There is no question that the characters of “The Walking Dead” suffered tremendous loss and heartache last season. Their beloved Herschel was brutally murdered while they helplessly watched. They lost their place of refuge at the hands of a haunted madman–the Governor. The chaos scattered the group and with it brought their greatest loss—each other.
The first episode of the midseason has Rick, Carl, and Michonne in search of a safe place. Rick and Carl head down a muddy road and Michonne searches for safety in another direction. The first thing that strikes viewers is Carl’s blatant disrespect for his father. He walks ahead of Rick, even though he knows Rick is wounded and can’t keep up with him. He ignores him as if he is a nuisance. He dismisses Rick’s instructions on how to keep safe. His lack of faith in his father’s ability to protect him is palpable. It is infuriating and painful to watch Carl disrespect his father. Rick is wounded and has lost so much too—his wife, daughter, and friends. He looks beaten down figuratively and literally as he hobbles behind Carl while the camera focuses on his battered face.
Despite all that, Carl’s anger at Rick is understandable. The truth is that Rick did not keep him safe. It also makes sense because Carl is still just a young boy who is grappling with one of life’s most important lessons—the fallibility of a parent.
After they find a house to hide in, Rick passes out from exhaustion. Carl takes it upon himself to search the neighborhood. He manages to barely fight off some walkers as he looks for supplies. He comes back to an unconscious Rick and boasts to him that he can take care of himself and does not need him. His confidence builds after more supply runs and battling walkers. However, the solitude of just surviving starts to weigh on him. The writers poignantly make this point when Carl returns to find Rick passed out on a couch. He sits across from the unconscious Rick and suddenly Rick’s body goes into convulsions and it appears he is turning into a walker. Carl points a gun at him, but he can’t bring himself to shoot his father. He can’t bear without him and drops his gun. He exposes his neck to Rick, ready to be killed by him. However, Rick is alive and was simply in the throes of delirium brought on by fever.
As Carl and Rick work on recovering from their turmoil, Michonne finds herself a pair of new walkers to tie up and lead around by the neck. She joins a herd of walkers and looks like she has given up trying to be part of the living. She notices a walker who eerily looks like her. Michonne is unnerved by her and puts her down with her sword. She goes on a rampage and kills all the walkers in the herd, including those she was leading around by the neck with rope. She simply cannot go back to her life without people. She finds her way back to the house where Carl and Rick are hiding and weeps when she peeks in from a window to find them alive.
Both Carl and Michonne learn that mere survival is not enough to be alive in a world full of walkers.
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