Family Quotes in The Walking Dead

This is a subtle way of giving us Rick's backstory without words. Before he tells us about his wife and son, we see a picture of them hanging on his living room wall. It says it all—that's who he's frantically searching for.

This father/son duo works together to protect themselves against zombies, but maybe the kid could use a little better training. He whacks Rick in the head with a shovel, as though he's forgotten what a human looks like. Morgan and Duane are the first surviving family Rick's seen.

For the first half of this chapter of The Walking Dead, Rick's major motivation is finding his family. He'll risk anything to find them.

Rick must not care too much about his in-laws, because he doesn't try to find them, and they never even mention them again. Not all family members are created equal.

The family that lives together, dies together, we guess. Despite being religious (there's a cross on the wall and a Bible on the ground) the father of the family kills everyone then himself, with a revolver. Everyone has his own idea of what it means to protect his family, we guess. Some types of death are more horrible than others. And watching your family get eaten by zombies? The worst. Just ask Jim.

This might be the first genuinely happy moment in the whole story. Rick arrives at camp and sees his wife and son, who run toward him, arms outstretched and smiling. It's a major change in tone, if only briefly.

Not all the kids are as lucky as Carl, whose dad Rick seems to miraculously return from the dead. Carl, being seven, lacks tact and tells Sophia that her dad is dead, reminding her of the scary world they now live in.

Yikes. That's a trauma that we wouldn't wish on anyone. Not only did he lose his whole family, he saw them get eaten. It emotionally destroys him.

Like Rick, Jim would give anything to be with his family again. Unfortunately, his family are all zombies now. We doubt there's a happy zombie family reunion in his future… but whatever gives him hope. This episode just drips with pathos.

Just because Rick's the father doesn't mean he's the sole protector. There's a little role reversal at the end when seven year-old Carl ends up protecting him from Shane. Rick's been a good role model for protecting the family at all costs.