Warning: The following contains spoilers for Sunday’s eventful episode of The Walking Dead. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should do so before reading on.
The term “a doozy” was sort of coined to describe Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead. As Pamela’s troops led a swarm toward the Commonwealth, anything to allow her to go through the moves of a lockdown, Aaron, Jerry, and Lydia were separated from Elijah, Luke, and Jules. Lydia tried so hard not to let go of her boyfriend as he was swept away by the horde that she ended up being bitten. (Goodbye, Arm!) Jerry later insisted that finding the missing members of their group would be “easy as a cobbler” for him. (Goodbye Jerry?)
In other developments, Pamela, who had become more than suspicious of Mercer following Eugene’s “disappearance” from custody, had Max’s brother arrested. At the same time, Daryl, Carol, Judith, Negan, Gabriel, Rosita, Maggie, Princess… Basically most of our regulars snuck into the Commonwealth train station where the governor was ambushing them. Pamela even picked up a machine gun herself and aimed at Maggie, only for Judith to shove her out of the way and – gulp – took the bullet herself!
As the hour drew to a close, wanderers – some climbers among them – made it into the walls of the Commonwealth. Pamela’s solution? Have soldiers protect the estates and divert the dead to the lower districts. (As if we didn’t already know she’s scum.) At the same time, Daryl & Co. found themselves surrounded by strays. And Lil’ Ass-Kicker… In her delirium, she seemed to see “Daddy.” But did she really? To get the answer to these questions and more, TVL showrunner Angela Kang called.
TVLINE | So you must know people are going to freak out, right? You just don’t shoot Judith Grimes.
Absolutely. This isn’t a story decision that we took lightly. There have been many, many conversations about whether we do it, what comes out of it, how we present it in the most respectful way possible…
TVLINE | What’s the point of doing this – to scare us to death or just make us hate Pamela even more?
In the comic book there is a story about the things that the next generation goes through and sees. What kind of world does the parents’ generation want to leave behind for them? That’s an important topic that we’ve been thinking about in the last run. So this story kind of grew out of that. There’s a really important emotional dynamic that emerges from what happens next for Judith and Daryl. Even Pamela says, “What have I done?” Because you know you kind of hope that when terrible things happen to kids, people can step back and look at that, and I think that’s one of the things that we explore with her.
TVLINE | What is the significance of Judith passing the hat that used to be Carls that used to be Ricks to RJ? Is this your graduation to the next generation?
In a way, she’s doing things that are so far beyond her age. All children of this generation are forced to grow up faster than they should because the world is so dangerous and in a way doesn’t care that they are children who deserve to be protected. So for Judith, there’s this unspoken line that’s like, “Now you’ve got to grow up a little bit too, RJ, but you’re still a kid and this hat will protect you.” That’s just something we as a part of the Grimes legacy, that the hat means something as it is passed down from person to person and is a form of protection.
TVLINE | Let’s talk about “Daddy”. Hope we think Judith wasn’t hallucinating and really seeing Rick?
From Judith’s perspective, she just passed out. She’s probably hallucinating a bit, or at least very confused and in some sort of dream-like state. As we wrote it, it seemed real to us that what she is imagining and what has been on her mind all along is a reunion with her parents. She feels safe in someone’s arms for a moment and wonders if Daddy has come back. But of course it’s Daryl, and the kind of belly punch for him is significant… just the weight on him. [With Rick and Michonne gone, and Lori long gone], Daryl is the remaining parent figure for this child. But we also felt that for Judith it was an indication of where her head was at in all of this. She misses her family, but she also trusts Daryl enough to feel like he’s like a father figure to her.
TVLINE | Did Lydia really have to be bitten? The kid was mothered to Alpha, she spent years eating worms, her first boyfriend was beheaded and she was just getting a new one. I mean come on
She’s had a rough run, but she’s trying to find hope in the middle. She also bonds with Aaron, who lost an arm in that apocalypse. For Lydia, she needs to find out what it means to have this disability. But she still hopes that she can be reunited with Elijah, even though it’s very sad for her right now.
TVLINE | Assuming the amputation was successful. Lydia looked like she was about to knock on death’s door towards the end of the episode.
She’s not from the woods. But at the same time there is hope that people have already survived this. This is the story of a person who was willing to do anything to save the person she loves. Because that’s what it means to them to live life. As a whisperer she would never have done that because there was this survival-of-the-fittest mentality. This is where she really differs from her mother. She doesn’t want to hurt people, she wants to help them, even if it means difficult circumstances for them.
TVLINE | I was kind of stunned that Jerry would look for Lydia after Elijah, Luke and Jules. He has a wife and children.
We felt Jerry was on his own path of being a leader in his own little way. He was someone happy to be number 2, the guy who supported the leader. But what he has realized is that for all of them, including him, you can’t get by just looking out for your own interests. I think Jerry’s scared. If you look at Cooper Andrews’ performance, Jerry doesn’t want to be out of it, but that’s what it feels like to be part of a team. Jerry is actually exceptionally brave. If you look at what the kingdom is like, the kingdom cares about its people. The kingdom is bold. The kingdom fights. So I think he feels it’s his duty to go after them. No man or woman is left behind.
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