This week’s episode of The Walking Dead, “Indifference,” was written by Matt Negrete and directed by Tricia Brock. If you read my preview, you have some idea of how completely caught off guard I was by the ending and my shock at losing Carol (Melissa McBride) in such a way. Both Negrete and Brock are new to the show, but both worked together to deliver a powerful episode that fit seamlessly into the series.
In contrast to last week’s episode, we get almost no news on what’s happening in quarantine or even in the prison as most of the episode takes place outside the prison, following parallel storylines of Daryl’s (Norman Reedus) team and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Carol scavenging for supplies. In a poignant counterpoint, Daryl brings one of their members closer while Rick banishes one of their original members.
This episode dovetails nicely with the very first episode of the season. Rick asks Sam (Robin Lord Taylor) and Ana (Brina Palencia), whom he and Carol find holed up in the bathroom of a house, the three questions: How many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? Why? We don’t actually get to see them answer the questions, but it’s enough to bring them back to our mind, and in the end, it’s Carol who has to answer those questions satisfactorily for Rick to bring her back to the prison. It’s actually a wonder that the two they find had survived at all. Their appearance is in contrast to Clara’s from the first episode. They are relatively clean but are both physically injured. Clara, of course, was mentally injured.
Carol is able to help Sam by setting his dislocated shoulder. Rick is impressed that she’s able to do it so easily. In some ways, I wonder if taking her out on the raid was also a way for Rick to judge if she was strong enough to be on her own. Which is one of the most annoying things about Rick banishing her! Carol has grown and changed so much to be one of the characters I like best – she was completely annoying when she was weak and a victim. At this point she is on the verge of losing her humanity, however. We get some terrific insight into both Rick and Carol’s backgrounds. We learn that Rick and Laurie had worked to create a family that made bad pancakes on Sunday morning; they’d both sacrificed and worked to become a close knit unit. Carol, on the other hand, had stayed with her abusive husband because she was afraid to be alone. She’s been isolated most of her life, and she learned how to set her own dislocated shoulder on the Internet to avoid having to lie at the hospital about how it happened. Was she weak to stay or strong to survive? Given how far she’s come, I’d argue for the later. I’d also argue that she’s strong enough to survive.
Sam and Ana want to help Rick and Carol scavenge. Rick wants them to stay safe because they’re not 100%, but they insist, saying, “You can’t carry us. It doesn’t work that way. We want to help.” This reinforces the need to work together and echoes what Rick tells Clara in the first episode that people are the best defense against walkers. There is also another metaphor at work here that ties into the very title of the show. The walking dead doesn’t only refer to the walkers, it also refers to the living who all carry the virus within them and will turn as soon as they die. It also refers to the loss of humanity that so many of them are experiencing. Beth’s lack of reaction to Zack’s death in the first episode, for instance, is disturbing, yet in the last episode, she is struggling to contemplate losing her father. As the old attachments die and those feeling fade, it seems to be more and more difficult for the survivors to form new ones. Carol immediately corrects Lizzie when Lizzie calls her mom and tells her not to call her that. Later Rick asks why she never speaks Sophia’s name, and Carol’s response is basically emotionless – she’s distanced herself from the pain. Rick asks Carol if she thinks it’s right to let the kids come back with them when they could catch the flu and die. Carol answers completely pragmatically and says “Yes, if they’re strong enough to help us.” Carol’s focus has become entirely selfish. But then perhaps it always was. She stayed with her husband because she feared to be alone with no thought to what it might mean to Sophia.
Carol keeps challenging Rick to talk about her having killed Karen and David. Rick has been a good leader because he thinks about his decisions, he gathers evidence and weighs it, and it felt like he was doing that throughout the episode. Carol even tells him that he can be a farmer if he likes, but he can’t just be that – he can’t walk away from his greater responsibility to the group. It’s this prodding that ironically leads to his banishing her. Carol expresses regret over having to do what she did, but not remorse. Perhaps it’s her past abuse that allows her to simply accept her fate this one last time. She does challenge Rick, however, and reminds him that he killed one of their own first. He defends himself by reminding her that Shane was trying to kill him. Carol’s reply is convincing. She felt like Karen and David’s disease was threatening the lives of everyone at the prison – not just her own. She did what she felt she had to for the group to survive. She tells Rick, “You don’t have to like what I did. You just accept it.” Is it possible that Rick is holding on to societal standards that are no longer applicable in this new world? Does the good of the many outweigh the good of the one? Is Rick’s banishing Carol to save her or to protect the rest of the group? It's telling that Carol's last act is to give her watch - that was an anniversary gift from her husband - to Rick. It's a symbol of Carol's doing anything not to be alone, and it's also a symbol of the order of society. It may also signify that Carol's time is up. I love how much this show makes us consider these deeper questions.
Meanwhile, Daryl’s team manages to make it through the forest, find a vehicle, get it running, and make it to the Veterinary College. Tyreese’s (Chad L. Coleman) anger is still threatening to get himself and the others killed. Michonne (Danai Gurira) tells him that “anger makes you stupid and stupid gets you killed.” He accuses her of being driven by anger, and she admits that she was at one time, but now she is motivated by the fact that killing the Governor is simply the right thing to do. But it gets her thinking, and combined with Daryl’s plea not to keep going out looking by herself, she tells him at the end of the episode that she’s going to stop looking, that she doesn’t have to go out anymore. Daryl, who also spent much of his previous life as a loner with an abusive family, has embraced this new family too.
In contrast, we also see Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr) who confesses his drinking problem to Daryl and confesses it was his picking up a bottle that got Zack killed. Bob tells Daryl that he almost didn’t come back with him when he first met Daryl because he was done being a “witness” – he’d been the last survivor of two groups already. Bob drinks to numb the horror, but like the others, it becomes more and more difficult to survive losing people and to form attachments knowing that is likely to happen. Bob tells Tyreese that it’s easier to keep moving because for him it means not forming attachments and having to lose anyone else. Predictably, Tyreese disagrees – he still looks for comfort with others. In the end, the only thing in the bag that almost gets Bob killed is a partially full bottle of alcohol. He’s taken no medicine to help the rest of the group, and that’s what Daryl can’t sanction.
I think that when Daryl finds out that Rick has decided all on his own to banish Carol that Daryl will lose it. He and Carol have a special bond and really helped each other become vital members of the group. There’s been a strong proportion of the viewership who have long been lobbying for a relationship beyond friendship between the two. I have a strong suspicion that Daryl is going to go out after Carol regardless of what the rest of the group has to say about it. And I have to wonder if Michonne will let him go alone.
This was a very powerful episode with fantastic performances by all, but especially McBride. I really hope that we haven’t seen the last of her. I’m also wondering if our days at the prison are numbered (I’m pretty sure I know they are!). I had the distinct impression that Rick was also weighing the pros and cons of staying in one place or keeping moving. From a completely practical perspective they are having to forage further and further afield. What did you think of the episode? Is Carol gone for good? Did Rick make the right call? What do you think Daryl’s reaction is going to be? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
