‘The Walking Dead’ season 4: Melissa McBride reacts to devastating decision

Last night, “The Walking Dead” aired what may be one of their best episodes of not just season 4, but also potentially the entire series. It was intense, difficult, and above all devastating when you really sit down and process what the characters had to do.

For most of the series, Carol has come across like a mother figure to most of the younger survivors on the show. She was relied upon to teach and educate the youngsters on the ways of the world. So for her to actually have not only recognized her failures, but to make action to correct them, could not be an easy thing to do. She learned that Lizzie had killed Mika, and she then had to make the difficult choice to then kill Lizzie before she could cause any other harm. It wasn’t something that she particularly enjoyed doing, but she knew that if it wasn’t done, Baby Judith, Tyreese, and herself ultimately would not be safe thanks to Lizzie’s walker obsession.

After the episode aired, Melissa McBride sat down with Entertainment Weekly to try and touch on everything, and she explained that while the material was the hardest for her to play on the series to date, it was also essential that this story was told in order to tell the story of madness in this world:

“It was obviously so heavy and I just had to remember that there is this source material — Robert Kirkman’s source material — that they are pulling us from that and that’s what this show is. And it’s a story that needs to be told. It’s an element that had not been examined yet really from the perspective of our group — just the mental fragility and mindset and different perspectives of children. This is something that really needs to be explored in this world. And Carol’s arc has dealt so much with children that this group was the best one for this story to be told. It just had to be told.”

How will the characters move forward? For Tyreese and Carol, much of their tale now involves them trying to find a way to get to Terminus and to the rest of the group. There is a sense of community that comes with it, and that is certainly not something that these people have had since The Governor’s attack on the prison.

in case you missed it from last night, click here to watch a preview for the next all-new “Walking Dead” episode. You can also sign up now to get some more news and updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: AMC