If you’re caught up with season 4 of The Walking Dead (stop reading now if you aren’t!), you know one of our favorite characters got banished from the prison community after it was revealed she murdered two of her fellow survivors. In what has maybe been this season’s most surprising twist so far, Carol flat-out admitted that she killed Karen and David to save the rest of the group from infection, and Rick subsequently banished her from the prison.
There’s been no real reason to suspect that Carol’s confession wasn’t the truth, but a few episodes before the midseason finale, there was more to the story. It’s very rarely right, but it’s sounding like other viewers share the same crazy theory about who really took out Karen and David — and a recent interview with show runner Scott Gimple seems to support this idea.
The hypothesis: Lizzie was the murderer. The little girl Carol sort of took under her wing, the one Carol chided for being weak, the one who doesn’t believe the walkers are really dead, the one who creepily dug her foot around in a puddle of blood during the “Internment” episode, the one who joined her sister in gunning down Alisha during the midseason finale.
It’s a little out there, but it could definitely be Carol covering up for Lizzie, and taking the punishment instead of allowing it to happen to the girl. Thinking back on the “Infected” episode, which is when Lizzie’s father died, Lizzie’s sister Mika tells Carol that Lizzie is “messed up,” and Tyreese ultimately discovers Karen and David’s burned corpses, the timing would have had to have gone down like this:
• Lizzie can’t bring herself to kill her zombified father
• Karen gets quarantined with David in the cell block
• Lizzie talks to Carol by the fence and runs away after Carol tells her she’s weak
• Carol sees her again by the fence later, and puts a flower in her hair. Lizzie takes the knife from Carol’s hand, and puts it in her belt.
• Lizzie immediately takes off to go stab Karen and David to death then burns their bodies.
Also, here is a very interesting comment from Scott Gimple about the moment when Lizzie shoots Alisha in the head:
It seemed very natural that [Carol] would settle into the role that she did this season as a very determined protector of the prison, and especially the children of the prison. And though she wasn’t in the midseason finale, we could feel her presence. I like to say that scene, however sensational it is in the moment, was there to serve that Carol story. We’ll be addressing that in the future. It’s all part of a greater story. It’s important to know that that wasn’t just some big sensational moment.
Show creator Robert Kirkman has confirmed that “Carol will definitely return before the end of the season.” I don’t know about you, but it will be pretty excited to see how this all plays out. After the midseason finale, our prison community has scattered to the winds — but what will happen if the Lizzie theory turns out to be true? Will Carol be welcomed back? How will Tyreese react? For the comics fans, do you think it’s possible Lizzie has taken the place of Ben, and Carl will be the one who ends up delivering justice?
