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EPISODE 11: The Distance
THE HOOK: The group’s mysterious new guest, Aaron, tries to convince them that his people have a safe haven called Alexandria.
The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS, so I don’t recommend reading this if you haven’t watched this episode
THE LOWDOWN: So at the end of the day, Aaron isn’t all that bad, but damn if he didn’t make it hard to trust him. Over and above all the obvious, tonight’s episode takes a big bite out of the Ricktatorship as Michonne (and even Glenn) step up to lead the group forward. I loved that, because let’s be honest, Rick’s long since pistol whipped his voice of reason to a bloody pulp. It isn’t often we have such a divided court, but these guys are worn out and in need of a “W”. That said, in the wake of Terminus, I have to side with Rick—I don’t know from experience, but I can only imagine that being lined up like cattle to get your throat cut tends to make one a smidgen paranoid when it comes to meeting new people. I don’t know that I’d have hauled off and punched him in the face, but that’s what makes Rick so damn cool.
I liked that we got to see a little of the Abraham aftermath as well—not much mind you, but it’s better than nothing. Abraham is one of my favorites. I love his commanding presence, I love how he immediately steps up to go with everyone to check out Aaron’s story, and it’s nice to see that even a badass can apologize when he’s wrong. Back to Rick, the applesauce scene was interesting, but again, Aaron really makes you wonder with his actions. Clearly this was a writing angle/ploy to keep the audience guessing, but as a character in the situation he’s in, it just doesn’t make sense. If Rick wants you to take a bite of the damn applesauce, smile and open wide! He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about your sob story. He already punched you in the face, don’t push your luck.
The night plan sucked, and the road was (obviously) overrun with walkers. I didn’t have much of a problem with that, but what I didn’t like was how Glenn shut the damn car off when they stopped. Sure, get out, do a quick scan or whatever else you need to do, but why turn the car off? Because (surprise, surprise) it doesn’t want to start. Gotta love the ol’ car trouble bit. I did however like the battery scene with Glenn—I’m assuming that’s a throwback to the RV from season one that he and Dale were always tinkering with. Aaron, yet again, doesn’t do himself any favors when they’re in the car and the flare goes off—sure, now, we all know why he freaked out, but at the time it just made him look guilty. Thankfully, during that messy scuffle/separation, nobody died or got bit (I’m actually a little shocked).
THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 5’s eleventh episode has one of those final moment scenes that really has you walking on eggshells. Rick’s point is nailed home when explains the whole ‘family’ and ‘seeing’ angle to Michonne. I totally get it, and she does too (it was also cool to see Carol reassure him at the end). When he asks Michonne what did you hear outside Woodbury and Terminus, and she replies, ‘nothing’, I knew that would lead up to something, but I didn’t expect what happens. That look on Rick’s face when he hears children playing was special, you can see a distinct change wash over him. It’s beautiful. With all the bad that’s happened, I kept waiting for something to go wrong, but thankfully it didn’t. Not yet anyway. It is THE WALKING DEAD after all. In the comics they end up in a community like Alexandria (don’t remember if that’s what they call it), and it’s not a bad spot for a while, but there’s always a catch. This place is bound to have one as well, and I can’t wait to see what it is.
ZOMBIE KILL OF THE WEEK: It’s a tossup—I loved Glenn’s rock crusher, but I equally dug Rick’s flare to the face kill.
BLOOD AND GORE: Most of the gore came from mowing down walkers in the dark on the road, and then picking pieces out of the car. Other than that, we got those above mentioned kills during the separation along with a few knife and gun kills.
COOLEST SCENE: Maybe ‘coolest’ isn’t the best way to describe it, but I really liked the scene where Rick goes off and hides the gun in the blender. It’s a one hundred percent Rick move—he doesn’t care if everyone believes Aaron’s story, he needs a backup plan and that’s obviously part of it. This is one of the many reasons why Rick is the man.
FINAL VERDICT:
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