The “Not Tomorrow Yet” episode of The Walking Dead spent a lot of time focusing on Carol, which is cool by us as Carol has transformed over six seasons into one of the most badass characters on the show. We know that soft exterior she presents to the residents of Alexandria is a show, but maybe that hard interior she’s got going on is a bit of a ruse, as well. From respecting Morgan’s desire to avoid killing to leaving a cookie on the grave of Sam, that episode had us seeing an old side to Carol Peletier that many thought was gone forever.
Is Alexandria making her soft? Or did the old caring Carol never really disappear? We only know what The Walking Dead shows us, and last week they showed Carol working on a mysterious list. What was it? It turns out it’s a compilation of all the times she’s killed a living person.
Let’s go through what all those letters mean.
R = Ryan Samuels, Lizzie and Mika’s father.
K, D = Karen and David, two sick members of the prison group that Carol killed and burnt to try and stop the spread of disease.
L = Lizzie
Terminus / Courtyard = Carol’s sniper kills after blowing up a propane tank and sending Terminus into chaos.
Candle Woman = Mary, one of the cannibals from Terminus.
Ws = Wolves. It’s unclear if Carol ever even learned that W meant wolves, she just knew about the W (and used that knowledge to deadly advantage).
In the end, Carol counts up her list and concludes that she’s killed somewhere around 18 people. The list isn’t perfect; she actually killed eight wolves, not seven. And she’s forgetting the terminally wounded Erin, who she mercy-killed during the Wolves’ attack. Including Ryan Samuels is also interesting as she didn’t kill him, she only stopped him from reanimating. But I suppose when it’s the first time you’re putting a knife through the eye of someone who just stopped breathing, it sticks with you.
The list and her reaching out emotionally to Tobin all points to Carol slowly rediscovering her humanity. Will she manage to discover a balance that allows her to enjoy life while staying vigilant enough to stay alive? Or will she end up on the wrong end of Negan’s baseball bat? We’ll have to wait and find out.
