All Life Is Precious. Except Pete - Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 16

Ugh.  I give it a year. Between the sometimes startling incompetence of the Alexandrians, and the bloodthirsty antics of Team Carol/Rick, Alexandria won't last.  Or it will, by some dramatic sleight of hand that happens between Seasons 5 and 6.  Or Morgan will help Rick not be a bloody mess at the end of every day.

Do your best, Morgan.  That's all we ask. 

It's doubtful that Deanna will still be in charge, and the death of her husband, right after her son's death, probably isn't going to give her much faith in Rick's leadership.  Especially since her husband was murdered with Michonne's sword.  My bet is that the show will have her relinquish control, maybe even leave.  Rick's predecessor in Alexandria simply walks away from the town in the book, and the show will very likely go that route, with Deanna's last son leaving with her.  Giving Rick clean control over the town.  Although, it would have been interesting to see her and Rick act as co-leaders, like Roslin and Adama from Battlestar Galactica.  But, this show isn't about how checks and balances improve leadership.  This show is about how Rick blunders into a place, saves the day somehow, leads for a while, then whatever group he's leading loses the place.  It makes for great television, but who would really want to endure the zombie-pocalypse this way?

Do Rick and Carol even hear themselves as they plot to take Deanna and other town residents hostage if the night's town meeting doesn't go their way?  What if Deanna had called their bluff, if it even was a bluff?  Would Rick really have slit throats?  Isn't that what he's stood against for 2-1/2 years?  After showing up way late for the town meeting, covered in zombie guts after having to hand-crush a zombie head, his big speech boils down to: "I was going to kill some of you, but I got this zombie instead.  Put me in charge."  The Alexandrians just nod their heads at this, and I'm almost sympathetic to Pete when he makes his lone and disastrous attempt on Rick's life.  It makes for great television, but who would really want to endure the zombie-pocalypse this way?

Anybody else a little concerned at how easily she deflected blame for snatching Rick's secret gun? Oh, no, she had nothing to do with it.  But she's already got a plan for taking over Alexandria that night at Deanna's meeting.   Lying to Alexandria is one thing.  Lying to Michonne, Glenn, and Abraham is another.  

No idea how this could have happened.. maybe we could stage a coup tonight?

Carol has become something of a Lady MacBeth.  She coos at Rick how much he needs to just take over the town, no matter what happens at the night's meeting.  She coos at Rick that it's time to stop coddling the Alexandrians, even if it means he's got to make them scared of him by threatening to kill if he's not in charge.  There's a name for people who take over towns because they're not bad ass enough; but it's not "Sunshine".  Carol coos threats to Pete, while pretending to bring him a casserole.  Let's just say I don't want any of her cooking.  Ever.  There might be razors in it.

Yep. Definitely razors.

Darryl and Aaron almost get killed, with Aaron blaming himself.  Not sure if there's really any blaming him.  You can't hold yourself responsible for losing someone wandering the woods of Northern Virginia, and settling for trucks of food instead.  Was it smart to just open the back door?  The counterweights hanging off the side of a truck were a weird thing to see.  Trucks don't need those, as the doors open along a track inside.  Wouldn't Darryl or Aaron have heard the zombies inside?  Maybe, maybe not.  Let's hope Aaron got the Alaska license plate home, because he seems to have dropped his promo photos.  Very convenient for Laurel and Hardy, who call themselves the Wolves.  And leave graffiti insisting they're not far.  Now they know there's a town nearby for the taking.  Just in time for next season's premiere.

When Darryl and Aaron spring the zombie trap, a horde emerges from the trucks, both together, thanks to the lines connecting the doors with those counterweights.  They are herded, by the dead, into a sedan.  They think it's a safe place, until a note found by the last victims convinces them it's better to make a dash for the outside.  Darryl is willing to go out on the sacrifice play, and that sound you heard at about 10pm last night was the sound of millions of Dead Fans getting their torches pitchforks ready for rioting.  Thankfully, Aaron offered to go out with him, and we wondered if together, they could make it to the fence.

They couldn't.  Holy crap they couldn't.  Good thing they had last minute help.

After teasing us twice before this season, Morgan has finally found his way to Northern Virginia.  He's having a great trip, staying for free in abandoned cars, smiling at stray rabbit's feet, and totally kicking the shit out of anyone stupid enough to try to take him.  The Zen Master of the zombie-pocalypse plays the Wolves' threats pretty cool, drawing out the first one to explain the exact nature of his psychosis, so the audience can know just how much Darryl and Rick have to kill them next season.  He tries to reach for his gun, but Wolf #1 nixes that.  That's fine.  Morgan will just go to the walking stick, which he wields like a boss, winding his arm around it to prepare to strike.  Morgan doesn't kill the Wolves, just leaves them in his camp for the night, sounding the car horn so zombies will come and finish the job.  Instead of killing them, he gives them a fighting chance.  Because, he explains to Darryl later, all life is precious.

In a show where everyone you knew before the world turned is probably dead, meeting a long-lost friend should be unheard of.  But, in an age where everyone's kind of stuck where they are, you're bound to run into people again.  Darryl eventually found Merle; and Morgan, aided by a map and his ridiculous ninja skills, has found Rick.  Does Darryl put it together, when he sees Rick's name on the map, knowing they're talking to someone named Morgan?  Does he remember what Rick's walkie-talkie was for?  Because it sure as shit wasn't used for Rick's team to ever communicate.

The Wolves get out in time to survive, and even do what Aaron couldn't: find Red Poncho guy.  It's supposed to be there to pile on for Aaron later, as a reminder of just how much of a dud his latest trip was.

Sasha has some.... fun... while burying zombies, trying to feel what it will be like to be buried with them.  The survivor's guilt has never been clearer in either her or Gabriel, who wanders out, not expecting to come back.  He claims to Spencer that he's just going on a short walk, but his weak and deadpan voice indicate that he's saying his last words.  So, why the last minute change of heart, garroting a zombie and bashing the other one's head in?  Are those his first big kills?  Because, for first kills, they're pretty bloody and physical.  Which is probably why he breaks down, crying over his own inability to even get himself killed.  I mean, even Aiden managed to do that.

Rick and Michonne make a big deal of whether she's more loyal to the town or Rick.  Michonne squarely swears her loyalty to Rick and even a possible takeover, telling Rick to just not do it unless someone actually makes a move against him.  But, if Alexandria actually banishes him, all bets are off.  Maggie rallies Team Carol to offer glowing testimonies, despite Deanna's growing distrust of them all, and her unsuccessful attempt to bring Gabriel's warning to the town.  Once Deanna's husband, Reggie is dead in her arms, bleeding even more than Rick is, she decides she's had enough of being nice, and tells Rick to go for it, which Rick immediately obeys.

Just when you think Rick has done the right thing, the night's murder is interrupted by Aaron, Darryl, and Morgan.  None of them have any clue what's been happening, and Morgan looks like he didn't find Rick after all.

Eugene and Abraham make up, partly facilitated by Rosita, who may or may not take over the infirmary since Dr. Peter Drunky-Drunk is dead.  Eugene does some more of his monotoned babbling, while Abraham apologizes for socking Eugene good, something Eugene acknowledges was coming to him anyway.  These two, really, have nothing in common.  At all.  Without Eugene's fake mission, it's hard to see how they ever would have come to care at all about each other.  It's unclear whether they care about each other now.

Nicholas and Glenn have their climactic fight.  Does Nicholas lure Glenn out?  Or, is it just opportunity knocking when Glenn follows him out?  Does this town want to do anything about people just climbing out?  Does the town really want people just wandering the woods outside, without anyone knowing they're not around?  Apparently so, because Glenn and Nicholas can fight and fight again without anyone even thinking of looking for them.  Nicholas even shoots Glenn and digs a fist in the gunshot.  The shot alone should have brought people, let alone Glenn screaming in agony.

Quality time in the zombie-pocalypse

In the end, Glenn does the right thing when cowardly Nicholas surrenders and agrees to be Glenn's bitch.  He'll show up at the meeting, right behind Morgan, further making the trio of travelers wonder what the fuck has been going on.  

Michonne, after the night's excitement, gets her sword back, but it won't go back up on the wall.  It belongs strapped to her back, and there it will stay.  Sometimes, you do have to bring the world outside the walls inside them.

I actually want to leave off, for the season, with the climax to Sasha and Gabriel's suicide plot line.  Because it's slightly hopeful.  Because, Gabriel has the possibility of being less annoying now, that he's officially done sniveling.  Because, Sasha might put the rifle down to sleep at night now.  Because, Maggie joins with Sasha in mourning their losses.  Because, the sight of the three of them praying, after Gabriel and Sasha have a knock-down fight over who's the most suicidal that requires Maggie to break it up, indicates that the characters have the opportunity to finally come out of their PTSD.  Because Tara is shown waking up as they come together to heal each other.  Will the ebbing of their trauma convince the Alexandrians that Team Carol/Rick has something to offer besides bloody scenes?

Let's hope so.  Because he carries a big stick.

He Said, He Said - Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 15

I realize that the show would be as dull as paint drying if we showed Alexandria for the 2-1/2 years of the zombie-pocalypse.  It would be dull mostly because the walls kept people safe, the supply teams provided food, and the place has a medical team that can treat most simple ailments.  Deanna's greatest guilt trip is exiling people who were a problem.  They don't have massacres and close calls in the woods because people run if there are too many zombies.  They haven't been attacked because they're a quiet people whose scouts don't seem to get noticed.  For instance: there's a serial zombie sicko out there, but the good people of Alexandria don't seem to need to worry about it.

I'm certainly not going to

Over the years, Team Rick/Carol has developed a Musketeers style; stay and fight so everyone gets away.  If people are sick with a fatal flu, kill them and burn the bodies immediately.  Don't lock future sick people in their cells, because that's mean, even if it means they will turn and get out after dying.  If there's a murder, beat the crap out of Rick to get him to investigate.   If there's another town nearby, raid them for your kidnapped people and hope that turns out for the best. If the prison falls, everyone just scatter into teams that will meet up somewhere no one knows anything about.  If a team member goes missing, suddenly follow a lead without telling anyone, even if it means being gone for days.  Go ahead, set the barn on fire.

The rhythm of the show is: Rick and Co. find a place to stay.  They figure out how to integrate some new members there.  Inevitably, someone fucks up and zombies come, forcing everyone to flee.  Hope they meet up again to try someplace else.  This has made for great television.  But is it a realistic survival strategy?  Can a TV show that's supposed to show people screwing up and banding together come what may in order to increase the drama really advise us on how to survive a zombie-pocalypse?  Rick and Co. showing up at your gate means it's only a matter of time before your town burns down.

Alexandria has been run by exact opposite principles.  And there are at least three times as many people in Alexandria, when Team Carol walked in, as Rick and Carol have been able to keep alive.  Alexandria may be a bunch of wimps with a book club, but they also built that wall, and jerry-rigged the solar panels to keep going.  And can eat. And get medical care.  They're so safe, the guns are stored in a locked room.  Team Carol showed up at their gate, with borrowed vehicles, their clothes, weapons and a baby, looking for shelter.  So, does Team Carol really know how to survive?  Or, do they only know how to fight?

Remember when the Governor slaughtered the National Guard Troops?  Do people see why he did that now? I wrote then, and I repeat, that it was tactically right.  Armed fighters who might or might not accept being led by someone else, and will need to be fed a lot to keep fighting was not on Woodbury's shopping list.  But, it was on Alexandria's.  Deanna thought it was a good idea to bring in muscle.  What she didn't realize is that the muscle doesn't see itself as her muscle.  Rick doesn't think he's Deanna's enforcer.  He thinks he's here to change Alexandria and how its problems are solved.  Deanna just wants someone who will keep the peace, not break up the delicate balances Alexandria rests on.

Is the delicate balance protecting wife-beating Peter fair?   Deanna and Rick agree that exile or execution are their only options, as wife beaters are notorious for violating restraining orders. Exiling him or executing him will deprive Alexandria of a doctor.  When doctors are rare.  It's not fair to Jessie, who must endure his beatings, or Sam, who's going to repeat his dad's behavior later in life.  But, does Alexandria get to demand that Jessie take a lot for the team, so Peter will go on saving lives?  Is Jessie's life worth the lives Peter's skills have saved?  Deanna says yes, especially since Jessie is unwilling to complain herself.

Deanna's had to trust that Team Carol knows more about running a town during a zombie-pocalypse.  Because Team Carol has shown, beyond any doubt, that they don't trust her.  Aiden's and Noah's deaths on the supply run has shown that her people and the newbies don't really work well together.  All she has left of her son is the crappy RunMix CD that none of them can bear listening to.  And that tuna casserole Carol leaves didn't do anything to console Deanna, or convince her the newbies have her town's best interests at heart.

Burning Rick in effigy

I like to think Deanna knows Nicholas is full of shit.  She pretty much tells him she's not believing him at the end of his debriefing.  She points out that Glenn brought him back, despite Nicholas' potential to get Glenn in trouble.  Why bring back a hostile witness?  With a newbie and a long-time resident both dead, it's hard to take a side if you weren't there.  It comes down to Glenn's word against Nicholas.  And, Deanna already publicly admitted Glenn knows what he's doing and Aiden didn't.  She can't just turn on him now.  So, she's done the only thing a fair-minded leader can do; suspend all visits outside the wall until she can determine who, exactly, is the idiot getting people killed.

Glenn, not exactly on Deanna's shit list but not getting chummy thanks from her anymore, tells Rick they've got to make Alexandrians their people.  Their best bet is to blend in with the long time residents, while also guiding them to better security and more successful supply runs.  Rick clearly doesn't think that's possible, even before he and Deanna spar about Peter's fate.  Rick is literally gunning for a coup.  Glenn's only deal breaker is if Nicholas ever goes outside the walls again.  With no authority to do so, he confronts Nicholas with we-both-know-what-happened-so-don't-lie-to-me.  It doesn't work.  Nicholas pushes back with you-ain't-the-boss-of-me.    Glenn returns with this-is-for-your-own-good.  It goes nowhere, as most pissing contests do.

I don't think it's a spoiler to point out that Nicholas sees the newbies taking over if he doesn't put a stop to it.  After all, why else would he go retrieve the gun he's been hiding that looks an awful lot like the one Rick lost?  Why else would the show paint him as an entitled boy-man who we will enjoy watching Rick kill?

Michonne is made late for work by a last-minute request from Rosita to look for Sasha.  Abraham relieved her in the guard tower outside the walls, but she never returned.  Horror Show Rule #1: Look for lost people, as that will lead to more trouble.  While their breath puffs in the air, indicating another fall is coming, they quickly find Sasha by following her head shots.  They'd love to lecture her against actively hunting the dead, as that's a really great way to run into a herd you can't get away from.  But they don't have to.  Because they run into a herd that Sasha couldn't take alone, but is just perfect for three armed badasses.  Michonne flashes back to her favorite beheadings before joining in.  Does she ache to take the katana down?  Or has she given it up cold turkey, like a drug?

Sasha will confess after the slaughter that hunting them is a great way to avoid her guilt complex.  Somehow, maybe through Abraham, she's learned of Noah's death.  One of the last things she told him was that his own lack of confidence was going to get him killed.  And, now he's dead.  Whenever humans suffer, zombies must pay.

Luckily, Michonne does make it to work just in time to be useful to the whole town.  She's probably a hero by now.  Rick certainly isn't.  Like an idiot, he decides to find Jessie alone to convince her to turn her husband in as an abuser.  A smart cop would have brought Deanna to show that the town would have her back, and provide a witness that no one coerced Jessie into doing anything.  Instead, Rick decides to use the power of sexy stubble and puppy dog eyes to convince Jessie that he's going to end Peter's abuse because he's totally in love.  Does Jessie like Rick even a fraction as much as Rick is infatuated with her?  Carol's already noticed, and Peter no doubt suspects.  Why hasn't Deanna?  She would have mentioned it when they bickered over Peter earlier.  Rick kissed Jessie in her house at a party.  No one saw?????

Of course, Rick's pitiful attempt to be Alexandria's hero ends badly.  The wife beater comes home early, of course.  The love interest decides she can be brave with the hero's help.  The hero and the wife beater circle each other, each making accusations.  It gets interesting when Rick and Peter hurl each other through the front window.  From there, Rick and Peter are now just willing to kill each other.  Blood flows freely down their faces.  They choke each other, they fight off anyone who tries to stop them.  The idea that Rick is enforcing anything that could be called the law has flown out the window.  Townspeople come to watch.  It's only when Rick sees Deanna, who demands they stop fighting instantly, that Rick's venom and anger finds a new target.

How dare you stop my epic fail!

Yep, Rick pulls a gun on his boss.  Rick has decided that being a bloody mess after brawling with the town doctor over whether he can live with Jessie anymore and after pulling a gun on the Mayor of Alexandria is a great time to tell everyone that they've been mis-managing their town, and don't know what they're doing.  Look, Rick, there's some things I'd change to.  But that's why we have meetings.  

Thank the Goddess Michonne has finally gotten to work, because she's the one who knocks Rick out. That Rick's trusted companion, who's practically Carl's stepmother is the one who knocks him out to end his ugly, accusatory tirade against a town that gave him shelter has the potential to permanently split Team Carol into camps.  Expect next episode to be about how you're either for Rick, or against him (and Carol).

It seems that the joining of newbies with Alexandria only works in pairs.  Carl and Enid have fun, treating the woods outside the wall as an amusement park, where the entertainment is not getting eaten by zombies.  Times when they're not threatened, are spent either running or using a tree to - ahem - "hide" from a passing herd.  It's the perfect opportunity to make out, because what's more of a turn on than dead bodies that want to eat you passing right by?  Amirite?  

Yeah, I'm right

Enid likes to act bored and over it all.  In reality, she only feels alive if there's some danger possible.  Once in the tree, instead of whispering to Carl that she likes likes him, she informs him that it's the zombies' world.  Carl and Enid just get their hollowed out tree in which to stare like frightened mice at each other.  Even their attempt to hold hands fails to teenaged fear of rejection.  Since these two aren't getting it on, it's a good chance to notice yet another zombie with a "W" etched into its dead forehead.

Aaron and Darryl, still out on the road, find no new recruits for Alexandria.  But they do find yet another "W"-marked zombie.  This one is dismembered, and parts are missing.  And Darryl insists it was done recently enough that they could find whoever it was.  Aaron looks totally unwilling to follow someone who wants to haul off zombie torsos, but they've only got two other choices:  run back to Alexandria knowing there's someone really sick in the woods, or keep looking for nice people in the woods when they know there's a sicko in the woods.  So, it's look for the sicko first it is!

And the W Sicko has been busy.  The next victim isn't a dismembered zombie.  The W Sicko has moved "up" to killing living people.  A pretty, blond, young woman has been stripped naked and tied to a tree.  Zombies did the rest, mostly to her gut.  Intestines dangle in front of her carved out belly.  Another "W" marks her forehead.  And, since this show doesn't show people actually turning enough, we get to see her eyes slowly open, now dead.  Darryl puts her down, declaring that this one was recent too.  Aaron looks resigned to hunting someone who will probably kill him instead.

Castrate the bastard, will ya?

For the last episode- is there a resolution to the power struggle we've seen building for three episodes?  Or are battle lines simply drawn?  Do Aaron and Darryl find the W Sicko?  Or does the W Sicko find them?  And will Carl and Enid realize that making out is so much more fun than hiding from zombies? 

One more pic of Rick as a total asshole.

No, It's Not Just An Owl - Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 14

Are the newbies working out for Alexandria?  It's always an issue when new members want to change a group they've been extended membership to.  The idea that newcomers must integrate by being just like the established membership leads to numerous tensions in real life, as neighborhoods change demographically.  A family that's not like any other moves onto your street; yuppies from Manhattan move into your immigrant neighborhood.  Who has to change?

I think, we can say, without any hesitation, that Carol isn't working out.  This episode, perhaps better than any other, demonstrates why I've started calling our heroes Team Carol; she tells Rick what the policy is going to be, and Rick tries his best to carry it out and make it seem like his idea.  Darryl is in on the secret, but the other Team Carol members still like to think of Rick as their leader.  Carol, now, is carrying out a lot more than reconnaissance;  Carol has already "appropriated" a secret gun stash for herself and Rick.  And now, she's literally advising Rick to kill the town drunk/wife beater/doctor.

Has Alexandria really not seen what an all-around louse Peter, Jessie's husband, is?  He drinks during the day.  However, he's the town doctor, and medical knowledge is now rare.  His ability to heal the townspeople has probably protected him from accountability.  And, it's not like Team Carol brought a fully trained doctor to the town.  And, we know Rick has an ulterior motive to kill the guy- he's already fiddling with his wedding ring, itching to take it off as soon as Jessie is free to be his.  Will Rick use his "broken windows" policing to try to arrest Peter for public drunkenness, and eventually kill Peter if he resists arrest?  

Does Rick think Deanna will let him get away with that scenario?  The woman's already having doubts about the newcomers' being in charge of everything they're now involved in.  Which leads us to someone who is going to work out for Alexandria- Abraham.  Yes, the guy's a hardass.  But, he's demonstrated that he's Deanna's hardass.  He likes Rick, but he doesn't have the others' unflagging devotion to the man, and he's much more of a team player.  Abraham certainly earned the construction crew's trust.  It's Abraham who knows what birds suddenly fleeing means.  When a pack of zombies, maybe about thirty, crash the party, it's Abraham that refuses to leave behind Francine, who had been a lookout until faulty shooting caused her perch to tumble her on the ground.  It's Abraham who gleefully slices heads while Francine, eventually safe in the bulldozer cab, can pick them off with the rifle.  It's Abraham who insists that since they've all survived the zombies, they can continue working with just an extra pair of eyes scouting for more zombies.  It's Francine and the rest of the crew who decide that Abraham is their new superintendent.

Hey, can we play too?

Deanna worries about the newcomers accumulating more power in front of Maggie;  but she's worried about the wrong guy.  Maggie tries to remind her that Alexandria needs them; Deanna doesn't disagree, but she didn't need them to take over Alexandria; just protect it so she can expand it for the future. Maggie is still able to talk Deanna into calm, reassuring her it's for the best that the newcomers have taken on so much responsibility.  And if I saw the newbies interacting more with the established town, I'd probably believe that.  Deanna's party showed that the newbies are very divided over whether to fit in.   Carol and Rick pretend to, but plot behind her back.  Rosita and Abraham appear ready to give it a try.  Maggie and Glenn are ever helpful.  Darryl accepted Aaron's job offer, even Aaron's gift motorcycle, because he realized he could fit in with the right job.  Michonne has already hung up her katana.  Sasha just wants to live in the nearby church tower, about 150 feet from the town gate.

Does Gabriel fit in?  He tries.  He tries to reclaim his old job, getting a new priest's collar.  But the good book just isn't inspiring him anymore.  The Beatitudes just don't have anything that can help him process zombies, cannibals, and feral dogs.  Remember, this guy did relatively fine without Team Carol.  He was scared outside, and had no fighting ability.  But he hadn't needed any until he ran out of food.  Various members literally tore up his church and frightened him so much he snuck outside, ruining the church as a hideout in the end.  I think it's fair to say that Gabriel has contributed as much stupidity as the others have contributed brutality.  But, is it fair when he absolutely must run to Deanna, and insist that Team Carol is evil?

Deanna tries to fend him off, and it's obvious that she doesn't really care for his talk about Satan.  Deanna looks like she's more interested in reality.  Gabriel's plea that she get rid of Team Carol for the town's safety and well-being, though based in cowardice and a supernatural she doesn't seem interested in, dovetail nicely with her concern that the newbies are taking over.  They dovetail so nicely, that Maggie is frozen on the stair where she can hear everything.  If Gabriel were really wrong, wouldn't Maggie emerge and openly confront him?  Is Maggie worried that Deanna will believe Gabriel over her and Rick and Michonne?

Gabriel and Maggie both want to work out- but it's doubtful if they will.  Dividing over how much to fit in and trust their new neighbors can rip Team Carol apart as easily as Carol and Rick can rip apart Alexandria.

Eugene and Tara are divided over how much they really have to do to fit in.  Tara's gung ho to fully contribute.  Eugene thinks that his original lie to get to D.C. is all the contribution he ever needed to make.  Has anyone explained to Eugene that pulling your weight doesn't stop?

I pulled my own weight once.  It was terrible.

Even in safety, everybody has to pull their weight.  It ends up being an interesting discussion, especially when Eugene defies the odds and his own fears to literally carry a comatose Tara and her weight to safety. It's a real crowd pleaser, since Eugene is rarely brave.  But, Tara is his only friend.  Neither Abraham nor Rosita have spoken openly to him in weeks, and Abraham can only care about his survival if it means hitting him.  Eugene can't make head shots, but he can shoot for the legs and scurry off while zombies lie on the floor.

Which gets to the real crowd pleaser.  Eugene can't fight and openly admits he doesn't want to.  The only reason he comes with the team to an abandoned factory is to make sure they scavenge the right part for Alexandria's solar panel system.  They're looking for the gizmos that will convert the panels' DC power into the AC power the town actually needs, and Eugene can spot the part much better than they can.  Eugene, once things turn to shit, isn't helpful.  But, after an initial scare, the guy remembers he's clever.  Hence, carrying Tara to safety by making the shots he can.  Hence, appearing just in time out front with a loud, techno music and a noisy van and his own Southern accent calling to the zombies that have trapped the others.

Eugene and Glenn could have saved the day.  Aiden ruined the supply run when a badly aimed bullet hit a grenade.  After losing Aiden in a horrific eating, which Aiden is fully conscious for, Glenn, Noah, and Aiden's friend Nicholas literally are trapped in a revolving door between two sets of zombie packs.  It has the potential to be the best scary close call yet; it becomes one of the nastiest deaths we've seen.  Eugene makes an escape possible with his diversion in the van.  Glenn is inspired to break the glass outside the revolving door; all Nicholas has to do is help hold the door steady and they can all walk out.

Nicholas proves to be even more of a coward than Eugene.  Eugene, in danger, tends to freeze up and wait for someone to come get him.  Nicholas just abandons his team.  The trapping at the revolving door requires teamwork; if someone decides to be a selfish asshole, the others in the opposite door are screwed.  Sadly, we already know Nicholas isn't a team player, and he very predictably squeezes his revolving door open for himself, leaving Noah to be dragged back inside the factory.  Noah turns to Glenn right before going, asking him to not let go.

Noah's face says the guy must have known it was his end.  Multiple zombies have his leg out of the door; Glenn has nothing to hold him back to in the door.  Although, with Nicholas out, why not just drag Noah out the door?  That question is left unanswered, as Noah is dragged away and Glenn gives up to watch his friend be chewed apart into a bloody mess against the glass door.  It's a terrible way to go.  Once again, there is always that moment where the pain and terror of being eaten gives into the inevitable, catastrophic blood loss.  Aiden continued to moan pitifully as his body lost feeling; Noah goes silent as his face is torn apart.

Be honest, you cried too

I think, deep down, that Glenn saw himself in Noah.  Like Noah, he was no one important or even well-suited to the end of the world.  Glenn was smart, quick, and happy to help.  And he would have appreciated Noah helping out despite his bum leg.  He would have admired Noah for becoming a survivor.  And now, he's lost Noah due to a stranger's cowardly abandonment.  When Eugene fails to restrain Nicholas from leaving them all behind at the factory, despite his best efforts, it's Glenn who knocks him out.  And, grudgingly decides to bring him home.

Is it a good idea to bring Nicholas back?  The guy will, definitely, lie about everything that happened.  But can Glenn go back with both Aiden and Nicholas dead and expect Deanna to accept that?  He chooses to have useless, cowardly Nicholas to deal with in the next episode.  After all, they lost Aiden and Noah.  So, Deanna will know something went horribly wrong that probably wasn't Glenn's doing.  But will she believe Glenn and Eugene over Nicholas?

Rick finds that he's going to have his own problems to resolve when he finds Jessie trying to clean up the owl sculpture in her garage.  Someone has destroyed it; Rick offers to find the culprit, explaining that if owl sculptures are allowed to be vandalized, pretty soon they'll have drug gangs.  Jessie doesn't want any big deal made over it; a pretty sure sign she already knows who it was, and wants to protect the culprit.  Jessie's husband, Peter, shows up already sloshed at Rick's sometime that day, offering more booze and wanting Rick to know that it hasn't been all book clubs and potlucks in Alexandria.  He also doesn't think the attack on the owl sculpture is any big deal, probably because he also already knows who it was.  Doesn't Rick know what it means if nobody outside the house actually saw anything?

Rick, nobody wants you to uncover how awful I am

It's Carol who figures it out, despite her fervent desire to not to.  When Jessie's kid, Sam, turns into a cookie-obsessed stalker, it's Carol he turns to.  After all, she did promise him cookies.  I mean, if you're going to use that as your creepy bribe, at least come through.  Especially when the kid steals the chocolate for you.  Carol does her best to not bond with another kid who's going to die on her, but Sam's eventual sort-of confession that he destroyed the owl leads her to wonder why.  Which leads her to Peter's door, where he shoos her away.  So, Carol figures out what the rest of us knew the first time we saw the guy.  And she goes right to Rick with the secret.  Rick doesn't know what to do; he's got nothing on Peter except maybe public drunkenness.  Carol says screw due process; Rick's got to kill him.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow.  But eventually.  And hopefully, Carol will get to burn the body.

Look, I hate abusive spouses too.  But usually, some investigation has to show that someone's abusing their spouse.  Or, the abused spouse files a complaint.  Does Deanna know about the new justice system in Alexandria?  Is she willing to exile her doctor to save Jessie?  Or, will she try to come up with some way of separating Peter from his family, like a restraining order.  Which Rick will have to enforce.  Which, could be easy if Rick removes his wedding ring and moves in with Jessie.  There, see?  I just came up with an alternative right now.  Carol's problem is that everything has become simple.    The old ways are gone, and certainly didn't protect her from Ed, anyway.  So she's come up with a new way.  Kill threats to the group.   Because that's the only way to take them seriously.  I could be wrong, but that doesn't sound like the future Deanna had in mind.  Is the resulting power struggle going to be between Rick and Deanna, or will it only appear that way?  Because it looks like the real power struggle, over Rick and Alexandria, will be between Carol and Deanna.

Our Town - Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 13

I'm officially worried about Carol.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Commando Carol, and always will.  But a tweenie who's caught her stealing guns isn't the same as cannibals about to kill her friends.  To be fair, she doesn't give him the full Commando Carol treatment.  She just threatens him, in a voice that could have been telling him a fairy tale.  Problem is, I think she'd really do it.  I think she'd really kidnap the kid, leave him tied up to die, make it look like he ran away, and hide the body.  It'd be so easy.  So few others leave the walls.

So, I guess you're not my Fairy Godmother after all

Well, so few of the long-term Alexandrians.  Team Carol leaves constantly, in and out, in and out.  It almost defeats the purpose of the wall if other people can see the gate in action all the time.  Do people have to sign out, so someone knows they're in the danger zone?  Deanna, for all her fingers in all Alexandria's business, seems completely unconcerned that her gate is like a back door in summer.  It does give her an opportunity to be made at a member of Team Carol for the first time.  But, her snitfit with Sasha really started the morning before.

With Sasha, waking up to see the family photos that littered her new home.  The happy family, intact, alive, and frozen in time for her to stare at, is too much.  There are a few things one does to make a new home one's own.  Decorating, minor renovations, and taking out the old family photos to use as target practice.  After each shot, make sure you peer around the creepy forest you're shooting in to see if any zombies have finally found you, daring them to come.  Because a day without zombies in the the zombiepocalypse is just weird.

Fuck yoga.  I kill zombies in the morning.

Good thing we have Aaron and Darryl and their quest for rabbits and a horse.  How would these two have done if they met 2-3 years ago?  Would they have bonded as quickly as they do now, over shared zombie kills and a tragic failure to capture a live horse?  When Aaron points out his quest to tame Buttons the wild horse, Darryl is on Team Aaron, helping when he can and consoling Aaron when Buttons meets his end from a pack of zombies.  Yes, since you asked:  the wild horse Aaron can't tame that gets eaten is a metaphor for Darryl himself.  Stay too wild, too isolated from those who want to help you, and you get taken down.

Is there really no sugar left?

Aaron just keeps getting more likeable.  He tries to bond with Darryl, claiming to be an outsider due to his neighbors' lingering homophobia.  Darryl, who probably thinks homosexuality is a choice, just doesn't respond.  But Aaron's not done.  He brings out his two big guns: well cooked spaghetti and a custom-refurbished motorcycle.  He doesn't know it, but that's Christmas to Darryl.  Aaron also has another present for Darryl.  He personally asks that Darryl replace Eric as his teammate in the wild, finding new residents for Alexandria, vetting them, and bringing them in.  And, maybe, even finding a pasta maker.  Is there really no Bed Bath Beyond near this place?

Will Darryl make a good fellow recruiter?  He tends not to trust strangers, except when he remembers Beth's exhortations that there are still good people left.  Will he be able to get strangers to trust him?  He doesn't have Aaron's patience or forgiving nature.  Will he be Aaron's backup, waiting to rescue Aaron should their bet on a particular group go horribly wrong?  Will there be any more wild horses?  Will they find that pasta maker?

Also, will Darryl admit to Aaron that he, Rick and Carol conspired to steal guns from the storehouse, run by a very chatty Olivia?  Olivia kind of bungles a request for a leg of meat from a woman who's last boyfriend lost his leg to cannibals, but that doesn't mean she deserves to be taken advantage of by Carol.  Will Deanna punish them if they're caught?  Or will the reveal that Team Carol has their own firearm stash be in such a way that Deanna decides that Carol was right, after all?  When Carol's threats against a boy make the theft successful, it's Darryl who turns down the offered gun.  He's got his crossbow, and he's wondering if maybe they are safe within the walls.  At the prison, Rick refused to wear his gun inside the fences.  They were stacked together, accessible for defense, but no one carried guns at home, preferring knives instead.

While Rick, Carol and Darryl confab on their new, concealed firearms, they realize one of the zombies laying around has a "W" etched into its forehead, as did the zombies piled into that truck outside Shirewilt.  Which is a sign that that weirdness wasn't some random scenery to creep you out once;  The "W" marker will be around, and soon.

Someone's art project?

Team Carol, or rather, Rick, does have some useful ideas, like putting a 24-hour, 365 day watch in the abandoned church tower right outside town, telling Deanna that she should have had one already.  Deanna's counting on the town's obscurity to protect them.  And she's a little surprised when Rick informs her that she needs patrols along the wall to protect the town from climbers.  We saw Enid demonstrate this last week, but Deanna really doesn't know her town as much as she likes to think she does, because that possibility hasn't occurred to her before.

Speaking of Rick, when he's not conspiring to break gun laws behind Deanna's back, he's fucking up in other ways, too.  He is officially on the tail of Jessie, who's married.  This is literally what he killed Shane over when Shane wouldn't let go of his wife.  This is literally what drove two life-long friends apart and left one dead.  And he is literally repeating Shane's mistakes.

Hey there, do you mind if I fuck your Mom?

Jessie even has a son, so now it's totally like Shane's affair with Lori.  Let's hope Jessie's husband is never presumed dead.

When not chasing married tail, Rick is then introduced to the First Husband of Alexandria, Deanna's architect husband Reggie.  Reggie is literally like every architect I have ever known.  Which isn't good.  But, he's polite to Rick and not too condescending, informing Rick that every video of his crew praises him to the skies, so he's totally glad this adulterous fuck-up who lost a farm and a prison is here in Alexandria.  

Abraham and Rosita and Noah make brief appearances, mostly to look incredulous at a return to normalcy, or shrink into the wall in shyness.  Maggie is already Deanna's assistant, following her around at Deanna's invitation but with nothing to really do.  Tara and Eugene are on supply runs outside Alexandria, despite Eugene grumbling about it.  Now, we just need to see Gabriel, who is no doubt praying.

Deanna's party is a chatty, loud, pretty event.  And our ragtag crew adjusts to varying degrees.  Michonne, who we saw last season used to live this life, adapts right away.  Glen and Maggie, already a couple used to helping others adjust, adjust themselves quickly enough and try to convince Noah to blend in.  It's really, this episode, Sasha who just can't handle the safety. So soon after losing her lover and brother to the dangers outside the walls, she is now safe and comfortable.  She feels alone, especially as she sees her old group starting to adjust to Alexandria.  

She lashes out at some random partygoer, who's terrible crime is wanting to make Sasha dinner.  But, like all unbearable bitches, this lady wants to know if there's anything Sasha doesn't like, because the world's biggest bitches make sure to bring you something you'll enjoy.  Sasha just can't believe that this world can still have people who get to have normal, healthy problems.    She just can't believe that there are welcome wagons and parties and neighbors coming over for coffee.  Let's hope this place doesn't have block parties.  That could blow Sasha's mind to bits.

Sasha, predictably, loses it with the neighbor lady, and promptly leaves the party.  The next morning, she'll pronounce to Deanna that Alexandria is like Disneyland in the zombiepocalypse.  It's not a real place, with real people, unless there's the almost constant fear of death and loss.  Unless you wake up every day worried about survival, and your loved ones' survival, something's off.  Deanna is rightfully pissed that Sasha feels that way, and seems happy to see her off to the church tower.  Will that be Sasha's permanent home?  She sure looks like she'd prefer that.

Please have your freakouts in the tower

Rick, after a successful party the night before, now secretly armed by Carol, wearing his police uniform and settling into small-town constable life, can't resist getting a taste of life outside the walls.  He's drawn by the sound of a zombie who's found a section of the wall, but can't get in.  The zombie gropes uselessly on one side, as Rick joins with the wall to hear, feel, everything.  Does he miss them?  He's definitely that crazy.  Does he miss the outside world?  It's easy to see how he and the rest of the group could be claustrophobic.  Does he marvel that he can experience the zombies, still perfectly safe behind a wall?  That would be as marvelous as the lights and hot showers.

I just can't quit you

It's Michonne who demonstrates the point of the episode.  Last week established that Team Carol doesn't feel threatened by Alexandria's people.  This week starts to establish that Team Carol is now adjusting their tactics to thrive in Alexandria themselves.  Maggie is happy to be mentored by Deanna.  Carol is scheming for her own imagined protection.  Darryl accepts Aaron's job and motorcycle offer.  Rick is working on getting some alone time with Jessie.  Abraham and Rosita are attempting to be a regular couple.  Gabriel, presumably, can get back to praying all alone.  Tara can razz Eugene when he balks at work.  It's only Sasha who just can't move forward, at least not yet.

But Michonne, ever the one to move forward, after consciously choosing Rick and Carl and the others as her family a season ago, demonstrates that this can be a good thing.  That the lessons from outside the wall can be remembered, cherished, but laid aside for new lessons about surviving together, making a safe place into a real town.  Now in her officer's uniform, dressed just like Rick, Michonne decides her katana will be on display.  It gets a place of honor over the mantel, a sign of the times and what it takes to survive them.  But she no longer carries it, slung over her back with one hand on the handle, ready to wield it at all times.  It will be a symbol now.  

But I can take it down the second I need to be a badass again

3:37pm - The Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 12

This episode is boring on purpose.  Really, it is.  Now, somewhere much safer than even the prison, surrounded by a stylist neighbor, and grandparents who will handle all the babysitting, the characters have only their own paranoia and survivors' habits to contend with.  The interactions with zombies are usually the result of stupid decisions.

We come in peace, we guess

Their caution, their hesitancy to accept that Alexandria, its safety, and its reproduction of normalcy is completely understandable.  And Deanna, Alexandria's poker playing, people reading matriarch, completely understands.  Actress Tovah Feldshuh, plays her cool, confident, and filming every interview. This means their first interactions are private, but will eventually be known by anyone else interested in watching.  The place resembles, more than any other, Zaofu from Legend of Korra.  And Deanna resembles Zaofu's multi-talented, almost always calm matriarch.  To the point I was expecting metal bending.

Speaking softly, but you know there's a big stick somewhere

One of Deanna's most interesting points, is that she represents a male character from the graphic novel.  Instead of Douglas Monroe, we get Deanna.  Not so sexually interested in the townspeople (her graphic novel version is a dirty old man), and not really worried if newcomers knock her son out in the driveway while the gate remains open.  The newbies are just what she's been looking for, and not just because one can become the constable.  You know, despite the episode constantly showing Rick ambivalent about the place, that he's staying when Deanna gives him the time and he just goes ahead and resets his watch.

Alexandria is really just a commune, where Aaron will show them there new homes, all ready for new people to move in and start reading books and re-decorate.   Where Carol will dress business casual to cook for those who can't.  Where Carl will be asked to play video games, and obsess over the neighbor girl.  Where a shower is followed by an impromptu care package and hair cut from neighbor Jesse.  Where neighbors will treat little Judith like a celebrity.  Deanna assigns work to each community member, after interviewing them and determining what makes them tick.  She outright admits it's all very communist, after she's explained that the place was designed as an bourgeoisie environmentalist's wet dream.  It really just needs a Trader Joe's.  So, basically, I'm totally going to establish a place like this myself one day.

Various characters all react to Deanna's interview.  Rick gradually eases into his seat as he and Deanna slowly bond.  Daryl clutches the possum he shot right before entering, pacing the floor on the other side of the coffee table.  Carol treats it like a an interview for a job she really wants, even whitewashing her dead husband's terrible character and never, on camera, mentioning Sophia.  Carl sits with Judith on his lap, practically daring Deanna to even think about refusing shelter to a tweenie who had to end his mother and his baby sister.  Carl is practically Oliver Twist. When is AMC going to make the rest of the interviews and post them to the website?  One wonders how Eugene's went.  Did he admit how dishonest he was?  Did Rick ever mention Shane?  Did Abraham mention his wife?  Did Tara admit to helping the Governor storm the prison?  Did Gabriel confess to letting his own parishioners die?  

Once interviews are done, the gang finally decides they're willing to give the place a chance.  They're even willing to turn in their guns, keeping hand weapons and Darryl's cross bow.  But, that cart is full of guns, some of which are pointed directly at the woman who wheels them away.  Just sayin'.  

The rest of the show is just our survivors camped out in the living room, or Darryl not even willing to come inside.  They decide to stay together, for the first two nights.  No one complains about this scenario, not even Deanna, who promises that she's working on jobs for them all, even Darryl.   The confrontations with zombies could all have been avoided.  Rick, somehow, just decides to wander outside the walls, checking each of the bracing poles that, maybe not smartly, have been placed on the outside.  Just saying, tension cables on the inside would have done the same job and not be accessible to anyone walking by.  He goes to the blender, probably to have one gun Alexandria doesn't confiscate, and discovers it's missing.  Did Carl find it and keep it?  Carl joins him, after having followed fellow newbie Enid outside the walls, too.

Enid, recently moved into Alexandria, can't hate the place or it's people enough, and she ingeniously has a way of quietly climbing the wall using the holes in the post and a piece of steel rod.  Carl's looking for her, maybe thinking she knows some terrible truth about this place, when he finds Rick at the blender and together, the two get in a little zombie-killing practice.

Glen and Tara get stuck with Aidan, who just happens to be Deanna's grown son, and Aidan's friend Number Two.  Aidan and Number Two have been playing with a zombie that killed a friend recently.  Glen and Tara, despite their toughness, are horrified at the unnecessary risk and ghoulish futility of it.  You can't get revenge against the dead, although we've seen Tyrese and Sasha try.  Other characters always pull them back, as there's no use in getting angry at predators who have no other function except to hunt you.  There's no revenge to be obtained from the dead.  You just put them down and move on. 

When Glen and Tara storm back into Alexandria's gates, which are just allowed to stand open while they bicker with Aidan and Number Two, a fight ensues.  Aidan gets his ROTC ass kicked quick and easy by now hipster-looking Glen.

Have to admit, this was satisfying

Deanna makes a point of announcing to all that these newbies aren't for hazing or treating like servants.  They're here, they're valuable to the community, and residents mis-treat them at their own risk.  After which, she calmly gives Rick and Michonne the job of dealing with all future fights.  Rick scores a police uniform somewhere, including a spiffy black jacket and tie.  Carol threatens to hose Darryl down if he doesn't take a shower.  And Rick decides that it's okay if the group wants to split up and use the second house they've got.  Enid mysteriously returns to Alexandria, because Carl's got to obsess over something for the rest of the season.

Various characters admit to each other that the people of Alexandria are soft.  Most haven't been outside the walls for who knows how long.  They've had electricity and hot water and hair cuts.  A couple like to take stupid risks outside the walls.  The gang isn't relaxing their guard because they trust their new neighbors.  They just realize that even if Deanna wanted to kill them all, she doesn't have anyone who possibly could.  That we know of, at least.  

The only problem, the only thing that could screw them all, is, as always, Rick.  Michonne and Rick discuss how this place might work out after all.  Unfortunately for Rick, it's not a place he built himself with his own family.  This place has its own ways, and even a creepy husband for Jesse, who will totally turn out to be a wife-beater.  I don't really feel like that's a spoiler.  Alexandria's only fault is that Rick is going to get the leeway he needs to take it for himself at the first sign that he doesn't get his way.  

Crazy Rick Is Back - Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 11

Oh, Rick.  You're like the grandma who, after living through the Depression, still hides her money under her mattress.  Whenever you've gotten out of a disaster, you always go through a paranoid period.  Like, when you tossed Ty and Sasha and the Allens out after getting out of Woodbury. Hershel was nodding his head, yes, Rick take these people in, but instead you freaked out and practically frothed at the mouth, chasing your future friends away.

So, it's not much of a surprise that Rick never really trusts Aaron, who spends the episode semi-patiently putting up with his bullshit and sometimes, violence.  Aaron wants to start by describing, in detail, a stack of photos he's brought.  They're grainy and black and white and Aaron really likes to go on, despite the fact that he's in a barn full of people who don't like outsiders.  So, perhaps it's not a surprise that Rick shuts him up by knocking him out.

It is, at least, a surprise to Michonne, who wants to give Rick a red flag.  Because it hasn't been clear enough that Michonne is taking Hershel's place. But Rick isn't done; he wants Aaron tied up to one of the barn posts before he comes to, so he's even more helpless than before.  From there, Rick decides that they have to be ready for Aaron's gang to attack.  Opinion in the barn is mixed; when Aaron comes to without vowing revenge, and claiming to have left them the water they found the day before, Rick brandishes the flare gun in Aaron's pack, demanding to know how many other people are in sight of it.

Hey, this was mine!  Why does Mom always give you my stuff?

Aaron ponders whether it even matters if he answers; he knows that Rick and at least half the group don't believe a word he says.  But, Rick wants an answer on record, even if it's a lie.  He can always kill Aaron later if it's not true.  So, Aaron admits there's only one other person with him.  At this point, some of the others are wondering whether Aaron could be a threat, even if he wanted to.  In order to illustrate how lucky Rick is, Aaron recites, a little to chirpily, how he would have killed Rick the night before if he had really wanted to do that.  The group has no supplies to steal, except water Aaron claimed he gave them anyway; so why would anyone attack, except out of pure delight in killing?  And, let's face it, Aaron is really good at not seeming like that kind of guy.

Aaron's probably never had this much difficulty in persuading people to trust him.  He's tried cooperating, he's tried photos, he's tried talking, So, at his wit's end, he tells Rick that he has vehicles for them all to travel, together, to his walled town.  To boot, they could get there by lunch.  I would have been hooked by the word "lunch".  Rick still insists it's all a trick, and only Michonne, Maggie and Glenn can convince him that it's even worth checking out. Rick sends them with Abraham and Rosita, telling them that the radios are out of juice, so he's giving them sixty minutes to check out the cars, and come back.  Rick then sends out everyone remaining to patrol the area, so if Aaron does have a gang of murderous thugs who want those three water bottles, those thugs will know how many people Rick has and catch them split up.

Welcome to our hazing ritual, newbie

Maybe that's why, when alone with Rick and Judith, Aaron gets a little confidence and informs Rick that he's keeping it together, because he's been through worse as an aid worker in Africa.  Armed militia members held him at gunpoint while he was bringing locals clean water.  He declares that Rick isn't going to kill him because Rick is a good person.  Rick says what kind of person he is isn't going to protect Aaron.  The only chance Aaron has is if the others come back in an hour with a good report.

On their field trip, the five are walking in a line, attentive to the road and the field beyond.  It's sunny and hot and all guns are drawn.  Only Michonne isn't pointing a weapon somewhere, with her katana strapped to her back.  Glenn issues a warning to shoot anyone they see, Michonne thinks Glenn should slow that roll;  they might see Aaron's one buddy, or someone looking for shelter like they are, or someone who just walked into the action and isn't involved.  Glenn says anyone approaching them while they're armed, is involved.  And not coming to say hello.  He may be right; around the bend, lurking behind a tractor, is some unidentified person.  We never see a face.

What if you see someone selling sunglasses?  Will you still shoot?

Back at the Barn of Paranoia, Judith is hungry and crying and Aaron reveals his one fear;  the dead.  He practically begs Rick to open his backpack and feed Judith the applesauce inside.  Rick the great single dad that he is, balances Judith in one arm while sticking a spoonful of the stuff in Aaron's face.  Aaron balks, trying to reassure Rick that he'd never hurt a baby.  Rick doesn't buy it.  And he's got the dirty beard, so Aaron has to squeamishly admit that he hates applesauce.  He only brings any with him to show people how well fed his town is.  His mother forced him to eat it as a child, something about teaching him to "man up".  Aaron refers to her as confused, but Rick's has no time to talk about Mommy issues.  Aaron loses to the spoon, after which Rick also takes a taste, and then tells Aaron to make the most of the next 43 minutes.

That, hopefully, isn't necessary, because Team Field Trip has found the vehicles.  They're surprised by a couple zombies, and Rosita and Abraham messily end them.  Together, they search the RV, finding nothing suspicious, and plenty of food.  Rosita's been largely blank and evasive with Abraham, not wanting much to do with him after she almost had to pull a gun on him weeks ago.   Abraham looks ready to get his nooky again, wanting to reminisce about the last time they had any Gorbelli's Spaghetti-O's.  If this is the same Gorbelli's of Tara's dad, something tells me she'll pass.

Abraham segues from the nostalgia moment into trying to find out if he and Rosita are still a thing.  But she's not afraid of him, despite his baggage from his past.  She just seems more or less done with him.  There are other groups and other leaders and Abraham's not in charge any more.  Maybe she feels she just needs him less.  She literally tells him it's not him.  I guess Eugene will have to watch Glenn and Maggie get it on, now.

Rick, back at the Barn of Paranoia with all his friends back and now with a stash of new food, is still not happy with Aaron.  He insists that he's keeping the food, whether they go with Aaron or not, and Aaron seems resigned to just never gaining  Rick's trust.  But, he has gained the others'.  Carl outright demands to know why they can't go with Aaron. Michonne looks deeply into everyone's eyes as she insists that Aaron isn't lying and isn't a threat.  And Darryl's tired of the horse-shit-smelling barn.  Even Rick has to admit that they're going, and then gets into another fight with Aaron over whether they get to know where the town is, and who's driving.  Michonne, Aaron's only ally, insists that Aaron needs to play ball.

Rick won't take Aaron's limited directions, mostly because Aaron doesn't want to reveal the final location.  Rick wants to take a road Aaron openly tells them isn't safe, and nobody likes the idea of traveling at night.  But with Aaron starting to wonder if he's made the right choice, still bound to a post and the others eating his food, he's going to have to play it Rick's way.

Michonne follows Rick out to demand to know whether Rick really plans on taking Aaron's directions or using him for information.  Rick confides in Michonne that he's only going to see if he can actually hear something behind Aaron's home's walls.  Because, like farts, the silent towns are the deadly ones.  And there's no word on even attempting to find Aaron's companion and give him a lift back home.

Rick, Michonne, Glenn and Aaron take the sedan; everyone else is going to follow in the RV.  Route 23, which Aaron told Rick not to attempt, looks fine at first.  It's so quiet, with no blockages, that Rick even gets to invade Aaron's license plate stash, and we find out that Aaron has very touristy taste.  Michonne wants to see what he means when he says he has his own house, and Aaron refers her to his pictures. At first, Michonne browses through them, but something they should have seen, should have looked for before, comes to her and she needs to know why there are no people in Aaron's pictures.  He tells her that he took a very blurry photo of his townspeople, but Michonne suddenly realizes Rick didn't ask his questions three.  Why would he?  He didn't trust Aaron anyway, and Aaron didn't want to join Rick's group; he wants Rick to join his.  But, Michonne actually believes in the Power of the Three Questions, so we get a rehash of the three stupidest questions from Season 4.  Aaron's answers are pretty tame, and what I imagine would be typical of people in the time.

Just as things could get chummy, Rick, who was literally searching the car earlier in the day and missed it, suddenly discovers the parabolic mic that's enabled Aaron to listen in to their conversations, and Rick freaks out and realizes that Aaron's friends could literally know their Route 23 plan.  And in case the situation wasn't bad enough, we find out that Aaron was right; Route 23 isn't safe.  It's covered in zombies.  Meaty, juicy, zombies splatter the car repeatedly, making the windshield completely useless.  When they finally stop, they've lost sight of the RV, and decide to double back.  Only trouble is, the car isn't working.  And now, Aaron is starting to panic.  Once again, the dead are his only real fear.  Until, that is, the signal flare goes off.  Suddenly, Aaron has lost his patience with everyone.  Or, maybe he realizes some jig is up and wants out while he's still alive.  Rick doesn't know, and he has other problems.  So, Aaron manages, hands still tied behind his back, to open the car door, knock Michonne over with it, and dash off.

Rick decides to let him go.  There's a forest full of zombies coming, and Rick's got bullets to waste and noise to make.  Glenn manages to find Aaron, helpless against a zombie that won't leave, and not only saves him but cuts his ties.  Will he stick with Aaron?  The guy was right about Route 23.  And he can fire a gun, which saves Rick's ass when Rick uses Aaron's only signal flare to turn a zombie into a jack-o-lantern.   Even Rick has to admit he'd rather chase the other, prior signal flare than re-tie Aaron.  However, there's always time for threats, because Aaron hasn't heard, enough times, that he's going to die if anything's wrong.

Luckily, all turn out safe and sound.  It's Aaron's friend, Eric who's not so good.  It's not a big deal, he's quick to tell Aaron, it's what happens when you're careless playing volleyball.  It was Eric who sent up the flare, and the others in Team Rick who found him.  And Maggie who gave him the splint made of sticks and rope.    But Eric has another license plate for Aaron.  And a passionate kiss.  So, they're more than friends.  And, this is why Aaron's mother was so worried that he wasn't manly enough.  They're here, they're queer, get used to it. They laugh over the sedan that died that night, and even Rick gets the clue.  Eric is all bonhommie, even to Rick, who's been a dick to his partner all day.  It was easy for Eric, despite breaking his ankle; he hasn't had to deal with Rick's paranoia all day.

Saving Eric has convinced Aaron that they can know they're going to Alexandria.  Now, it's Aaron who's got the group's attention.  And loyalty.  When Rick wants to keep Aaron and Eric apart, Aaron stands up to him for the first time, telling Rick to try to keep him away from Eric.  Maybe Aaron knows his bluff will work because Rick is out of bullets.  Maybe he knows it will work because now everyone else trusts him.

The next day, their only enemy is the RV's dead battery.  Abraham and Rosita are cheered by the sight of their original destination; Washington, D.C.  and the Monument loom in the distance as they pass on the highway, cleared just as Aaron said it would be.  Noah and Aaron chat, with Aaron giving Noah hope for helping his leg.  Noah doesn't reveal too much emotion over it; but maybe he's spent since leaving Shirewilt.  He limps off, maybe thinking about walking again.  The gang is in a good mood. Rosita is smiling at Abraham.  And Abraham is sure they're going to keep driving 'til they arrive. Abraham's optimism doesn't persuade the RV's battery to keep going, though.  Good thing they have Glenn along.  Good thing Glenn learned something from Dale.

Michonne, waiting with Rick to get going again, tries to prepare Rick for the end of wandering on the road.  The survival instinct can keep you alive in extreme situations, but it can also eat you up, like zombies with fresh innards.  Rick admits that Bob tried to tell him the same thing.  Michonne says give peace a chance, but Rick has old habits.  And one extra gun, which he stores in an abandoned blender by an abandoned house.  It's not much of a stash, but it's a stash.

Their journey ends at the end of a secondary, residential road.  There's a metal wall, just as Aaron predicted.  Carol tells him he was a jackass about the whole thing, but his caution wasn't wrong. At first, we don't know why Rick looks so freaked out. After all, the sound of kids playing comes from the gate.  But it's just Rick, realizing that the town isn't silent.  There are real people who let their kids play.  Like Rick, who lets Judith play on the back seat while the car is moving down the highway.  Because, apparently, scavenging a car seat for the baby isn't possible.  And they never get into accidents.

Take me away from this guy, I'm not safe with him!

Ease On Down The Road - Walking Dead - Season 5, Episode 10

Finally!  A pack of feral dogs!  It's been five seasons, and it finally occurred to the show's producers that abandoned dogs would have formed their own packs for food and protection.  That and the zombies at the barn are the week's excitement.

This week's show is mostly about the parallel physical and emotional struggles within the group.  There's no food and barely any water left.  They've lost two members, long-time, well-loved members, in a space of days.  They're 60 miles from Washington D.C., holding out the distant hope that lying Eugene was right about safe shelter there.

Don't you carry nothing that might be a load

Maggie, finally, is ripped apart with grief for her sister.  Fleeing the prison and believing your sister dead is one thing.  Being confronted with her bloody, head-shot body limp in Darryl's arms is another.   Her zombie kills are rote by now, showing she's a badass even on autopilot.  She even slaps Gabriel down with some tough love after he tries to minister to her.  Maggie's detachment, and frustration with the way the zombiepocalypse can still horrify her, are evident when she opens that car trunk, hoping for water, and finds a zombie, bound and gagged.  Was it an early infected patient, gagged for safety, that someone was trying to get help for?  Was it a kidnapping plot gone bad, with the kidnappee left to die and turn?  Glenn lovingly puts it down for her.

The show's setting has changed in that it's no longer clear what happened at any given travesty the group stumbles on.  Was Shirewilt deliberately destroyed for some sicko's torso and head stash?  Was the deer Darryl stumbles on partially consumed by a zombie who was then shot in the head?  Or was that body a human killed for that deer?  Did those frogs die of dehydration, like the group is at risk of doing?  It's getting impossible to determine exactly how anything has died.  It's getting futile, and even defeating, to even know how everything has died.  If it's dead, truly dead, it's like the survivors have just lost all interest in it.

Maybe it's the starvation and dehydration and fatigue.  Maybe it's Sasha's wish to kill everything the entire episode.  Michonne saw this before, when Tyrese lost it during their trip to the veterinarian hospital.  And now, despite Sasha proclaiming that she's not like her brother, she's resorting to the same angry desire to attack zombies when she doesn't really have the energy.  When six or seven group members decide to deal with the zombie crowds trudging along behind them, they've chosen a small bridge over a ravine.  They assemble with small gaps between people on both sides.  And, as zombies approach, they simply step out of the way and let gravity do the hard work.  The zombies fall, break something, and can't get back up, the group conserves energy, and the remaining zombies don't get worked up.

Just keep on keeping' on the road that you choose

Until Sasha ruins things by taking out her knife.  It throws the whole game off, since now they need to cover each other in a brawl.  Rick literally almost gets bitten, and my fondest wish for this show is almost fulfilled, but Abraham keeps the zombie away from his arm.  Damn.  Michonne tosses Sasha to the side, with an angry finger pointing at her.  Sasha retreats into her own private world of anger, emerging only to quietly berate Noah for wondering if he's going to make it.  Noah is wrapped up in himself, seeming to confirm everything Dawn thought of him, when Sasha reminds him that fear of death causes death in this world.

'Cause there may be times when you think you've lost your mind

Sasha doesn't seem to rejoin the group until a pack of feral dogs, including Dobermans and German Shepherds, emerges from the woods by the road, where the whole group has collapsed for a rest.  Rick is readying his knives, Michonne looks ready to attack, but the group is tired and these dogs aren't.  It's Sasha and her quick shooting that bring them down.  The group is a little shocked at first, but Rick stumbles up and collects sticks for cooking.  No one talks, no one complains about the food, eating it silently, wondering if their lives are now eating whatever they find on the road, and battling death from their own bodies.

Gabriel, perhaps having some time to digest Maggie's scolding, burns his priest's collar in the cooking fire.  Has he given up on his faith, or just his priesthood, his position in life?  Has he realized, finally, that he's got to survive just like everyone else?

Darryl is still bottling up all his grief for Beth.  He's been obsessed with finding her for a season now, and his search was bitterly disappointing.  Whenever Rick lets him scout around for water or food, Carol insists on following him, trying to coax some grief out of him.  Darryl's finally had enough, and insists on a lone scout mission that yields a barn, and some alone time for smoking a cigarette.  Nicotine must have lost its hold on Darryl, because he instead uses the butt for pain testing.  He makes no sound, no expression, doesn't even gasp as he digs the burning, ashing, butt into his hand.  He pokes his finger in the burn to scatter the remaining ashes.  And, he finally has a good cry.

You wake one morning, just to find your courage gone

When Darryl returns, it's to find that the group has moved on slightly, encountering something truly inexplicable.  Water.  Bottles of water.  In small 16 oz bottles.  In gallon jugs.  And a note offering it free of charge.  "From A Friend".  Rick doesn't buy it, and the water sits there, as if it's taunting the whole group.  It's Eugene who decides he doesn't care, grabs a bottle and has just had the water hit his lips when Abraham, who's been drinking alcohol the whole episode, slaps the water bottle away.  Eugene can only looked shocked, water still clinging to his face.  Rick wants to hold out for rain.  He only trusts the clouds at this point.

And, since Rick is the luckiest bastard still alive, it literally starts to rain before the group can fight over the water in the road.  At first, everyone is happy to stand in the rain. Tara and Rosita even lay down in it.  It's their first break since Tyrese died.  But it's about to turn ugly, with thunder and lightning that will ruin the whole day.  So, Darryl directs them to the barn from his alone time.  Where they all settle down with a fire.  And one of Rick's stories/lectures.

You just keep on stepping' and you'll be just fine

The scene totally reminds one of the finale of Season Two, where Rick outright demands to be in charge and doesn't want to hear any more bitching from anyone.  There's a fire, and some hungry, tired people around it.  But, no one's scared anymore.  They're not afraid, just hopeless.  So, Rick deduces that it's time to talk about his Grandpa's lack of war stories.  His Grandpa literally survived WW2 by telling himself, every waking, that he was dead already.  So, when he survived the war it was more like a pleasant relief to go home.  Rick says that Grandpa's attitude should be their model.  Just get through each day.  Just do what you have to do.  Just fake it 'til you make it.  And before you know it, the Nazis will surrender and we can go home.  Or survive somewhere worth living in, if that's the world's new standard now.

Rick then brings up something that's long been ignored from the book.  While still at the prison, and recovering from fresh fight over something, Rick awakes to hear that Hershel and a few others have wrested control of the group from him.  Which leads Rick to stand up, head out to the prison yard, and give his resignation speech.  Which boils down to his next line in this week's episode:  WE ARE THE WALKING DEAD.  The book, and the series, isn't named for the zombies.  It's named for the survivors, who know that they, too, can one day join the ranks of the zombies.  It's named for people who can't count on surviving to tomorrow, and must treat every day as their last.

Darryl misunderstands and stalks off, presumably to take the watch for the night.  It's not necessarily that he wants to fight with Rick over anything.  He's just finally realizing that he's not dead yet.  The group, though barely mustering a raised voice with anyone, seems at it's most torn apart.  No one is willing to be counseled in their grief.  No one is willing to think of anything more than their next drink of water.  But that's okay.  Because, during the night, as the storm blows through the barn, pushing the barn doors ajar despite the chain holding them together, Darryl can see that they're not alone.  A mass of zombies has followed them here, finally finding them.  Darryl can barely get the doors back together before the mass crashes into the doors.  Darryl digs in at the doors, alone in his struggle.

Don't you give up walkin', 'cause you, gave up shoes

Until Maggie wakes up.  And she automatically dashes to his aid.  At first, it's just them, pushing against zombies and desperate that the undead not realize that it's living food pushing back against them.  But, the group by the fire hears the commotion at the doors, and the whole group is gathered at the doors, silently working together, digging heels into dirt, pushing against the doors.  The lighting flashes them as they get soaked together at the doors, and it starts to look more like a deranged game of Twister.  And, if I'm not wrong, the group starts to re-bond over their very simple struggle at the door.

It's not clear how long it lasts, or how it ends.  Only, that Maggie wakes up, daylight filtering into the barn, to find Darryl still on watch.  She sends him to bed, waking Sasha up so they can survey the outside.

They did indeed struggle against about ten zombies last night.  It must not have been a dream.  But it ended when the storm sent a ginormous tree into the zombies.  They are impaled and crushed and broken and reaching out to Maggie and Sasha.  They look less like bloodthirsty monsters, and more like survivors, like themselves, reaching out for help.  Maggie and Sasha creep past them, hoping that someone else has awoken and taken over their watch, I guess.

They don't stop until they find a clearing perfect for watching the clear sunrise.  The storm has blown over, leaving creeks filled and no urgency to find water.  Maggie has dragged Sasha out to show her an old girl's jewelry box, scavenged by Carl as a gift for Maggie, and fixed by Darryl sometime in the night.  It still won't work, and Maggie chuckles at the thing, while Sasha confesses that she's not sure if she's going to make it.  Maggie says they will, basically giving her the opposite of Rick's advice.  Start each day glad to be alive.  Ease on down the road.

Their bonding is interrupted by a clean, well-dressed guy appearing about twenty feet in front of them.  He looks well taken care of and healthy.  And he knows to keep his hands up and appear totally non-threatening.  He introduces himself as Aaron, identifies himself as the leaver of the water, and asks to see their leader.  He even knows  (or thinks) their leader is named Rick.  Using a real name freaks Maggie and Sasha out, but not enough that they really think Aaron is much of a threat.  After all, when the ballerina starts whirling and chiming, that draws their attention from their next adventure.

Hi, here to save the day!