Summary
10 years ago,The Walking Dead’s season 4 finale weakened the impact of Rick Grimes’ most badass line from the comics by censoring his perfectly placed F-bomb – and I’m still not over it.The Walking Deadseason 4, episode 16, “A,” sees Rick and his group finally arriving at Terminus. They’d been on the road to Terminus ever since their cushy prison hideout was destroyed by the Governor. Terminus promised a safe haven, and since this isThe Walking Dead, that seemed much too good to be true.
When Rick, Carl, Michonne, and Daryl arrived at Terminus, they were initially welcomed in by the leader of the Termites, Gareth. But as soon as Rick saw Glenn’s watch, which Hershel gifted to him, hanging from Gareth’s pocket, he instantly lost all semblance of trust in the Termites and suspected foul play. Outnumbered and outgunned, Rick and his group were taken to a dark train carriage, where they were reunited with Glenn, Maggie, and everyone else, who’d been similarly taken prisoner.
The Termites are “f***ing with the wrong people,” not “screwing with the wrong people”
While everyone else has lost all hope, Rick remains determined to get his people out of that train car andtopple Gareth’s cannibalistic dictatorship. Rick tells his fellow survivors, “They’re gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out…” and Abraham asks, “Find out what?” In the comics, Rick says, “They’re f***ing with the wrong people.”That line gave me goosebumps when I first read it, and I couldn’t wait to hear Andrew Lincoln deliver the lineon the show. But in the show, he uttered the watered-down version, “They’re screwing with the wrong people.”
This censored version of the line doesn’t sound anywhere near as badass as the original, and doesn’t have nearly as much impact. The ending of the entire season was riding on that line, and by removing the F-bomb, they completely deflated the tension of the scene and the badassness of the moment.The original NSFW version of the line can be heard on the home media release– and Lincoln nailed the delivery of the F-bomb – but the broadcast version (the version available on streaming) still has the underwhelming censored phrasing of the line.
Laterseasons ofThe Walking Deadmade season 4’s alteration to Rick’s most badass line even more disappointing. The show continued to feature F-bombs on the home media releases that were censored in the TV broadcasts until season 9. But from season 9 onwards, when the goalposts moved slightly on cable television,The Walking Dead(and fellow cable shows likeBetter Call SaulandIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) began featuring a lot of uncensored F-bombs. If only they’d changed the rules before the Termites locked Rick in that train car…
The Walking Dead
Cast
The Walking Dead is a television series that premiered on June 18, 2025. It follows Sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes, who awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies. He embarks on a journey to locate his family, encountering various survivors amidst the chaos.
