This episode, focusing on Carol and Tyreese's field trip with the girls, cemented that lesson. There's no coming back. Even Lizzy learns that today.
We start with what looks like a dream sequence from before the world turned. A kettle on the stove is whirring, then whistling, as the camera pans on a well-used country kitchen, complete with high windows facing a willow tree-filled backyard. And that backyard has its own kid, playing tag with an adult who can't be made out. Is it a zombie? Or is it an adult, making the slow motions required to give a kid a fair shot in a game of tag? We don't know. Not yet.
The country is so relaxing....
We go to a night-time scene. Carol and Lizzy are still up, with a resting Judith. Mika and Tyreese sleep next to each other along the tracks themselves (not sure about the safety of this). Lizzy starts by asking if there will be kids at Terminus. Carol hopes so, but it depends on whether their guardians could keep them safe. Lizzy, feeling quite proud of herself, points out that she and Mika had to save Tyreese's life at the prison, not the other way around. The only thing Lizzy is disappointed in is that she shot Tyreese's attackers in the head, preventing them from re-animating. Carol, misunderstanding, tells Lizzy that she had to shoot those people, that sometimes you do what has to be done. Lizzy decides to ask about Sophia. Carol tells her Sophia didn't have a mean bone in her body. Lizzy wants to know, is that why she's dead? Carol, though sad, admits that it's true. As Lizzy gets some sleep herself, we hear Tyreese having a nightmare.
The next day, they are walking along, Carol worried that they haven't seen any more signs for Terminus. Carol's also concerned about the smell of smoke nearby. Something's on fire from farther away than they can see. She and Lizzy stop to find a tree with sap, which Carol uses on Tyreese's infected arm. As she works on his arm, she confesses that she's worried about Mika. Out of the girls' hearing, she tells Tyreese that Mika doesn't have a mean bone in her body. We all know what happened to the last girl who lacked mean bones. She tells Tyreese that Lizzy is in even more danger, as she doesn't see the zombies as sick but as people, just different. One won't kill the dead and the other won't kill the living, she tells Tyreese.
Carol decides to find some water, and takes Mika with her to look for some while Lizzy and Judith stay with Tyreese. Lizzy and Tyreese's game of I Spy quickly turns into a red alert as they spot a zombie. But this zombie is a putz, falling into a hole between track rails. Stuck, it can't really cause anyone trouble, unless someone stumbles into it in the dark. Tyreese almost puts it down when Lizzy persuades him not to, not unlike the scene where Hershel convinces Carl not to put down walkers rotting into a tree and stuck in a bear trap. In that scene, Hershel wants Carl to demonstrate that he's "come back" from killing a teenager at the end of Season 3.
I spy.... a really dysfunctional coping mechanism!
Carol takes Mika into the woods, partly for water and partly to have a "toughen up, kid" talk. Mika knows she's little, but she's still pretty scared. She thinks that she could put down a zombie, but killing live people is beyond her. Back at the prison, only Lizzy could fire on the attackers. Carol tries to talk Mika into realizing that sometimes she will have to kill a living person, but Mika couldn't even kill someone killing her friends. She feels sorry for them. It took the world ending for those people to do what they did. Just as Carol is going to nip that sympathy in the bud, they spy a great find: a clearing in the woods leading to a secluded development, complete with a pecan field.
Mika is excited; her mother always said things work out the way they should. They proudly show it to Lizzy and Tyreese, who are as thrilled as they are. Mika is looking forward to pecans. Carol says she saw a deer. They are already wondering just how long they'd like to stay here. They all see the smoke of the fire, maybe a mile away. Black and gray plumes of smoke billow into the air above the trees. Carol reasons the fire will send plenty of escaping game their way.
What's the fire? Carol and Tyreese make the conscious decision not to investigate, only keep an eye on it in case they must go. The implication is clear that it could be the fire Darryl and Beth set on the moonshiner's house. That would mean that this episode takes place in the couple days after Darryl and Beth's solo episode. Darryl and Beth might be headed to the funeral home at about the time this episode takes place. Besides this clue, it's been difficult to understand both where and when each episode takes place. There's no reason to think the disparate scenes are all happening in real time. And they're all taking place far enough away from each other that they don't meet up. But besides that, it's almost impossible to tell at what time of their story each separate group is. The writers set it up this way for a couple reasons: first is that then they can make all the timelines meet where they would like later, with minimum coordination; second is to reinforce each group's isolation from each other. There are almost no connections shown between the different groups, not since about four episodes ago.
Carol and Tyreese prepare to clear the house, as they caution the girls to wait outside with Judith held by Lizzy. Once alone, they speculate on a nearby grave with baby shoes, and then argue over whether zombies are people. Mika, just like her earlier talk with Carol, says they aren't; Lizzy is sure that they are and the others just can't see that. They have a chance to decide when one stumbles out of the house and falls over the porch railing, plopping on the ground at their feet. Mika puts it down on the second shot, while Lizzy can only crawl away while trying to hold Judith. Lizzy is having a freak out, which Mika helps with by telling Lizzy to count some nearby flowers (a trick used in the first episode, when Lizzy needs to stare at a picture of flowers while Carol puts her dad down). The group wants to believe that Lizzy is just freaked out by her close call, but Mika knows the truth: Lizzy is upset that Mika killed a walker. Mika is so nice, she apologizes to Lizzy for yelling at her.
Holy crap!
Later that evening, as they'e preparing some pecans to eat, Mika finds a doll. The whole "family" ends up in the living room, puzzle-doing and doll-playing. Tyreese is a happy camper, reveling in this bit of normalcy they get to share. He naps and quickly falls into another nightmare. The next morning, everyone's feeling hunky-dory as Tyreese suggests staying indefinitely. It's nice, it's relatively safe. There's food, water, and each other. They don't really know what Terminus is like, or whether they can trust the people there. Carol realizes he's still thinking of Karen, killed by someone unknown.
And now, I'm going to tell you how your murder has broken my heart...
Later, Carol takes Mika out with a rifle. Carol wonders if the fire has burnt out. Mika points out that there's still black smoke, and that white smoke means the fire is finally done. Carol's impressed. They see a deer, but Mika just can't kill it. Carol, disappointed, takes the rifle and they walk slowly along. Mika can't even kill other animals. But hey, Mika says, they have all the pecans they can eat.
Carol gets back to the kitchen, puts some water on the stove, and the scene segues into the opening. The tag game was real, in the current day of the show, and involves Lizzy and a zombie. Lizzy's playing with the zombie, leading it along, dodging it and when Carol sees, she rushes out to put the zombie down, no matter how hard Lizzy protests. This leads to a screaming fit. Lizzy wants to know how Carol would feel if someone killed her. Yes, Lizzy really doesn't understand what a zombie is. Tyreese sees, realizing that something is horribly wrong with Lizzy. Maybe it's best if they don't get to Terminus yet. Mika catches Lizzy sneaking off, back into the woods, and follows Lizzy back to the tracks, where Lizzy has caught a little mouse. She offers it to the zombie stuck in the rail tracks. We see her hold by its tail where the zombie can stuff it in its mouth. She's playing with it, feeding it, treating it as more than a pet when Mika approaches and starts yelling at her sister. Lizzy feels sure that the other zombies want her to be a zombie. She tentatively holds her hand out, almost within the zombie's bite. Is this her end game? That she's obsessed with being a zombie eventually?
Their fight attracts some walkers showing serious burns, probably from the neighboring fire, and Lizzy and Mika run back to the house, where Carol and Tyreese have been gone getting water and hearing bad hunting jokes. Both run back to the house as they see the girls returning, and what's chasing them. Lizzy gets back through the wire fence; but Mika doesn't, and is squirming and screaming for Carol while a zombie grabs her foot. Lizzy bounces in from the side, picks Mika up and frees her, and they run together behind Carol and Tyreese, who have already begun shooting zombies. This sequence is another group shooting scene, where coordinated, armed people go right through a group of zombies. Notice, not all the undead go down on the first shot, which is a welcome change from usual shoot-em-up scenes. Mika takes out a handgun, and joins in. Carol is relieved to see Lizzy by her side, gun out and shooting.
The miracle we've been waiting for?
Later that night, they try to be normal again. Carol is relieved, thinking that Lizzy has finally broken out of her mental block. Lizzy is very reassuring, maybe too much so, as she tells Carol that she knows what she has to do now. Mika is hoping they are all still good people, and that she still doesn't want to do anything bad. Lizzy chirpily tells Mika that they all have to do something bad, but only sometimes. They end the evening helping Carol roast more pecans. Normalcy is in their grasp.
Carol and Tyreese are hunting together the next day. She agrees that with a few improvements, they could stay there. Tyreese tells Carol he isn't ready to go to Terminus, he's not ready to meet other people yet. Tyreese opens up to Carol, confessing that he still dreams of Karen. Some dreams are happy with them together, and he can forget that she's dead. Some dreams bring all his memories back. In the end, Tyreese ends by telling Carol that there's no coming back, no putting things behind. Your actions will always be a part of you, always affect you. Carol seriously considers confessing herself; but she just tells Tyreese that the dead don't haunt us; they try to teach us. Tyreese hugs Karen's killer, who can only help Tyreese move on from what she did.
Carol and Tyreese, in what may be the biggest dumb-ass mistake, have left the girls alone at the house. Really? They know the fire is still going; the girls could get overrun again. They've even left the baby just sitting out on the lawn. Who knows what might happen? To be fair, they didn't expect what they see awaiting them at the house. Lizzy is happy to see them, face and hair flecked with blood. Her hands are covered in it. She's got a knife.
Don't worry, I finished my homework first!
"Don't worry," she tells them, "I didn't kill the brain. She'll come back." They see Mika , laying motionless behind Lizzy. "I want you to see," Lizzy tells them. After telling Carol and Tyreese that she was planning on doing Judith next, they act. Carol takes out her knife. Lizzy takes out her gun, pointing it at the adults. She wants them all to wait for Mika to come back, so they can all see that she's not dead, just different. Carol, with a straight and calm face, talks Lizzy into handing over the gun. Of course they'll wait. Just go wash up with Tyreese now, you wouldn't want to be dirty when your sister wakes up. I'll just tie her up so she doesn't get away, okay sweetie?
Now she can be cute forever!
There isn't going to be any reunion for the sisters. We'll never get to know if zombie Mika will play with her new doll. Carol and Tyreese confab in the dining room while he holds Judith protectively. Now faced with dealing with someone else's murder, she no doubt realizes why Rick would no longer have her at the prison; they don't dare trust Lizzy around Judith unsupervised. They don't trust Lizzy around anyone, anymore. Tyreese lists what he's found out since then; he found Lizzy's shoebox replenished with mice; Lizzy admitted to the dissection he found at the prison right before the Governor invaded. Lizzy was feeding the zombies at the fence. He's horrified as he tells Carol that Lizzy admitted to killing animals for fun. Tyreese wonders if Lizzy killed Karen and David. Carol brushes that whole theory aside by telling Tyreese that she would have made sure they turned, and wouldn't have dragged them, but lured them outside. Like parents that must combat their kid's mental illness, they try to come up with a solution that won't get anyone else killed or tear them apart. If Carol leaves with Lizzy, they might not survive on their own, especially since Lizzy won't kill zombies. If Tyreese leaves with Judith, they definitely won't survive without another adult. Lizzy cannot be brought to Terminus, or be allowed near people again. What solution is there?
With Tyreese watching from the kitchen, Carol leads Lizzy out for a walk, similar to the walk she took with Mika just days ago, to try to work out Mika's problem. Carol suggests they pick wildflowers, a gift for Mika when she "comes back". They both see the smoke from the fire, and Carol explains that the white smoke means that the fire has gone out, remembering Mika as she speaks. Did Mika try to defend herself when her sister stabbed her? Or was mean-bone-less Mika totally taken by surprise? We'll never know. Lizzy can't come back from killing Mika, because she doesn't even understand that that's what she's done. Lizzy, thinking that Carol is angry at her, sobs as she apologizes for pointing a gun at Carol. Does Lizzy know what's about to happen? Does she know why Carol tells her to keep looking at the flowers, the old stand-by way of calming her down? Does she know why Carol says, in a broken voice, that everything works out the way it should? Does she hear Carol draw her revolver and chamber a round? Carol, tired of shooting that day, leaves a nearby deer to run off.
Off meat for a while
Note that this echoes one of the series first moments, when Rick shoots an anonymous girl who has already turned. Lizzy and Mika's story is meant to parallel with the story of Ben and Billy, from the graphic novel. Two twin boys, orphaned by the zombiepocalypse and adopted by Rick's group of survivors. While on the road, the boys start to get weird, obsessed with death and turning, to the point that Ben kills Billy. To watch him turn. While the adults try to decide what to do, Carl kills Ben. It's similar to this; kids have to protected, because they haven't learned to kill yet. But they can, in fact, kill each other. The adults know they have to do something about Ben once he's killed his brother. But they can't take the step of killing Ben. Only another kid can do that. In the show, Carol ends up doing what the adults in the book could not bring themselves to do. By doing so, she shows Tyreese that sometimes, someone does have to die to protect everyone else.
We see, probably the next day, two new child-sized graves near the original one Lizzy and Mika found. We see Carol putting fresh earth in one of them, while Tyreese is carrying a wrapped body to the other. That night, Carol finally confesses to Tyreese, but not before handing over her revolver to him. As he realizes he owes the girls' short lives to, buried the kids, and is doing a puzzle with the person who killed Karen, he slowly reaches for the gun. Carol tells him to do what he has to do. Turns out, Tyreese has to ask if Karen suffered. Carols assures him she didn't. So he forgives her. He tells her he'll never forget though. He tells Carol she won't either. They'll both feel Karen's death always, bonded by their very different parts in her life.
I'd kill you, except that you're too bad-ass to die now...
The next morning, both are silent, dressed for traveling and carrying all their new supplies. With Judith safely on Tyreese's back, wrapped up for the now-coming cold. Carol loosens the fence, leaving it ajar. Nothing's worked out the way it should be, no matter how sure Mika was that everything would.
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