Shitty writing probably.

Or stupid characters (often this goes hand in hand!)

Im tired of the moopy "Buhuhuh! I will run off into danger now!". Morons, and I like Lydia as a character...

 

She did bring Lydia into the cell but I am not sure that she told Lydia about her mother claiming to have killed her at that point. I would think that if Lydia knew about her mother's claim that she would have chosen not to be part of breaking the prisoner. Simply because, as she stated on the bridge, she would not want to be used in that manner, too great a reminder of how she was used by her own mother

That was left (intentionally I assume) ambiguous. Perhaps she brought Lydia to the cell under the guise of helping them convince the prisoner to offer up information

 

OTOH, didn’t Carol tell Daryl that it was Lydia’s choice whether or not to bring Lydia down to the cell? I would have imagined Carol would have explained what she was about to do and why to Lydia. I would have thought Lydia would then have been on board with exposing her mother’s lies and letting the chips fall where they may.

She already told Carol something similar when she suggested that if the Whisperers could see how well the ASZ functioned, they would be disillusioned with their own way of life. It makes no sense to me that she would have felt so “used” rather than, hell yeah, sign me up.

Of course, Lydia might have been more cooperative if the community as a whole had been more welcoming to her rather than making her feel isolated like she really had no people anywhere.

 

I got very annoyed that Lydia ran off into the darkness (and into Whisperer territory) like I get it you’re mad but really girl? Another dumb teen on TWD (the legacy continues). Hopefully Negan finds her.

 

Let's say Negan finds her... what would he do? What should he do? Wouldn't he try to convince Lydia to get her ass straight back to Alexandria?

 

That’s what I would hope he does! Maybe he doesn’t want her to witness him take out Alpha!

Edit: okay after watching Talking Dead, I understand a little more why Lydia ventured back into Whisperer territory. But still. But also I feel bad for the poor girl. Been living in Alexandria for a year and still feels like the outcast.

 

That's really just so sad. She has a few adults who look out for her, but she hasn't managed to make a single friend of her age. Why are all the Alexandrian and Hilltop teenagers such little assholes?

 

I see it as "new kid" syndrome, but in the case of Lydia she's the "new kid" and she was a whisperer who was captured. As far as they see it Lydia was a whisperer POW who just never left. I wonder how much they put into explaining to everybody why she was there. One minute she is in a cell, the next she is freely walking around the fair. Next thing they know their friends are on a pike and she's still around.

Come to think of it, why is Gage at Alexandria anyway? He grew up at Hilltop and was there up until this season.

 

You're right. It's probably a failing on the adults' side as well, not explaining Lydia's circumstances properly to the rest of the community.

I just felt she was right to push Carol over and get away from her, from all of them. She reached her limit, the limit that was already showing remarkable resilience. She feels they've failed her, and they clearly have. Besides keeping her alive, they've not done much for her wellbeing.

 

Henry was from the Kingdom. Kids from there seemed much nicer. Benjamin was a sweetheart too.

 

Well we know Gage is part of the coalition as one of the soldiers. He and a bunch of other Hilltop and Oceanside soldiers were seen at Alexandria in 1003 and 1004. My guess is that they were called in as reinforcements to help with the undead waves before eventually returning home (some of the Hilltop soldiers were later seen back in Hilltop in 1005 and haven’t been seen in Alexandria since then). My guess is that Gage will eventually return home, if he hasn’t already, or for some reason permanently moved to Alexandria.

 

I think it was Daryl who said they should give her a choice about going down to the cell to see the prisoner. If Carol had simply told Lydia about the plan, before riding her out into the wilderness she probably would've gone along with it. I think Carol still has resentment toward her over Henry's death and is just seeing Lydia as a pawn in the bigger game. It's too bad because aside from Daryl, and Negan, she's had a horrible time of it at Alexandria.

 

To be fair, lots of teenagers really are dumb when it comes to common sense type stuff

 

You’re absolutely right that it was Daryl who said Lydia should be given the choice, but I believe it was Carol that went up to talk to her, right? We have no idea what Carol said exactly but she should have laid it all out truthfully, like you said, telling her in advance what she had in mind.

I also think you hit the nail on the head that Carol harbors some resentment towards Lydia for Henry’s death otherwise why didn’t she take the girl under her wing, protecting her, getting to know her and giving her some status within the community? You know Henry would have wanted his mom to do that yet it looks like that never happened.

Now we have this colossal screw up with Lydia out there loose, and on her own. The very opposite of what Michonne had instructed which was to keep the girl safe. I imagine there’s gonna be a fair bit of ‘splaining to do. Too many secrets and rogue plans which makes it difficult, if not impossible, for our groups to act as one front so far. Not only that but now they have a spy to ferret out if they’re not too busy being at cross purposes with themselves. I’m anxious to see what happens.

 

This is just so heartbreaking. What a missed opportunity for both of them. Lydia kinda got herself two dysfunctional uncles, but no friends, and no one who'd mother a motherless child. Michonne has her hands full with her two and the council and beyond. So the obvious person would have been Carol, and yet, she couldn't bring herself to do it, struggling with her own demons.

They managed to keep her safe but not make her feel loved. She couldn't even share her own grief with anyone. It's a total disaster.

An then they couldn't even manage to keep her safe. She gets beaten up, and then pushed to her limit so she feels forced to flee. Right now it seems Alpha was right: Daryl couldn't keep her safe. I hope this dreadful f**kup will be rectified, first by finding her and bringing her back quickly and then wrapping this young girl in some love.

 

In ten seasons of this show I have never felt so heartbroken for a character. And Cassady plays the part to perfection. It is so odd watching her play Lydia then seeing her in real life - she is so full of joy and exuberance

 

Carol's intent was to use that girl as a pawn the whole time to get any advantage she can get on her revenge mission.

Carol isn't thinking this thru, she's fueled by emotion rather than tactics BUT to her credit, her plan is to somehow disperse, destroy, or dismantle as much of the walker herd as she can to take away Alpha's biggest advantage literally and kill Alpha. I don't think she is thinking about an aftermath (unless she is relying on Negan to handle the aftermath).

She brought Lydia to the cell to surprise the Whisperer hostage to let him see with his own eyes that Alpha is (to a point) misleading them.

Dante had other plans though.