The Walking Dead: Should Have Killed That Guy When We Had the Chance

Warning: Spoilers ahead for tonight's episode of AMC's The Walking Dead.

Tonight's episode, titled "Arrow in the Doorpost," was one of those times that you could just stare, slack-jawed, at the screen and say, "Really? Nobody tried to take that guy out?". And I did--more than once. After all, it's practically built into the episode; it's not as though this is the first time it's occurred to the survivors that their best bet for dismantling the Woodbury situation is to take out the Governor when he's least prepared (just ask Carol about that). Sitting across the table from him, having a nonsensical negotiation that was not only doomed from the start, but which the Governor himself admitted he had no interest in, seems like a waste of time. Still--the participants agreed to a set of ground rules, and you can't fault Rick for wanting to keep his end of the bargain, if only because a gunshot would have turned the whole area into a bloodbath. Had he shot the Governor during the handful of opportunities presented, it may have avoided an eventual siege on the prison, but in the moments following, unless they had planned and discussed it ahead of time, there would have been chaos and the potential for at least one fatality among the group. And who knows what was waiting in the woods for the sound of a gunshot to summon it? So, no--we're not talking about the Governor, and we're not even talking about Rick.

We're talking about Daryl. And Martinez. The Governor's muscle, Martinez has proven over and over to be both brutal and unstable. While the group at the prison may not know the extent of it, certainly they're aware (or at least have to be incredibly suspicious) that this is one of the guys who opened fire on their home, killed Axel and nearly killed a handful of the other survivors. Even the brief amount of time they spent with the Woodbury reinforcements before Andrea came out should have given them the idea that Milton is, for all intents and purposes, useless in a fight. And when Daryl, Andrea and Martinez left the staging area to chase down walkers, no more than two of them should have returned. After all, Daryl's crossbow, or his throwing knife--those are silent killers. He could have taken out Martinez instead of grandstanding when he killed that walker, and then claimed for Andrea's benefit that Martinez darted at the last second. How is Daryl's failure to take him out any better than what Andrea did at the Governor's apartment? Of course, everyone can be pleased that Daryl did the morally "right" thing and that he's continuing the arc pointed out a few weeks ago; Rick and the others have taught him to be a better person, and that's why he doesn't take this opportunity that's been handed to him on a silver platter...but here's the problem: What happens when Martinez kills someone? What happens when he's responsible for the shot that takes out Carol, or Beth, or the baby, and Daryl knows that he could have taken that piece off the board at an earlier juncture? He shoulda killed that guy when he had the chance, that's all I'm saying.