https://youtu.be/XFZYD7GDV7g
The Walking Dead has always played around with the issues of good versus evil and what side Rick and his group of scrappy survivors sit on. We’ve been living in a post-apocalyptic zombie world with a lot of shades of grey for years now, but it seems like Rick may be more bloodthirsty than even Negan since the death of his son Carl. And while he’s ignored his son’s dying words to let his mercy prevail over his wrath, a letter Carl wrote as he died from his walker bite may finally break through to his father.
AMC shared the first few minutes from the upcoming episode 15 and it let us in on the secret of what Carl wrote Rick. You can watch the video above or read the transcript. Either way, it’ll make you a believer in a better world for the folks on The Walking Dead.
I remember my eighth birthday with that giant cake and Aunt Evy showing up on leave, surprising us all. I remember mom, and Codger. I remember school and going to the movies and Friday night pizza and cartoons andnd grandma and grandpa and church, those summer BBQs and the kiddie pool you got me. Could have used that at the prison.
You told me about the walks we’d take when I was three. You holding my hand around the neighborhood, all the way to Ross’ farm. I didn’t know that I remembered them, but I do. Because I see the sun, and the corn, and that cow that walked up to the fence and looked me in the eye. And you told me about all that stuff, but it isn’t just that stuff, it’s how I felt. Holding your hand, I felt happy and special. I felt safe.
I thought growing up was about getting a job and maybe a family, being an adult. But… growing up is making yourself and the people you love safe. As safe as you can, because things happen. They happened before. You were shot before things went bad. Kind of felt like things went bad because you were shot. I want to make you feel safe, dad. I want you to feel just like I felt when you held my hand. Just to feel that way for five minutes. I’d give anything to make you feel that way now.
I wanted to kill Negan. I wish I did, maybe it would have been done. I don’t think it’s done now. You went out there again, but I don’t think they surrendered. I don’t think they will surrender.
There are workers in there, dad. They’re just regular people. Old people, young people, families. You don’t want them to die, dad. We’re so close to starting everything over, and we have friends now. It’s that bigger world Jesus talked about. The Kingdom, the Hilltop… there’s got to be more places. More people out there. A chance for everything to change and keep changing. Everyone giving everyone the opportunity to have a life. A real life.
So if they won’t end it, you have to. You have to give them a way out. You have to find peace with Negan. Find a way forward somehow. We don’t have to forget what happened, but you can make it so that it won’t happen again. That nobody has to live this way. That every life is worth something.
Start everything over. Show everyone that they can be safe again without killing. They can feel safe again. That it can go back to being birthdays and school and jobs and even Friday night pizza, somehow. And walks with a dad and a three-year-old holding hands. Make that come back, dad. And go on those walks with Judith. She’ll remember them.
I love you.
Carl.
With only two episodes left before season 8 and the accompanying All Out War ends, it could be that Carl’s words put Rick on a path to peace. After so many episodes full of blood and bullets and death, could you imagine it if everything ended because Rick and Negan put down their weapons? That’d be the biggest plot twist in the history of The Walking Dead.
Showrunner Scott Gimple said it a lot when defending his decision to kill of Carl – that Carl had to die for the end of the season to make sense, and I think we’re starting to see exactly how that all fits together with this letter and Rick’s thoughtful reflection upon it. Of course, holding hands and singing Kumbaya doesn’t sound like the kind of resolution that’s going to spike ratings for the season finale, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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