It’s time for our weekly installment of walkers, Deadheads! Who’s excited for tonight’s The Walking Dead? As long as we learn more about the suspiciously clean stranger/”friend,” Aaron, I think I’ll be happy. Here we go!

The group, sans Maggie and Sasha, are chillin’ in a barn. Oh except here are Maggie and Sasha and they’re walking in with Aaron all nonchalant like it’s NOT unusual to just walk a stranger into their midst at this point. The group immediately goes on high alert and switches into battle mode.

Rick starts interrogating him while Sasha explains that he has a camp near by and is offering them a chance to “audition” for membership. Aaron tells them that the “audition” is not as douchey as it sounds, but that his “community” requires a council vote to admit new members.

He also busts out some photos about said community and apologizes for the poor picture quality. I  mean, really? Anyway, so he’s got pictures of the community and is talking this shit up hard. Like, really hard. It’s incredibly secure, no one can get in, everyone’s safe, blah blah blah. Aaron says his only job is to get them to the community so that they can make it for their audition. Then Rick knocks him unconscious.

Aaron is all tied up and Michonne is trying to talk some sense into Rick who is now convinced that Aaron’s group is coming for them. Carl finds a flare gun in Aaron’s pack and Rick takes this as a serious affront. Apparently this means he is going to shoot the flare when he finds them so his people can move in on them.

Rick demands to know how many people Aaron has. Aaron tells Rick that no matter what number he gives him, Rick will not believe him because he clearly mistrusts him. And I mean, maybe Rick is a little, well, psychotic; but can you really blame him? Trusting other people has not boded well for them in the past, so being a little twitchy is to be expected at this point I’d say.

Rick is still not buying Aaron’s little spiel and Aaron implores them to tell him what it would take to convince them. We pretty much know they’re going to go at some point, so all of this postulating and procrastinating is just a waste of time. Michonne and Maggie really need to believe that “home” is a possibility. They form a group to scout out Aaron’s alleged car, so Maggie, Glenn, Michonne, Rosita and Abraham head out into the woods.

Aaron tries to tell Rick his story and get all preachy but Rick is just brooding at the door, being all bearded and stabby. The fivesome is walking out in the open and we see a dude crouching behind a tractor or something.

Now we’re back in the barn and Judith is starving so Rick is trying to break up some nuts for the poor baby. Aaron asks if Rick saw the applesauce in the bag and tells him to stop being ridiculous and just take the applesauce. Rick makes him try a bite to ensure it’s not poisoned and is clearly grateful to have something to feed his baby girl.

The group in the woods discover that Aaron was telling the truth and the road really was blocked. Rosita and Abraham have a moment and it’s boring. However, they do get a shitton of spaghettios from the RV and all kinds of other canned goods.

It’s clear the whole group wants to go with Aaron and check it all out. Daryl points out that their current lodgings smell like horse shit, so maybe they should give it a shot. The decision has been made and they’re going. Dunno why we couldn’t have just gotten here sooner. Anyway, they’re going at sundown.

Michonne and Rick are going to bone. At least I hope so. I’m over the sexual tension everywhere. Maybe they’ll let it all out once they get somewhere they can clean up and maybe have a bed.

Rick’s methods may be off in handling this whole situation, but as he’s talking to Michonne about how Woodbury and Terminus were both supposed to be sanctuary, and how he’ll  have to decide whether or not to take his family into this unknown world by just sound, I understand where he’s coming from entirely. At this point, I think we all feel as though sanctuary of any kind is an illusion, a mirage. A pretty picture in a barren wasteland that teases and entices one into madness.

It’s dark now and they’re on their way. Rick has decided to go a different route than what dude says because he’s afraid of an ambush. Aaron thinks this is a terrible idea because his way has been cleared, but the other has not.

Now Michonne is looking at pictures of Aaron’s house and is clearly feeling all kinds of nesty. But now she wants to know why out of all of these fancy photos none include any of his people. Michonne asks Rick if he asked him “the questions.” He did not and then Michonne does and his answers do not receive a passing grade.

Oop and now they’re on a not-cleared-highway that is positively teeming with walkers. Glenn just punches through them but it looks like the group in the other car found an alternative route. The car is not starting and then in the distance they see a flare gun. Aaron straight starts freaking out and tells them that now it’s over and he needs to leave now. Clearly something is not going according to plan.

Michonne, Rick and Glenn are running through the woods toward the flare gun and trying to fend off like a billion walkers. Also, it’s pitch dark outside and impossible to see, like, anything. Which is equally cool and unsettling. The anxiety is palpable.

Glenn saves Aaron from a walker and tells him to get lost or whatever, but Aaron is still insisting that it will all work out if they stick together. He makes a convincing argument, but something is fishy and I trust him less than zero percent.

The group is all but cornered, but suddenly Glenn and Aaron are there and clear their path. It’s imperative that they reunite with the rest of the group. Thankfully we don’t have to wait too long. They find each other and Aaron rushes to Eric’s side. Oh, Eric is his other friend that he was with, and by friend, we mean boyfriend. Eric has sprained his ankle and is laid up, but says he likes Maggie, which, duh. Who doesn’t?

Aaron thanks the group for saving Eric and promises to pay his debt in full when they reach the community once and for all. They decide to camp out and wait to venture out again until morning. Rick wants to tie him up but the group tells him to find his chill and just let him sleep next to his ailing love. Glenn tells him he needs to hold onto him humanity. His personhood. His essential self. At this point, what else do they have?

Okay it’s morning and everyone has lived. They’re on their way to Alexandria (where the community is). We’re learning about Pete the Surgeon and like, okay, but it’s between Aaron and Noah and I just can’t get myself invested in Noah. Who knows, maybe he’ll grow on me. But at this point, I feel as though it’s not in my best interest to get attached to anyone.

The RV unsurprisingly breaks down, because of course it does. Glenn fixes it, because of course he does. Rick literally looks like a mad man, his crazy eyes are outta control. Michonne tells him he’s got to let the fight/anger go or he will be consumed. Not sure he remembers how to be anyone else anymore.

Now Rick is wandering about and comes upon a ramshackle house in the woods. He finds an old blender and puts his gun in there. Mkay, I suppose we’ll find out more about that soon.

They come upon Alexandria and hear kids laughing and playing. Remember he said that he’d have to choose whether or not to take his family over those walls based on sound alone. And right now, the sound of laughing, safe children is about all the sound he needs. He grabs Judith from her precarious perch in the backseat of the car and joins the group.

Buuuuuut we’ll have to wait until next week to see what actually lurks behind the walls of Alexandria. Are those laughing children maybe just a recording being played loudly enough for outsiders to hear? No idea. Only time will tell.

Stick with me Deadheads, I’m here all season!

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