Randall the Limping Dead

Some new tidbits were learned about Randall this week. All of them through terrified pleading to Andrea, Carl, Rick, and of course Daryl.

We learned he is part of a group of "thirty men". So he says. We learned he was with a smaller group of those and they committed rape and torture right in front of him, but he took no part. So he says.

But the confidence that his group had in town when they were firing against Rick, Herschel and Glenn makes me believe he was a trusted part of their group. Or he's just a plot device thrown our way. In any case, he's causing much consternation between the survivors.

What shall I call him? Just plain old Randall? Or because of his witnessing or participating in a rape, should I call him Rapist Randall? Or even the far fetched moniker of Henry Gale? ("Lost" fans know what I'm referring to here.) The man who was imprisoned with the group on the island and tortured by Sayid (parallel to Daryl here.) and once he made his escape, he was known to have been the leader of "The Outsiders". Can this be? Young man turns out to be more than what he appears? He does know how to kill a walker. That was established already. Here is a detailed description of what Randall  has done on the show.

I honestly don't think he is anything else than a rat. Someone who will do whatever he can to get away from the group and save his life. And IT WILL HAPPEN. For dramatic reasons and the Rick Grimes -conscience- er, stupidity reasons he will escape. Fine. It can help the writers plan on fixing up Rick's character for season three. Make him more of a mix of Rick with some Shane mixed in. More reactionary, less conscience. Less stupidity.

Now, it will be interesting to see how this is pulled off. Randall should have a horrible injury that would hobble an average sized man for weeks. I hope he isn't shown RUNNING or even JOGGING away. At the very least, so our intelligence is not being insulted, have him do a kind of one legged hop. If I see him running, I will be upset. In fact, I would like for everyone else watching to be upset if he does run. So unless his group of thirty men are out searching for him and pick him up halfway, I better not see him sprinting.

The survival of Randall's character also serves to use this as a way to learn more about the group. What they're willing to do to survive or not willing to do because of a -conscience- er, dumbassness. But this show could have very well left him to stay impaled by his leg while walkers came over for their easy shish-kabob. No bullets wasted and no meds used up. Just plain left him there. Cruel yes. But in this series, the heroic thing to do would have been to just have Herschel put him down like one of his horses at the barn.  Not allow him to suffer his ghastly injury and not be eaten alive. And the show could still have had the feeling of impending danger by having a group of those thirty men searching for the farm. Can't be that hard to find it in that small town.

Wouldn't it have just been easier that way? Poor Andrew Lincoln. There's a good actor there that delivers but I wonder if in his head, he knows his character has been emasculated and criticized more than he ever thought his lead character should be.