BY JULIET PEREZ
Staff Writer
When watching a show about a zombie apocalypse, you are prepared for people to die. Both main characters and even side characters are going to die because of course, they are living through the end of the world. However, there are certain characters that you never expect to die, or some characters that just don’t need to die. In “The Walking Dead” characters come and go, and there are some characters that you know are going to die. Some characters need to die simply because it helps the storyline move along. However, one death that I have found extremely unnecessary in the series was Carl Grimes. Carl dies midway through the 8th season, and not only was his death unnecessary, but the actual death also was so boring and just seemed so rushed.
Carl was only 8 when it all began, the audience literally grew up with his character, we watched him learn how to shoot his first gun to become a key component of the crew. From the beginning, Carl wants to be a leader. He is courageous and impatient to begin fighting the walkers and even people. He often sneaks off in the beginning of the series to fight walkers on his own. Like when he was messing around with the walker at Hershel’s ranch. Young boys are reckless because even though they understand that the situation is dangerous, they still think they’re invincible and can handle stuff, especially when they see older men doing it. Little boys want to be just like the tough guys they see. They are extremely angsty, Rick and his relationship throughout the show is complicated. Carl blaming Rick for his mother’s death is a huge obstacle for them. Carl saying he wishes Rick were dead was because Carl was so pissed at the decisions his dad was making that were making things worse, and Carl believed he’d be fine without him. But once Carl thinks his dad is dying, he breaks down and admits he isn’t ready to let go, which is sensible. It’s like some angsty teenager telling their parents that they hate them. Children are full of angst and built-up emotions, and God can imagine the amount of built-up emotion you’d have after going through what Carl had gone through. But he matured. He made less stupid decisions. He was growing into the leader that would have replaced Rick later in the show. He’s been in the apocalypse for years and decides that playing with walkers in the woods with a stranger is a good idea, it isn’t what a sensible character who has been living in the apocalypse for years would do. 7 years surviving in the apocalypse and he gets bit? Before that point, he’d faced more walkers than that by himself and came out completely unscathed. Then the reaction from the group of people who practically raised him was awful too, no one even cared that he died besides Rick, Michonne, Negan, Enid, Siddiq, and weirdly enough Rosita. Darryl seems to not be phased. Maggie kind of gasps a little at the news. You’d think Carol would care a lot seeing how she practically babysat the kid and has a thing for going batshit crazy when a child who’s close to her dies, but she is completely unaffected by it.
All other main characters received a huge and important death scene, like being beaten to death by a bat, dying during birth, being beheaded, being shot in the heart, etc. And literally, Carl only gets bitten? In the comics, he lives and is actually significant to the ending of the story, so this just proves that the producer of the show just had a problem with Chandler Riggs (the actor of Carl), and wanted to rush his death. It’s insane to me because he is literally Rick Grimes’ son, and Rick is the absolute main character of the show. Their relationship is one of the main parts of the show and it’s so frustrating that Carl dies because everything would’ve been different. I believe that the show is still interesting after his death, I just wish they did it a little differently or did not do it at all.