Season 10’s Carol and Lydia’s connection and that finale scene

It’s been a tough season for Carol and Lydia in The Walking Dead season 10

Still reeling from the trauma each has suffered due to Alpha’s actions and how they responded to that trauma, Carol and Lydia slowly built their relationship to one of the most beautifully acted and shot scenes in a season filled with some truly remarkable scenes that came together in The Walking Dead season 10 finale.

Looking back at the inter-connected journey these two characters have shared since Henry first met Lydia, their connection has been a testament to regret, survival, grief, guilt, strength, forgiveness, and finding your own way. Many re-watches later I am still processing the Carol and Lydia scene on the cliff. Not only was it a masterful bit of cinematography and sported another example of Bear’s amazing score work, but it also had spectacular acting by the always reliable Melissa McBride and newer but no less impressive Cassady McClincy.

For Carol, there is a reluctance to strengthen that bond, and who could blame her? Not wanting to get close to another “kid” after everything she has been through is something I completely understand. She wants Lydia (and everyone else for that matter) to blame her and to hate her, but as Lydia said to her in  episode 15 “It’s hard… when you seem to hate yourself so much.” Despite reluctance Carol can’t help but feel something of that connection to Lydia. It’s Carol’s nature to care about others, especially  those she sees a bit of herself in. Both are outsiders in a lot of ways, both are struggling to find where they belong and who they should be. Both are trying to find their “own way” as Carol says.

Lydia feels like she will never be accepted by her new group and it is a very real possibility. Sadly, she is being held accountable for the actions of her mother, a mother who was “never as a mother should be”. I can’t help but feel for her as she struggles to find her place  and who she wants to be, a struggle we’ve seen other characters experience including Carol, Daryl, Michonne, Eugene, Gabriel, and Dwight. Lydia wants to connect with Carol, not for a mother figure, but as an equal and someone who would understand how she feels.

During the finale, we see both Carol and Lydia willing to sacrifice themselves by offering to lead the walkers off the cliff. There is a lot of personal guilt in their choices but there is also a part of both Lydia and Carol’s personality that is steeped in self-sacrifice. There is a tragic logic to Lydia’s offer, one of the few lessons her mother did teach her was how to move the herd. It’s poetic that Lydia would use that skill to end the hoard instead of living within it as Alpha wanted.

Carol appearing at Lydia’s side and telling her to go and that it was “her choice” was understated but beautifully done. Carol has made the choice to save them all. Yes she feels responsible for Beta and the horde since she put the plan into motion to take out Alpha, but there is also a driving need within her to protect her family. Whether she wants to accept it or not, Lydia has become a part of that family.

As Carol moves closer to that cliff’s edge, everything she feels is visible on her face. She wants to live but feels this is the only way. Swooping in like a guardian angel and a lovely call back to the scene in season 9’s “The Storm” Lydia pulls her from the edge to safety. Clinging to each other as the hoard goes off the edge of the cliff both characters seem to finally make some peace with who they are and will hopefully be able to move forward and heal (something I have been desperate for Carol to do for 6 years).

Their return to the group showed them to be both emotionally and mentally lighter, arm in arm as they gave each other credit before greeting the other important people in their lives. It’s cathartic to see them like this after everything they’ve been through since the back half of last season. It leaves me hopeful for more scenes between these two wonderful characters.

So what is it about their bond that appeals to me as a viewer and long-time Carol fan? It’s the honesty of the relationship, neither sugar-coats things for the other, there is a raw truthfulness between them that hits on a deep emotional level. There is a caring between them even if it’s something Carol is fighting. There is a depth to their growing connection that isn’t based on a mother/child relationship but rather a connection between two survivors that carry a metric ton of personal baggage yet see each other as equals.

We still have a long wait till season 11 graces our screens, and my wish for more Carol and Lydia in the 6 bonus episodes that are supposed to be released early next year.