Episode six of The Walking Dead, “The King, The Widow And Rick” Gives us a bit more insight into what “the plan” is and Maggie shows just how many damb’s she doesn’t have left to give.
The episode opens with Rick collecting a message from a discarded microwave as he walks on a deserted road, and other messages are delivered to Michonne and Carl at Alexandria, Carol at The Kingdom, and Maggie at Hilltop. Instead of a traditional review, I’m going to list all the ways Team Family made completely out of character — and frankly straight up stupid — decisions.
None) Why the heck were Jadis and one of her minions naked in a junkyard surrounded by dirty, rusty objects? I get that they’re a little…well, a lot, weird, but are they trying to get tetanus, were they up to date on their shots before the apocalypse? Just why?
Of) Paul is feeding the prisoners with the Hilltop’s emergency stash and Maggie is rightfully pissed, but my biggest issue is that they talked about their emergency food storage IN FRONT OF SAVIORS. Why the heck didn’t Maggie pull him aside? She’s smarter than this.
This) Can someone please tell me why Rick Grimes, the man who tore out another man’s jugular for threatening Carl and Michonne’s lives, the man who loves her with his entire being, would EVER ask the same people who almost killed Michonne and betrayed Team Family, for help a second time?
Makes) Michonne and Rosita leaving Alexandria *blinking gif*. Are we supposed to believe that Michonne Grimes would leave Carl and Judith in Alexandria when literally ALL of their top people are gone? On what plane of existence would she leave her children without sufficient protection when she lost her Andre because his father was incompetent? 
Any) Rosita and Michonne hear opera music playing, Rosita stops the car and they walk into the forest to see where the music is coming from. My issue with this is that they didn’t try to hide the car, they left it in the open where anyone could find and hot-wire it, or siphon off the gas. On The Walking Dead, this isn’t far-fetched because Rick and crew have done this very thing multiple times, so Rosita and Michonne not even taking this into consideration makes it difficult to buy.
Type) Carl approaches a stranger in the forest and gives him food and water, it’s the man from ep one, “Mercy.” He introduces himself as Siddiq. When he asks Carl why he’s helping, Carl says his mother told him to do, “What’s right.” Then Carl nearly gets killed by walkers because he wants to honor Siddiq’s mother, despite admitting he was dishonoring Rick by bringing a stranger into their home.
Now it’s all well and good for Carl to want to help someone, but it’s ridiculous that Carl is telling this stranger not only his name but also that he and his father have a community. This doesn’t sit right with me because the Carl Grimes I know is one of the most suspicious people on this entire show. Sure he might feel sympathy but, this is just straight up recklessness.
Of) Michonne and Rosita enter the building where the music was coming from and find two saviors bickering, Michonne the stealthiest person on TWD kicks a tennis ball into the open alerting them, and Rosita drops her gun. But instead of bending down and picking it up, she takes up a fricking rocket launcher. When the man taunts her, Rosita blows him to smithereens. While this was a totally kicka$$ moment, it was also a pretty stupid thing to do, for one; she had no idea how much saviors were hanging around, and it was a spectacular waste of much needed heavy artillery.
Sense) After Maggie puts the captured savior and sobbing Gregory (suucckk it you spineless wimp) in a fenced off area within the walls of Hilltop, Aaron finding it hard to deal with his grief, decides that the team needs a win and he’s going to do something about it. Enid, watching him prepare to leave, says she agrees with him and he agrees to let her go with him. Just like that Enid? You’re not even going to say goodbye to Maggie, or at least tell her “See yuh later?”
For this entire episode, I was perturbed, exasperated and befuddled at the choices being made. From the seemingly innocuous, like not looking where you’re going, to actions that will affect how the entire season plays out. NOT ONE person in Team Family has stuck to the plan (except maybe Rick). Everyone is doing their own thing and taking unnecessary risks. No one has been shown to pause and think “Surely this will put a kink in the plans since none of the others know what I’m doing.” From the beginning of this season, I’ve felt like the show has become disjointed, and the actions taken by the characters only reinforces this for me.
For the last seven seasons, we’ve seen Rick, Michonne, Carl and the others adapt to how this world of the apocalypse works. They’ve learned that caution is the name of the game, and to let your guard down means certain death, but this season and in particular this episode, I’ve seen them do things that they wouldn’t have even done in season one.
P.S.) Morgan being the crossover character between Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead makes absolutely no sense. FTWD takes place not only on the other side of the country but it also takes place before TWD. So exactly how can Morgan be there when it has been stated more than once that he was in Atlanta when the outbreak occurred? Will he be teleporting via the Star Trek transporter? Abraham would’ve made more sense, not only because he’s already dead but his movement from FTWD to TWD makes more sense time wise.
Stuff & Thangs
- I think this season is one big flashback. The messages are being narrated by Rick and the others at the festival we saw in the flash forward, as a way to commemorate the war they won against the Saviors.
- Turns out Rick was taking the Polaroids as evidence of the damage they did to Negan’s outposts.
- What gave Paul the impression he has any say in what Maggie does? He needs to take all the seats he can find and sit down.
The Walking Dead airs every Sunday on AMC at 9/8c. Here’s a sneak peak for next week’s episode “Time For After“.
