Walking Dead Recap: Indifference
by North
Of Zombies and Criminal Justice
Good morning Walking Dead fans, it’s a new week and finally a new episode worth writing about so here’re my musings on the proceedings for the liquor and peaches episode.
I couldn’t bring myself to write about last weeks episode because I found it boring, depressing and kind of annoying in a vague nebulous sort of way that I can’t wrap my amateur writing hands around.
Tyreese seems to be carrying the crazy card this season so far. That’s fine, I suppose someone has to carry it and while it annoys me I can rationalize it. Almost any survivor in TWD world should be mentally scarred at the very least by the horrors they’ve endured. I’ll also note that crazy Tyreese is still only a tenth as annoying as crazy Rick; possibly because crazy Tyreese isn’t leading a group that just coughs and looks at each other uncomfortably when he acts crazy. Still, he’s being confronted with it and Tyreese seems more likely to recover more quickly due to that than Rick did.
As if zombies didn’t suck enough now we have plague zombies; that sucks even more. I originally had serious problems with this murderous super flue that people have been keeling over from but I have gathered that it is modeled on actual super flues from history (primarily the Spanish flue) and that somewhat defangs my skepticism. Just because the dead are walking doesn’t mean humanity’s older scourges have laid down their arms and goodness knows the prison probably isn’t meeting first world standards of living conditions.
The houses that Carol and Rick are rooting around in don’t work for me. They look far too pristine. By this point the story time is running at least the better part of 2 years for the zombie apocalypse to have been going on yes? I think 2 year abandoned houses would be a lot more filthy.
I understand that the newbies that Carol and Rick found were only brought in to be killed again but did they have to make them such aw shucks likable characters? Why couldn’t Carol and Rick simply brought the two along with them on their foraging expedition directly? Two young adult bodies, even if one has a bum leg, would be a huge asset at the prison, especially considering their recent losses. Also how did the poor redshirt girl’s leg end up at the fence gate and the rest of her end up buffet across the street? Did an especially discerning walker throw it over there? Is there such thing as a foodie walker who won’t eat damaged limbs?
This brings me to the subject of a running irritation with me: the constant under appreciation the show has for human resources. More important that canned food or some tanks of gasoline human beings strike me as being one of the most important resources you can have in TWD world. Sure they consume food but a healthy adult can go out and scrounge up more or grow more. A healthy human adult can do a lot of productive things and when you have a society like the prison group where you have a surplus of unhealthy infirm adults or young children you should really be on the lookout for more adults to recruit. You should also try to preserve the ones’ you’ve got (I’m looking at you Carol)!
As to Carol, her confession was last episode but her justifications were this one and I’m sad to say they’re generally bunk. Shall we run down them?
-The “they were suffering I made it quick” line was bunk. Even as a callout the euthanasia it didn’t work because I severely doubt that Karen and David were pleading for death’s sweet embrace.
-The “I was protecting the group” line was double bunk. These people had been quarantined. Either the quarantine would be effective in which case killing them was pointless or the group had already been infected (this turned out to be the case) in which case killing them was pointless. The only thing Carol protected the group from was the eventual chance that these two healthy adults might have fought off the flue and resumed their rolls of being productive adults in the camp (and keeping Tyreese non-crazy).
-The “You were abdicating your leadership role so I was just filling the void” line was triple bunk. Yes the Ricktatorship was over but the prison had an apparently well functioning committee that had long since filled the void and was by all accounts doing a pretty good job. At the start of the season the prison community was looking pretty well run and pleasant. Carol didn’t have the right to unilaterally start murdering people because their sniffles freaked her out.
On the subject of “you have no authority” Rick heaving Carol out of the community is similarly idiotic. You’re not running things Rick and you’ve spent the whole season crying about how you don’t want to. Do you think this unilateral move is going to spread peace and congeniality in the prison community? Let’s tally it up. Darrel is gonna be furious; he obviously was very close to Carol and you just sent her off into the wilds with a backpack of scavenged peaches and a beat up station wagon? Tyreese is gonna be furious; Carol killed his girlfriend and another man and you gave him no say in the matter nor a chance to confront the murderer. Frankly I can’t think of a single character that should be okay with this. Everyone has known Carol since season one for fish’s sake! Argh! North’s hate of Rick Grimes continues apace this season apparently.
So what are all your thoughts on the latest episode or TWD in general?
I was really intrigued by Carol’s thought processes in a lot of ways. I take it as a good sign of involvement when I begin to wonder what a character is thinking, rather than wonder what the writers are trying to do.
Yeah, Carol’s explanations are largely bunk, but they strike me as entirely plausible bunk — that is, I can believe she really thought she might be doing the right thing, but I’m also not sure she believes it entirely. What I’m more curious about is why she confessed to Rick — had she planned to? did she do so just because he asked? Would she have been as honest with anyone else — say, Herschel or Glenn or even Darryl — if any of them has asked? Her line acknowledging that Rick was a better leader than she gave him credit for makes me wonder if she is using him as her judge. It seemed to me she almost needed to test out her justifications with someone else, that she was willing to put herself in his hands and accept the consequences. She sure didn’t protest much about being exiled, which is why it didn’t strike me as a problem that Rick asked her to go. I didn’t get the sense that he was acting as dictator, I got the sense that he felt it would be best if she left and she was willing to go along with that.
The fallout from this will be interesting, I hope, but I also hope Carol isn’t gone for long because she’s the most interesting and compelling character on the show right now.Report
I am probably putting more thought into this than the TWD writers, but is it possible Carol is lying/covering for someone else (most likely the psycho little girl who thinks walkers are people)? That maybe the girl did the killing, and Carol simply disposed of the bodies after discovering this?
The reason I ask that is we’ve seen Carol waiting patiently for people to die/turn before she stabs ’em in the brain (notably, psycho-girl’s dad). She’s never mercy-killed people before they turn…why now, all of a sudden? They were isolated. They weren’t going to spread the disease further. And we/they still don’t know how lethal this flu is. It took the one kid out, but nobody else has died from it yet.
At least as far as Rick’s decision to exile Carol, that actually made sense to me. Something had to be done, but killing her outright (or handing her to Tyreese to kill her) didn’t seem right.Report
I’d be pretty pleased if they actually made it psycho girl, sure.
I disagree about Rick unilaterally exiling Carol though. This choice he’s made is the one that’s guaranteed to piss everyone off. If Rick had brought her to the group and informed them of what she’d done they might have ended up exiling her anyhow (I doubt they’d have handed her over to an understandably murderous Tyreese) but it would have been good to have all their buy ins.Report
I don’t know. “Getting buy-in” sounds great in an ideal world, but TWD is far from an ideal world. What if Tyreese kills her before a group decision can be reached? What if it causes a schism in the group, with half of them taking Carol’s side? What if Carol leaves, taking half the group with her?
Taking someone aside and saying “I know what you did, and while I may (or may not) understand your reasons, others will not, and it’s safer/better for everyone if you just go away before anyone else finds out” seems like the best/most humane option (although exile is very nearly a death sentence).
I guess I am most curious to see what story Rick gives the others when he comes back – is he going to explain what he did and why, or is he going to lie about it?Report
Yep, a lot will hinge on that. The comics are no guide since in the comics Pneby pbzzvgf fhvpvqr va ure pryy.Report
“I am probably putting more thought into this than the TWD writers, but is it possible Carol is lying/covering for someone else (most likely the psycho little girl who thinks walkers are people)? That maybe the girl did the killing, and Carol simply disposed of the bodies after discovering this?”
I think is probably the answer. It even seemed to me like Rick was putting something together in his head before they went off on their expedition only to ignore it and send her into exile. It just amazes me she would go along with it but maybe this is her playing the abused spouse in a way (i.e. i will do whatever it takes to not rock the boat). Still though, I thought it was pretty unbelievable how meekly she agreed to leave.
And by the way, in that world, if someone reaches for their gun just because you take their booze, they are a serious liability that you are completely justified into sending into exile.Report
Yeah Mike, if the guy didn’t represent 33% of the communities medical knowledge I’d be right there with you but in TWD world that kind of human knowledge is damn near priceless. It’d be worth putting another unskilled minder on him 24-7 just to keep him alive and in the group. Also note that by this point only some remarkably lucky individuals could be expected to have remained mentally unscarred.Report
I somewhat agree that Carol was looking to Rick to judge her. Indeed you’re right that she very meekly accepted her exile. I don’t think she’d have confessed if he hadn’t asked her but I think that once he questioned her she was unwilling to lie to cover her acts any further.Report
I believe carol is covering up for the little girl. Also, the little girl must be feeding the walkers with rats because she feels they are people. Let us not forgot that carol taught her to use a blade. Once Darrell finds out carol is vanished he will track her because that is what Darrell does, finds people like his brotherReport
I really really hope you’re right!Report
On further consideration there is some substance to this belief. If you’ll recall they specifically showed a flash back with Carol knifing the sick people. This establishes that they weren’t shot which does make it more plausible that the little girl did it. Though I can’t see the little girl being able to drag the bodies out of the cell and burn them.
But does anyone recall the girl knowing about the sick people? I don’t see how she knew to kill them.Report
Yeah, fallout from Rick’s explanation could be interesting. I had a hard time not yelling at the TV “are you kidding me! Former dictator and I-see-dead-people is judging others suitability to be i the group?!” And I am just an observer, what will those with an actual connection to Carol say or do?Report
On the “Talking Dead” aftershow, guest Chris Jericho gave an insighful comment that this episode had an under-theme of “Letting Go”. Tyreese not letting go of the walker @ the garage, and Michonne discussing the need to let go of useless anger. The guy not letting go of the backpack w/ the booze, and Darrell letting him go, so far as being considered a trusty asset. Carol & Rick’s discussion of what they have & haven’t let go of from their pre-zombie lives, and Rick, making Carol let go of the group. Carol may have left, but I don’tthink she’s let the group go. How Rick explains will be interesting, but I’m certain Carol has NOT been written out of the show.Report
A lot of the little illogical plot nits irk me as well. However, it all ultimately depends on how they contribute to the plot. After all, I care about how well the narrative works, not how well the show capture
So, in regards to Carol. I don’t really get the whole overnight transformation. A bit of foreshadowing in earlier seasons would have been nice. Maybe it’s there and I missed it though. Her offing two innocent people who were already safely quarantined from everyone else doesn’t make a whole lot of sense outside some internal psychological motivation. And if the kid did do it, not telling Rick that and leaving some homicidal maniac kid back at the prison to fend for herself doesn’t make much sense either.
Maybe Carol plans to get back to the prison before Rick and get the girls out or win over some of the group to her side. I guess we’ll see. One area that the show is much better at this season is building tension within episodes. We’ll see if they can do the same thing over the course of the short half-season.Report
Carol’s transformation seems to have occurred primarily during the Ricktatorship of season 3. From the start of season 3 she was quiet, helpful and much more focused. She also was insightful and personable, I started really liking her. I’d say the new Carol was the woman that Darrel rescued from the prison cell after everyone though she’d been killed and I flat out love her. Her comments to Darrel about him and Mearl were excellent.
I genuinely hope she’s not gone for good because I really like her now (despite her irration homicidal freakout over the plague).Report
The show has handled “crazy Tyreese” well. In the comic book, Tyreese’s love interest gets killed before they find the prison. He’s got a death wish and gets himself separated from the group when they attempt to clear out a basketball court full of walkers. The rest of the group beats a hasty retreat when it is apparent they’re going to be overwhelmed and are forced to lock Tyreese into the basketball court with the hordes. Everyone laments his loss, only to come back to the court later and find him sitting in the middle of a bunch of re-deaded zombies. The corresponding scene in the show was him fighting the horde at the car and coming out of the bushes later.
How Rick handled Carol is interesting. He obviously couldn’t bring himself to just put a bullet in her head, so he opted to leave her behind on a run. He’s the only one who knows that he didn’t “deal with her” so he can tell the group whatever he wants, and more importantly, he can tell Tyreese that Carol did it and that he had “dealt with her.” It also leaves open the possibility of Carol showing up in a future episode. As to what he’ll say to Darrell? The show seems to be throwing he and Michonne together, so maybe it won’t matter as much after all.Report