The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 14 | Discussion

 Warning:  

If you don't want any spoilers of this week's The Walking Dead and haven't seen it yet then don't continue reading. However, if you have watched it, read more to see my thoughts and join the discussion!

Holy Hell was that an episode! It's probably one of my favourite episodes throughout this season and the reason being is because it was raw and powerful. I know others will disagree because there wasn't much action or they don't really care about the story of the girls, but when I watch this series, I always try to put myself in the characters position and see how I would react to certain things, pretty much like the game by Telltale Games.

Carol is one of those characters that I was never really fond of in the beginning and maybe it's because I felt she wasn't seen much or doing much apart from caring for others. But this episode changed that for me. Completely. If you remember from Season 1, Carol's character was very submissive to her abusive husband and portrayed as weak. Once her daughter died, and after seeing all of the bad in the world, she changed, and that's what this episode was all about. Change. She is now strong, still nurturing and caring, and will do whatever it takes to keep the ones she loves safe, even if that means taking someone's life.

The Decision

Breaking free and being strong are two other main factors in this episode. Carol finally built up the courage and told Tyreese the truth. For so long he wanted revenge on the person who killed the woman he loved and it was up to him to decide whether to take action or choose to forgive. Luckily, he choose the second option. For him—it seems—murdering someone in cold blood is something he can't do, especially considering it was Carol and not some 'random stranger'. It showed that Tyreese can resist from violence and forgive, but, of course, never forget. This earnt him more respect in my book.

Decision making would be difficult in a world so chaotic and messed up with Walkers ripping apart flesh and eating guts and having to worry about the living killing you as well, even if they are mentally unstable like Lizzie.

"Don't worry, she'll come back!"

What do pecans and Lizzie have in common? They're both nuts!

I always had my suspicion that Lizzie wasn't...how should I say...'right' in the head? Or perhaps 'nuts' might the right word which is ironic since they focused on pecans in this episode, I'm just sayin'.

I knew it was her feeding those Walkers back at the prison as she saw them as people, not blood thirsty zombies. It was obvious. I wasn't exactly expecting her to murder her own sister so she could turn though, that was crazy.

I did, however, predict that she would kill her sister because Carol would show Mika more attention and affection since she reminded her of Sophia and that Lizzie would get jealous and murder her, but I was wrong. Either way, it's effed up and Lizzie did kill her sister in the end.

"Look at the flowers, Lizzie."

Now to the next part; the biggest decision both Carol and Tyreese had to make. Some won't agree with the choice to, let's say...'put her down', but in all honesty, I would have done the same thing if I was in their shoes. Lizzie was dangerous, unstable and not fit to be in a group. She murdered her own sister, almost killed Judith and didn't feel the slightest bit guilty, that's saying something. 

Having a psychopath in the group would be too risky and having to worry about being killed in your sleep by either her knife or drawn in Walkers would be a nightmare. Sure Lizzie was strong in a sense, but her mindset was weak, confused and disorientated. The only way for them to move on was by doing the one thing Carol always feared: killing a child.

I wouldn't have said this episode was 'breathtaking' like the ads said it would be, but it was a bit 'shocking' and emotional with so many themes—such as the moment when she saw the deer as it symbolised herself in a way and how she is now no longer sweet and innocent like she was in the beginning—and more character development, and the ending with the flashback of her words really rounded up Carol's story of survival and how much she has changed extremely well. I hope there are more episodes like this to come.

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So, what did you think of it? Did you agree with Carol and Tyreese's choice to shoot Lizzie? Leave your comments below!