At some point in tonight’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” Daryl tells Dale, “The group is broken.” Dale, as the conscience of the group of survivors of the zombie apocalypse, doesn’t want to believe that’s the case.

Late in the episode, however, Dale echoes Daryl’s sentiments.

Tonight’s episode of AMC’s “Walking Dead,” “Judge, Jury and Executioner,” at first glance promised to be another talky, soap-operatic episode. Hershel gave Glenn his blessing in his relationship with his daughter. Dale appealed to the rest of the group for leniency for Randall, the hapless interloper they took prisoner. Andrea, who’s been closer to Shane than anyone recently, ultimately backed Dale’s stance.

But the episode was punctuated by a couple of notable moments:

Carl, Rick and Lori’s son, decided to go on a dangerous walkabout, encountering a zombie in a scene that provided some edge-of-the-seat suspense.

And the ending …

Spoilers ahoy!

After Dale makes an emotional appeal to spare Randall’s life in the show’s version of “Twelve Angry Men,” he succumbs to a random zombie attack out in a field on the periphery of the farm.

As Dale lays dying, Carl realizes the zombie who killed Dale is the one he encountered in the woods and couldn’t kill.

As if Carl didn’t have enough of a screwed-up future ahead of him.

Two more episodes remain in the season.