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The Walking Dead’s Sasha: A Little Help from her Friends

By Susie Graham

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Sasha has been suffering from grief and PTSD during the last few episodes of The Walking Dead. In the finale, she started to get some help from her friends. She shunned the word friend from Abraham on the road, but they are her family whether she accepts it or not.  She has been receiving help in the form of caring and tough love from Michonne and Rosita.  The help that finally starts to break through her armor comes from Maggie, Father Gabriel, a pit full of walkers and even herself.

Michonne flashed back to a time when she was in the dark place that Sasha resides. Although, Sasha was out of line in telling her so, she was right that Michonne did come out of it. But it took Andrea, Rick, Carl and the group to make that happen.  Sasha’s door was still closed.   Michonne used two pets and a sword to give her the invisibility and the quiet that she needed before opening the door. Sasha used a sniper rifle and a pit full of walkers for her nap.

When she exposed herself to Father Gabriel and finally asked for help, something he used to be able to provide for people, the timing of his own dealings with guilt and blame and looking for someone to put him out of his misery had thrillingly heart-breaking, serendipitous results.  He deflected and projected his anger and inability to face this new world on her, taunting her and bringing out her anger, which is actually what she needed. Gabriel was The Governor of Tyreese’s hallucinations in Sasha’s conscious stageplay.

Maggie, able to provide intermission,  addressed her own grief and spiritual needs in stopping Sasha and extending her hand to Gabriel.  When Gabriel said that the people of his church died because of him and Maggie said, “Yes, they did,” I heard in my head as she lifted him up, “but you didn’t.”

Season 6 should be interesting now that our group has become stronger in their grief and healing and will need to stick together to fight against the real enemies old and new.

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