The Walking Dead. Death As A Life Force.

As the premiere of the second half of the 6th season of the still huge (no matter its first in four years, slight dip in the ratings) TV phenomenon, “The Walking Dead”, is upon us, we pause. And before we look forward, we turn our gaze back. This, then, is not a usual article. It is a requiem for a dream: that of redemption.

All of us, who have abruptly, prematurely and hence tragically lost one of our beloved ones, know, now that the pain has subsided, that such a loss is unsurpassable. You just learn how to live with it. An if you are lucky enough, strong and clear-thinking, if you were given the proper time and space to mourn and to move on, this loss may stop being a burden and transform into an inexhaustible life force: an incandescent motive to stop you from just surviving, so that you can finally start to live. Every instant, every minute, every day. As best as you can. With the people you care about. Because you never know what the dawning day will bring. Because only thus you may at some point achieve fulfillment. Because this is how the people we lost continue to live: in our collective consciousness. Because, ultimately, this, acquired with much suffering, doubt and anguish, harmonious and fertile coexistence with loss, is the best indication of our mortality, and thus our humanity.

What happens however, when death is negated (!) somehow? When our people do not simply depart and disappear, but stand upright again and keep walking; With their spirit and soul deceased, but their body and bloodthirsty instinct for subsistence very much alive; When they die and return to sow death, like strains of a (naturally) irrational and merciless virus; When, that is, you are not only struggling to reconcile with their loss, but also the fact that you ought to “kill” them again, with a bullet, an arrow or a stab through the head; Then the duel with the loss and the battle to retain our humanity become much more hard, difficult and painful. Each and everyone’s character is stripped down, making away with each mask and every affectation and revealing its ambiguous, wounded but ever evolving truth. And death becomes even more significant. This triptych, fight for humanity, disclosure of character and significant death, was and is always found in the heart of this masterful, comic-wise, commercial and artistic phenomenon, “The Walking Dead». Thus, before we wonder what awaits Rick, Daryl, Carol, Michonne and the rest of their – by choice – family in the last 8 episodes of the 6th season, we remember one by one the most stirring and important double deaths that guide them here, geographically and emotionally, still survivors or, at last, truly … alive.

Amy. The time that remains. Season 01, Episode 05

This is the first death experienced by the group of survivors of the zombie apocalypse, before any “family” ties between them start to grow. Τheir first, rushed “home”, the camp by the lake, is unexpectedly invaded by zombies, at night, and Andrea’s little sister, Amy, is bitten on the neck. The big, still more or less estranged sister stands vigilant guardian next to Amy’s lifeless body, until its resurrection. And then, once she asks her for forgiveness for not always being there, by her side, believing “she had more time”, she says goodbye by shooting a bullet in her sister’s head. This a death that irreversibly haunted Andrea, steering her to suicidal tendencies and a string of wrong choices (with Shane and the Governor more notably), while forced the group to move and begin its odyssey, in search of sanctuary.

Sophia. Gone girl.

Season 02, Episode 07

Midseason finale and a turning point for the series as a whole, since from this point onwards it begins to score really big at the ratings, on the critics’ pages and – most importantly – in the hearts of its already devoted fans. Shane diverts more and more to the dark pathways of anger and revenge in his soul, and finds himself in complete dissent with the rest of the group when he opens the barn, in order to set free and subsequently purge the zombies Hershel had sheltered in the hope of finding a cure. Rick, Andrea, Daryl and Glenn have no choice but to grab their guns and try to stop the potentially uncontainable flock of zombies that is threatening them. Until, after the fire ceases, out of the barn, one more zombie comes tentatively out: Sophia, Carol’s teenage daughter, who has been missing since the first episode of the season. An indescribably poignant, dramatic scene, which became the starting point for Carol’s empowerment and evolution into a warrior mother.

Dale. The man who would be king. Season 02, Episode 11

In one of his quite, night strolls, Dale falls victim to a walker (that Carl had just “played” around with and left “alive”). And even though his is not bitten he is so literally eviscerated that his only option is euthanasia. By Daryl. Who whispers “I am sorry brother”. One of the most unexpected, out of nowhere, saddest deaths in the series, deprives the group in general and Andrea in particular, of their (good) conscience, their Jiminy Cricket.

Shane. Yin and Yang. Season 02, Episode 12

Shane finally faces Rick and makes his intentions clear: he is a better partner for Lori, a better father for Carl, a better man and leader for the group. “They will miss you, but they will get over you. They’ve done it before” he declares and prompts Rick to raise his gun, so that he won’t have to kill an unarmed man. But Rick reacts fast and proper. Thus, one moment Shane is dead and the next… a zombie. One moment Carl is a kid and the next… he raises a gun and shoots. His desperate father apparently, the resurrected Shane directly behind his desperate father actually. And Rick finally faces three unbearable truths, simultaneously: a/ his son has just killed his childhood, definitely and irreparably, b/ being a leader sometimes means that you have to make and carry out cruel, inhuman even decisions, following Shane’s – your dark reflection in the mirror – example, and c/ you don’t have to be bitten by a zombie to become a zombie. You just have to die.

Lori. The sacrifice. Season 03, Episode 04

A scene that will not break only hearts made of stone. A loss that will forever linger in (TV) History. “The Walking Dead”, in only the fourth episode of its 3rd season says farewell to its leading lady (!) and bares its teeth: here, as in reality, death can claim the life of anybody, anytime. In five on screen minutes that are difficult to put into words, and make it impossible to keep your eyes dry or your emotions still, pregnant Lori asks of her son not to let this world to ruin him. Before she orders Maggie to rip open her belly (as best as she can, with a dirty knife, without anesthesia), so that to save her baby and at the same time keep hope (that the group so urgently needs) alive. Thus, little Judith comes into the world. Making her brother (re)kill their mother, wandering even further away, up rugged and painful paths of early adulthood, and her father (who had not yet completely reconciled with his wife after Shane’s death) to succumb to a dangerous vortex of guilt, ghosts and delusions.

Merle. Oh brother, where art though? Season 3, Episode 15

The – nowhere to be found in the original comic – character of Daryl had already become one of the fans most favourite. But this is the episode where he begun to develop into the absolute object of our adulation. Because, this is where cool, tough Daryl tears to pieces, and hence reveals his gradual, substantial transformation into his best possible self. A transformation that had started, slowly and timidly with Sophia’s disappearance. The bad boy becomes a good man, and the good man becomes human when the instant he begins to know, understand and forgive his – at long last honorable and brave – big brother, he loses him forever. First due to the Governor’s gun and then his own merciful knife. Before he breaks down, sobbing…

Andrea. Girl Interupted.

Season 03, Episode 16

By this point, Andrea had become the most despised heroes of the series. And that was unwarranted, since she was merely proof of the reality that in an absurd, ruthless world, when you have lost everything and despair has become your constant companion, you may easily fall into the trap of false hope and wrong, fatal decisions. Even if you have the best intentions. Thus hers becomes a cautionary tale for the rest of the survivors. Who however forgive her and acknowledge that she tried her best as she lies bitten by a former ally. In the Governor’s torture room, Andrea ultimately commits suicide, with Michonne by her side, proffering courage and solace.

Hershel. No Mercy. Season 04, Episode 08

This midseason finale was one of the most agonizing and painful TV “creatures” we have ever experienced. Armed to the teeth (including a tank!), and holding Hershel and Michonne hostages, the Governor demands of Rick and his “family” to abandon the prison that has become their home. Rick invites him in instead, so that they can all live peacefully together, prompting an imperceptible smile of pride on Hershel’s gentle face. For a sweet moment it seems that the Governor is not pass the point of no return and will agree. But the moment is fleeting; “liar” mumbles the Governor and brings his sword down to Hershel’s neck. Again and again. Lament, rage, screams and crying erupt, on and off the screen. The group loses their home and, once more, their (good) conscience – another Jiminy Cricket of theirs.

Lizzie. The Abyss.

Season 04, Episode 14

“When you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you”. Little Lizzie looks, but do not see neither the abyss around her, nor the abyss in her. Carol looks and sees. And she has to live through her worst nightmare. Little Lizzie believes that by becoming a zombie you can live forever. For this reason she stabs her little sister, Mika, in the gut. She doesn’t hurt her brain, so that she can come back. Carol has no choice. She tells Lizzie that she loves her, that everything works out as it supposed to and asks her to look at the flowers. Lizzie keeps saying she is sorry, and looks at the flowers, as Carol raises the gun, shoots and completes one cycle of her maturation. She is, without a doubt, a warrior now. And a mother / guardian of the defenseless. Is she still a human being, however? The answer is neither simple, nor easy. There is only one certainty: another episode of “The Walking Dead” writes indelible (TV) history.

Beth. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. Season 05, Episode 08

Yes, Beth is fulfilled and finds her strength. And the fragmented, scattered in different points on the horizon “family” is finaly reunited. But the longing of the reunion becomes a lump in the throat and tears in the eyes. Because as soon as Beth “understood” and stood up for herself against her former warden, she gets, “by mistake”, a bullet in the head. Thus, after her father, Maggie loses her sister as well. After Lori, Rick loses another (step)mother to Judith. After his brother, Daryl also loses his infallible compass. After Lizzie and Mika, Carol loses another (step)daughter. And after the hope of a cure in Washington, all of them lose another integral part of their family and identity. They are lost both geographically and emotionally now. How will they react, as a group and each as an individual? Where to go now? What to seek? And what to hope for?

Tyreese. The man who fell to earth.

Season 05, Episode 09

A death that remains the last significant one for the group’s (as well as for the series’) temperament thus far, since it happened just before they are invited to their new, more proper than never before, home: Alexandria. Pacifist to the very end, Tyreese was the light that refused to burn out in a world that was getting darker and darker. A benign, abundantly protective giant, who more often than not maintained the equilibrium of the group by offsetting Carol’s and Rick’s often violent, protective instincts. In the midseason premiere of the 5th season, in an arrestingly different, out of the series’ usual pace episode that regularly, ingeniously slips into – full of hallucinations and internal dialogues – Point Of View shots, Tyreese gets bitten in the arm by a random walker. As he lingers on consciousness, while Rick, Michonne, Glenn and Noah struggle to save him (cutting his arm among other things) he is visited by all the dearly (Beth, Lizzie, Mika…) and anything but dearly (the Governer) departed. And he tries to decide whether to live or to die. In the end he simply runs out of time. Quietly. Peacefully. His light beaten by the dark. Or not?

A previous, different version of the above article was publist in Greek at freecinema.gr