The Walking Dead: Now (6x05)

This was exactly the episode I was hoping to get. We stuck around in Alexandria, and actually explored the fallout from the first few episodes of the season. And there's lot of fallout to deal with. Not sure how I'm going to remember all the little details of this episode, honestly. Let's jump in.

Cons:

Well... kind of what I just said. I loved that this episode brought us back to Alexandria, but I get a little bit overwhelmed with all of the characters that we're supposed to keep track of. The moment that got the most lost in the shuffle was when Aaron admitted that it was his fault that the Wolves found Alexandria. That could have been a powerful character moment, but it got lost. I liked Aaron in the rest of the episode, though. There were other little things like that. None of them were bad - but it just felt like we didn't have proper time to digest and process all of the development here. And so many characters were barely in the episode, or absent altogether - Michonne, Carol, Gabriel, Morgan, etc.

There was one thing I hated in particular, though - Rick and Jessie. Is it just me, or is this romance totally shoehorned in? I don't feel the chemistry between them at all. They have a brief talk at the end of the episode and then start kissing. I'm sitting here wondering why Rick isn't with Carl, checking on him after he's just heard that he was considering going out looking for Enid. After all the near-death experiences, you'd think he'd want to be with his children and his family, not with a woman he barely knows at this point. It's very annoying.

Pros:

Most of the episode is just dealing with the aftermath of their disaster. Rick shows up at Alexandria with half of the large horde following him. He gets inside, but the Walkers are twenty deep around the walls of the community. Rick tries to keep everybody calm, telling them that they can still survive - once Daryl, Sasha and Abraham come back, they can use their vehicles to draw the hoard away. But people are panicked, and many believe it's only a matter of time before they're all dead. In this situation, people obviously respond with a great level of stress.

Everybody is really worried about the people who haven't come back - none more so than Maggie, who is devastated that Glenn has not returned. She loses hope fairly quickly, knowing the odds of his survival are slim. Aaron agrees to go with Maggie to find Glenn, but when they get into an underground tunnel and find Walkers waiting on the other side, Maggie realizes that it's hopeless. She reveals to Aaron that she is pregnant. The fact that Maggie is pregnant is ridiculously cliché, but at the same time, I like it. Maggie and Aaron sharing a hug was really sweet. I love Aaron's character, and hope now that we've had some more time in Alexandria, we can continue to develop his relationships with Daryl, Maggie, and the others. I don't know if Glenn is coming back, but either way, I'm thrilled with the way they're exploring Maggie's reaction to the news. She gives up pretty quickly on Glenn returning, but then at the end there's a return of hope.

Despite my annoyance with the Rick and Jessie kiss, I did love the other stuff with Jessie. She goes to check on a neighbor and finds that her friend has killed herself and turned into a Walker. She opens the door and kills the Walker, telling the gathered community members that they have to adapt to their new situations and move forward. She also tries to get her son Sam to come downstairs, but the boy is clearly traumatized by the recent Wolf attack. I liked this soft, quiet moment with her on the stairs, trying to tempt him with cookies.

Tara and Denise! Oh my God this makes me so happy. Denise, who has been thrust into the position of doctor without much preparation, is terrified that she won't be able to save Scott, who was injured in the Wolf attack. Denise gains confidence from Tara's support, and manages to find a way to save Scott's life. Grateful, Denise finds Tara and kisses her. These two have such a sweet blossoming relationship! Even though I had no idea that they were going a romantic route with these two, I'm already a lot more invested in it than I am in Rick and Jessie. Denise is quickly becoming a new favorite of mine.

Then there's Ron, Carl, and Rick. Carl asks Ron to help him find Enid, but Ron threatens to tell Rick what Carl is planning - he doesn't want him to go over the wall and risk his life. Ron does indeed tell Rick what Carl was thinking about, and then asks Rick to help him learn to shoot so he can protect his mother and brother. This is starting to become very interesting. As dull as Rick and Jessie's romance is, there's something undeniably fascinating about Ron, the son of a man Rick killed not so long ago, now going to him to ask for his help. There's a lot of interesting development with Ron's character in regards to his treatment of Carl, as well. Instead of letting Carl get himself into trouble, he did the right thing and told Rick what Carl was planning.

Spencer, Deanna's son, had an interesting little story in this episode. He stops a group of Alexandrians from ransacking the food pantry, encouraging them all to keep a handle on their emotions. None of these people believe they will be alive long enough for rationing to matter, but Spencer convinces them to have hope. Then, Spencer takes alcohol from the pantry without permission and gets drunk. He confronts his mother, blaming her for the Alexandrian's weaknesses, for the death of Spencer's father and brother, for the complacency to which she's allowed the whole community to fall victim. Spencer is starting to become more defined as a character in my mind. I liked how he helped to save the community from chaos, but then immediately indulged in his own rule breaking.

Hearing what Spencer said about Deanna was very interesting, because he makes a good point. Deanna has let the community relax and believe in their security. But in reality, they've never been safe. Now, they're paying the price for their lack of training and experience. Deanna has a bad-ass moment where she rebuffs a Walker who was left over from the Wolf attack, killing it on the street. She talks with Rick afterwards, asking him if she's been stupid to stay so idealistic. Rick tells her that she was right to have hope. As the episode ends, Deanna defiantly faces the wall, behind which the Walker horde still presses in. We see a crack in the wall, through which blood is seeping.

This is a great way to end the episode - the tension is mounting, but we still might expect to spend some more time with our large cast of characters and get to know them a little better. I'm anxious to see where Daryl, Abraham and Sasha are! I'm not holding my breath for Glenn's return, though. At least not any time soon.

8/10