Somewhere between wussing out of being zombie chow and insulting Sasha to the point of her nearly killing him, Gabriel halfheartedly closed the gate, distracted by his own mixed up feelings. Of course, Rick is the one that notices and runs out to close the gate, which is when he discovers some of the telltale signs that indicate the walkers were already in town. I wasn’t sure if they were setting up Rick to be a hero or if the residents might think that Rick let in the walkers to curry favor, but honestly, both outcomes seemed equally contrived.
What Rick probably didn’t want to do was kill another couple of zombies with his bare hands, and give another speech to the group covered in blood, but that’s what ended up happening. Just as Deanna was on the cusp of maybe showing Rick the door, partially bolstered by the word of Gabriel, Rick comes by the town meeting to say, “sorry I waved a gun at you all, but everything else I said, I should have said, like, weeks ago.” A non-apology apology was fairly unlikely to ingratiate himself on the group, but in terms of where Rick’s been going this season, that’s practically diplomacy.
And although you can see her point, Deanna seems pitifully naive, and perhaps just a little incompetent. Didn’t the fact that Gabriel left his congregation to die come up in his, or anyone in the group’s audition? In fact, leaving that aside, why take Gabriel’s word for anything? Because he says he’s a priest? And considering how the previous supply runs seemed to routinely end in people getting killed, and considering that you left an abuser at home with his victims and hoped it would get better, maybe the system you created could use some improvement.
Speaking of old Pete, he was about the only one that got what was coming to him in the finale. Carol took out some of her frustrations over Ed on Pete, reinforcing just how badass she’s become. But if being scared stupid by Carol wasn’t ego-deflating enough, Pete showed up at the town meeting with Michonne’s sword and cut Reg’s throat. With that, Deanna gave Rick the order she’s likely going to deeply regret: “Do it.” As in blow Pete’s head off.
If you weren’t already aware that the key to life is balance, The Walking Dead was here to remind you of that this season. Although one must appreciate the idealism of Deanna and the others, they were pitifully naive and I have to think purposefully so by the way they were written. Are we to believe that no one else encounter scavengers, cannibals or megalomaniacs out there? Looking ahead to next season, it seems likely a showdown is coming between the Wolves and the Alexandriaites, but what type of community will they find? Are they going to be sheep, or are they going to be sheep dogs? I guess we’ll find out this October.