“The Walking Dead” has pulled exactly these sort of shenanigans before, because it is a terrible show that delights in your pain and torment.
1. When Sophia came out of the barn
If any of us were under the illusion that there were certain lines “The Walking Dead” wouldn’t cross, that illusion shattered right at the point when Sophia — the prolonged, hopeful search for whom had formed the entire emotional backbone of the season so far – turned out to be the smallest resident of the Greene Family Zombie Barn Commune.
2. When Dale didn’t have the guts to stick around
In the first season, it was Dale who told us, “You don’t get to do that, to come into somebody’s life, make them care and just check out.” And then, as if to prove a point, Dale checked out at the hands of a hungry walker in Season 2 just when we’d started to really like him. Thanks a lot, Dale, for breaking our hearts.
3. When Rick met his newborn daughter
Confession: After two seasons’ worth of Lori-related drama, her death in childbirth did not, personally, hit me right in the feels. Rick’s reaction, though: that was heartbreaking.
4. When Daryl met Zombie Merle
We didn’t exactly mourn the death of Merle, who will always be remembered as a gross jerk despite his last-minute acts of bravery. But watching Daryl sob hysterically as he smashed his zombie brother’s head to a pulp? ALL OF THE EMOTIONS.
5. When Daryl and Carol (and Rick and Judith, and Sasha and Tyreese) reunited
Amid all this death and despair, let’s not forget that “The Walking Dead” also occasionally rips out our hearts by making them swell to the point of bursting. Case in point: The moment earlier this season where Carol, having just blown up Terminus and saved the lives of her former companions, found them in the forest, got a world-class hug from Daryl Dixon, and brought two families back together.