By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, originally filed Sunday, February 22, 2015
Rick carries the burdens of being burned just once too many times by people bearing "gifts." And he has a baby to watch.
Aaron appears to be handing the survivors a home, a comfortable sanctuary, on a silver platter. He appears polite and kind. He relinquishes his gun to Rick. He and his fellow "recruiter" have been watching them and they think deem Rick's crew good people. He observed that they didn't turn on each other despite a lack of food and water. He wants them to join him - or at least "audition for membership."
He tries a joke: "It sounds like we're some sort of dance troupe."
Crickets.
"It's not a camp. It's a community,' Aaron offers once he realized he was bombing as a stand-up comic. "You'll make valuable additions.... Together we're strong. You can make us even stronger." He shows Rick pictures of the safe zone in a very calm voice. Rick punches his lights out.
Aaron doesn't appear perturbed once he awakes. This doesn't mollify suspicious Rick. He wonders if they are about to be ambushed. He asks how many people are with Aaron. Aaron says it doesn't matter if he says zero or 444, Rick won't trust him.
Rick has 1,000 reasons why. They might be dinner (a la Terminus.) There might be a psycho cult leader (Woodbury). They might be something completely different - and not in a good way.
But Michonne, as she noted last episode, is ready to find a new home. "You know what you know and you're sure of it," Michonne tells him. "I don't." Things are too uncertain on the road. Maybe - just maybe- this could work.
"We need to find out what this is," Michonne said. "We can handle ourselves. So that's what we're going to do."
First, a test. A few of them - Abraham, Rosita, Glenn and Maggie - check out the two vehicles the recruiters had brought a little bit away. Rick gives them an hour to return. Believe it or not, they find the two vehicles, including an RV and pluck some canned goods to bring back to the barn.
Aaron passes this test. He's lucky because Rick said he would have been a dead man - no matter how "good" they are.
Again, Michonne speaks for the group (minus Rick): "We need this. So we're going. All of us."
So the group decides to check out the new place.
Rick still isn't sure but he decides it's not worth being a dictator. Even Daryl figures it's worth a shot.
So they go in two vehicles. We watch as they take an alternative route that Aaron did not recommend. (Rick was suspicious that they would be ambushed.) All is fine - until driver Glenn runs into a walker horde.
Glenn starts hitting them one by one. Then eventually he stops. They check back and realize the RV had turned back. Then he can't get the car restarted. Too many body parts and blood in the way. Michonne's efforts are for naught. Then they see someone shoot a flare gun in the distance. (It's the RV crew.)
This freaks out Aaron, who starts to run. They are chased by seemingly dozens of walkers into the woods. Fortunately, they still have bullets to kill off a few. Glenn almost gets taken down but he is able to smash the dude's skull into a rock before he can bite Glenn. Aaron, hands behind his back, can't fend off a walker by himself. Glenn saves him. Then they save Rick and Michonne.
They get to the "proper" Route 16 and find the RV crew, housed in some sort of warehouse space. There, Aaron rueunites with the other recruiter named Eric. We quickly discover, via the first gay kiss on "The Walking Dead," that they are a couple. The RV had accidentally run over Eric's ankle but Daryl's crew saved him - off camera.
At this point, Glenn says there are clearly no more people, that Eric and Aaron are unarmed and that one of them is injured. And Aaron gives them the location of his home: Alexandria, right by D.C. They drive up the next morning, with the Washington Monument in the distance. (As insurance, Rick hid a gun in a blender near an abandoned home, just in case.)
The battery dies but they have a backup. During the break, Michonne advises Rick: "You gotta let it go."
"The rules keep changing," Rick muses.
"It did for me," says Michonne, who has clearly become much more in touch with her hope and feelings compared to a couple of seasons ago.
They reach the gate. They hear kids playing. "You ready?" Michonne asks him with a smile.
Rick takes Judith and they stroll up to the entrance. Carol says: "Even though you're wrong, you're right."
What will they find inside? We won't know until next week.
TALKING DEAD
Danai Guirara, who plays Michonne, said she still believes not everyone is horrible like the Governor or Gareth. She tried her best to give Rick that hope.
TV ratings: Against the SNL 40th anniversary last week, the show's ratings fell to 12.27 million overnight viewers, the worst since episode eight of season four. But I'm sure DVR usage will elevate that significantly. The show will probably take a hit tonight as well vs. the Oscars.
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