It's been a recurring tool they use where instead of filming a genuine reaction thru give us music and them reacting instead. They did it this way when Tara returned to find Denise and the others died.

Honestly the fact that Tara has mentioned Glenn at all is kind of annoying too. They were close, but she's more upset about losing her short time lover. Her character was annoying this episode.

 

Yes, the rest of Team Family's reaction to the news of Carl's death was very underwhelming. I expected some dialogue, some tears, and some anger.

 

Yeah, it sure would have been nice to hear Daryl tell Maggie and the others about Carl. All we got was Enid sobbing to her knees. I don't even think they even showed Maggie or Carol's faces since they were so focused on Enid.

 

I was fine with it. Id assume Enid would take it the hardest (or at least show her emotions the most) at the end of the scene Maggie was on the ground holding her.

 

I actually liked it. The way Carol, Maggie, and Enid's faces all went from happy to see them to figuring out something is wrong by reading Daryl, then tears when we see Daryl mouth "Carl".

It was sappy, sure. But I liked it. I'm sure we will get some more scenes with dialog about these characters dealing with the loss.

Just like Maggie and Daryl after he escaped. We never saw them come face to face when he arrived and I thought we were robbed of a great scene. Then a few episodes later we got the "I'm sorry" scene. So I'm sure we will get something in a few episodes where the characters deal with it.

 

They really did fast forward through it. It was heartbreaking to watch Enid and then, snap! It was over with a glimpse of her sitting beside herself to deal. I felt she deserved more on screen time for that.

 

The show has spent years cultivating relationships between characters as well as the audience's ivestment in those relationships. Once a character dies we often get these underwhelming and brief character responses before moving along to another scene...

Honor was an exception, but this is in my humble opinion the biggest weakness of the show. It's paradoxical how little time character's are afforded to grieve and reflect on one another when it's this large, diverse family that has been the heart of the show for so long... Like I said, it's the shows most glaring and frequent flaw.

 

Bear in mind, the group didn't see Carl die, not really. They saw him dying. I am assuming there will be a stronger resolution scene when Rick shows up.

 

They could have taken just a few of the 672 minutes it took Carl to actually die, and used them in this reaction scene.

 

I feel like I'm in the minority here when it comes to this scene. I think by showing all of their faces when they found out, and showing Enid fall to the ground, we can figure out that they are all really sad about it...i'm sure there will be more scenes that express how sad they are to lose Carl. I don't need long, dragged out scenes with them crying. I think we have a natural curiosity to see Daryl relay what happened in detail and see all of their reactions, but it wouldn't really move the story forward.

I also think the two people who his death affected the most (Rick and Michonne) got the appropriate moments of grieving scenes. Enid will get more i'm sure. Carl's death is one that will linger for a while.

 

Also, they haven't read Carl's letters to them yet.

What if Enid is now pregnant with Carl Jr?

 

Totally agree with this. Rick and Michonne were the ones who we needed to see grieve, and the writers gave us that. At this point in time, there have been so many deaths of loved ones that after the initial shock and of course grief, they just have to carry on. There's no time to get swallowed up in your own emotions to the detriment of yourself and others in the group. If you're depressed and not on your A game, you or someone else might be next. This is their reality now.

 

I was actually pleasantly surprised with how they did this overall and found it refreshing that there were no mouth words or speeches,if you couldn't get the jist of it from Enids reaction then........

I will even admit that I was so bored last night that I was flipping channels and when I got back to the Hilltop wasn't sure what had even happened as this new approach was so different than expected!

 

I thought it was perfect. Carol running over to Daryl joyfully was perfect. Daryl mouthing "Carl" was perfect. Daryl, Carol, and Judith walking in bound tightly together was perfect. Enid was perfect. Maggie cradling her was perfect.

Some things leave you in a hollow pain beyond words. All you can do is breath in and out and put one foot in front of the next and keep going. That's what was captured.

Tragedy is ever-present for them. purriwinkle said exactly what I think.

 

The one part of that ending scene that I *did* really like was Enid's reaction. I thought the actress did a great job there. You could just feel the heartbreak.

 

She did an awesome job...poor girl didn't even get to say goodbye.