You think that the person that would have the most difficulty dealing with life in ASZ would be Daryl, but is it possible that he has finally found his calling? I always figured that Daryl needed a little buddy he could whomp with his hat (if he wore a hat), and he seems to have found one in Aaron. Daryl, a lone wolf long before the end of the world, sees the value of Alexandria, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel constrained by it. Aaron, meanwhile, appreciates Daryl’s skills and suggests a job ideally suited for them, to be a recruiter for the ASZ. Of course, Aaron having a motorcycle – some assembly required – only sweetened the deal.
Daryl and Aaron spend much of their time this week following a horse through the woods, always getting close, and then watching the horse run off when spooked by approaching walkers. Eventually though, the horse gets cornered and is eaten by a lucky group of hungry zombies who were then all killed by Daryl and Aaron to avenge the horse. I’m not sure whether I should admire or deride The Walking Dead for being restrained in showing the grossness of the zombies eating the horse. Maybe making a mock up of a horse for the zombies extras to much on was cost prohibitive? Either way, the metaphor was a little on the nose.
But while Daryl’s thawing, it seems that the comforts of home are making Carol more militant. Her, Rick and Daryl hatch a plan to help themselves to some of Alexandria’s guns during Deanna’s party, but the plan hits a slight hitch when one of the boys follows Carol back to the pantry. Carol give him a choice between keeping her secret and having some cookies, or finding himself far from Alexandria one morning and left in the middle of nowhere to be zombie chow. The way Melissa McBride coolly and calmly delivers Carol’s monologue to the boy, describing the fate that would await him beyond the wall, will give me nightmares.
Also kind of scary is the way that Rick is coveting his neighbor’s wife. Granted, Jessie was introduced last week in a way that very specifically inferred that there may be romantic aspirations for the characters, but Jessie’s husband, a doctor, seems like such a nice guy, and they appear to be quite happy together. This week the attraction seemed all on Rick, who steals a kiss at the party and then glares somewhat menacingly when he sees the couple the next day. It’s a bit jarring when Rick reaches for the gun tucked into his belt behind his back. Perhaps the season’s final episodes will deal with how Rick, maybe unconsciously, is becoming the very thing he’s concerned about?
For now the question as to whether or not the people of Alexandria, generally, are in earnest, has been answered. But where will the next threat come from? Was it already inside, the person that took the gun and carved the ‘W’ in the head of the walker, or are our heroes the bad guys now? On the subject of the latter, if we’re going to keep having Rick do creepy things, then we need to stop having scenes where people praise Rick for being such a great guy. The hedging though on his humanity seems to me though a sign that something’s about to happen in Alexandria to shake their dedication to making a life as pre-apocalypse normal as possible, and when that happens, only one group of people can save the day. This is The Walking Dead after all, and the only thing you can depend on is that normalcy is fleeting.