The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 3: What The Title “Ghosts” Means

Why is The Walking Dead season 10 episode 3 titled “Ghosts”? Poor Carol Peletier has really been through the wringer since the world was overrun by zombies. To be fair, there isn’t a character on The Walking Dead who hasn’t had a tough time or lost somebody near and dear, but Carol has been struck with the continuous and painful misfortune of losing practically every child and young charge that’s been in her care.

It began back in The Walking Dead’s second season when Carol’s biological daughter Sophia went missing, only to turn up zombified and stumbling out of Hershel’s barn – much to her mother’s horror. More heartache beckoned in season 4 when Mika was killed by her disturbed older sister Lizzie, who Carol then offed in that infamous “Look at the flowers” scene. Next came Sam, who Carol bonded with in season 5 and who got devoured by the zombie horde that descended upon Alexandria in season 6. Most recently, Carol lost her adopted son Henry towards the end of season 9 when he was decapitated by Alpha and the Whisperers.

It’s enough to drive somebody mad with grief and Carol came pretty close in The Walking Dead season 10 episode 3. “Ghosts” opened with the residents of Alexandria battling a constant onslaught of walkers, leaving the settlement exhausted and Carol popping expired caffeine pills to stay awake. Later Carol, Michonne and Daryl met with the Whisperers which brought Carol face-to-face with Alpha who boasted about Henry’s death. Sleep deprived, grief-stricken and hopped up on pills, Carol would soon be confronted by her past traumas in a series of hallucinations that gave the episode its title.

As Carol and co took shelter in an abandoned school after they met with Alpha, Carol came across a textbook and hallucinated the cover photo distorting into a gruesome image of her serving dinner to five obviously dead children – Sophia, Mika, Lizzie, Sam and Henry – who stare out at her accusingly. Even in what little snatches of exhaustion-induced sleep Carol was able to get, she was plagued by visions and dreams of Henry. This is where The Walking Dead season 10 episode 3’s title “Ghosts” comes into play, as a reference to Carol being haunted by hallucinations of the children she’s lost.

Though Carol’s grief and lust for revenge against Alpha followed her throughout TWD season 10, she seemed to gain some sense of peace after (Walking Dead spoilers incoming) both the Whisperers and the walker horde were defeated in “A Certain Doom.” However, with AMC set to air six bonus Walking Dead season 10 episodes soon more trouble could be headed Carol’s way in the not-too-distant future.