Now that is how you kick off a new season! The season six premiere of The Walking Dead—we can all breathe a long sigh of relief now that the wait is over—was simply everything. You name it and the season six premiere had it: humor, suspense and, of course, tons of walker drama. Rick tries to implement a plan to drive a hoard of walkers away from a nearby quarry, but not without a few hiccups along the way, and more on the season six premiere of The Walking Dead: “First Time Again.” Spoiler alert.
The Plan
Last we left off on The Walking Dead, the season five finale brought on a lot of bloodshed and, of course, “crazy Rick” got the upper hand before Morgan showed up in Alexandria. The season six premiere picks up thereafter—as indicated by Rick’s obnoxious, mummified bandages all over his face—with Rick and the rest of the town of Alexandria seemingly implementing some plan to drive away a massive hoard of walkers holding up in a nearby quarry. And as usual, there was some opposition, but it didn’t take long for everyone to fall in line, particularly with Deanna co-signing.
The only one maintaining any real resistance to Rick’s plan was a man by the name of Carter; may he rest in peace. While Carter’s questions about the plan were valid, it was ultimately his disrespectful challenging of “the man” that didn’t win him any allies when it came down to it. I guess he never learned you get more bees with honey, or however the saying goes. But he learned quickly. After joining forces with Rick to help map out a better plan, he too had fallen in line with rest of the Ricktatorship, even making peace with a hand shake just before he was bitten by a walker and then Rick, of all people, had to put him down for good. Such is life.
Rick’s Saving Grace?
As any real fans of The Walking Dead would tell you, the show is not about the zombies—excuse me, the walkers, same difference. It’s about the people, more specifically Rick and our gang. And in continuation of that truth about the show, the writers didn’t disappoint in the season six opener. Some of the best moments, telling moments perhaps foreshadowing what to expect from Rick—ahem, I mean “crazy Rick”—came about as a result of his interactions with Morgan. Dear ole Morgan, the silent badass that disappeared back in season one, with a few intermittent, cryptic appearances in between, up until the season five finale. And if Rick’s behavior as of late is any indication, Morgan couldn’t have come at a better time. Aha, I think that’s what they might have meant by “First Time Again.”
We all know that Rick hasn’t quite been the same since the loss of Lori, in particular, but after a few other hard decisions—arguably the right decisions—he has tapped into a side of himself that all too readily resurfaces in the face of confrontation, for better or worse. Hey, don’t get me wrong, if it weren’t for “crazy Rick,” our group wouldn’t have gotten through some tough situations in the past, but damn, I’m not sure how much more one person could possibly take before he permanently goes to the dark side. Enter Morgan. For some reason, and I’m not knocking it—it’s writing perfection—Morgan is the only person to be able to “reach” Rick. And as a result, we may find Rick and the group ultimately coming to rely on that connection that Morgan has with Rick, keeping him from going to the dark side, permanently, despite any and all adversities.
Something Inevitably Goes Wrong
Speaking of adversities, of course something was going to go wrong with Rick’s plan. It wouldn’t be The Walking Dead if everything went according to plan, now would it? Like Glenn said, “I was supposed to be delivering pizzas.” Just goes to show you how quickly things can change, and then all of sudden you’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Ok, maybe not that drastic, but you get the point.
This time, the mishap—and it was a doozy—was the sound of an alarm, distracting the walkers away from heading west, according to the plan. The crazy part was that it was determined that the sound of the alarm was originating from “home,” meaning the community of Alexandria. What? Can we say sabotage? But who’s the culprit? I bet it’s that damn Father Gabriel. Just saying. We’ll find out soon enough though, folks.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9:00pm EST on AMC.