AMC's The Walking Dead hit a wall this season in terms of characterization and story development. The season seven finale premiered recently and answered questions and finally moved the story along a great deal.
One of the more questionable storylines this season was the group known as "The Scavengers". They made their first appearance in the mid-season premiere by stealing Gabriel from Alexandria. Rick winds up running into them and ultimately makes a deal with their leader, Jadis. In exchange for guns, Jadis' group was to support Rick in a war against Negan and The Saviors.
When the war popped off, it was revealed that Jadis was actually sided with Negan. There are a few reasons Rick should have never trusted Jadis in the first place.
1. Trust? When has Rick Grimes ever trusted anyone?
Throughout seven seasons, Rick has been through a lot. First, his best friend lies about him being dead and sleeps with his wife. His wife, despite believing he is dead, sleeps with his best friend. Rick then struggles to trust anyone. He becomes suspicious of the Greene family, automatically assumes the prisoners are out to kill him, doesn't trust the Governor, turns his back on Carol, doesn't trust Gareth, and is skeptical of Alexandria. So why all of the sudden was Rick so trustworthy of this random woman and her "garbage" people? Not to mention, she had just finished pushing him off of a massive heap of garbage to battle a spike-headed zombie. Rick literally never trusts anyone and even at one point turned his back on Carol, someone he's known since the beginning of the zombie outbreak. It makes zero sense that he put his trust in Jadis, despite what she told him she was going to do for him.
2. Her name is Jadis.
The Walking Dead is full of religious references that are sometimes very subtle and sometimes very obvious. I feel like this one may not be as obvious to some people. Jesus had twelve apostles and one of them was Judas. Judas is the apostle best known for betraying Jesus for thirty silver coins. Obviously Jadis and Judas aren't the same names but they are eerily similar. Jadis betrays Rick for twelve prisoners, as per her deal with Negan. Her name shouts traitor.
3. They literally live in a dump.
Of all the places people have made a living in The Walking Dead, this has to be the most far-fetched and probably the most disgusting. Jadis and her group live in a garbage dump. People probably shouldn't be judged on where they live but come on, a damn garbage dump? The world literally ended. They couldn't have found a better place to go? It shouts sketchy.
4. Their language is similar to a 5-year-old's.
As the world kept turning and new civilizations kept booming, language was created. In The Walking Dead, apparently as the world ended and new civilizations fought for survival, more language was created. Except this new language isn't progressive, it's more of a complete and utter step backwards. Jadis believes that there's not enough time to speak in full and complete sentences. Her and all of her group members all speak with the minimum and simplest words possible. They literally sound like five year olds who are just starting to get the English language down.
5. Jadis tried to kill Rick!
Let us not forget that before striking a deal with him, Jadis almost killed Rick. First she, in her five-year-old language, told Rick to go, "up, up, up." Up up up meant to the top of the tallest garbage pile. While at the top of the garbage pile, Jadis pushes him off of it and makes him fight, literally to the death, against an absolutely stacked zombie. This zombie had a metal helmet on, making it real difficult to actually kill it. It also had spikes coming out of its head. This was obviously Jadis' way of making Rick prove himself to her, but it's completely psychotic. Rick shouldn't have put his trust in someone who literally almost killed him.
Rick and company were able to evade Jadis' betrayal and wound up winning their first battle in their war against The Saviors, but the looming battles in this war do not look good for Rick considering the size of Jadis' group and the size of The Saviors. It'll be interesting to see what will happen next October when The Walking Dead comes back.
