#Her soul has died. But if Tara lost Sam she would just lose it. Tara is so emotional. She feels things so much.

[krikeymate]

If Tara dies, Sam becomes an empty shell of a person.

If Sam dies, Tara becomes a raging inferno of pain and anger.

[shimmershae]

Personally?  I'm all for Carol and Daryl experiencing a little emotional catharsis.  My girl has been fucked over six ways to Sunday since Rick abandoned her on the side of that road.  Since before that really.  Being married to Ed Peletier, enduring his physical and mental abuse and being on constant alert that he might try something untoward and evil with their own daughter had to be a living nightmare.  Finally being released from that prison only to lose Sophia so tragically and feel the guilt over not doing more to find her?  Oh my heart.  My girl has suffered in so many ways and for so long.  She's barely had a moment to settle into some kind of peace and be her true self, the person she always wanted and thought she could be, without having to regroup after some tragedy and don another mask.  What we're seeing this season, whether it's ever explicitly spelled out or not, is a cumulative effect of every bit of that.

So yeah. 

 Bring on the angst. 

 Lance those wounds so the ugly infection can start to be cleansed. 

 Do I deny that she's acting recklessly?  That I'm just as frustrated as Daryl that she is almost impossible to reach right now for more than a few, brief moments of clarity and peace? 

 Absolutely not. 

 I'm not that kind of fan. 

 But I am a fan with a long memory and I remember Michonne chaining reminders of her own executed vengeance and always present loss to her person and having them follow in her wake.  I'm also a fan that recollects Rick ripping out the throat of the nasty bastard that would have raped his son. 

 Some might argue that those acts didn't endanger anybody good, anybody not considered family, and I'll give them that.  But see?  Those instances, at those points, were relatively isolated in comparison.  They didn't manifest as a result of soul-breaking after soul-breaking loss mounting one right over the top of the other. 

 Ed Peletier physically, emotionally, and probably sexually abused his wife for years.  He looked at his own little girl with evil in his thoughts and his heart.  Walkers got to him and Carol got to take a pickaxe to the human representation of the traumas of her past.  But did she get a moment to actually breathe and exist peacefully before life hit her cruelly again? 

 Barely.  Because Sophia was lost, bitten and turned, and she had to endure the trauma of not only that but Rick putting a bullet through her little girl's head. 

 Dale was eviscerated. 

 Andrea put herself between Carol and some walkers with the downfall of the Farm, too.  Survivor's guilt is real, ya'll.

 Then they found the Prison and things were looking up.  They really were. 

 Hershel was bitten and from that moment, everything snowballed.  Because Rick had to amputate his leg and Carol found herself promoted to Lori's main source of medical help.  She did what she could to prepare, but it was all for naught because that little punk Andrew got his revenge and ultimately two of Carol's closest friends perished.  And again, she got to carry that guilt.  Because T-Dog sacrificed himself to save her.  She wasn't there to help with Judith's birth.  Can you imagine how she felt?  I can and it was at this point, that a pattern started to really emerge, IMHO. 

 They got Andrea back, only to ultimately lose her again.  Merle was also killed by the Governor. 

 Fast forward some and things were starting to settle again.  Real happiness and peace seemed to be within reach and the sickness started.  Not wanting to lose anymore of her family, Carol made the hard choice to do something to try to stop it from spreading and put down a too far gone David and Karen. She carried the secret for a while, had to put down her friend Ryan and become the reluctant adoptive mother of Lizzie and Mika, and then Rick figured things out.  He took her on a mission, passed his unilateral judgment, and left her on the side of the road like trash. 

 Now, Carol has never been shown to be unfeeling.  Never.  She didn't react with histrionics but she was hurt deeply with Rick's way of handling the situation.  Still.  That didn't stop her from going back at the first hint of trouble for her family and what did she find? 

 She found the whole place in ruins and thought her entire family was dead until she happened upon Tyreese and the girls.

 I don't have to go through the painful details of Lizzie and Mika.  Anybody that has ever loved the character of Carol Peletier and/or afforded her an inkling of unbiased understanding knows how much the Grove gutted her.

 Then there was Terminus and getting her family back again, only to feel like an outsider.  Finding Beth and witnessing her pay for her childish impulsiveness in such a cruel way.  Trying to bring Daryl back from the brink of losing a child himself when Lizzie and Mika and what happened still haunted her.  When the only other person that was haunted by Lizzie and Mika died so tragically so soon, how do you think she felt?  Hmm? 

 They get to Alexandria and she took to hiding herself and her emotions behind masks and distance. 

 She met Sam and echoes of her own abusive past rise up to confront her. Sam ultimately met a grisly end.  Morgan arrived and honed in on her like some kind of morality police, constantly picking at the scabs of the wounds that just wouldn't heal.

 By the time Denise was murdered and the kill floor happened, Carol was thisclose to breaking. To just giving in.  And guess who swooped in again? 

 I won't keep going on in detail because this has already turned into a novella. 

 But Carol has suffered inordinately under these writers' pens. 

 Aside from the people I've already mentioned (more than enough to drive any sane person to break), she also lost Glenn and Abraham, Sasha, Noah, Carl, Benjamin, Enid and Tara and finally Henry. 

 Henry. 

 Tell me.  If it had been Judith on one of those pikes, would there be any acceptable limit to the vengeance doled out by the likes of Michonne and Daryl, possibly even Carol herself? 

 I don't think so. 

 In fact, I think any or all three of the characters would have been praised for the lengths they would go.  Particularly Michonne. 

 But Carol's efforts are too much? 

 Paint everybody with the same brush or admit to your own bias.  Stop persecuting a particular character and her fans because you just don't prefer her.  Everybody's welcome to have their own favorites.  I'm certainly not here o police anybody on that.  The objections roll in when the demonization starts because from where I stand, as a fan of both the remaining originals and Michonne? It's just not warranted. 

 Anyway, let me climb back out of that long and winding rabbit hole to reiterate my original point, lol.

 Bring on the angst and the arguments if need be.  It's past time for all the feelings, and I do mean all the feelings to be voiced.

 That is all. 

 Goodnight.