THE LINE: ADIOS, CAROL
Carol Peletier is gone from the prison community in AMC's The Walking Dead. Without overtly giving her marching orders Rick Grimes has clearly let her know that she has no future with the survivors. Carol’s unilateral decision to kill Karen and David and burn their bodies is, as far as Rick is concerned, a step across the Line no matter what her reasons and justifications. I am fairly certain that Carol will be back, and somewhat certain that her reappearance will in some way be associated with the Governor's. Her story arc is one of the most appealing in the show - but it's TTFN for dear Carol.
Carol crossed the tenuously drawn and constantly shifting Line, the Line between safety and savagery, between security and sadism. This is a Line to which Rick pays particularly close attention because he has come so close to crossing it several times. He is vigilant about the Line because of what he has seen happen to himself and to others in the Zombie Apocalypse. He believes maintaining the Line is as important for survival as food, water and shelter.
Shane Walsh, Rick’s bro in both pre- and post-apocalypse, crossed the Line. In addition to being in love with Rick’s wife and unable to accept that, with Rick’s return, his relationship with her is over – no matter how much heat is there, no matter how much they long and lust for each other – Shane’s aggressive interest in protecting the group proved in time to be more about power and blood-lust than about security. His kills became ambiguous and impulsive and self-gratifying.
The Governor is handsome, intelligent, industrious, and creative, the kind of guy you wish want in Washington instead of the roadie goats there now. He has stitched together a group of happy, healthy survivors in a Pleasant Valley community, complete with a militia and an infirmary and a mini-mall. Too bad he’s a closet sadist with a very unhealthy attachment to his undead progeny. He loves killing zombies AND people, especially those who don’t see eye-to-eye with him or seem to somehow pose a threat to his power and authority. At some point – and we can speculate endlessly about this – the man known as the Governor crossed the Line, and the sadism, previously latent, becomes fully articulated. He, like Shane, becomes more menace than protector. Michonne and Rick get it almost immediately, probably because they have bumped up against the Line so many times themselves. Andrea got it but a little late. Glen and Maggie got it the hard way.
The Line is at the heart of Rick’s three questions: How many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? Why? It is all about the Line: knowing that it is; knowing where it is; knowing why it is there. Put another way: Do you know there is a Line? Do you know where it is? Have you crossed it?
Rick gets it. Establishing and protecting the Line between civility and savagery is essential to survival even more than machetes and machine guns. Without the Line you might as well be a zombie yourself – soulless, lost, wandering the landscape in search of red meat.
There is an entire media industry in our midst that secures its profits by routinely crossing the Line. The Hate Industry in America is worth billions, and it exploits our nascent racism, sadism, tribalism and anxiety. Shamelessly the Hate Industry goes about its business under the dual cloaks of Free Speech and Patriotism. The Hate Industry’s influence is pervasive and can be found in our churches, our city councils, our chambers of commerce, our schools, our news outlets, our congress.
In The Walking Dead, those who cross the Line become virtual zombies themselves. If you don’t believe this is true in real life, watch Fox and Friends sometime or go to a local Tea Party rally.