The Walking Dead‘s characters have serious mommy issues. Mothers leave their children for spinoffs, they die or they’re just not very good at parenting. The new apocalypse anthology seriesTales of the Walking Dead showcases these mommy issues in its Alpha-centric episode, highlighting a unique — yet complicated — trait that Alpha shares with Lori Grimes.

Samantha Morton returns in Season 1, Episode 3, “Dee.” She portrays Alpha/Dee (the latter of which she’s referred to as in the episode), who is accompanied by her daughter Lydia about a year into the apocalypse. Their story takes place after Dee murders Lydia’s father when the initial outbreak begins, creating a rift between the mother-daughter duo. After their safe haven in the episode collapses, the two are out on the run again away from walkers, and their worst enemies: humans.

Dee and Lydia abandoning their refuge — which Dee had partial responsibility for destroying — wouldn’t be a big issue if they had already adopted their Whisperer ways. However, the end of the episode claims this is before wearing the skin of the dead was a trend. They have to make do with what they have, which means relying on each other for their survival. Lydia is only a child (probably between seven and nine at this point) and of course she doesn’t bring much to the table. The Walking Dead franchise has proven time and again that children don’t cope well in the zombie apocalypse, and no one can blame them.

Dee has discovered time and again that Lydia won’t learn the ways of survival. She has to wear earmuffs when her mother kills someone or something, she’s disgusted by the blood she’s forced to wear on her face (who wouldn’t be?) and runs away at the worst moment. She’s just another Carl Grimes in the making. Dee contemplates if maybe Lydia should even live anymore — an extreme solution to a problem that can be fixed many other ways. It brings to light a conversation Rick and Lori Grimes had in Season 2 of The Walking Dead when they faced a similar situation with their son Carl.

In The Walking Dead Season 2, Carl was shot in the abdomen on accident. With it being the apocalypse and no hospitals left standing, the Grimes family had to rely on veterinarian Hershel Greene to save Carl’s life. When all hope seemed lost, Lori opened up to Rick about an overwhelming fear she’d felt since the outbreak began: she didn’t want her son to have to struggle in the cruel world they currently lived in. It was a valid point, but Rick made a better point that Carl had to be given the chance to at least try. Thankfully, his survival (at least, at that moment) did allow him another opportunity.

Dee is known to be a terrible mother, abusing Lydia both physically and emotionally, but oddly shows rare moments where she truly loves her. For years, Lori has been berated by fans for being a “bad mother,” which more often than not comes from a place of misogyny as there’s never been a valid reason for her to receive the title. It’s worth noting that their reasoning for contemplating their child’s place in the new world is far from similar. Dee wanted to survive without her child being a burden. Lori, on the other hand, wanted to preserve her child’s innocence in a world full of murderers and monsters. Still, it’s striking how similar the two mothers are in these situations, proving that being a mother is one of the hardest tasks there is in the Walking Dead universe.