'The Walking Dead' Fails Us, Fails Carl, With Midseason Premiere Soap Opera - Zimbio

AMC

**Spoilers ahead if you aren't caught up on The Walking Dead.**

Carol, and Morgan especially, did their level best to give us a great midseason premiere of The Walking Dead this year. Stalking the ruins of the Kingdom, the two take out the enemy one by one, culminating in a savage disemboweling even the most ardent TWD fan couldn't have expected. But, alas, the graphic evisceration was only a footnote in an otherwise emotionally manipulative episode of the AMC series. The show spent the majority of its breath methodically ushering Carl Grimes out the door. It was slow. It was redundant, and it was a pretty boring way to kiss off an original character.

Horror films and TV shows usually doesn't traffic in the kind of drama seen in "Honor," the ninth episode of The Walking Dead's eighth season. People are gonna die. It comes with the territory. However, TWD has forgotten itself. Instead of allowing Carl, who was bitten by a walker in the last episode and revealed to be doomed, to go out guns blazing, the show gave him a living funeral instead. Hiding out in the Alexandria sewer, the majority of the show's cast gathered around the dying younger Grimes and said their goodbyes. 

Carl deserved better. While it's nice that everyone got all teary and told him they loved him, the show would've been better served cutting the drama short and moving the story ahead. Perhaps Carl had a few more kills left in him. Perhaps he could've been ripped apart by zombies. Now, that would've been horrific.

Nope, last night The Walking Dead played it safe and turned into Beaches. It eschewed horror for melodrama. Carl told Rick how the future could be a big farm where everyone walks around in the dusty sunlight. He told Judith how his hat always made him feel close to his dad, and now it was hers. He talked about making the world better. It's basically the same thing Carl's been preaching forever now. We've heard this before. And, don't get me wrong, he deserved a goodbye scene. But a goodbye episode that runs 82 minutes is a little much. 

Carl was a major character, yes, and an important one. But the show turns him into a Christ figure. Leaned against a cavernous wall in the darkness, he spouts wisdom like he's channeling the Almighty. Please, give us a break. This is textbook Hollywood — heartstring pulling for emotional effect while telling us how to feel. All that's missing is rising orchestra music. Carl's death doesn't need the extra effort. It's emotional on its own. This moment is eight years in the making.  

In the end, Carl offs himself, sparing his dad and Michonne the duty. He never turns into a walker (which would've been cool). He never gets scared, or shows any real sign of desperation. He just welcomes death. It just doesn't seem right. Carl was a kid, not an ancient Samurai accepting his fate. His end is noble and sad, but far from realistic, and very far from horrific.

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