Carol Peletier has made some questionable choices lately on The Walking Dead, but that doesn’t mean we stan her any less. Sure, her thirst for revenge has put some people in peril, but if we go by past history, Carol will come through in the end. So let’s take a moment to reflect on why we still love Carol Peletier!
We’ve Known Her the Longest
Carol is one of two remaining characters from The Walking Dead, so she’s practically like family now. We’ve been with Carol since she was the victim of domestic abuse, and have seen her grown to the strong, bad-ass woman she is today.
We’ve seen her through many stages of grief and endure so much hardship. And because we’ve seen her survive it all – we know Carol will come out a stronger person after what she’s going through now. And she may even make everyone cookies.
She’s Daryl’s Person
Besides Carol, the only other character that has been around as long is Daryl. This means, of course, that these two are bonded for life. Whether you are a shipper or not (and really you should be), these two are very important to one another.
Daryl is there for Carol, and we have to have faith that he will bring her back from the brink if he needs to, just as she would do the same for him. They have done a lot of groundwork on their relationship in the first half of the season, which means there will be some significant fruit from all that storyline planting. Will they fight? Probably. But these two are bound together, come what may.
And if all of this ends in some kissing – who are we to object?
Let a Mother Grieve!
Carol adopts all the kids. Since she lost Sophia, she has become a mother to many children and teens along the way. And has lost all of them.
All of them.
Frankly, it’s a surprise that she hasn’t gone off the deep end before now. And logic makes us question why she keeps becoming a mother figure after enduring loss after loss. But it’s in her nature. Just like being a survivor is. And that is why we love Carol.
Being obsessed with Alpha is just her way of grieving, and she’s going to do her thing, whether it puts others in danger or not. If she doesn’t, it will get bottled up and explode into something even crazier.
Unless she just lives on that boat for the rest of her life. But we would miss her.
She Adapts
One of the best things we love about Carol is that she adapts to the world she’s in. This was probably a skill she unfortunately had to learn from her marriage to Ed, but her years of surviving him made her able to accept the constantly changing landscape of the post-apocalyptic world.
Remember when she became the stepford housewife who played dumb when she first arrived at Terminus? Or who can forget how she thought the whole Kingdom thing was hilarious when she first went before Ezekiel? Carol’s ability to regard every new situation with a non-panicky perspective sometimes has the most hilarious results.
And when things get too tough, she’s been known to recharge her batteries when she’s off by herself for a while. While her boat trip didn’t seem to fully help this time, here’s hoping Carol will be back in team mode again soon.
Carol’s a Badass
We trust Carol because history has told us that it is the thing to do. She has gone off the deep end a few times before after suffering a loss, and has shown up at the last moment to save the day. Let’s not forget that everyone would have been dead if she had not shown up like a freaking hero at Terminus.
And what about that day Carol put a casserole in the oven and then took care of business while the Wolves attacked Alexandria?
While her years of experience have made her sometimes cold, her pragmatic approach to dealing with a crisis has gotten the group out of a lot of bad situations. And when Carol goes too far and comes close to losing her humanity, the people who love her are there to be the voice of reason.
She has made questionable decisions in the past (like killing sick people so the infection won’t spread), but in the end, she shows up in a way to support the group’s best interest.
While they are all trapped underground with that herd of zombies, it will be interesting to see how they get out of this mess. Hopefully, Carol realizes the consequences of her actions and comes up with a badass way to save the day.
And there are now plenty of people in line to take out Alpha – Negan, Gamma and even Lydia. Will Carol get to her first? We would love to see her get some sweet revenge for Henry’s death.
The Walking Dead returns Feb. 23 on AMC.