The Walking Dead: Carol and Morgan aren’t finished
By Susie Graham
Melissa McBride revealed that Morgan Jones and Carol Peletier have not finished sparring over their conflicting philosophies on The Walking Dead.
But do their philosophies conflict as much as it seems? Their methods certainly do. But do their intentions clash as much as it seems? I don’t know the answer, but I’d like to dig in and explore.
When Carol said she was willing to kill Morgan in order to kill the Wolf, her ultimate statement was because she didn’t want anyone else to die. On the surface, that makes no sense. Two people will die. So we have to look deeper.
She must mean that she doesn’t want anyone else that she cares about to die. Or that she doesn’t want anymore good people to die. That makes a little more sense.
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So where is Morgan coming from? He doesn’t want people to die either, but he includes anyone and everyone. One of our Twitter peeps has called Morgan’s all life is precious philosophy narcissistic. If that’s the case, where does he think the admiration will come from if he maintains this philosophy?
It certainly won’t come from the group, unless he thinks somehow he is going to save these misguided wolves and get some kind of gratification in saving them. If this is the case, he’s sorely missing the time and solitude that he was afforded with Eastman. And we don’t know if the wolves were good people like Morgan to begin with or if they are too far gone.
I know people have little to zero patience with Morgan now, but he’s been through a huge trauma and is in an almost born again phase where he’s extreme in his recovery. Consider people on new diets or newly sober or who have quit smoking. I think he thinks if he takes one drink or one puff, he’ll be back to the “kill me” Morgan who had to clear.
Morgan is trying too hard to emulate Eastman. His words are carbon copies of what he heard Eastman say. It’s not actually a philosophy yet. It’s regurgitation. Morgan needs to figure out what it means for him. He’s finding out that things are backfiring, His defense is becoming offense and he’s being punished for it.
According to Melissa McBride, “This is not the last time they will have a confrontation over their opposing points of view about survival. We’re not predisposed to taking another life, so she’ll be struggling.” (Via TVInsider)
It’s interesting that Melissa says she’ll be struggling and doesn’t just point blame at Morgan and talk about how he’s wrong or going to get people killed. Melissa and Carol may think that about Morgan, but Melissa evidently recognizes that the issue is more complicated and recognizes that her Carol is suffering because of all of this killing she’s been forced to do to keep people safe and to survive in this new world.
Not only does this new world take away people whom you love because of the walkers–you lose your family and friends, but you lose your identity, your home, and who you were before. For some of them, there’s a gain in some ways, but the gain comes at a high price.
Melissa’s remark about being predisposed to taking another life sounds very much like what Eastman talked about to Morgan. Carol may know what she needs to do, but burying her emotions has an effect on you as well. We heard that back when she told Rick that Sophia was “somebody else’s slide show.” She was completely detaching from her own grief.
Yet she told Lizzie she thought about her daughter every day. Rick asked Carol why she never said Sophia’s name. Saying the names of whom you lost is something that Eastman made Morgan do. He made Morgan say Jenny and Duane, not my wife and son.
Eastman talked about how humans aren’t design for killing. “We’re not built to kill. We don’t have claws or fangs or armor. Vets, they came back with PTSD, that didn’t happen because we’re comfortable with killing. We’re not. We can’t be. We feel. We’re connected.”
I don’t think Carol and Morgan are that far from each other in philosophy. They became who they are because they want people to live. They both have guilt for living. They lived and their loved ones died. They thought they were weak for not being able protect them.
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Crazy clearing Morgan is similar to current Carol. They both channel their guilt and anger into protecting those left here. Crazy Morgan was even more blinded and cleared everyone. Carol at least has a small group of people she trusts and protects.
But the killing has to be affecting Carol. If she doesn’t open up to someone to help process her emotions, she will end up like Crazy Morgan and possibly at the “kill me” stage.
So Carol and Morgan need to confront each other. They need to yin and yang with each other. I hope they can for both their sakes. But this is The Walking Dead. Sometimes they keep the beautiful lotus flower in the mud instead of allowing it to bloom.