Wait, what are the three questions from The Walking Dead?

On The Walking Dead season 4 premiere, we saw a kinder, gentler Rick.

Though our Sheriff isn’t fond of carrying guns, and seems more willing to help strangers, he’s still cautious. When he considers taking in new people, he always asks them three questions.

Let’s clarify those now:

1. How many walkers have you killed?
2. How many humans have you killed?
3. Why?

The last question is the second part of the second question. While this is obvious to many of us, I know a few of you were a bit lost in that dramatic moment. And that’s okay. I’ll explain it even more.

How many walkers have you killed?

Rick wants to see if you’re battle-ready, and willing to kill and protect others. If you haven’t killed many, or any, it’ll also be a sign that you’ve had a killer hiding spot for a while. It just reveals a lot about people in that environment.

How many humans have you killed?

Personally, I think this could be expanded into “before the zombies and after the zombies” because I’d hate to meet a non-zombie-killing serial killer that I welcome into my camp. When Rick asks this, he wants to see if there’s honesty or hesitation.

Why?

Well, you can’t just kill humans without explaining why it happened. He doesn’t damn anyone who admits they’ve done it, it seems, but he needs to know exactly what the situation was. Maybe it was a pack of guys trying to attack some women. Maybe it was a mercy kill for someone that was bitten. Who knows.

So, there you go. The three questions. They should be easy to answer. If they’re not…you’ve got some explaining to do.

Photo: Gene Page for AMC