S John Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I liked how Rick's last line of the show sort of changed context of all of his activities up to that point. After saying that he was not worried about the group becoming soft because that wasn't in them anymore he said something along the lines of - if these people are too weak to hold this place, then we will take it. At the very beginning of the episode in Rick's taped interview he says that people outside are always measuring you and sizing you up based on what they think can take from you. Rick then personally goes out to inspect the walls and accepts a position of authority within the new community. I don't doubt that Rick and 'our' group plan to play nice and cooperate with the Alexandria residents as much as they can, but I thought it was cool that they (and Rick especially) very much have sized up this other group for strengths and weaknesses and how they can use them and their resources to increase the chances of their own survival - and I think that extends even to the possibility of kicking the original inhabitants to the curb. I think Rick and Carol and Carl have all found the Alexandrians to be softer than they are and know that, worst comes to worst, they could successfully overwhelm and take over. Re: Darryl. I would be a little upset if he is the source of conflict in Alexandria. He is an excellent tracker, hunter, and scout and someone like that is valuable in this scenario whether behind walls or not. Easy to give a man like that a job in the apocalypse - Darryl your job is to roam anywhere you please and look for signs of trouble, game to hunt, etc. Nobody is going to bother you or tell you what to do. Try to bring back a deer every now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Cold Fingers Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 RE: Morgan Jones knowing where Rick is. Morgan got to the church at some point after Rick & Co. left...and Morgan found the map that Abraham left for Rick, showing the route they plan on taking to D.C. This is what Morgan read...and after he read this, he had a visible astonished look. Sorry if this was said before...I just had a brain fart on this part previously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Cold Fingers Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Didn't it say in the show that the termites were the ones leaving the markings? Their leader said it in one of the episodes. Also, morgan was led to the school area/courtyard where the termites had their camp set up, so that makes sense as well. <SNIP> You're right...Gareth does say that they marked their way to the church in order to find them as they tracked Rick's group. I assume that means the tree markings...so they have run their course. Article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooog Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Decent episode. I was hoping Daryl would get himself a haircut too, seems absurd to have a redneck tracker sporting the japanese anime cartoon look. Hopefully this new community doesn't stock his hairdye. Am struggling to figure out what the hell the point of Gabriel is. An annoyance for a couple of episodes and now he's done an Al from Quantum Leap for the last couple of episodes, nowhere to be seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Cold Fingers Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Decent episode. I was hoping Daryl would get himself a haircut too, seems absurd to have a redneck tracker sporting the japanese anime cartoon look. Hopefully this new community doesn't stock his hairdye. Am struggling to figure out what the hell the point of Gabriel is. An annoyance for a couple of episodes and now he's done an Al from Quantum Leap for the last couple of episodes, nowhere to be seen. His Ziggy isn't working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Stone Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I felt like the Daryl we saw sitting on a front porch gutting a opossum after not showering for 3 months was probably pretty similar to what we would have seen if we met Daryl pre-apocalypse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight Of Winter Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Cool episode. I like how two of the people that outwardly seem to fit in the most (Carol getting new clothes and rambling how she wants to contribute and Rick getting an uniform and shaving himself) actually have hidden agendas (Rick's last sentence and Carol is downplaying her abilities by mile). Darryl was interesting in this episode, totally unable to shift to "city" way of life. I agree that if any trouble between Alexandria and Rick's group escalates, it will start up with him. I can only hope that hanging out with people other than Merle&co has changed him for the better. Alexandria itself doesn't seem to have any secret vile or sinister agenda (and it'd be very annoying if writers pulled that again after Woodbury, Terminus and Grady Hospital), but I'm still ambivalent about it. On one hand, if Aiden is the best they've got - then they're done for, either by walkers or other people. On the other hand, they're the only stable community in the series which survived and prospered so far. They can't all be soft, mellow or incompetent. They can't all be weak, as Carl would say. Overall, I want Alexandria to work; I want Rick&co to settle themselves there and contribute building the new community, I want all of them to have place they could call home. But it's not happening; if plot doesn't endanger our main characters hard and often, there would be no Walking Dead. Some major whit is going to happen, especially seeing how season finale is only 4 episodes away. Oh, and I'm already quite creeped out by hairdresser's husband. Whatever this guy turns out to be, it'll be something nasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooog Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 Oh, and I'm already quite creeped out by hairdresser's husband. Whatever this guy turns out to be, it'll be something nasty. Well naturally. He'll either be a nasty creep and get put down the old fashioned way or conveniently turn into zombie feed. This is the price to pay when your wife is hot and roughly the same age as the lonely widowed man who happens to be the main character :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I found the whole "they're weak / soft" mantra to be rather annoying and unrealistic. Just because you live behind a high wall doesn't mean you haven't had to harden up to survive this new reality. The fact that according to ROTC boy they have ventured over 50 miles out from Alexandria means they've had plenty of experience out there in the wild world and they are not green and untested. I liked the episode, but really if this turns out to be a demonstration of the BMFness of the group vs the softcocks of Alexandria (as prefaced by Glenn's duck and counter punch take down of ROTC boy) with the destruction Alexandria happening from within, then I will be disappointed. Effectively the story would be looking like everyone still living is either useless or evil unless they're a group lead by Rick Grimes. So when Alexandria does eventually fall, which I have no doubt it will because the group eventually needs to get to Washington for good or ill, I hope it's as much because of external factors as internal factors. I do think it is an interesting development that Rick has truly lost some of his humanity with that last line, and the group too to some extent. Though quite why they are dragging a couple of millstones along with them kind of belies that attitude towards weakness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyvasse Khal Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 So with Washington being 8 miles away, and Aiden saying they've spanned a 50 mile radius during supply and scouting runs, is it safe to say Washington is overrun and there's nothing there? In the next couple of episodes can we expect a GREATM mission to check out D.C and report their findings? They can be there and back within a day, it's a nice looking community but it would be silly for no-one to be curious about the state of a major city within walking distance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pepper Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I think Aiden said something about how they've scavenged in a semi-circle around Alexandria. I took that to mean that they haven't gone to D.C. at all yet. My first thought was that all the bridges over the Potomac were destroyed during the initial outbreak. If the bridges were still intact, surely massive herds would have come through, right? Washington might have evacuated millions of people but there are still tens of millions living in the BosWash corridor and some of that should have come south at some point, unless there were no bridges. I think they need to check out D.C. to at least determine what's there and what isn't. It would be interesting seeing them trying to cross major rivers. Plus the first episodes of the show were among the best, when they were trying to navigate a large city that had been overrun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaena Targaryen Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I found the whole "they're weak / soft" mantra to be rather annoying and unrealistic. Just because you live behind a high wall doesn't mean you haven't had to harden up to survive this new reality. The fact that according to ROTC boy they have ventured over 50 miles out from Alexandria means they've had plenty of experience out there in the wild world and they are not green and untested. I liked the episode, but really if this turns out to be a demonstration of the BMFness of the group vs the softcocks of Alexandria (as prefaced by Glenn's duck and counter punch take down of ROTC boy) with the destruction Alexandria happening from within, then I will be disappointed. Effectively the story would be looking like everyone still living is either useless or evil unless they're a group lead by Rick Grimes. Well Deanna said "northern Virginia was effectively evacuated, millions of people gone, for a long time there's hardly been anyone here, living or dead". So according to her, and the behavior we've seen so far, they are far greener than Rick's crew. Maybe the Alexandrians are seeing a rise in numbers of the living and the dead, not to mention losing more people. Or maybe the exiles have been harassing them, they also could have joined a larger group by telling them about the safe haven ripe for the taking. These reasons could be why they wanted to recruit harder people and Aaron did refer to them as recruits that needed to audition in the last episode. However, I don't think the Deanna is completely naive and trusting so I do wonder if Rick's group is still being spied on with high tech equipment, I'd bet so. Oh, lol, what if Jessie's husband watched her give Rick the haircut on hidden cameras? I do think it is an interesting development that Rick has truly lost some of his humanity with that last line, and the group too to some extent. Though quite why they are dragging a couple of millstones along with them kind of belies that attitude towards weakness I think your second point shows the first point may not be the case, they do take care of others. It might be too "stan" of me but I can not see Rick and the group going quite that extreme, but he won't put his people in dander either. I don't believe they would just kill everyone or throw them out, and he would offer for them to stay like they took in the people from Woodbury. I felt/hoped Rick meant that if the Alexandrians can't do it then they will run things, meaning he won't accept ignorance from the leaders or follow dangerous decisions. Nor will he expect his people too, like that bullshit with chaining up that walker. Rick should also question the leadership skills of someone, in this setting, that made a perfect stranger the town constable after only a few days... though I will admit Deanna showed some cunning about when she offered the position, like she was waiting for a moment like that, but that was obvious. I can't wait to see just how much authority Rick is allowed and how he will use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Re: Darryl. I would be a little upset if he is the source of conflict in Alexandria. He is an excellent tracker, hunter, and scout and someone like that is valuable in this scenario whether behind walls or not. Easy to give a man like that a job in the apocalypse - Darryl your job is to roam anywhere you please and look for signs of trouble, game to hunt, etc. Nobody is going to bother you or tell you what to do. Try to bring back a deer every now and then. Remember who Darryl was when Rick met him: an aimless, crude guy who was content to follow the lead of his racist brother. The apocalypse might have been the best thing that ever happened to him, and a return to civilization in some ways makes him that first guy again. (Or at least I could see how he might feel that way.) I'm glad the writers seem to finally acknowledge that Rick's crew has been traumatized and will likely have a great deal of difficulty adjusting. They're all twitchy and suspicious, and understandably so, and it will be interesting to see if they can make the transition. Although it would be really interesting for them to become the villains of the community, which they view as filled with "weak" people. Rick's last line certainly points in that direction. Also, when someone says "I know I'm a douchebag but someone's got to call the ball around here", I tend to believe only the first half of that declaration. Deanna handled that little dustup with Aiden and Glenn pretty well, all things considered. And her asking Rick to work for her was a risk, but also shrewd in a way. The promotion binds Rick to the community and gives him a reason to behave and to support her authority and the community in general. Of course, Deanna doesn't know about his penchant for pulling guns on unseen people... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I can not see Rick and the group going quite that extreme, but he won't put his people in dander either. Well I should hope not, that'd just be weird. And Abraham seems like a guy who would have an allergy to animal dander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD2020 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Maybe they will find some peace for a time but his groups chemistry isn't all set in stone. I don't think Rick will betray these people anytime soon or unless one of his own from his group is threatened. I do believe that it MATTERS whom would be the instigator in the scenario given he has people he's been with since almost the start of it all. Glenn, Maggie, or even Sasha he would be quick to side with but I am not entirely sure he feels the same way about Abraham, Rosita, and the liar guy (forgot his name.) Maybe that might be another dynamic that comes to play when part of his group starts something and he is forced to choose again from among his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddington Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 The town didn't look that busy, in woodbridge there seemed to be a lot of people, this new place not so much. Also I am not so sure those walls are something to put too much faith in, good for keeping zombies out, but if it's people attacking I think its just made the town a deathtrap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackerNeil Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 The town didn't look that busy, in woodbridge there seemed to be a lot of people, this new place not so much. Also I am not so sure those walls are something to put too much faith in, good for keeping zombies out, but if it's people attacking I think its just made the town a deathtrap. What's the alternative? An open town through which the undead can stroll at any time? Sure, walls can be turned against a community, but all things considered, I'd rather have 'em than not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The BlackBear Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 What's the alternative? An open town through which the undead can stroll at any time? Sure, walls can be turned against a community, but all things considered, I'd rather have 'em than not. Woodbury's 'walls' were far better. People can patrol the top, there aren't enormous struts people can just shin up. Unless they have scouts out permanently, someone could be on the other side of those walls and they'd never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddington Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Just need to put up some watch-towers, some barbed wire along the top. Keeping zombies out doesn't seem to be much of a problem, not a 15ft high wall problem anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I think that the bracing being on the wrong side is so obvious on purpose, to foreshadow a breach of the walls. But then again, it's such a crap shoot on this show as to what makes sense and what doesn't that maybe it's not worth worrying about. I figure in a zombie apocalypse it's safe to assume that all walls sheltering protagonists will be breached at one point or another regardless of strength. But who knows, maybe the walls are only vulnerable to assault by adolescent girls? Alexandria's kryptonite, Bieber nation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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