Violet recaps Season 4 Episode 14 of The Walking Dead, titled The Grove, which focuses on the group made up of Tyreese, Carol, Judith, Mika, and Lizzie! Following the recap, both Violet and Josh share their thoughts on the episode!
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Episode Recap of The Walking Dead, Season 4 Episode 14: The Grove
- Lizzie insists on staying up with Carol to keep watch, and points out that she is the one who saved Tyreese, not the other way around. The next day, Carol tries to doctor up Tyreese’s cut, and she tells Tyreese how Lizzie is confused about the walkers. As they continue to follow the railroad tracks, they stop, and Carol takes Mika with her to look for water.
- While Tyreese waits with Lizzie and Judith, he spots a walker heading toward them. It trips and falls, and Tyreese is about to kill it with his hammer when Lizzie stops him. Carol tells Mika that running away from trouble isn’t good enough. Mika says she’s not like Lizzie, she knows what walkers are, but she says she could never kill people.
- They find a house, and the group decides to stay there a couple days. They spot smoke from a fire in the distance. As Carol and Tyreese go inside to clear the house, a walker comes toward the girls outside. Mika shoots it dead, and Lizzie freaks out. Later, they relax in the living room. Mika suggests they should live there.
- The next day, Carol spots Lizzie outside playing with a walker. She runs outside and stabs it in the head. Lizzie gets upset at Carol for killing her “friend” and freaks out. Carol brings Mika out to hunt deer, but Mika can’t bring herself to pull the trigger. Tyreese tells Carol that they could stay and live there.
- Mika finds Lizzie at the railroad tracks feeding a mouse to the walker who tripped. Charred walkers come out of the woods and chase the girls back to the house. Mika’s foot gets stuck on the barbed wire, and a walker almost gets her, but Carol shoots it in the head. Tyreese, Carol, Mika, and Lizzie pull out their guns and kill all of the walkers.
- Tyreese continues to have nightmares. Carol teaches the girls to make pecan treats. The next day, Carol is out walking with Tyreese and agrees that they could stay. When they return, they find that Lizzie has stabbed Mika to death. Lizzie reassures them that Mika will come back because she didn’t hurt her brain. Lizzie pulls a gun and insists that they wait. Lizzie says that Judith can change too. Carol sends Lizzie inside with Tyreese and Judith.
- Later, while Lizzie is in her bedroom, Tryeese tells Carol that Lizzie admitted she was the one feeding rats to the walkers at the prison. They consider what to do about Lizzie, and conclude that she can’t be around other people. Carol takes Lizzie out for a walk. Lizzie senses that Carol is mad at her, and apologizes for pointing her gun at her. Carol tells Lizzie to look at the flowers, and shoots her in the back of the head, as Tryeese watches from the window.
- Carol spots a deer on her way back to the house, but doesn’t shoot it. Carol and Tyreese dig graves for Mika and Lizzie and bury them. That night, Carol gives Tyreese her gun and confesses that she killed Karen and David. She tells him to do what he has to do. Tyreese forgives her. They decide not to stay there, and continue to follow the railroad tracks to Terminus.
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 4 Episode 14 of The Walking Dead: The Grove
So… yeah. Did not see any of that coming. Not Lizzie killing Mika, not Carol killing Lizzie, not Carol confessing to Tyreese that she killed Karen and David, and not Tyreese forgiving her so easily. This episode was definitely the most interesting episode of this half of the season, with all the surprises it had in store, and all the emotional responses it evoked.
It was pretty much confirmed when we saw Lizzie mutilating the rabbits a few episodes ago that she was the one responsible for the mutilated rabbit Tyreese found at the prison, and it could be inferred that she was the one who had been feeding rats to the walkers at the prison. As I’ve mentioned before, the height of the person who had been feeding the rats seemed too tall to be Lizzie, so I had been reluctant to accept that Lizzie was the rat feeder, and was holding out hope that there was some other story behind the identity of that person. However, she confirmed it herself this episode, first when we saw her feeding the walker on the railroad tracks, and later when Tyreese told Carol she admitted it to him.
I actually started to like Mika during this episode, as we haven’t really seen much of her character before, so I felt like we were getting to know her for the first time. Of course, just in time for them to kill her off. We knew Lizzie was a bit crazy, but I didn’t think she was psycho enough to kill off her own sister! I was a little surprised that Tyreese and Carol left Lizzie alone with Mika and Judith in the first place. It seems like before that, there was always an adult with the baby (well, except for that time before Carol came along when Tyreese left Judith with the girls, and Lizzie tried to smother her).
The decision to kill Lizzie seemed to come a little too quickly and easily to Carol and Tyreese. They concluded that she can’t be around people, so the only solution is to kill her. Um, what? How about try helping her? Their main reason for killing Lizzie was so that she doesn’t kill Judith, or anyone else. They did mention trying to help her, but quickly dismissed that idea. They never even try to explain to her that killing people who aren’t trying to hurt her is wrong, they just let her do her own thing, without even attempting to teach her otherwise. It’s one thing if she thinks walkers are her friends and wants to feed them rats, it’s an entirely different issue for her to want to kill people to turn them into walkers. Just do a little parenting and tell her she can’t do that! Lizzie didn’t even understand why Carol was mad at her. Couldn’t Carol have tried to explain why?Lizzie has listened to Carol on so many other issues, why wouldn’t she listen to Carol on this one? We know that Lizzie doesn’t want Carol to be mad at her, so Carol could explain to her what sort of things that would make her mad, so that Lizzie wouldn’t do those things anymore. But no, Carol does pretty much what she did with Karen and David, jumps to a conclusion without really thinking things through all the way.
On a different note, when Lizzie kept saying that she wanted to make them see what was so special about the walkers, I started getting curious. Maybe Lizzie was a sort of “zombie whisperer” that could come in handy down the road. Maybe there was something to what she was saying. Maybe Lizzie could see something important going on with the walkers that no one else could. That would have been an interesting avenue to take, and I was hoping to see that develop into something. But, nope. I guess we were just supposed to take what she was saying as merely the psychotic ravings of a lunatic.
The episode also kept teasing that Carol was going to confess to Tyreese, which added tension, because I didn’t know what would happen if she did tell him. When she finally did, she was willing to accept him killing her as punishment. It was probably good timing on her part when she told him. There had already been enough killing that day, which probably put things into a different perspective. I’m not so sure things would have gone the same way with Tyreese forgiving her so easily had he learned Carol did it while they were both still at the prison. I can’t wait to see Rick’s reaction when he sees Tyreese and Carol arrive together at Terminus, and not only that, but arriving with Judith!
There’s only 2 episodes left this season, and it looks like the next episode focuses mainly on Glenn’s group and Daryl’s new group, and has a little bit of Rick in it. We can safely assume that everyone’s paths are leading to Terminus, and Abraham even mentions that they’re trying to go to the “end of the line.” Do these groups reach Terminus in the next episode, and then we see the remaining groups reach Terminus in the season finale? Or does the season finale end with all groups reaching Terminus? Hopefully things in the next episode will be as interesting as they were this episode!
Side note: I have to praise the correction pronunciation of the word “pecan” that was used in this episode. It irritates me when it’s pronounced incorrectly on movies and TV shows, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear the correct pronunciation in this episode. It’s not “PEE-can,” it’s not “puh-CAN,” it’s not “PEE-kawn,” it’s “puh-KAWN.” Thank you.
Josh’s Thoughts: The Walking Dead, Season 4 Episode 14: The Grove
There was a lot going on this episode of The Walking Dead, despite it only focusing on Carol, Tyreese, and now the deceased Mika and Lizzie. So far, I think this has been my favorite episode of the second half of The Walking Dead season 4. Carol and Tyreese both have had terrible decisions to make this episode. Here are my thoughts as to what was going on this week.
Mika clearly was a reminder to Carol of her daughter Sophia. I think this is the first time we actually hear Carol say her name in a long time (I think Rick even mentions this fact when he kicked her out of the group). Sadly, Carol’s focus on looking at Mika’s “goodness” blinded her to Lizzie’s issues, as Carol tries to push Mika closer to Lizzie’s side.
Even further sad, is Mika’s being able to see how messed up Lizzie is, when Lizzie nearly hands herself over to become a walker. It is too bad no else saw this. Or saw it enough to do more about this. I guess the biggest question regarding Lizzie is this: Was Lizzie fundamentally/mentally broken already? Or was her actions a result of the inherit child innocence being warped by the current state of living for her? I have a hard time with this question, as the answer is not immediately apparent to me. Lizzie never killed for fun (although her near smothering of Judith certainly was creepy, but in her mind was a necessity), but she can and had killed before out of necessity. On top of that, she genuinely seemed to feel emotional regarding the death of Walkers. I think this emotional “connection” sort of takes her out of being a psychopath, as generally they would lack empathy towards anything. I would be curious to know if there is a psychological disorder Lizzie could be diagnosed with. Perhaps she is simply delusional, or even simpler–she is a child that has transitioned from a “normal” world into this savage one, and her mind isn’t able to make the change–at least easily.
Now, about the big decision–what Carol and Tyreese have to do with Lizzie. It is a tough one. One that we have already seen happen in a very similar way–Rick banishing Carol–for a very similar reason. We see what seems to be mostly Carol’s decision, as she carries out the actions–a much harsher penalty than what Carol faced. It was a very hard to watch scene, and I am having a hard time deciding what would be “right”. I think that Carol probably made the right call. The only other solution that I would be able to think of would be simply abandon Lizzie, but that would be more agonizing for both Carol and Lizzie, so I can see why Carol chose how she did. This does make for a sticky situation though, as who is to decide when killing is justified/required and when it is not? I guess at least Carol is consistent, as she as when she decided to kill Karen and David in the first half as well.
Speaking of that…This throughout this episode we get Karen’s and David’s deaths brought up by Tyreese and Lizzie to Carol, before she spilled her guts, which must have been agonizing for her. Finally at the end of the episode, after she has taken care of the Lizzie business, she decides to come clean to Tyreese. I think she chose about the best opportunity that she could, as her actions that day certainly helped Tyreese see her side of things, which seems to be, “I will do what has to be done”. Luckily for Carol, Tyreese “forgives” but will never forget, he tells her. People may be outraged that Tyreese now has the murderer he had been searching for in the first half and he simply lets it go, but there are a few reasons I think why. One, is he specifically asks if she suffered when she died, and Carol assures him that Karen did not. I think this actually helped Carol’s case a lot, as in retrospect, Tyreese can see that Karen would have suffered a long, agonizing death. She was the first sick, and many people after her died before the medicine made it back to the prison. Secondly, I think after the events of this episode, Tyreese understands Carol more, and sees the “merits” of what Carol “had” to do. Third, I bet he sees Carol as a strong person, and to get rid of her would certainly make his and Judith’s life a lot more difficult. And finally, I think Tyreese’s character is one of forgiveness. He is not one to seek vengeance. He thought he was, but when faced with it, he still has his humanity, and refused to stoop to that level.
The one final thing I want to mention, is regarding Tyreese and Carol leaving of the house, and why. Before everything went down this episode, we see Tyreese and Carol deciding to potentially make this place their home. Tyreese in the end decides that he and Carol have to move on, although he doesn’t explain explicitly why. I think there are a few factors as to why. First, living alone with the person who killed his love probably is very difficult. Second, this site is now a fairly sad place to be, given that Mika and Lizzie are both dead there now. So it’s on to Terminus they continue!
The Walking Dead, and many shows are at their best when situations that come up are not cut and dry as to who is right and who is wrong. This episode is full of this question, and even better, leaves us the viewers unable to answer it. People can make arguments for or against Carol’s two rounds of murders, and either way you look at it, you would be right or wrong depending on who you ask. I really hope The Walking Dead continues to ask these questions, and tries to avoid the more black and white scenarios, as those are on TV every night on any network channel. Let’s keep the tough moral questions coming!
Scenes from The Walking Dead, Season 2 Episode 15: Us
Here are scenes from the next episode of The Walking Dead, titled Us:
It would have been interesting to see what kind of adult Mika would have grown up to be, especially compared to how Carl is growing up.
I felt that it was understandable to kill Lizzie, because the morals vs overall survival in this world. Lizzie could not understand the difference between living people and walkers no matter what she saw or was told. In this world there is not really a possibility for rehabilitation of that sort.
Intense episode. Definitely wasnt expecting to see Lizzie standing by Mika’s body. The Carol shooting Lizzie scene. I was very happy to see Carol tell Tyrese about the prison incident and also to see the emotion that played through him before he finally said he forgives her.
I have family all over and we still argue over the correct pronunciation or pecan. So, I don’t think that issue will ever be settled.
This episode was the best of the season. Total shocker and emotion evoking.
This episode hit me in my heart when Lizzie killed Mika…and I totally understand why Carol did what she had to do…society has fallen and there’s nowhere to take Lizzie for the mental health she needed.
Such a great episode. I was dreading her maybe killing someone and sure enough it happened. Still caught me by surprise though.