Remember is a funny episode title… kinda like “Remember when our show was good?” With the last half, I thoroughly enjoyed Beth’s storyline. Minus the lack of it meaning anything, last half wasn’t terrible, it was most certainly better than Season Four B and I’d argue it might even have been better than Season Four A (A, meaning the first half and B meaning the second half).

But the only good scene in this entire half is when Rick leans against the wall, with an expression on his face that almost reads as “I miss it out there” while Spicks and Specks by The Bee Gee’s plays. Alright, article’s over, that’s the only moment of note. Come back next week to read my breakdowns of Season 6 Of The Walking Dead Part I: JSS and Part II: Last Day On Earth!

Okay, I’m kidding. But this half of the season is boring. Four episodes, I say four, this is really pattern on the show and it's obnoxious, but we get through a quarter of this half before the Scooby gang finally make it to Alexandria, the next big plot point of the show. The episodes leading to this just drag with the crew moping around from place to place.

Once there, Rick says he’s going to take Alexandria from these people, which is a little out of character. It begins to build more on the parallel of he and The Governor being cut from the same cloth. And then he and Pete beat each other up because they both want Alexandra Breckenridge. I mean I get it, I had a crush on her when I first saw her in She’s The Man. But you’re supposed to play it cool Rick. You seem desperate.

And then we move to the finale and it’s actually a pretty good episode. I mean, it basically took seven episodes of shit to get there, and I know I’ve skipped over a lot, like how Deanna’s son was killed. And the stuff with Nicholas and Glenn (which I’ll discuss more next week since that has an important moment that leads to another four-episode dragged out story as to is Glenn dead or isn’t he…this show and their patterns!). But really, the big problem here is the entirety of Alexandria is stupid.

These people live in complete bliss and within a week of Rick being there, the shit hits the fan so hard the blades stop spinning. Wouldn’t Rick realize he needs to take a Xanax and relax? To be clear, the show has never really been that smart, the characters have always made stupid decisions. But the writing was stronger and therefore, the endless parade of stupidity wasn’t at the forefront of everything. At least in my opinion. But here, from this stage on, the characters are walking buffoons.

And to make matters worse, the show has been casted fairly well, so even if they act like schmucks, the actors convey it well? If that makes sense. But the new cast of Alexandria sucks! Reg, Pete, Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Julian from One Tree Hill are the only actors that aren’t shit. No one has the ability to take the subpar material and make it enjoyable anymore, spending way too much time with them.

But with all of that, the finale brings about the next problem which will last only four episodes (actually they changed that here, the issue lasts four episodes, but the “leader” remains until the first episode of Season Six B). With the show hinting at the return of Morgan, we finally see him, after everyone loved him in Season One and wanted to see something more satisfying than his brief appearance in Season Three.

And he interacts with the Wolves, the next big threat, or at least that’s what we’re supposed to think. All of the promotion for Season Six A was flooded with “Wolves” written across the characters. Could these guys be a small fraction of the Saviors, to introduce us to Negan? Could these issues overlap? No, they’re just a filler enemy until Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s schedule clears and he can film for TWD.

This episode brings about the return of Morgan, the introduction of the Wolves, and Rick proving he is the one the Alexandrians need to lead them (even though they were doing fine). Pete kill’s Reg, the current leader Deanna’s husband, and she metaphorically tells Rick he’s in charge by telling him to kill Pete. AND HE DOES THIS RIGHT IN FRONT OF MORGAN!

This is the first time these two are seeing each other since Season Three and Morgan says “Rick?” (Gimple, Kang). What are the repercussions for their relationship in Season Six?! I’d say wait to see in my next article, but there are none. For some reason, Morgan hates Carol and beats her up, but he’s cool with Rick being a dick now.

Now I think Andrew Lincoln is a great actor. The aforementioned Bee Gees scene is great, and the way he has a mental break down just before Michonne smacks him upside the head is acted amazingly. But the character is a schvantz. He assumes leadership because the Alexandrian’s don’t know how to survive. But they’ve been doing fine; no enemies, have their own food, they're surviving rather in harmony.

First thing Rick does next season, is put half their lives at risk to move all these Walkers, when arguably he didn’t need to and then Alexandria is essentially destroyed and overrun with Walkers and most of the natives die, including Deanna. And he eventually leads them into dealing with Negan, who had no clue of their existence. They could have lived off everyone’s radar and J.S.S.’ed on their merry way. But Rick, the guy who

“knows every fine grain of said shit” in the “vast ocean of shit [the Alexandrian’s] don’t know shit about” (Gimple, Hoffman)

completely destroys their lives within a manner of 2 months… These characters are stupid and bring on their own problems on for themselves and those around them. And I get it, the argument can then be “Rick is so far gone, he’s incapable of seeing he is causing all of this.” Maybe so… but how does no one else see it. They all tell Rick he’s wrong, but they keep following suit.

Shoot the prick or demote him. But season Four Proved how that doesn’t work because everyone is dumber than Rick is! Julian from One Tree Hill spoke up and he gets killed; Ethan Embry sees it, and he got killed. Another Pattern. Don’t agree with Rick, the writers kill you off to show that Rick is always right. Well played, TWD, well played.

Check out the Season Six breakdowns Part I: JSS. and Part II: Last Day On Earth next week!

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