Given the recent announcement of her departure from the spinoff series with Daryl, as well as the nature of her role in season 11, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate Carol's character and all that she's given to the series over the last 10+ years. Fair warning that I'll also be criticizing the show regarding why I think it hasn't respected this character.
From a writing standpoint, Carol has the single best character arc out of the entire cast, and it's not even close. I remember when I first started watching the show years ago (I think there were six seasons at that point) and one of my friends remarked that her favorite character was Carol. At the time, I had only watched a little more than the first season, and my response was "who?" I was astonished when she answered that it was the woman with the short hair, whose abusive husband had died early on. That is how different Carol is in the beginning of the show. Rick is great from the start. Daryl is great from the start. Michonne is great from the start. But Carol, while sympathetic, takes a long time to be engaging. This is a huge part of what makes her great, because there will come a time when you're watching the story unfold and have the sudden realization that this is a very different woman from the one introduced to us in the first season (probably will happen for most viewers sometime during season 3). She grows stronger than anyone would have expected, and this is true for both the audience watching the show and for the characters within it.
While her growth becomes notable during season 3, it is season 4 that first allows Carol to truly shine. I find the title of season 4 episode 3, "Indifference", to be one of the most effective and underrated in the show. This episode shows the flip side to Carol's development; she is strong and resilient, yes, but she has also grown emotionally detached and indifferent. This is the reason Rick banishes her. Not simply because she killed Karen and David, but because of her response to her own actions. She is indifferent to the fact that she killed them, she is indifferent to the fate of the young couple that she and Rick encounter on the road, and she even takes on an indifferent attitude towards her own past abuse. To Rick, this change in her is frightening. It may not be the most exciting episode in the show's run, but thematically, "Indifference" is certainly one of the most brilliant. I don't think I need to go into detail about season 4 episode 14, "The Grove," and how in this episode Carol gave us one of the most gut-wrenching storylines and Melissa McBride one of the show's best performances. This episode is universally praised among the fanbase as being one of the show's best.
For entirety of the show's peak , which I will consider to be seasons 4-6, Carol's storylines are consistently some of the best and most important. It is around this time that she begins to receive the second most screen time next to Rick (yes, even more than Daryl). I believe this continues until season 8. The Terminus storyline, the introduction to Alexandria storyline, and the short Wolves storyline all heavily involve Carol. The beginning of the Negan storyline does as well, because even though she is not a part of the lineup at the end of season 6, she does receive one of the show's best bottle episodes (season 6 episode 13, "The Same Boat) where her and Maggie face off against a subset of Negan's group. While her relevance does slow down for seasons 7 and 8, I will point out that her storyline is still one of the better written ones, even if it is less exciting. Seasons 7 and 8 are all about her working towards inner peace, and the vehicle through which they have her achieve this is The Kingdom. Her relationship with Ezekiel is important, but the storyline is more about her falling in love with the entire thing: Ezekiel, Henry, and The Kingdom itself. As ridiculous as she finds Ezekiels act at the start of season 7, she eventually grows enamored by it all the same. This is why she goes spiraling back to a bad place after Henry dies and The Kingdom falls, and why her relationship with Ezekiel falls apart. Her little fantasy life has shattered ("I'll never forget the fairy tale").
I've gone on for a long time at this point, so I'm going to try and wrap it up. I think I've touched on the most major reasons that I find Carol to be such a great character, and so important to the success of the show. Season 11 heavily sidelines her, and there are two arguments that I've seen that try to excuse this fact: 1) she was a huge focus of season 10, and the show runners want to make time for characters who have been less prominent in the past and 2) she was intended to receive her own spinoff show with Daryl. Regarding argument 1, I feel like all I need to point out is this: Daryl and Negan were a huge focus of season 10 as well, and yet they haven't been sidelined in season 11. If they had to push important characters to the background to allow some of the others to shine, then why Carol, and not Negan and/or Daryl? I could have accepted her having a diminished role from season 10, but she has gotten next to nothing. The most loyal (and arguably most talented) actress on the show, who plays one of the best characters on the show, has received barely any material. FOR THE FINAL SEASON. It's the final season, and Carol is one of the two remaining OG cast members, and she has received barely any material. I know I keep repeating myself, but it's just baffling to me. I'm especially baffled by how quick the show was to replace her as the lead female with Maggie, when Maggie was never nearly as strong of a character and Lauren Cohen tried to leave the show two seasons ago.
Regarding point 2 above, I understand that the situation regarding the spinoff is probably nobody's fault. Although, I do have to admit that I wonder how the studio would have responded if Norman Reedus had had a conflict with their plan, instead of Melissa McBride. But that's a rabbit hole I won't go down because we really don't have any real information about what went on there. I will say that I think this change from a Daryl/Carol show to a solo Daryl show does not bode well for the spinoff (and things weren't really boding well for the spinoff to begin with). I love Daryl, but he's hardly interesting enough to carry an entire show by himself. He's been a lacking leading man in the last few seasons when compared to Rick, because Daryl simply functions better when he receives a little less of the spotlight (at least in my opinion).
Anyway, I'll wrap up this post here because again, it's gone on for a while. I wanted to take some time to really appreciate Carol's character before the show wraps up.
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