WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead, "Honor," which premiered Sunday on AMC.
The Walking Dead's midseason premiere made good on its promise, and presented the death of Carl Grimes. One of the last characters remaining from the first season of the hit drama, he's long been considered the ultimate underlying motivation for everything its protagonist, his father Rick, has been building over the course of the show’s run. Therefore, killing off Carl was an ambitious narrative choice, and needed to be executed well if it was going to avoid the same kind of audience backlash we saw in response to Glenn’s death, which many considered unnecessary and overly violent. Thankfully, “Honor” handles one of The Walking Dead’s biggest character deaths to date with elegance and sensitivity.
The episode is scattered over the course of the past two days, jumping back and forth between the present in Alexandria and the Kingdom, and the day before, as we experience Carl’s final hours. While Rick, Michonne and Edith were away fighting, we get a sunny montage of Carl writing letters to his loved ones, bringing food to Siddiq, and spending time playing with Judith. The montage opens the episode and makes sure to set an undeniably joyful tone for what we know is going to be a painful hour of television, and it works. Watching Carl embrace his fate without fear offsets the tragedy of his death. It also serves to balance what could’ve been an incredibly morose goodbye buffet.
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There’s a fair amount of time spent in the sewer as Rick and Michonne process what’s happened while the rest of their group argues about how long they should remain in one place. When the group becomes insistent about leaving, Rick and Michonne stay behind with Carl, who’s too ill to make the journey. Everyone’s goodbyes to Carl, and his farewell to Judith, are painful to watch, and the episode could’ve easily veered into treacly melodrama in lesser hands. Thankfully, the show doesn’t decide to forget its characters are literally in the middle of battle, so we don’t spend the entirety of the watching everyone line up for one last photo-op.
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There’s a sense of urgency to leaving the sewer, and Dwight, whom nobody really trusts yet, is the only one advising they stay until the Saviors abandon the city, which he’s certain they will do. Everyone else thinks it’s dumb not to run when they have the chance, but eventually Daryl convinces them to trust Dwight and wait for a little longer. All the arguing feels disrespectful to what’s happening with Carl, but it’s also incredibly watchable because it underscores the reality of the situation: No one has the luxury of long goodbyes. Ezekiel’s rescue and the philosophical conflicts at play between himself and Gavin and Morgan, and his demons, serve as an organic and interesting response to the optimism and hope Carl seeks to impart on his deathbed.
After the dream sequences we thought were flash-forwards were revealed to Carl’s deathbed visions for the future, it became clear that Rick will be faced with a serious choice moving forward: He can ignore his son’s wishes and keep attempting to eliminate the Saviors, or actually listen to the boy and find a way to co-exist, even though it seems impossible. Gavin, Ezekiel and Morgan represent the practical implications of trying to implement an armistice amid a bunch of heavily armed people fighting for survival who are both convinced their survival depends on the total destruction of the other. Turns out, it’s complicated.
Ezekiel never manages to convince Gavin to switch sides; even though the man is believably disgusted with his place in the world, he’s too much of a coward to risk his own survival to make a better one. Then, once he’s captured, Morgan is talked down from executing him. But then Henry does it anyway, proving that not only has Morgan gone back on his own philosophy, he might have started someone else down the same path. Carl’s visions are of an idealized future that he’s convinced can exist, but the other half of the episode deftly reminds us that it’s going to be far from easy.
Carl’s death is arguably the show’s most significant to date in terms of impact, but “Honor” successfully pays tribute to the character in a way that also resonates narratively. But its real achievement is allowing Carl Grimes to grow up, even if it was only for a few minutes. A lot of the credit for that goes to 18-yer-old actor Chandler Riggs, who turns in a masterful performance. He's captivating in his portrayal of Carl’s almost spiritual acceptance of his impending death. Danai Gurira and Andrew Lincoln are equally mesmerizing in their grief. Watching the three of them mourn for their little family inside the burned-out shell of Gabriel's church and seeing Michonne and Rick react to the shot that finally kills Carl already feel like iconic moments that will be talked about for the remainder of The Walking Dead's run.
Not bad for a swan song.
Airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC, The Walking Dead stars Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Rhee, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier, Lennie James as Morgan Jones, Alanna Masterson as Tara Chambler, Josh McDermitt as Eugene Porter, Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan.