Walking Dead’s ‘Isolation’: Where Carol really crosses the line

In Isolation, episode 3 of The Walking Dead’s 4th season, we forever change our perception of Carol and Hershel gives Rick some inspiration.

As this episode begins, Tyreese is fuming mad about the recent murders of his girlfriend Karen and a fellow named David. Tyreese is so blinded by rage that, when Rick and Daryl try to calm him down, he starts throwing fists. Rick responds with furious anger himself, giving Tyreese a mighty shiner. It’s not like we can’t understand Tyreese. Who wants to venture outside and see their loved one as a charred husk? When he attacked Rick, it was more in line with him attacking the world.

Of course, the murders aren’t the only sources of tension. An intense flu is running through the prison, and if anyone dies they become walkers. Most vulnerable are the elderly and children, so it creates a special problem. How do you have an effective quarantine? Who has been in contact with whom, and was it before or after the virus began? Also, of course, no one wants to see their loved ones separated. When Glenn is separated from Maggie, there’s an impression that it could have been their final farewell. Also, even though we’ve barely had a chance to meet Dr. Caleb Subramanian, Sunkrish Bala does a great job breathing life into the character while he lasts. (And yes, he dies in the next episode)

Solutions

Thankfully, most people are keen on surviving, and helping others live as well. Being a regular group of troopers, Daryl, Michonne and Bob head out to a veterinary hospital to look for medicine and medical supplies. They hear a human voice broadcast on the radio, but get further sidetracked by a massive horde of walkers (who especially almost get a rage-filled, brooding Tyreese.

Back at the prison, Hershel, Carl, Rick and Carol are doing their own parts to help. While Hershel and Carl gather elderberries to (hopefully) help remedy the ailing, Carol and Rick make plans to address water issues at the prison. Then, Hershel raises alarm bells for his daughter Maggie when he heads to the quarantine area. However, Hershel delivers to Rick one of The Walking Dead‘s greatest speeches: ” You step outside, you risk your life. You take a drink of water, you risk your life. And nowadays you breathe, and you risk your life. Every moment now you don’t have a choice. The only thing you can choose is what you’re risking it for. Now I can make these people feel better and hang on a little bit longer. I can save lives. That’s reason enough to risk mine.”

Carol, semi-villain

The Walking Dead supplies plenty of morally ambiguous challenges, to its characters and to viewers at home. “Isolation” does this in a pretty huge and unexpected way. After Rick defends her from a few walkers while she wrangles with the water pump, he eventually has a talk with her. He likely has a hunch that, because she’s been teaching kids to use knives and needlessly risked her life over the water pump, she’s willing to do anything to keep the group safe. He flat-out asks her if she killed Karen and David. When she answered “Yes,” a lot of jaws probably dropped in living rooms around the world.

While one might understand Carol’s decision, it’s also very rough to understand it. It is undeniably borderline villainous behavior, especially when we know anyone could have been sick by that point anyway. Had she been sick, would she have willfully accepted someone else to cash in her life? Not bloody likely. So, quite simply, Carol becomes a hugely ambiguous character by this episode. In fact, Rick doesn’t even know what to do with her.

While the zombie apocalypse sort of creates new rules, there’s undeniably still a point in going back to basics. One of those basics is to not kill unless it’s a last resort. Carol should have merely alerted others of anyone she saw who was sick, and told them of the dangerous threat they posed. She also should have stressed the need of either or a quarantine. Long story short, it wasn’t her call. Still, The Walking Dead is full of people trying to survive, and they often take desperate action in the process.

What are your thoughts on this Walking Dead episode? Did Carol really have to kill? Let us know in the comments!