Mercy Killing: Preserving Human Dignity
This is the only episode (up to the finally of season 3) that the Walkers are personified to a point where the audience feels empathy for them. We are upset, of course, when characters we have come to love turn into Walkers, but the three I'm talking about are strangers to us, being that this is the first episode and the only time we encounter them.
In the beginning of the episode we have an extended silence to give us a false calm and peaceful atmosphere to juxtapose the eerie terror that is really taking place. Rick Grimes, our main protagonist, comes upon a gas station and sees a little girl. Unlike the Walkers we come to know later in the show, the little girl reaches down to pick up a teddy bear to hold. When she notices Rick, she comes after him and he is forced to shoot her in the head, but not after he calls "Little Girl" to her, driving the point home that she's just a child, Walker though she may be.
The second personified Walker is the one encountered near the bicycle. This Walker is dragging her body along because she has no more legs and only half a torso. She has a sorrowful look on her face, and the way she grabs at the ground is like a person grasping the sand in a mirage she thought was water. Her eyes are oddly soft and Rick doesn't want to kill her at first even though it is apparent he feels very sorry for her and is upset by the scene.
Our final personified Walker is Morgan's wife. Rick is saved by Morgan, a man who takes him in and learns to trust Rick because Rick generously gives Morgan half the guns at the Sheriff's department. Morgan confides in Rick several times in this episode, yet Rick doesn't reciprocate too much information. While the three of them are hiding in a house, we learn that the Walker who is standing on the porch is Morgan's wife. Rick watches her peer through the keyhole, like she knows her family is inside. Duane, Morgan's child, is sobbing in a pillow. There are more than a few moments where it seems like this Walker is somehow aware of her situation.
We learn later that this is not the case. Perhaps we're seeing these Walkers personified because Rick has only just woken up from a coma, and he is seeing them as something that they aren't anymore because accepting that they are nothing but empty shells is tough to swallow at first.
The Walkers are already dead, I get it. But just because logic tells us the Walkers are no longer mentally present or the people they used to be, many of the characters have a hard time scrambling the Walkers' brains after their loved ones have turned. We are just being introduced to the theme of Mercy Killing to preserve human dignity in this episode, so it is imperative that we see them personified.
After he and Morgan part ways, they both have a mission they need to attend to that they do not disclose to one another. Rick feels compelled to go back to the woman with half of her body and Morgan feels compelled to draw enough attention to his house with one of the rifles that Rick gave to him so he may draw his wife back to the house again with the noise. Rick looks at the woman on the ground, trying to eat him, and he says, "I'm sorry this happened to you," and he shoots her in the head to mercy kill her. He didn't have to go back to see her at all. He might have been safer if he hadn't. But he felt that in order to preserve human dignity, he had to put an end to her condition. They can't suffer and they are already dead, so it's not traditional mercy killing, but it is a way to protect the humanity that existed weeks before. For her former self's sake, and his. Morgan, on the other hand looks down the scope of his shotgun and just cannot pull the trigger on his wife. He's completely unable to let go of her and who she was even though he feels like he has to mercy kill her for the same reasons I mentioned above. The concept of Mercy Killing sets the groundwork to show us how important it is for the characters to preserve human dignity.
Preview on Youtube for Days Gone Bye:
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| "Little Girl" |
In the beginning of the episode we have an extended silence to give us a false calm and peaceful atmosphere to juxtapose the eerie terror that is really taking place. Rick Grimes, our main protagonist, comes upon a gas station and sees a little girl. Unlike the Walkers we come to know later in the show, the little girl reaches down to pick up a teddy bear to hold. When she notices Rick, she comes after him and he is forced to shoot her in the head, but not after he calls "Little Girl" to her, driving the point home that she's just a child, Walker though she may be.
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| Bicycle Woman |
The second personified Walker is the one encountered near the bicycle. This Walker is dragging her body along because she has no more legs and only half a torso. She has a sorrowful look on her face, and the way she grabs at the ground is like a person grasping the sand in a mirage she thought was water. Her eyes are oddly soft and Rick doesn't want to kill her at first even though it is apparent he feels very sorry for her and is upset by the scene.
Our final personified Walker is Morgan's wife. Rick is saved by Morgan, a man who takes him in and learns to trust Rick because Rick generously gives Morgan half the guns at the Sheriff's department. Morgan confides in Rick several times in this episode, yet Rick doesn't reciprocate too much information. While the three of them are hiding in a house, we learn that the Walker who is standing on the porch is Morgan's wife. Rick watches her peer through the keyhole, like she knows her family is inside. Duane, Morgan's child, is sobbing in a pillow. There are more than a few moments where it seems like this Walker is somehow aware of her situation.
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| Morgan's Wife |
We learn later that this is not the case. Perhaps we're seeing these Walkers personified because Rick has only just woken up from a coma, and he is seeing them as something that they aren't anymore because accepting that they are nothing but empty shells is tough to swallow at first.
The Walkers are already dead, I get it. But just because logic tells us the Walkers are no longer mentally present or the people they used to be, many of the characters have a hard time scrambling the Walkers' brains after their loved ones have turned. We are just being introduced to the theme of Mercy Killing to preserve human dignity in this episode, so it is imperative that we see them personified.
After he and Morgan part ways, they both have a mission they need to attend to that they do not disclose to one another. Rick feels compelled to go back to the woman with half of her body and Morgan feels compelled to draw enough attention to his house with one of the rifles that Rick gave to him so he may draw his wife back to the house again with the noise. Rick looks at the woman on the ground, trying to eat him, and he says, "I'm sorry this happened to you," and he shoots her in the head to mercy kill her. He didn't have to go back to see her at all. He might have been safer if he hadn't. But he felt that in order to preserve human dignity, he had to put an end to her condition. They can't suffer and they are already dead, so it's not traditional mercy killing, but it is a way to protect the humanity that existed weeks before. For her former self's sake, and his. Morgan, on the other hand looks down the scope of his shotgun and just cannot pull the trigger on his wife. He's completely unable to let go of her and who she was even though he feels like he has to mercy kill her for the same reasons I mentioned above. The concept of Mercy Killing sets the groundwork to show us how important it is for the characters to preserve human dignity.
Preview on Youtube for Days Gone Bye:
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