The Walking Dead is Back

Spoiler alert: if you haven’t watched the episode “First Time Again,” please go back to the BU Quad home page and read other articles by our awesome writers.

The TV ratings juggernaut, AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” is back again with an action-packed, gory and convoluted premiere last Sunday. Between the black-and-white flashbacks and real-time actions, the makers of “The Walking Dead” condensed a lot of information in just one episode. The zombie horde is finally here! Located in a quarry, it has been drawing walkers and keeping Alexandria safe. However, it’s a timebomb. Certain characters’ development, as well as conflicts between characters and groups, foreshadow this season.

Rick Grimes Character Development

Since the King County Squad and other survivors arrived at the Alexandria safe zone, Rick’s inconsistency and unsettling behaviors started a turmoil inside the walls. His extreme reaction and harsh words antagonized a lot of people and made him a public enemy. As Rick’s character develops, a parallel between Rick and Shane Walsh, killed in season 2, starts to appear. The shadow of Shane somehow triggered the ferociousness and impatience inside Rick and a lot of similarities between these two characters emerged by the end of season 5. When Rick wrestled Pete to the ground and pulled out his Colt Python to threaten anyone who disagreed with him (this is something Shane would do), the old Rick who always try to do good was gone. At this point, Rick will do whatever it takes, without hesitation, to ensure the survival of his group.

Conflicts & Disagreements

Season 6 brings the third encounter between Rick and Morgan. Morgan’s Yoda philosophy “every life is precious” contradicts Rick’s “survive or die” theory. Although not explicitly shown, the tension between these two characters is visible. No matter how much they disagree with each other, both characters want the group to survive.

Besides Morgan, Rick has a lot of people to deal with. Carter made a big impression by challenging Rick in the meeting. Later on, the tension between Carter and Rick grew to a point where Carter tried to kill Rick and all the survivors. Rick didn’t pull the trigger on Carter when he found out about Carter’s plan, even given the chance. Reason being, Rick saidkilling Carter was not necessary and people like Carter wouldn’t survive anyway.

After killing Pete, Rick also got himself hatred from Jessie and her son Ron. It seems that the majority of the people are going against Rick and the only reason they are following Rick’s lead was because Deanna said so. Even Daryl, a very important member in the survivor’s group, disagrees with Rick on the subject of whether he should continue to recruit people. These subtle conflicts and interactions will be important in the upcoming episodes.

Carol Peletier’s Complete Transformation

Back in season 1, Carol Peletier gave the audience an mediocre impression. She was a loving and caring mother who liked to help people, but she was also a miserable housewife who was scared of her husband and afraid to stand up for herself. Occasionally, she didn’t know how to react to certain situations and blamed everyone else for her own mistakes. A series of events led to Carol’s transformation, and she became an invaluable member of the survivors’ group. After her husband’s death, Carol was freed from all the restraints. She even smashed Ed Peletier’s head herself. Besides walkers, she didn’t have anything to be afraid of because she had the protection of the group. However, when she witnessed her daughter Sophia turn into a living dead, she realized that the protection of the group was not enough for her and she needed to be strong and protect herself. The audience was shocked by how much Carol had changed when Rambo Carol lit Terminus on fire and single-handedly rescued the group of survivors.

Carol doesn’t have a lot of lines in the season 6 premiere, but an interesting conversation with Morgan marks her complete transformation: when Morgan asked Carol if she was also a police officer before the apocalypse, it was because he saw the bravery in her eyes and the way she’s always ready for anything. The sweet Carol is back again, but this time, she’s ready to fight.

The horn?

As Rick and the group successfully execute his plan to lead the zombie horde away from the safe zone, but the sound of a horn gave a twist to the story. It wasn’t just some regular horn from a sedan. It sounded like an air horn on a 18-wheeler. Strangely enough, it came from the safe zone. The zombie horde scattered and turned towards Alexandria. Everyone panicked because this “super pack” of thousands of walkers started roaming towards their home, and the walls certainly wouldn’t hold them off. In other words, Alexandria is in big trouble, and there will be a big fight in the next episode.

Who do you think blew the horn?

Maybe we will find out this Sunday at 9 on AMC.

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