“The Grove” Episode of The Walking Dead…Bravo

The Walking Dead…this show has turned out to be as great as I thought it would be. Well maybe my judgment is skewed and biased because I am a huge fan of anything involving zombies and I have been since I was a child.

But just because I like zombies doesn’t mean everything I watch about them is good, like the million disappointing zombie films I have seen which are a poor attempt of duplication George A. Romero’s legendary film Night of the Living Dead. 

But this show, this is really good and if it keeps going the way it is then it will be great. And in order for a show to be great it sometimes has to push the envelope and go places where most people believe it should, and last night the show stepped into a very uncomfortable place for a lot of people, and may have been what catapults it into TV Drama lore. 

If you haven’t been following the show then chances are you aren’t reading this because either you aren’t in to dramas or into zombies so I will spare you the entire background of what happened, if you are an avid follower and a huge fan like myself last night’s climax was something you saw coming, then realized wasn’t going to happen then it happened. 

I have no idea how to diagnose mental illness, and in that sort of world there are no longer any psychiatrist that you can just pop in on and get yourself checked out and “fixed” if you will. In that world the crazy either needs to leave you on its own or, well, you have to go. 

The little girl that ended up being the center of the episode, Lizzie (Brighton Sharbino), was…off. And Carol (Melissa McBride) had known for sometime she was off, or at least there was something not quite right about her.

And to be completely honest even Tyrese (Chad Coleman) knew she was a bit nutty after she pulled the trigger and saved his life back at the jail when the chaos happened between the survivors and The Governor’s camp.

Either he knew she was mentally unstable or he just figured with the way the world is she grew up very fast; either way it was lucky for him on that day she was the way she is, but ultimately it was just another clue that nothing is ever what it seems and exactly what it looks like if that makes any sense. I hope it does. 

When Lizzie killed her sister and the came upon her, I have to be completely honest, it really reminded me of the Red Wedding episode of the Game of Thrones series on HBO, but the Walking Dead episode had more of an impact for me personally for one important reason, I read the books from George RR Martin, so in the show I knew it was coming.

I never read any of Robert Kirkman’s comic books, graphic novels, short stories or anything else involving the Walking Dead. I was in the dark as to what would happen and it absolutely floored me. 

The most captivating part about that entire scene was not the exchange between a bloody handed Lizzie speaking to an absolutely shocked and heart-broken Carol, nor was it the realization that had Carol and Tyrese not arrived sooner, little Judith would have been next, it was none of those things.

For me personally, the most startling part of that entire scene was the look on Chad Coleman’s face when the cameras panned to him during the conversation between Lizzie and Carol.

The scene was crazy enough in itself with what was transpiring before us, but the look on his face made me for just a split second forget this was actually a show I was watching, it made the scene that much more surreal for me. 

After that particular scene I can’t speak for anyone else but I knew what had to be done, I just wasn’t sure if the show was going to be brave and crazy enough to take it there.

But once Carol uttered those words, “She can’t be around people,” then I knew the show was about to go someplace that even I was surprised it would go. And I applaud them for it.

When Carol took Lizzie out for a walk and told her to look at the flowers, I knew that this show would go down as one of the best show’s I would ever see when it’s all said and done. 

I usually don’t read anything after episodes as far as reviews but I had to see what the masses were saying last night, and some of the headlines I saw surprised me. One online magazine claimed the show had crossed a line, which was laughable because it is a show about zombies that eat people, what were they expecting, the Wizard of Oz? Please. 

The show crossed no lines and it did what was needed to take it to the next level of progression towards greatness. Kudos to the actors and actresses and director and writer for what was an absolutely marvelous episode.

This show is for real, and for all of us that enjoy it, I am sure it’s going to get better and better. And I for one am looking forward to it. 

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