Judge, Jury, Executioner

"Judge, Jury, Executioner" is the eleventh episode of the second season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the seventeenth episode of the series overall. It premiered on March 4, 2012. It was written by Angela Kang and directed by Greg Nicotero.

Plot
Rick sides with Shane on an important decision, causing Dale to worry that the group is losing its humanity. Carl's actions have unintended consequences on the group.

Co-Stars

 * Jane McNeill as Patricia
 * James Allen McCune as Jimmy

Uncredited

 * Jewel Wilson as Josephine Greene (Photograph)
 * Kevin Galbraith as Swamp Walker

Deaths

 * 1 cow
 * Dale Horvath

Trivia

 * Last appearance of Dale Horvath.
 * Last appearance of Josephine Greene. (Photograph)
 * Dale Horvath is the first main character to die.
 * The title of the episode, "Judge, Jury, Executioner", implies these roles will be filled out for Randall's fate. However, only the Judge and Jury roles pertain to him, with Rick as the judge and the group as the jury. The executioner is Daryl, who instead kills a suffering Dale when Rick cannot bring himself to do it.
 * According to Greg Nicotero, when originally scripted, Dale was supposed to find Jimmy having been attacked instead of the cow that was filmed.[2]
 * Jeffrey DeMunn, who played Dale, had a change of heart about leaving the show and asked after filming his death if the showrunners could change the episode so he could live and keep portraying the character. Unfortunately, they had already filmed the scene and decided not to spend the extra money that would be required to reshoot the ending.

Comic Parallels

 * Rick's decision to hang Randall since he is a threat is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 17, where Rick decides to hang Thomas as punishement instead.
 * Carl visiting a tied up Randall in the shed is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 94, where Carl visits a tied up Jesus in Alexandria instead.