Connecting The Walking Dead, Season Two: Who Are You?

Dr. Belshaw’s Unhappy Backstory

I have to admit, I may have been a little harsh in my judgment of Dr. Lyla Belshaw at the end of last season. I don’t think her using people conscripted for scientific experimentation and turning them into walkers is a good thing, and I still find her lack of reaction to seeing Dr. Abbott as an empty concern. But, after seeing Sergeant Barca, she did seem to react, suggesting that what she’s doing is bothering her.

Something that certainly helped soften my stance on her was listening to her recount her experience during the outbreak to Leo.

What she described was a horrific tale of seeing some of the worst things that could be seen in a zombie outbreak. Her daughter, Mia, had been by an infected man who’d wandered into their backyard. Her husband, Kevin, naturally tried to comfort their daughter following the harrowing experience, lying with her during the night.

When Lyla checked in the next morning, she found her husband bleeding to death from his throat nearly being ripped out, and her daughter turned. A few hours later, Kevin “…wasn’t [her] husband anymore.”

She also went on to explain that, using her medical kit, she did “horrible things” in her desperate attempts to “fix them.” What that entailed, she doesn’t describe, but it obviously wasn’t good.

This paints a very sympathetic picture of Dr. Belshaw, who could do nothing for her family despite her knowledge of medicine and science. Frankly, it also paints a slightly darker picture if we dwell too much on what she might have done to fix them.

I will say, though, it would make a great thing to see on Tales Of The Walking Dead.