The Walking Dead Carl’s 10 most memorable moments

7. Carl Kills Walkers And Eats Pudding

Season 4, “After”

After Rick’s brutal beating and the destruction of the prison Rick and Carl hole up in an abandoned house. But Rick is too injured to do anything but rest. Carl goes out looking for food and along the way kills some walkers. He gets himself into a couple potentially deadly situations but manages to get himself out of them too.

This episode, which centered on Carl, was a transitional moment for him. All throughout seasons 3 and 4 he had been going through a period of change as he discovered that Rick wasn’t infallible. And that he would need to be able to kill on his own if he wanted to survive. He learned, through his mistakes, that he was more capable than he thought.

But also in this episode we see him flash with anger at Rick. That was the first time that Carl had been allowed to show any real childish emotions. Ever since the farm he’d been expected to act like a grownup. And in order to survive he became stoic and focused on doing whatever needed to be done to keep the group together and safe.

But in “After” fans see Carl’s anger, and fear at the idea of being left on his own when he thought that Rick had died. They also see his panic at the idea of having to put Rick down the way he put Lori down. This episode broke through Carl’s mask of stoicism and showed him as the child he was. A child stuck in terrible circumstances trying to process enormous loss.

And at the end of the episode there is one of those hopeful and redemptive moments that The Walking Dead does so well when Michonne appears after tracking them from the prison.