S2E12, “Better Angels”

Watching it now and stricken by the recognition/realization of the theme that plays when Rick and Carl are sitting in the barn in that beautiful, golden, setting sun.

RICK:

No more kid stuff.

I wish you could have the childhood I had, but that's not gonna happen.

People are gonna die. I’m gonna die.

Mom.

There's no way you can ever be ready for it.

I try to be, but I can't.

The best we can do now is avoid it as long as we can, keep one step ahead.

I wish I had something better to say, something-- Something more profound. My father was good like that.

But I'm tired, son.

Please take it.

(HANDS CARL THE GUN)

The music is stripped down, a childhood melody, something that speaks of simplicity. And it’s that theme, here, that later plays during Carl’s death—the feeling of an ending, the feeling of an innocence lost. And I never put it together, until now.