I particularly liked your second paragraph. I think IF there were ever a zombie outbreakā¦ the Vatican would definately issue a request/order that its followers were not to go out and strike or kill a zombie, UNLESS it threatened their survival. And Iāve long thought the pope would encourage the faithful that did have to put them down, to do so in the most humanely of ways as well.
That would be interesting to see how the Vatican would handle this. It seems from the first season that it was a world-wide epidemic, so Iām wondering if the Vatican would be untouched. What would happen if even the leaders of the Church were affected?
I agree that Hersschel was being sparadic, and foolish. I think he was just trying to cling to the past, not willing to admit they they were actually dead.
I really felt sorry for Herschel, but agree with you that he was being foolish. You could see how heartbroken he was and how much of his āinnocenceā in his belief that his loved ones and friends were only sick was just ripped from him after Shaneās explosion. Shane is a loose cannon and although he was right that it was foolish and dangerous to keep the walkers in the barn, the way he handled it was completely wrong and out-of-control. From what my husband tells me, in the comic, Rick is the one who actually leads in getting rid of them, although not in the same way as Shane. I think Shane is in a downward spiral of lunacy and I have a feeling we may see the end of him by the seasonās completion. I wonder if his end will be the same as in the comic.
(THOSE WHO HAVENāT BEEN READING THE COMIC OR DONāT HAVE FRIENDS/RELATIVES READING THE COMIC FILLING THEM IN, MAY WANT TO STOP READING HERE)
That action is apparently what gets them thrown off the farm. I guess weāll have to see if Herschel throws them off in the show. I think he will after this. Otherwise, how will they get to the prison (which is an interesting part of the story in the comicā¦ that is where Iāve read a couple of the issues.)
And poor Sophia! Alas, if it werenāt for their need of webvideos, we might have seen her alive still. Now we have to log on and see just how she got bit!
It was very sad, but I thought that the show either was going to go one way in which the group would suddenly find her alive, or the the āKirkmanā way, where they would discover that she was dead. I thought it was a good way of magnifying the heartbreak of Herschel and his difficulty in shooting his loved ones, once this once sweet, little girl came out of the barn. No one in the group could shoot because it was a person they knew and cared about, not even Shane could shoot. Very interesting that Rick was the one who had to put an end to it.
My sister tells me that Sophia is actually still around in the comic (she and my husband are up to the most recent comic of Kirkmanās and are just waiting for the next edition.) Itās interesting that they decided to not keep her on in the show, but there are so many characters in the actual comic, many of which who arenāt in the show, I guess they really canāt have too many on a tv show. It wouldnāt work as well as it does in a comic.
If that is the case, you could probably repeat the vows made just without the priest as witness?
But then DH has also said if I were to become a zombie, he would lop my head off without a second thought. I would prefer he at least try and contain me until a cure is found. 
I pretty much hate every episodic tv show.