‘The Walking Dead’ Episode 4.14 “The Grove” (10 out of 10) Starring Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Melissa McBride; Sundays on AMC.
When I saw that tonight’s episode was focused around Tyreese and Carol, I had a feeling that a bomb was going to explode. The season’s just about finished, and we know that Carol has something major to tell Tyreese, so it made logical sense to open that can of worms tonight. Despite mentally preparing myself for an emotional episode, it’s safe to say that I was not nearly as prepared as I needed to be. GARGANTUAN SPOILERS AHEAD! PLEASE DON’T READ THIS UNTIL YOU’VE WATCHED THE EPISODE!
“You Have to Be Mean Sometimes—But Just Sometimes.”
Before we dig into the meat and potatoes of tonight’s episode, we need to take a close look at Lizzie and Mika. They began this season by watching their father die. It was a pivotal moment for them both—they’re both young enough that they’re still very much in the process of creating their identity. Psychologically, when two pre-teens see their father die knowing that he’s going to come back as a zombie, they’re going to have some mental scars. How each of them chooses to deal with those mental scars comes to define their roles in this nightmarish new world.
Tonight, we see them both for what they’ve become as a result of the overwhelming amount of trauma that they’ve had to endure. Mika has been able to maintain a lot of her identity as an innocent girl. Carol compares her to Sophia by saying that she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body—but she previously told Lizzie that that’s why Sophia didn’t survive.
Poor, damaged Lizzie. She’s been processing the reality of the dead coming back to life in a strange way. Lizzie views the walkers as if they are still people—arguably people that she understands better than those who are still alive. We’ve also seen her slicing open various rodentia throughout the season, not to mention a moment in which she was pondering killing Judith a few episodes ago. Long story short, she’s not okay.
Admittedly, I thought the arrival of Carol would be therapeutic for the two girls. Regardless of the terrible reality that they all live in, a solid mother figure could do wonders—especially a mother figure like Carol who can see the value in both ruthlessness and tenderness. Unfortunately, Lizzie has gone far too deep into her own rabbit hole, which is exemplified when Carol sees Lizzie being chased around by a zombie outside the farm house in which they are currently residing. Carol, realizing the threat, leaps into action and buries her knife in the assailant’s brain. Lizzie reacts with a meltdown—she doesn’t see a threat being neutralized, she sees the brutal execution of a playmate. Carol is tough as nails, but this is an issue that she does not know how to fix.
This is when things get complicated. Tragically and earth-shatteringly complicated.
While Carol and Tyreese are fending off a horde of extra-crispy zombies, Lizzie, Mika, and Judith wait at the house. Upon their return, we see Lizzie standing in the front yard with a bloody knife in hand. I feared for Judith’s life, but I should have been worried about Mika instead. Lizzie has stabbed her own sister to death so she will come back as a zombie. Even when she sees the anguished looks on the adults’ faces, she does not register that she’s done something horrible.
This raises all sorts of difficult questions for Carol and Tyreese. We know that Carol killed Karen and David because she felt they were liabilities to the rest of the survivors. Now that she has seen that Lizzie is also a liability, will she respond in the same way? I did warn you about spoilers, didn’t I?
Well, she does. And it was one of the most emotional moments that I can remember seeing on a television show. Fans of Steinbeck will recognize the aching similarities between Carol’s final conversation with Lizzie and George’s final conversation with Lennie. Both scenes leave the observer emotionally wrung out, and yes, sometimes the zombie apocalypse can be just as moving as modernist literature.
“I Forgive You. I Won’t Forget, But I Forgive You.”
The aforementioned emotional sucker punch took some of the edge off of Carol’s inevitable confession to Tyreese, but I still felt the scene was beautiful. After they’ve buried both Lizzie and Mika, Tyreese and Carol are stooped over a semi-completed jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly, Carol slides her revolver across the table within reach of Tyreese. When she admits to being guilty of the event that has caused nightmares to plague Tyreese every night since it happened, she tells him to do what he has to do. When Tyreese forgives her, it wraps up the episode with some semblance of closure given the episode’s string of tragic events.
Verdict
Whenever I experience a story that ties my guts up into knots like tonight’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” I am simultaneously pissed about my knotted-up guts and elated that after all these years of watching TV and reading books, there are still moments that cause me to clap a hand over my mouth and gawk at what just happened. I don’t know what the next two episodes will hold for our survivors, but the show will have to reach pretty far into the darkness to beat out tonight’s episode.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to track down some ice cream and tissues.