The Walking Dead: Top 100 Moments

37. Carol Confesses to Tyreese

Episode 414 “The Grove”

Original Airdate: 3/16/2014

Submitted By: Charlotte Anne

“The Grove” was one of the most emotionally charged episodes ever aired on The Walking Dead. Immediately after the devastating “Look at the flowers” scene that saw Carol shooting Lizzie, came this other highly tense and heart-breaking moment between Carol and Tyreese.

Until that point, Tyreese was completely unaware that Carol had been the murderer he had sworn to bring to justice for killing his sweetheart, Karen. He had even considered settling down with her, Lizzie, Mika and Judith in the abandoned house they’d found on the way to Terminus.

In this scene, after burying the two girls, Carol and Tyreese sit in silence. There are few words, but the acting by both Chad Coleman and Melissa McBride is outstanding. The atmosphere is so incredibly heavy that you can just feel Carol’s confession coming, even before she slowly hands the gun to Tyreese and the words finally come out of her mouth: “I killed Karen and David”.

The puzzle that lies on the table between them seems to symbolize the dislocation of their lives and the destruction of hope, but it also leaves the possibility for reconstruction open: maybe things can still be mended? Carol obviously expects Tyreese to kill her, and even seems to act as if she wants him to kill her and end the excruciating pain she is in. Then comes the other big moment, when Tyreese finally says: “I forgive you”.

Sadly, this interesting and ambiguous bond between Carol and Tyreese does not really get a chance to develop later, as Tyreese gets killed quite soon after Terminus. After Tyreese’s death, Carol is left to bear alone the burden of the Lizzie and Mika tragedy, as no one else knows about it. Now that she seems ready to come back her friends, will she feel the need to finally open up about this traumatizing episode in her journey?