The Walking Dead 914: We need to talk about those deaths

The Walking Dead’s darkest episode in a while had some deaths that were a reminder of what fighting for survival truly is. And not to cross a mother like Michonne.

The Walking Dead episode “Scars” was very dark. It’s often been compared to “The Grove”, which was the episode where Lizzie killed Mika and then was killed by Carol. But in some ways the child deaths in “Scars” were easier to accept than Lizzie’s death because these kids were murderous little beasts, trained to kill by Jocelyn. Quite frankly as soon as Michonne was stabbed in the stomach while pregnant and one of those little monsters was facing off with her and had a knife aimed at her bump I think most of us watching wanted them dead.

But the pain in Michonne’s face as she realized that she had to kill those kids in order to save her unborn child, Judith, and the kids from Alexandria was terrible to see. Michonne was already struggling after losing Rick and then realizing her long lost friend had betrayed her and was now a terrible person. Being in a position where she had to kill children to save her children is something so dark that it’s a place even The Walking Dead hasn’t gone before.

“Scars” was a brutal reminder that the world is actually getting darker, and survival is getting more difficult. The fair is a great attempt to bring all the communities together again, but now the threats that the survivors are running into are scarier than villains like Negan or The Governor. Jocelyn’s ragtag child army of killers showed that the people who are left in the world have figured out some strange, dark, and devastating ways to survive in order to last this long. The survivors are going to need to be ready for tougher threats, like the Whisperers, if they are going to keep their communities alive going into the future.

Jocelyn

It seems cruel that Michonne, still reeling from losing Rick, would find a long lost friend from the world before just when she most needs support only to have that friend turn on, steal her supplies and her child, attack her and Daryl, and try to kill her. Michonne obviously had no choice but to kill Jocelyn and it was satisfying to watch Michonne look Jocelyn right in the eye as she killed her but it must have been another emotional blow for Michonne when she was already vulnerable.

The events of “Scars” certainly explain why Michonne closed the gate of Alexandria to everyone and focused on just creating some kind of safety for her community and her children. But we know that there’s no such thing as safety in that world, and what’s coming up in episode 915 of The Walking Dead may be even darker than what just happened in “Scars”.