. The groups Rick and company encounter along the way are peopled by the cowardly and the cruel. Two such are Dave and Tony, the men Rick and Hershel encounter in a season two bar, who threaten to track down the farm and take what they want. Faced with the choice between keeping his moral code and protecting his family, Rick chooses the latter, and who could blame him? The apocalypse is no time for moral absolutism.

In season two, reluctant leader Rick learned that uneasy lies the head that wears a gold tasseled hat. His leadership faced mutiny from within, as his best friend and partner Shane schemed to kill him and take his place. He learned that Lori’s baby might not be his, and through it all, struggled to make the right choices and do the hard jobs. For all Shane’s gung-ho approach to the walkers in the barn, it was Rick and not him who put poor Sophia out of her undead misery. It was Rick who gave blood to save Carl’s life and who wrestled with what to do with Randall.

Further Reading: The Walking Dead – Rick Grimes Ending Explained

After all that, Rick’s season two campfire speech makes perfect sense. Those are the words of a man pushed far, far past his limits. He’s mean, he’s sarcastic (“Go on, there’s the door. Send me a postcard. You can do better? Let’s see how far you get.”). He reminds the ungrateful lot exactly what he’s done for them (“I’m keeping this group together, alive. I’ve been doing that all along.”) and finally, he lays down the law: “Get one thing straight. You’re staying? This isn’t a democracy anymore.”

Captain Trips