Once powerless to escape her abusive husband, Carol (Melissa McBride) has become too powerful for life in the prison camp “The Walking Dead.”
That transformation of a woman overcome with meekness to one consumed by a will to survive ventured into horrifying territory two weeks ago, when Carol took it upon herself to execute her flu-afflicted fellow survivors Karen and David.
In her eyes, the decision was tantamount to protective euthanasia. Their suffering–and eventual death–seemed inevitable, and with a group of survivors who needed protection from the affliction’s viral spread, killing them and burning their bodies was the intuitive, humane, strategic option.
But if one is allowed to make that sort of decision in this chaotic world, where will she draw the line? And how can she be trusted to make decisions in accordance with the wishes of the group rather than her own?
Unwilling to find grim answers to those questions, de facto group leader Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) kicked Carol out of the group in the closing moments of “Indifference,” Sunday’s edition of “The Walking Dead.”
Rick dropped the bomb on Carol as the pair wrapped up a supply run in the suburbs. Noting that the survivors were sure to develop one of two reactions to Carol’s murders–either enough anger to harm her or enough horror to distrust her–she no longer had a place in the group.
Luckily, the woman is no longer a silent abuse victim and now powerful enough to survive on her own.
Elsewhere, Bob’s thirst for alcohol again came at the expense of the group’s best interests. While Michonne, Tyreese and Daryl risked their lives to extract medical supplies from an overrun veterinary hospital, the mysterious Bob’s only priority was to grab a bottle of liquor. So committed to that bottle was Bob that he risked his safety to pull it away from a group of Walkers that almost claimed it their own.
Earlier in the episode, Daryl scoffed at the notion that Bob’s liquor-related hesitation was to blame for Zach’s death in the season premiere. This time, however, an enraged Daryl took the move as a betrayal.
Daryl’s better judgment–and urging from Tyreese and Michonne–deterred him from physically expressing his anger, but it is clear that he and Bob not about to become best friends.
As it has done several times before, “The Walking Dead” relied on a powerful song to encapsulate the mood of its closing moments. This time, the emotional, melodic narration came from a version of Sharon Van Etten’s “Serpents.” The most well-known rendition follows:
