In case it hasn't been obvious, I jot down quick things while I watch the episode, then type them up and publish them afterwards. I say this so that nobody thinks that I'm embellishing anything after watching the episode--see the third bullet. And so, a few short comments:
--Lizzie sort of creeps me out. Not the least because when I hear "Lizzie," I think "Borden."
--Then again, Carol creeps me out now, too.
--"Indifference" is a fitting title for the beginning of this episode, but by the end, I'll bet someone has to do something because he / she isn't indifferent.
--That was an odd couple up there, throwing down the fruit. How did they stay away from the pajama-clad walker up there for so long?
--Well, so much for the woman upstairs. It doesn't pay to be a pretty, 20-something woman the last few episodes.
--But the second she made a point of showing the tattooed leg, you knew she was gone. It was going to be used to identify her, though I thought she'd last long enough to be another burned body.
--I don't know about Rick telling Carol to get out, and I'm really surprised at how complacently she accepted it. Why not fight that?
--This whole season could be called "indifferent" so far. Rick the indifferent farmer. Lizzie the indifferent blonde who shrugs off boyfriends who die. (Or was that the other blonde girl?) Carol the sociopathically indifferent judge of who gets to live and who dies. When did everyone get so blase?
--Why do I get the feeling that Carol will run into the Governor? But I wouldn't expect an Andrea-like connection with him.
--Rick will tell the truth to Tyrese about how and why he banished Carol, if for no other reason than that Rick simply doesn't lie.
--Where'd the guy go who was with Ana? Maybe Carol will run into him, too. If the Governor does first, this guy's in trouble.
--Good to see that these characters are as desensitized to violence as every other American is. Looks like things don't change all that much, I guess.
--Next week's episode title: "Yeah, Whatever."
How can they not be blase? They have been surrounded by nothing by death and violence for the last year or so. It seems Carol, Lizzie, and Rick have cut off their emotions in order to keep surviving. They've each lost someone close to them and they know the outcome is bleak living in a zombie apocalypse. In order to live to see the next day, they have to stay focused even if that means slowly becoming a "zombie" themselves.
ReplyDeleteGood idea there at the end, Diane. But that's the problem. Rick a long time ago made the decision that he'd rather be human (or humane) than alive. In other words, if he has to give up what's left of his humanity in order to survive--in essence, as you said, to be an emotional--and, by extension, immoral or amoral--zombie, than he'd rather not be alive.
DeleteBecause that's what happens, and that's what Carol let happen to her: she became an emotional zombie, and by becoming one, she has lost her morality as well. (And let's not forget how much of herself she had to suppress to live as an abused person, too.) Rick decided long ago that as long as he's alive, he's going to be as human, and as moral, as possible.
Otherwise, you become judge and executioner to people who haven't turned yet--and who may not turn at all. Carol's comment to him about Shane was unfair and incorrect--Shane had already turned, and was ready to munch on someone.