The Walking Dead: Rosita Espinosa is my dad

Rosita Espinosa is everything Denise said she is on The Walking Dead. She’s smart and brave and stronger than she knows. She’s also just like my dad.

For whatever reason, Rosita on The Walking Dead doesn’t know how to show her feelings. You have to look beyond her words to figure out what’s going on there. Her voice and delivery come across harsh and unfeeling even when she says nice things.

My dad used to do the same thing with my mom quite a bit. When he was concerned about her or it he felt bad about something he did, he’d lash out at her instead of apologizing or making sure she was okay.

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I have two funny examples to illustrate this point. One time my mom and dad were on vacation and my mom was driving a golf cart and she didn’t know what she was doing and apparently she pressed the gas instead of the brake and panicked and almost ran into things.

I wasn’t there, but I guess my dad went nuts swearing and yelling at my mom. Of course, he was just afraid that she was going to get hurt, but that’s not how my mom received his reaction. She was embarrassed and didn’t feel loved or worried about, she felt attacked.

Another time my dad was driving with something in the back seat that my mom had bought. When he made a turn, it fell and broke. Of course, he felt terrible. But instead of saying he felt terrible, he started ranting about traffic and other things to blame for why they were out that day. My mother was so confused and hurt. I told her, “Don’t you get it? He feels bad he broke your thing.”

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I was reminded of these situations when Rosita yelled at Eugene at the machete training. She was worried about losing him. But he felt attacked, not loved. When Denise was sitting outside the pharmacy crying, Rosita told her that they warned her she wasn’t ready. That was her way of saying she felt bad. But to Denise it was blaming Denise. Nobody likes to hear I told you so. 

Rosita is using Spencer as a way to heal and not be alone. She knows she’s doing this and she’s lashing out at Spencer because she feels guilty about what she’s doing.

Daryl and Rosita were an interesting pair out there with Denise. Daryl does similar things. His way of telling Denise he felt bad outside the pharmacy was to tell her she did good by finding it. Then when he was more afraid she would die from that walker, he started yelling at her.

Next: A The Walking Dead Timeline

Denise called Daryl and Rosita on their behavior. They are smart enough to see it. That doesn’t mean they’ll be able to change it. But they might understand themselves better. I used to call my dad on his behavior sometimes. He used to just smile because I was right and he knew it.