Undead Walking
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Life lessons learned from 10 seasons of The Walking Dead

By Neva Cunningham

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Alanna Masterson as Tara Chambler, Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa, Lennie James as Morgan Jones, Sonequa Martin-Green as Sasha Williams, Michael Cudlitz as Sgt. Abraham Ford, Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene, Austin Nichols as Spencer Monroe, Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter, Ross Marquand as Aaron, Katelyn Nacon as Enid, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Seth Gilliam as Father Gabriel Stokes - The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 1 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Alanna Masterson as Tara Chambler, Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa, Lennie James as Morgan Jones, Sonequa Martin-Green as Sasha Williams, Michael Cudlitz as Sgt. Abraham Ford, Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene, Austin Nichols as Spencer Monroe, Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter, Ross Marquand as Aaron, Katelyn Nacon as Enid, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Seth Gilliam as Father Gabriel Stokes - The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 1 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /
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Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes and Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier - The Walking Dead _ Season 5, Episode 1 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
The Walking Dead 501 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /

Forgiveness

Despite someone’s best intentions, things can and do go wrong. It’s hard to let go the feelings of betrayal, hurt and anger, but to move on you have to learn to forgive. That’s not to say everything is forgivable, because there are some hurts and betrayals that can never be forgiven, but for those things that can be it’s in our best interest to forgive.

On the show, we’ve seen instances of forgiveness that even I would struggle with and I’m a fairly forgiving person.

Carol and Rick and the Banishment

In one of the most heart wrenching scenes for me personally from season 4 (minus the ending of “The Grove”) is Rick banishing Carol. As a fan of both characters, I struggled with Rick’s decision and I carried that anger all the way to their reunion in season 5 episode 1’s “No Sanctuary”. Their relationship was never quite the same afterwards, but there was a deep love of family between the two. They had to put their anger aside to maintain that relationship.

Tyreese and Kelly Forgiving Carol 

Talk about best intentions going wrong. Whether giving mercy to a deathly ill friend or the unintended consequences in her effort to take out a major threat that may have cost the life of another, Carol has always had the best intentions even if sometimes her actions lead to tragic consequences. In a testament of the goodness of their hearts, Both Tyreese and Kelly were able to not only forgive Carol but understand her actions and how those actions haunt her. Of the entire group, the only two Carol needed that forgiveness from was the two most impacted by her choices.

Maggie Forgiving Daryl 

The loss of Glenn still hurts 3 seasons later. There is some dispute in the fandom in regards to how much “blame” Daryl should have for Glenn’s death and I won’t open that can of worms here. The point most forget or ignore is beyond what we think, Daryl blamed himself. Facing Maggie and telling her he was “sorry”, and getting her absolution, shows the depth of family bonds and the power of forgiveness.

The key to forgiveness is you actually have to forgive the person. You don’t have to forget the harm caused (as with Tyreese and Carol in season 4 episode 14’s “The Grove”) but you also cannot continue to hold the “crime” against the person (Rick and Lori). It’s better to not say the words if you are going to constantly punish the person for the hurt caused.

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