Sesska's Favorite TV Moment of the Week (2/25-3/3) (Patreon)

What painful, terrible and heartbreaking moment am I going to choose from this damn episode? Sorry but this week, there were no other episodes in play as far as I was concerned. So let’s talk about this beautiful and heart wrenching journey we went on for an hour on Sunday. 

What I will say is I absolutely loved this episode and for once, it was really nice to see a beloved character in The Walking Dead actually say goodbye. We’ve had so many characters die so suddenly that maybe they got some final words but they really didn’t get to say goodbye to everyone they had a strong relationship with. While Carl didn’t get to see Enid….(and on a side note, I really hope Enid and Aaron’s mission is successful because thinking about her not being around for something that didn’t work out would be extra heartbreaking) and Carl also didn’t get to say goodbye to Maggie or Carol. Let’s hope they got letters too. But this whole episode was really the show preparing us to say goodbye to someone that most of us never thought we would ever lose. 

There were quite a few gut-wrenching moments that made me sob but I’m going to choose the ending with Carl, Rick and Michonne as the best one. (Though that damn hat seen sure did punch me right in the feels) Not only was it the most important goodbye that Carl had to say but we also found out that this “Old Man Rick” flashes were actually Carl’s vision of the world. Well played, Walking Dead, well played. They literally took something out of the comics and made it something completely different. Also I love the idea that Carl had Rick getting all old while Michonne looked as stunning as ever. This vision was exactly everything that should be the goal of the group and over time, it’s obvious people may lose track of that. This season has really been focused on the term “after”…..what comes after. What happens after the war? The whole thing isn’t very black and white, that’s very true. But I love the emphasis of it in this episode. They have to be better than the Saviors. And sometimes being better is probably much more difficult than killing them. Much like what Carl was talking about when he said shooting the kid was easy. 

So now let’s get to the goodbyes. The thing we were dreading the entire episode. I was literally holding my breath the entire time and while crying, dreading the moment where Carl would say goodbye to Rick. Everything Rick has done has been for Carl. That will he has always had to survive…..surely he would’ve given up at some point if he didn’t have to pave a way to a better world for Carl. In No Way Out, Rick holds Carl’s hand and tells him that he wants to show him a better world and know the roles are reserved. Carl’s actually comforting his dad through this difficult time which speaks volumes about what kind of man Rick shaped Carl to become. Carl is accepting his fate and spending his last moments making sure his father will be okay. 

I love the idea that Carl knew exactly what shooting his mom did to him. How it scarred him. And he wasn’t going to make his father carry that burden around. He manned up and did it himself. Such a powerful scene to conclude the journey of this wonderful young man who we saw grow up in front of our eyes. 

I know many people are having a hard time with Carl’s departure and think it was a dumb decision by the show. Not getting into that at all but what I will say is the show did an impeccable job with this episode. I loved the side storyline ending with Henry taking a step too far…..much like Carl did once before. We also got time to mourn which is so freaking rare for this show. Think about the Season 7 Premiere…..which to this day is still the hardest Walking Dead scene for me to get through. But think about even though we knew we would lost someone, how sudden and shocking it was. Then we moved on to the next thing. We were trying to cope and trying to mourn but the show wouldn’t let us. They were all still in that line-up and something worse could’ve been just around the corner. I think it’s important for the show to do that. To show that sometimes the worst things can happen and you don’t get time to mourn and adjust. 

But this time, they let us all collectively cry for an hour. And I really loved that. It felt like therapy in a strange way and Carl will helping us through it. Which is kind of ironic. No show gets me as invested as this one and I’m so grateful The Walking Dead has become such a huge part of my life….even if it rips my heart out and stomps on it more often than not.