Carol did kill them though. It wasn't Lizzie. I thought Lizzie a few weeks ago too, but it is clear now that it was just Carol.

 

So true. Niceties & politeness and sharing with strangers would have gone out the window in the beginning. By this point people you weren't close to would be stabbing you in the back for your last bag of beef jerky & taking your every last possession, including the clothes off your back. Relatively speaking to what you would really be dealing with, someone like Carol would be like a Pollyanna & she would be the least of your problems.

 

Those were the reasons the writer gave, but did not fit with the character of Carol as they had written her up to this season. And since there was nothing horrible that happened over the lost months between seasons, it was inexplicable.

And regardless of the reasons given, to clinically detach yourself of all human feeling to the point where you can just walk up to a sick person and kill them is cold-hearted, regardless of any reasoning. And when you look at the Carol that was there at the end of S3 and the Carol who did that, it is out of character. If someone changes that much over a few short months, you would expect a reason for it. There wasn't one. It was too large a leap in character for the action preceding it. Now had she shived Axel for hitting on Beth in S3 instead of befriending him, it would not have been shocking to see her kill people in cold blood this season.

 

Carol did the right thing- and if Carl or Judith had died, Rick would have wished she did it even sooner. Rick is a terrible leader and the last person anyone should be listening to.

 

Starbucks Italian Roast: Perfection.

I agree it is weighing on her by her actions, but not by what she says. That thing with Merle though was actually a scene that was cut, so never part of the actual season 3. What she talked to Merle about and that wasn't cut was the late bloomer speech, which was strong, but still very much Carol being the nurturing person. The Governor thing was there, but he wasn't at all an innocent victim, so it's not really the same. I don't think either of those two actions would lead you to believe Carol would decide to kill two people because they were sick - especially since if you knew anything at all about illnesses like colds and flu, you would know couldn't possibly work. She had a child, so presumably was aware how colds and flu spread.

Evolution I consider a progression, where you start here and end up there. This was more evolution followed by an unexpected 90 degree turn, where the vehicle goes up on two wheels and you almost lose it.

 

This post is on wrong place and wrong forum :/

We are already fanatics who enjoy the show.

 

Yeah, that. ^^^^

 

I don't believe Carol has been shown to be completely detached. She certainly has been trying, but her emotions were hinted at...her upset over Lizzie possibly having the illness, her anger toward herself after talking to Tyreese and promising to watch over Sasha, her tearfulness when Rick made it clear he was banishing her from the group. Her detachment is forced. What I get from those scenes is that Carol has been fighting herself - her empathetic side - in order to get on with things and survive. And as was pointed out, she truly believed when she took both Karen and David's lives that they were beyond hope...that they were suffering. She saw them choking on their own blood, saw the torture they were going through, saw the risk that the illness in them posed to the group, and made the hard decision. I don't think that Carol felt nothing when she killed them; I suspect she probably tortured herself over whether or not she could do it, before finally making that call. And now she has buried all of that deep inside in order to be able to live with it. As for how quickly Carol has changed...people who undergo immense psychological trauma have been known to undergo extreme personality changes in a very short period of time, so the matter of just a few months would not be surprising. And detachment...or even the guise of detachment...can easily surface from all of this, even overnight. I don't think, however, that Carol has gone through a sudden change. The writers have shown her evolving to become tougher, to acknowledge that she really is a survivor. To me, the new Carol is definitely a change from the softer version of herself in seasons past, but it is certainly plausible.

 

So I decided to go back and start from the beginning and watch this series all over again. I just finished watching episode 3 in season 1, and I have to say I see what [MENTION=20812]ByteMe[/MENTION] and others are talking about. There is a sharp contrast between the acting and the writing from season 1 until now. The show has really changed. Prior to this I only watched each episode once (season 4 I started watching them twice) so I must have forgotten how different it was. The acting was *amazing*. Merle up on the rooftop. Daryl's introduction to Rick. Rick being reunited with Lori & Carl. Morgan breaking down & not being able to put down his wife. Shane beating up Carol's horrible husband when he was harassing the women. Andrea. **Wow** I forgot what incredible actors they are. The situations that they were in were very raw and real. It took some effort with crow bars and shovels to take down a walker. Sounds (like gun shots) drew the walkers in (every time, not just if the script called for it). The abandoned houses were fly ridden and dirty, there was no running water. They were running out of ammunition and supplies. They were scared. I don't know, I didn't realize how much the show has changed it until I started watching it again. Something is definitely different from the writing end of it. Maybe someone who knows can weigh in.

 

I agree with everything in the original posts, yes this show has had moments of lazy writing but nothing from the last episode would qualify as that.

 

Thank you, that explains it!! They should get him back, season 1 was incredible!

 

...now that was lazy writing. You never mentioned Rick's hat.

 

The funniest part is when people start talking like they are professional writers, and I'm like dude, where's your script?, if you know so much about writing and you think you'd be so good at writing then why aren't you writing a tv show, or a movie?

 

Great post. I was starting to wonder WTF was going on in this board if people seriously didn't like season 1 best. Soooo many posts are just defensive of the show and its writing. Its a great show, but it used to be A+ movie quality show. I look forward to it but its not like it was. Clearly they are missing Frank Durabont

I see, so nobody is allowed to criticize anything unless they write a professional tv show. Or its that "hey if you can't do better, shut up" --- utter nonsense.

 

Last night I watched episodes 4 & 5 of season 1 and my mind continues to be blown over how different the show was. That scene when the walkers invaded camp and Andrea's sister died had me in tears, as did others. I never really paid attention to who the directors were before, I only noticed that the show had changed, but my God, they made a huge mistake in firing him. It is all of those little stupid things that add up now that weren't there before that make all the difference for me. Rick driving around in the clean Hundai, the clear roads, the huge shoot out with Rick & Carl with this secret stash of guns & ammo, that somehow didn't attract every walker within earshot. How could the house that Ana & Sam were holed up in be clean after 3 years, and how could they have been in a bathroom for 3 days with no running water & without the walker hearing them? Carol & Rick not taking the tomato plants. Rick walking around with a sandwich when there is no way they could have had bread 3 years into this. Glenn surviving the flu (or so it seems) even after Dr S said the end stage is the point of no return. Not addressing how / what they are eating or how they could possibly be taking care of Judith. The acting seems be a bit flatter too. Not sure if these are silly little mistakes, or a way to "clean up" the show, to make it more "action block buster" than it was before, when season 1 was not like that. I'll have to rewatch season 2 as well to see if I can pinpoint when it changed. I still like the show too, but it's definitely not the quality that it was in the beginning.

 

Agreed. The budget was also cut, so I think that is why we got such long doses of the farm and the prison.