The Walking Dead: Five years ago we lost Carl Grimes
By Renee Hansen
On February 25, 2018, The Walking Dead aired the episode “Honor.” In this episode, fans were grief-stricken when Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs) died. The previous episode, which was the midseason finale of season eight, is where Carl showed his father, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), that he had been bitten.
Fans were in shock when it was revealed that Carl was a bit on the abdomen, an area that left no hope for survival. It wasn’t like it was a limb, like Hershel’s (Scott Wilson) leg, that could be chopped off. This was a fatal bite.
When season eight resumed with the midseason premiere, fans knew this would be a Carl-centric episode and dreaded it. Viewers watched as Carl penned letters to Rick, Michonne, and others, and he tells little Judith goodbye and passes on their father’s hat to her. He said goodbye to his dad and Michonne, telling her that she was his best friend. Then he selflessly ends his own life so that burden didn’t have to fall onto his dad or Michonne’s shoulders.
Remembering Carl Grimes five years after his death on The Walking Dead
“Honor” gives us a good look at the person Carl Grimes grew to be. He started his apocalyptic journey as a young child trying to stay safe with his family in a world that was nothing like he was used to. In his younger days, he had to deal with things no child should.
This is a child who had to kill his mother so she wouldn’t reanimate. He had to take down the walker version of the man who stood as his father in his father’s absence. The kid was shot more times than anyone should ever be and survived. He shouldered responsibilities most adults couldn’t handle.
Carl’s death was a difficult one because fans watched him grow from a young boy into adulthood. Fan or not, Carl was an original member of the Atlanta group, and those are deaths that hit the fandom the hardest. Viewers become attached to these characters and invested in their storylines.
Another reason Carl’s death hits so hard is that he was supposed to carry on the Grimes legacy as he did in the comics. Fans of the comics were denied the on-screen version of an older, married Carl who took care of Negan and fondly remembered his father Rick.
RIP, Carl Grimes.
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