Walking Dead's Next Recipe For Disaster: Angsty Teens With Guns And Terrible Mentoring
This episode of The Walking Dead was pretty satisfying for one reason – you all know what it is and I won’t spoil it for those who don’t until later (because we all know this is the preview text that shows up on Facebook, and I have a soul). But you know what wasn’t satisfying? The rise of the teenagers.
This hormonal storm has been a-brewin’ since the start of the season. Let’s recap: Enid ran off, setting off a weird male posturing situation between Carl and Ron, whose dad Rick had recently killed because he was a psycho domestic abuser. Then there’s Ron’s younger brother (who may or may not be a preteen, I can’t really tell), who has been a total head case both because he has been abused and because Carol keeps scaring the crap out of him.
You think that selfish scaredy cat clergyman who always gets people in dangerous predicaments is a threat? Think again. In fact, think back to your worst day as a teenager, then add zombies and throw in a dead parent or two. Would you give you a gun?
NO YOU WOULDN’T.
Why not? Because, as an adult, you realize that giving an emotionally unstable, grief-stricken teen who is also dealing with overwhelming hormonal fluctuations isn’t the kind of person you should entrust with a lethal weapon.
But Rick, in one of his bouts of fatherliness/mentoristic egoism, decided to give a gun to Ron. Ron, again, is a teenager whose father Rick recently murdered. Sure, the kid’s father was psycho and it was for the safety of the group (okay, also for vengeance) – even for the best for Ron’s family. But can an abused, emotionally traumatized kid see that? Or can he just see that his dad just got killed, and his murderer’s son (Carl) is horning in on his girlfriend (Enid)? And aren’t those two guys the perfect targets to unleash all those years of rage on?
(image source: AMC)
You could tell from Rick’s face he regretted giving Ron the gun as soon as the kid suggested firing it off inside the walls just for practice, but he didn’t take it back. Bad move, Rick. Near the end of the episode, Ron ends up stalking Carl – after stealing bullets from the supply room – and ominously pulling the gun from his back pocket. Slow claps all around for Rick Grimes, everybody.
And then there is nearly mute Enid, who DEFINITELY has PTSD, or at least an unhealthy dose of mental and emotional trauma seemingly beyond what many of the other characters are enduring. Soon after we found out Glenn is (THANK GOD) alive, Enid gave him some of her water and then tried to bounce.
(meme: yours truly; image, AMC)
When Glenn didn’t let her, she bolted – but he caught up with her later and firmly demanded she come back to Alexandria with him. Rather than being, I don’t know, reasonable, and realizing that Glenn was just looking out for her, she pulled a gun on him. Another messed up kid with a gun. Great. Luckily, Glenn took it from her without incident, but clearly the girl is a loose cannon.
Then there’s little Sam. Poor Sam. He’s gone through watching his mom get beaten, and taken some hits himself. He has been locked in a closet while his mom fought off invaders, not knowing whether or not she’d live. He has endured really overbearingly harsh life lessons from Carol that are enough to give any adult nightmares, let alone a kid. So it’s no wonder that he ended up sequestering himself upstairs, unwilling to come down to see if the world has gotten any worse since the last time he checked.
Carol – a complex character I truly adore, both for her virtues and her flaws – let slip a life lesson at the exact wrong time when she dropped Judith off with Jessie (in case you’re bad with names, that’s Ron and Sam’s mom who Rick has been wooing). Sam heard Carol and called to her, asking her for the kind of advice a traumatized kid would ask for – does killing people turn you into a monster? Carol’s response was, no, it’s killing that prevents you from being a monster.
And then she put Judith in Jessie’s arms and peaced out.
That seemed pretty ominous. This kid has clearly cracked, and you’re going to answer his metaphorical question with a blunt truth that he is clearly not going to absorb correctly, or entirely, because he’s like 10 or however old he is? That’s a no-no, Carol. Don’t tell a damaged kid to kill in order not to turn into a monster, and then put him in close proximity to a helpless baby.
But all this may become irrelevant in the next episode now that the huge herd of walkers has toppled the walls of Alexandria. Something tells me not becoming zombie meat might take precedence for Ron over murdering another kid. Sam will probably hide under the bed, hopefully not with Judith. And Enid? I am aware of the theory that she’s a spy for the Wolves, but I’m not convinced yet. Who knows what that chick is up to. She’ll probably just run away again.