Carol Shows How Brutal She Can Be on 'TWD'

As gruesome as The Walking Dead can be, this week’s episode was heavier than most. The episode may not have been thrilling — in fact, it only added to the recent monotony of the plot. But the ethical and emotional dilemmas presented were thought-provoking and also answered a few of the important questions that have been lingering. [Spoiler alert: This recap contains spoilers for The Walking Dead through Season 4 Episode 14.] This week’s episode followed the same format as previous weeks, where the show focuses on one of the small groups that broke off after the prison was raided by the Governor. The focus was on Tyreese’s crew, which consists of Carol, Judith, and sisters Lizzie and Mika.There’s no easy way to say it, but Lizzie and Mika were killed in a series of bizarre events. Lizzie had been troubled since we first met her — she struggled with understanding that the walkers were out to kill her and anyone who was alive. Remember the mystery of someone feeding the walkers outside of the prison? Yes, as suspected, this week’s episode revealed that Lizzie had been the one feeding them. Her sister, Mika, was not worried about killing walkers, but struggled with the thought of killing a living person. She admitted that she felt bad for the Governor’s clan, who came to kill everyone at the prison — she knew that they hadn’t always been like that.Tyreese, Carol, and the girls arrived at a pecan farm where they decided to settle down for a few days before continuing on to Terminus. Everything seemed to be okay and they could finally relax. But things took a strange turn early on. Carol found Lizzie outside playing with a walker who she claimed to be her “friend.” Later on, Mika caught Lizzie feeding a mouse to a walker. She seemed to get over her whole zombie-loving phase when she and Mika had a close encounter with a herd of walkers that emerged from the woods. Lizzie helped to kill several of them and even told Carol she now realized what they were. Well, just as we were thinking we could trust her, Carol and Tyreese went out for a walk and when they returned, Mika was dead and Lizzie was just standing there with knife in hand. (Luckily Judith was still alive, but she would have been next… ) Lizzie explained that she wanted them to understand how she felt about the walkers and was careful to not hurt Mika’s brain when she killed her.Carol knew what had to happen — she repeatedly told Tyreese that Lizzie could not be around other people. So, she took Lizzie out to gather flowers for Mika. In a very troubling scene, Carol shot and killed Lizzie. (But really, we’ve known Carol to kill the living before… )If the episode wasn’t already disturbing enough, it concluded with Carol’s confession to Tyreese. She explained that she was the one who killed Karen and David back at the prison and told Tyreese to do what he had to do (meaning it was okay if he killed her then and there). But Tyreese, being the nice guy that he is, forgave Carol. Would a blowout between them had made it any better? Probably not. But it just doesn’t seem right that the now smaller group of just Carol, Tyreese, and Judith easily just packed up and headed on to Terminus at the close of the show.

Image: AMC