The Walking Dead ‘Squeeze’: What’s Next for Kelly?

The Walking Dead’s midseason premiere “Squeeze” left Connie and Magna trapped in a cave while Kelly barely escaped with her ankle in bad shape. With her sister and close friend possibly gone forever, where does Kelly go from here?

From start to finish, The Walking Dead mid-season premiere ‘Squeeze’ was a stressful episode for every character in the cave. Kelly had the first big scare of the episode, as her injured ankle almost made her fall into the horde of walkers when she tried to jump across some rocks. She managed to fight through the pain, though, even having a few really badass moments when she brutally took out some attacking Whisperers. But now that her sister and Magna might be gone, where will she go from here?

While Kelly may have shined bright in the episode and made it out of the cave in one piece, two of the people she is closest to remain trapped thanks to Carol’s reckless quest to get justice for Henry’s death. Connie and Magna are gone for all intents and purposes, and the survivors have to figure out a way to either rescue them or accept their fate.

When the explosion collapsed the cave, you would have expected Daryl or Aaron to be the cool heads guiding everybody else, given their leadership experience in the past. Instead, after a short burst of tears, Kelly is the one to get the survivors to snap out of their grief and get moving before more Whisperers or walkers show up. Despite the fact that she had just likely lost her sister, Kelly stepped up big time to get the group moving, no matter how distressed they all were.

Angel Theory, Kelly herself, appeared on Skybound’s latest “Talk Dead to Me” podcast to discuss how Kelly seems ready to step up as a leader on the show, and I totally agree with her assessment. This was a big moment and episode for Kelly, and I would not be surprised to see her character move into the spotlight more often as the story progresses.

The significance of losing Connie, even if temporarily, should not be understated, though. As we learned at the beginning of the season, Kelly is starting to lose her hearing (interesting fact: it’s based off Angel Theory’s real-life experiences). In that tearful conversation on the beach, Connie was the one who offered support to Kelly, telling her that “it’s not a disability, it’s a damn superpower,” and that they will be work through the process together.

Without someone who truly understands what she is going through, Kelly’s journey with hearing loss is going to be significantly more difficult. Sure, Daryl has made attempts to learn ASL in order to better communicate with Connie, but he will not be able to provide the same level of comfort and knowledge that Connie could.

Not only did Kelly lose her sister in the cave collapse, but she also lost one of her closest friends, Magna. While both were caught doing some shady stuff earlier in the season, it’s clear that they trust each other – something that is hard to come by in The Walking Dead. Losing not one but two of her trusted confidants is going to make life tough for Kelly.

Kelly has two choices: she can either let her grief overwhelm her or she can stay strong and continue to fight to save two people she cares deeply about. It seems like she has chosen to do the latter, and I cannot wait to see where that takes her for the rest of season 10 and beyond.

Where do you think Kelly’s story will go in the rest of season 10? Were you impressed with her fighting skills in ‘Squeeze’? Let us know by tweeting @labrosse_joe or leaving a comment!