Warning: spoilers ahead for Daryl Dixon season 2, episode 3.

Carol has shown precious little remorse since her story in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2 began, and she makes one particularly dark choice twice in very quick succession. Finally joining Daryl Dixon‘s cast in a full-time capacity, Carol Peletier has undergone something of a personality shift since The Walking Dead‘s ending. Not only is Melissa McBride’s character coming across as more reckless and less forgiving during her spinoff journey, she’s noticeably more troubled by the memory of her daughter, Sophia, dying back in The Walking Dead season 2.

Carol has been uncharacteristically careless in Daryl Dixon season 2 – handing over her crossbow to a total stranger in Greenland, for example. Her methods have also been unusually cruel, especially where poor Ash and his plane are concerned. Carol is no stranger to taking extreme measures, of course. During The Walking Dead‘s prison arc, she infamously murdered anyone with a sniffle. She eventually made amends and leveled out, but losing Daryl appears to have resurrected the Carol of old, and the dark pattern forming in Daryl Dixon season 2 proves it.

Carol Claims She’s Daryl Dixon’s Brother, Unknowingly Exploiting Codron’s Past

Carol’s Lies Strike An Emotive Chord With Codron

Daryl Dixon season 2, episode 3, “L’Invisible,” brings Carol together with Codron, the only man in Genet’s Maison Mère HQ who knows where Daryl and his allies are hiding. To coax Codron into parting with the information Genet failed to obtain despite days of grueling torture, Carol lies, claiming Daryl is a long-lost brother and the only family she has left. The ruse works, and Codron reveals Daryl is camped with the Union at Mont-Saint-Michel, but Carol’s deception carries a far deeper meaning than it might appear at first glance.

Very early in Daryl Dixon season 1, Codron traveled with a brother of his own, Michel. Daryl was partly responsible for Michel’s death soon after arriving in France, and that incident sparked the entire grudge between them. When Carol lies about her and Daryl being siblings, her words unknowingly tap into Codron’s brotherly trauma, and those fond memories of Michel loosen Codron’s lips enough for him to reveal Daryl’s location. Had Carol simply told the truth – that she and Daryl are just close friends – Codron’s emotions might not have been roused enough to make him talk.

Carol Had Already Exploited Ash’s Past To Make Him Fly To France

Is There No End To Carol’s BS In Daryl Dixon Season 2?

Only two episodes prior, Carol made the exact same move on a totally different character. After hearing Ash tell the story of his son’s death, Carol exploited his grief by claiming Sophia was trapped in France when The Walking Dead‘s zombie outbreak began. Carol took full advantage of that emotional leverage to make Ash fly her across the Atlantic, preying upon the notion that if Ash had even a slight chance to reunite with his son, he would do the same.

Carol will exploit whatever memories she needs to, telling lies upon lies, if it means a reunion with Daryl.

The two lies aren’t completely alike. With Ash, Carol consciously used the memory of Ash’s son to manipulate him into playing pilot, whereas Carol couldn’t have possibly known about Codron’s brother, making the second instance an unhappy accident rather than a deliberate ploy. Nevertheless, Carol undeniably made the choice to lie on both occasions. With Ash, then again with Codron, Carol clearly believed that she needed to either conceal her real reason for visiting France or embellish the true nature of her relationship with Daryl in order to get her way.

Carol may not have known Codron’s conscience would be sensitive to a story about siblings, therefore, but she still used deception as a means of emotional manipulation, raising questions over whether her ethics have been compromised. Coming so soon after she told an even more egregious lie to Ash, a pattern of behavior is emerging in Daryl Dixon season 2: Carol will exploit whatever memories she needs to, telling lies upon lies, if it means a reunion with Daryl.

Why Carol Is Lying So Much In Daryl Dixon Season 2

Liar, Liar, Sick Survivors On Fire

Carol has made questionable choices before in The Walking Dead – her prison bonfire being the most obvious example – but for the vast majority of her time in zombie apocalypse, Carol has retained a sound moral compass. As such, one must ask why Carol is suddenly becoming loose with the truth in Daryl Dixon season 2, and especially to someone like Ash, who seems like the kind of guy who would have flown Carol to France even if she was totally honest about her reasons.

Carol is working through her parental grief while simultaneously worrying over losing her best friend to the French.

More than anything, these out-of-character extreme measures demonstrate the indefinable strength of Carol’s bond with Daryl Dixon. Carol clearly feels guilt over lying to Ash – Codron, not so much – but concludes that the shame is a price worth paying if it ends with Daryl safely back home in the United States. While the two characters have spent time apart before, Daryl has never been whisked away to another country in secret, so Carol finds herself in starkly unfamiliar territory. Fear of losing yet another loved one is the main influence behind Carol’s sketchy behavior in Daryl Dixon season 2.

Sophia’s death may be another factor in Carol’s surprising personality shift. While Carol lost her daughter very early in The Walking Dead‘s timeline, the main show never properly explored her recovery or lingering trauma as a mother. The relative calm of living in a peaceful Commonwealth appears to have forced Carol to finally confront Sophia’s death over a decade later, which would account for the flashbacks she endures in Daryl Dixon season 2.

Carol is working through her parental grief while simultaneously worrying over losing her best friend to the French. It perhaps shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to see Melissa McBride’s character make one desperate choice after another as her rescue mission in The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon rumbles on.

Episode
Release Date

“La Gentillesse des Étrangers”
September 29

“Moulin Rouge”
October 6

“L’Invisible”
October 13

“La Paradis Pour Toi”
October 20

“Vouloir, C’est Pouvoir”
October 27

“Au Revoir les Enfants”
November 3