Article originally written for Seat42F.
Last night’s episode of THE WALKING DEAD, “The Grove,” is a
rough one to watch. It is an entry that illustrates the very real moral
struggles in this new world. It also poses a tough dilemma for two of our main
characters, who contemplate doing something that is unquestionably bad, but
also clearly necessary. If you haven’t seen the hour yet, grab a box of
tissues, hunker down, then return to this review when you’re done.
Like other episodes this half-season, “The Grove” features
only one surviving group from the prison as they continue their journey towards
Terminus. While searching for water, Carol (Melissa McBride) and Mika (Kyla
Kenedy) come across an abandoned house in a pecan grove, an ideal setting to
rest. They need a pause as Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman) is fighting off infection
and fever from his arm wound, which Carol treats. And, for a time, all three
consider building a life here, rather than continuing on, until events make it
impossible for them to stay with the memories of what transpires.
This isn’t the first time some of the characters on THE
WALKING DEAD are tempted by relative, temporary safety, rather than feeling
it’s necessary to push on and find everyone else. Is this because they don’t
trust strangers after what The Governor did to them? Do they think all their
friends are dead? Or are they just exhausted from traveling? Or maybe it’s
because they’re just trying to recapture the appearance of normalcy, as Tyreese
and Mika seem to do, relaxing in a real living room.
But as any viewers know, these reprieves are destined to be
short-lived. This time, the threat that propels them forwards comes from inside
their little group, rather than outside. That’s because there’s a fourth member
of this company I haven’t mentioned yet – Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino).
Fans already assume that Lizzie is the one who fed the
walkers rats at the prison, as well as dissected the rodent down in the tombs.
We see her callously stabbing bunnies a few weeks ago. She has all the makings
of a psychopath.
But Lizzie’s situation is more precarious than that. She may
be hard-hearted against animals, but she loves walkers. She thinks the human
being they were is still present inside of them, and with a little effort, they
can overcome their people-eating impulses. She decides to prove her theory,
which she definitely whole-heartedly believes, to the adults by turning her
sweet sister Mika into a walker, stabbing her to death, but not in the brain.
If I hadn’t read the comics in which a pair of twin boys
have a similar, less developed story, I wouldn’t have seen this coming, even
after Lizzie’s “I know what I have to do,” coming on the heels of her feeling
guilty for killing walkers in self-defense. Television shies away from child
violence, especially against those so young, and “The Grove” does dance around
the issue, declining to show much. Still, the fact that the writers go here is
a bold move for any network.
It’s sad because we know Lizzie is just trying to be good
and help others. Carol and Tyreese are faced with a real conundrum because they
and baby Judith are not safe around Lizzie, but can anyone bring themselves to
kill a misguided child? It’s not like Lizzie’s behavior screams evil, even if
her deeds do. She’s begging them to love her, and Carol, at least, does. In the
modern world, Lizzie could go to a psychiatric hospital and seek help. But
here, there is no such luxury in THE WALKING DEAD.
And so Carol puts Lizzie down. She has to. I don’t think
Tyreese, gentle giant that he is, could have done it, but he doesn’t object or
try to stop Carol. He understands they are in a terrible position, having
talked it through, and something must be done. It isn’t easy for Carol, either,
as we see, but as she has in the past, Carol does what she has to for the good
of the group.
This opens the door to resolve the whole Karen situation,
which hangs over Tyreese and Carol throughout “The Grove” and before. Carol was
banished for murdering Karen and another guy to stop the spread of a virus, but
Tyreese loved Karen and doesn’t yet know Carol is responsible. Charred walkers,
presumably coming from the fire that Beth and Daryl set two weeks ago, reawaken
Karen’s memory, as she was burned, and Tyreese struggles with nightmares. As he
confides these feelings to Carol, the only other adult present, viewers can see
how hard it is for Carol not to confess.
Carol is a good person at heart. She only hurts others when
it’s necessary. If she told Tyreese the truth early in this episode, though,
Tyreese would not have been able to handle it. Only after Tyreese sees how hard
it is for Carol to kill Lizzie is he able to understand and forgive Carol when
she finally gets her secret off her chest. It’s the timing of the revelation,
more than anything, that allows the two to stay together.
One has to wonder if Carol wants to die when she tells
Tyreese the truth. Taking out Lizzie, whom Carol saw as a surrogate daughter,
does a number on the woman, who can’t even kill a deer in the aftermath. Plus,
the parallels between Mika and Carol’s own daughter, Sophia, are strong, so
that’s another blow against Carol. As she hands Tyreese a gun and awaits his
reaction, she might actually think she deserves to die, and might crave it just
a little bit.
But Tyreese is better than that. As Lizzie told him,
misguided as she was at the time, killing isn’t always necessary. In this
instance, Tyreese needs Carol to get him and Judith safely to Terminus. And I
do think he respects her for doing what he couldn’t in regards to Lizzie. He’ll
be wary around Carol for here on out, but their bond isn’t completely broken.
One has to respect the amount of foreshadowing and through-lines
in this hour. When our heroes first get to the grove, they see three graves,
one with baby booties. This may trick some in the audience into thinking Judith
will die along with two others, which is only narrowly avoided. There’s also a
lot of repetition of lines such as “it’ll all work out” and being a good person
isn’t enough, often meaning something else in subsequent deliveries. These make
for a very cohesive, strongly written episode, raising the overall quality
considerably.
I can’t end this without comment on the first scene shown
being set mid-episode, as this is a trope I’ve frequently complained about in
other reviews lately. Yet, somehow, it didn’t bother me here. It may be because
it wasn’t initially obvious that’s what the scene was. It may be because it was
artistically done, not merely included to smack the audience in the face with a
hook. Whatever the reason, THE WALKING DEAD, unlike most series, made it work.
“The Grove” is an excellent, emotional episode. The two
young girls do all right, not the strongest performances, but not bad for
someone of their age. Coleman is terrific, and McBride is really something to
watch, her feelings definitely communicated well to viewers as the character
struggles with herself and this awful existence. This will be a memorable
installment, a stand out in a consistently fantastic string of episodes,
largely because of the acting abilities of McBride and Coleman.
THE WALKING DEAD airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
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