A tense confrontation between brothers-in-arms reveals how far they’ve come and how much they’ve lost
Summary
– Rick questions Daryl about Justin’s mysterious death and a possible arrow wound
– The exchange highlights growing distrust within the survivor community
– Their clash reflects the emotional fallout from Glenn, Abraham, and Sasha’s deaths
In one of the most emotionally charged moments of The Walking Dead’s ninth season, Rick confronts Daryl about the death of Justin. The conversation unfolds quietly but cuts deep, capturing the shifting trust between two of the show’s longest-standing survivors.
Rick observes that Justin’s wound looks like a puncture, small and clean—too small for a bullet, resembling an arrow mark. The implication hangs in the air. Daryl doesn’t flinch.
“You really think I did it?” Daryl asks.
“No,” Rick replies. “But others do. So I’m making sure.”
Daryl reminds him that he would’ve done it in plain sight if he had killed Justin. He doesn’t know who’s responsible, but he does know why. The strain of rebuilding a fractured civilization is testing everyone’s resolve.
Rick insists that uniting the remaining communities is still the right thing to do. But Daryl pushes back, asking the hardest question: why do some get to build a new future while people like Glenn, Abraham, and Sasha are gone? “You ever think about what they’d want?” he asks. “What they’d do if they could?”
Rick admits he’s thought about it and that for a long time, he wanted that future more than anyone. But as he tells Daryl, “Killing each other when the world already belongs to the dead… It’s not the way. Not anymore.”
