At the end of last week’s Spend episode of The Walking Dead, Rick and Carol agreed that Pete Anderson had to die because he abuses his wife and son. Rick, being the new sheriff in town (literally) has a decision to make which will have serious repercussions either way. This conflict existed in the comics, which the show has been tightly following lately.
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Check out our breakdown of the headline event for the weekend, Pete Anderson VS. Rick Grimes, in the video below:
In The Comics
When Rick and the group arrived at Alexandria, much like in the television series, Rick was introduced to the resident doctor, Peter Anderson. Once it comes to his attention that Peter is abusing his family, Rick wants the problem addressed. There wasn’t quite as prominent a romantic connection between Rick and Pete’s wife, Jessie, in the comics as we’ve seen on the television series so far, but I’ll address that in my prediction.
Before taking action, Rick goes to Douglas Monroe. Douglas, the leader of the Safe-Zone, has the final say in how to handle issues like this. When Rick tells Douglas that Peter should have to choose between death or exile for his action, Douglas tells Rick that he was already aware of what Peter does to his family. He goes on to say that Peter, being a doctor, is too important to the community and they can’t afford to lose him. As you can imagine, this doesn’t sit well with Rick.
Rick marches over to Peter Anderson’s house and knocks on the door. When Peter answers to ask what he wants, Rick greets him with a punch in the face, and continues to beat him until Michonne knocks him unconscious. After the beating, Peter gets kicked out of the house by Jessie and avoids any public appearances.
However, he eventually reappears. While the community is at a funeral for Scott (a character we haven’t met on the television series), Peter shows up with a kitchen knife and intends to kill Rick. Douglas Monroe’s wife, Regina, steps in to try and stop Peter. She is rewarded by getting her throat slit. Peter is wrestled to the ground and Douglas inevitably gives Rick the green light to put him down.
My Prediction
With the pacing of this season so far, I think it’s unlikely that Pete Anderson will die in Try (season 5 episode 15), but I think Rick will go to Deanna and beat Pete down once he finds out Deanna won’t exile him. I also think the show will harp on the storyline of Deanna’s trust in the group after what Father Gabriel said. Although this did happen in the comics, it was not a huge part of the plot like I think the show will beef it up into.
Peter’s death in the comics leads to a series of events that culminate with Rick becoming the leader of Alexandria after taking on a group of bandits and a gigantic horde of walkers. Feels like Rick will take out Pete in the extended season finale and the DC Scavengers (who might end up being the Wolves) will launch their assault on Alexandria, creating the season’s cliff hanger.
In addition to that two episode forecast, I have another prediction out of these events. I mentioned earlier that the Jessie/Rick romance wasn’t so prominent in the comics. In fact, Andrea and Rick are romantically involved, so the show could use a replacement for her. We know that Sasha will be the one in the bell tower but it’s also possible that Jessie will survive the impending zombie horde unlike her comic book counterpart and become Rick’s love interest for a while.
There are only 2 1/2 episodes left of The Walking Dead this season. How do you think everything is going to play out?
