*Spoilers Ahead*
Things have somehow gotten even more tense now that the group has settled down in Alexandria and it seems we’re building towards an inevitable confrontation between the Alexandrians and our group. Things are split up again this week and, thankfully, we get some focus on the other members of the group.
Glenn, Eugene, Noah, and Tara get the most time this week as they go with Aiden and Nicholas on a supply run that ends up going terribly wrong when Aiden shoots an undead solider and causes his grenades to explode. Aiden is impaled but alive and Tara ends up in bad shape. Nicholas proves himself to be an untrustworthy ally as he desperately wants to leave Aiden behind. Aiden admits, before being eaten by zombies in one of two gory deaths scenes this week, that the previous supply run team was left to die by Them. Aiden dies and Glenn, Noah, and Nicholas get trapped in the doorway with zombies on both sides and no ammo.
Things seemingly get better when Eugene proves his worth and arrives in a van to draw out the walkers but it gives Nicholas an opening to flee and leave Glenn and Noah vulnerable leading to Noah’s death. Blood and gore have been quite prevalent in this series but the two deaths this week seemed to amp up the violence and while I didn’t mind all that much it was shocking to see two of the goriest deaths the show has ever created done in such quick succession. Glenn, justifiably pissed, gets a measure of revenge when he knocks out Nicholas as he attempts to take the van and strand Eugene. Eugene gets to step up this week and face his cowardice and he passes with flying colors. I’m really digging his character and I can’t wait to see more of the lovable mullet-head.
Elsewhere, Abraham, like most of the group, is having a tough go of adjusting to this new life but seems to find passion when helping with the construction crew. When one of the workers gets surrounded by walkers, Tobin, the leader of the crew, tells everyone to stay back. Abraham is having none of that and proceeds to kick, and I’m using the proper term here, a ton of zombie ass. Soon the other workers help out and Abraham essentially takes control of the crew. Admittedly, Tobin admits he isn’t the right guy and steps down, but it’s great to see Abraham doing what he’s good at. Deanna, meanwhile, expresses concern with how quickly the group seems to be coming into positions of power and it’s clearly going to be heading toward some of that power getting taken away. I have a guess who would be first up on the block if that happens.
Rick gets put on the case of a broken owl sculpture of Jessie’s and doesn’t dig up much info but gets to have a fun weirdly passive aggressive talk with Pete. Carol, on the other hand, has her hands full with Jessie’s son, who is still bugging her about those cookies. While making cookies with him she initially remains distant but kids have always been Carol’s weakness and she eventually becomes suspicious when he asks if he can have one of the guns she stole. When Carol tries to find Sam later and encounters Pete she starts to see signs of abuse and charges Rick with handling this by killing Pete. I’m inclined to believe Carol due to what she has gone through in the past but it’s interesting to see how far gone she truly is now.
Finally, we get a sort of bookend with Father Gabriel. He appears at the top of the episode, tearing pages out of the bible, but his big moment comes near the end of the episode. Gabriel warns Deanna about Rick’s group telling her that they did many terrible things and that they can’t be trusted. Similar to Eugene this week, Gabriel gets a chance to face his cowardice and fails. He takes his guilt of what he did to his church members, arguably much worse than anything the group has done, and passes it onto them. He is far from innocent but he’s also not quite ready to face his sins yet.
This week’s episode felt very much like a “normal” issue of the comic this show is based on. A bunch of separate stories of what some of the characters are dealing with all coming together to build up the inevitable collision. I hope we see more episodes like this in the future and with only two episodes left this season, I have a feeling that collision is not far off.
Bits ‘n Pieces
- I was a bit shocked to see Aiden die this week. I was kind of bummed as I think the group needs an asshole to protest them in Alexandria but I guess Nicholas and, now, Gabriel, can fill those roles.
- Noah’s death was shocking but I can’t say I’m too broken up about it. We never got a real sense of his character and his scene with Deanna’s husband early in the episode certainly didn’t shed much more light on him.
- Daryl looks pretty good with the new motorcycle, I imagine Tumblr went wild after seeing that shot of him on it.
- Zombie of the Week: Military Zombie easily takes the cake this week, he even got to explode!
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