Forget Sunday Night Football. Forget watching the WNBA Finals. The Walking Dead made its return Sunday evening with the premiere of the highly-anticipated Season 6.
All eyes were on the reunion of Rick and Morgan, but this season’s opening episode had a large threat hampering our survivors.
Apparently, a quarry, not too far from Alexandria, was filled with nearly a thousand of walkers, and they kept piling on due to the noise all those walkers were making. Rick found the quarry of walkers when trying to bury Pete’s body. He quickly noticed some of the walkers slipping out of the quarry and feared that they would all eventually get out and attack Alexandria.
To prevent a future disaster, Rick came up with a plan where they would lure the walkers out and take them far away from Alexandria. The quarry herd was also a great explanation as to why Alexandria has been safe for so long since all the walkers were simply being drawn by noise, falling into the quarry and stopping them from reaching the community.
Daryl, on his motorcycle, and Abraham and Sasha, in a car, were the ones luring the walkers out, while Rick and the others were helping them keep the walkers on the road to avoid having the walkers wander off.
Aside from this major storyline, there were also small back stories going on within the episode.
Rick and Morgan’s Reunion
Of course many fans were itching to see the reunion of Rick and Morgan. Morgan has been a very likable character since the series’ debut episode. During Season 5’s finale, he finally reached Alexandria and found Rick. Now the two are together, but things have certainly changed.
While Morgan has regained his humanity and is feeling better mentally, Rick has turned into a ruthless leader. Throughout the episode, Morgan noticed Rick commit a few vicious acts, which he seemed to oppose.
This now brings up the question; will Morgan stand in Rick’s way, turning the two against each other? Or will Rick mold Morgan into one of his own group members?
The way things are going right now, it appears Morgan may ultimately turn against Rick, which could become very scary if the two begin to bump heads. It would be reminiscent of Season 2 when Rick and Shane were at odds due to difference of opinion.
However, at the time, Rick was the one who had his humanity while Shane was pitiless. Therefore, in a sense, Morgan is Rick of Season 2, while Rick is Shane of Season 2. And as we can remember, Rick ended up murdering Shane. That may not happen between Morgan and Rick, but the situation could intensify as the season ripens.
Alexandrians Appreciation of Rick’s Group
The citizens of Alexandria were slowly starting to appreciate Rick’s group and were finally listening to Rick. Deanna was a changed woman in Sunday’s episode. She has always been the one to oppose Rick’s decisions but was extremely intent on listening to Rick this time around.
She even told Father Gabriel that he was wrong about Rick’s group. Deanna was now allowing Rick to take full command of the community and was even open to suggestions, in which Rick told her that people need to carry weapons inside of the walls.
Another Alexandrian member who was finally seeing things clearly was Nicholas. A lot of fans may still dislike this man’s cowardly behavior, but he somewhat redeemed himself in Sunday’s premiere by realizing that Glenn is a much better leader and warrior. He was cooperating with Glenn and confessed that he and Aiden did not know what they were doing when going on runs. Even though Nicholas did not verbally apologize to Glenn, his actions spoke loudly and were essentially his way of apologizing and asking for forgiveness.
Lastly, there was Carter, who was completely against Rick’s plan to lure the herd of walkers away from Alexandria. Carter strongly believed that Rick’s actions were going to get them killed, so he wanted to murder Rick instead. However, that of course did not happen, and when Rick’s plan went accordingly, Carter forgave Rick and admitted that Rick was right and he was wrong. Unfortunately, Carter was attacked by a walker in the woods and was put out of his misery by Rick.
Alexandrians Need Training
A common theme throughout the episode was Rick’s determination to train the Alexandrians so that they would be prepared for battle. Rick not only talked about teaching the Alexandrians how to fight, but he actually physically forced them into a battle with walkers. When a few walkers came to attack, Rick prohibited his group from killing them and instead ordered Carter and the other Alexandrians to kill them without using guns.
But when they failed to do any damage to the walkers, Morgan took command and helped them out and the rest of Rick’s group joined. There is going to be no way out of it for the Alexandrians, though. They need to toughen up and learn how to cope with walkers. Their inability to fight could hurt the community, so whether they like it or not, they will need physical training.
Black and White - Color
The Walking Dead tried something new in their Season 6 premiere, the use of black and white. They used black and white to show present time and color to show future time. It made the story bolder, bigger, and majestic. In a sense, the occurrences in black and white were foreshadowing the future.
For instance, in a black and white scene, Rick was talking to Morgan about Carter and how he will ultimately die because he is weak. Then it immediately jumped to the future, with color, and it drove us into Carter’s death.
New Characters
“First Time Again” introduced us to three new characters – Heath, Scott, and Annie – that have apparently been on a run for weeks and have returned home to Alexandria. Heath, played by Corey Hawkins who also played Dr. Dre in “Straight Outta Compton,” appears to be a major character along with Scott and Annie, as they are also in the comics. Although we don’t know much about the character yet, Heath seems to be very likeable and an actual Alexandrian member who knows how to battle. The next few episodes will perhaps educate us more about Heath’s character and tell us a little bit about Scott and Annie as well.
Who Is Sounding The Horn?
Just when the group thought everything was going to be fine and dandy, a loud horn began to sound off, which appears to be coming from Alexandria, and is drawing the walkers off their path and leading them to the community. The episode concluded with this cliffhanger, leaving the viewers to wonder who could be honking the horn.
Although we will have to wait another week to find out who is sounding the horn, the initial belief is that The Wolves are the ones causing this disaster. Just remember, “Wolves Not Far.”
