So my partner and I watched the Walking Dead as we normally do.. this is episode four of season four.
It finished and we were both like... well, if they're gonna cut Carol out for attempting to cull a plague of sorts, why hasn't Carl been disowned for murdering a surrendering teen in cold blood?
She has to hit the road, and he gets his bleeding gun back? How?? Why???
It's not secret that I am not a fan of Carl. Stay in the house Carl. Stop leading marsh zombies to the farm, Carl. Stop being attitudey, Carl. Stop shooting innocent kids, Carl. Stop whinging about your gun Carl. Wash that damn hat once in a while, Carl. Stay in the damn house, Carl!
It's not his fault, he is the main kid for this series. He has to make all the mistakes that the adults aren't allowed to. But still, it does bother me that Carl doesn't really seem to have had any repentance for his thing and yet he's still in a fairly top dog position. Carol has copped some flack for becoming heartless, but is this something you would say about a bloke leader? Not wanting to turn this into a sexism debate but generally a man would be referred to as level headed or cool thinking.. with women it's either they're too emotional or not emotional enough and either one is as bad as the other!
With the start of the series, I got the impression that Rick was sick of being the leader and that Carol really did step up and take charge of things. Stuff.... and things.. that Rick didn't want to, or couldn't.
Rick has had his moments too. Killing Shane. Perhaps necessary, but still murder. Planning on killing a young Randall on account of his potential allies (who had left him for dead). Killing or leaving for dead, some of the original inmates at the prison, who may have been allies or threats. Intending on handing Michonne - skilled survivor over to the Governor - skilled dictator, in exchange for a potential truce or ceasefire. Almost leaving Michonne behind to die at Woodbury. Going psycho at refugees from Woodbury. Ignoring the hitchhiker which would leave him to his death at the hands of walkers then they steal his backpack. Isolating his one time ally Morgan. Not wanting to bother helping the 'hippie' survivors Ana and Sam.
All of these things make Rick as 'heartless' as he thinks Carol is. As the episode's title, indifference is the problem here. Carol is coming across as a sociopath to others when really it's just her coping strategy, not letting emotions get in the way or letting people too close to her. She say herself, she didn't want to kill Karen and David but felt she HAD to, to protect everyone else. Not for the thrills of it.
No, she didn't have the answers the rest of the council would have wanted. Yes, they may have recovered from the illness. Key word being 'may'. Problem word being 'illness.' Plague, infection.. unknown starting point, unknown treatment, unknown incubation time.. All they had to go on was that walkers had been seen with the same symptoms, the pigs in the prison (not those kind of pigs) had died of illness, the last known person to have been sick infected a whole cell block and who knows what else.
So yes, I'm in defense of Carol taking care of the two left with the infection - Rick seems to be on a 'you betrayed me' sort of slant, saying that he wouldn't feel safe with her around, like she's just going to kill anyone she comes near. Which honestly, considering his rap sheet is complete bull crap. So is abandoning her to the wild. Carol knows a lot more than when she started out but it's still going to be almost a death sentence. Honestly, I think Rick is just intimidated and put out by her leadership.
Rick makes a big deal about how Carol never brings up Sophia... and it's like... is that really needed? Does anyone question Rick when he doesn't mention Lori every single episode? Sophia had a terrible, lonely death that caused a lot of grief and worry for the whole group, why is it so wrong that Carol would want to put that behind her a little bit? You don't heal faster if you keep re-opening the wounds. Everyone copes in their own way. The way Rick questions her like that about her poor daughter isn't anything a humane person would do.
'Oh, you're not mentioning your zombie daughter - the only person you really loved who went missing for what seems like several seasons, then was right under your nose the whole time because she totally was in the barn and got shot? By me? Yeah, why is that Carol? Are you a massive bitch or what?'
Dayyymn. Also, I'm putting it out there that that little girl is the one feeding the zombies rats. So there.
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