Sunday’s new episode of The Walking Dead finally brought us to Alexandria and, thankfully, didn’t hold back when they introduced the show’s first male gay relationship.
The Walking Dead season 5, episode 11 picked up where we left off last week. Sasha and Maggie brought their new acquaintance Aaron back to the rest of the group, and immediately everyone – namely Rick – jumped into precaution mode.
In fact, the way Rick took Aaron into consideration put me off. Rick was too rude to Aaron, at one point punching him in the face simply because what he had to say was too good to be true. How can you not trust a guy who promises a dancing troupe?! I guess Rick’s inappropriate response will be nice to look back on when the character realizes that Aaron is one of the nicest people they’ve met in the wild.
Thankfully Rick is nearly alone in his skepticism of Aaron and the safe place he speaks of. Michonne, continuing her quest to find a safe place for them to live, encourages the group to go with Aaron.
After inspecting Aaron and the other recruiter’s vehicles to make sure they’re on the up and up, Michonne decides for everyone that they’re going to Alexandria.
Sounds good! But there’s one lingering issue: Rick is still skeptical of Aaron, so he decides they’re going to take a road that Aaron didn’t clear to get there. Big mistake! When they begin driving on the road suggested by Rick they hit a wall of zombies. To make matters worse, their car fails to start up again and they see a flare from Aaron’s partner shoot into the sky, so they make a run for it to find the road that Aaron and his team approved of.
Things were tense and weird when Aaron saw his fellow recruiter Eric shoot the flare. Aaron decided he had to go find his partner, but why did he care so much?
It turns out that Aaron’s partner is his partner – his boyfriend! And the show wasted no time in letting viewers know that these guys are gay. They kiss, they profess their love for one another, and Aaron stands by his man when Rick tries to separate them.
As a gay man myself, it was great to see The Walking Dead lean into this relationship. They’re not beating around the bush. They wanted to make it clear from their first appearance together that these guys are in love.
The next day, the group hits the road for Alexandria – and they even get a glimpse of the nation’s capitol. Unfortunately, the excitement takes a break for a second when the RV runs out of battery power, but Glenn – thanks to his previous experience with RVs earlier in the series – is able to show Abraham where an additional battery is located. This was a nice reference to the early episodes.
By the end of the episode, Rick is a changed man. He realizes that he can trust certain people – he doesn’t always have to be an asshole.
But his ego is still in place. “Though you were wrong, you’re still right,” Carol reminds him.
The group arrives at Alexandria. Children can be heard playing through the gates. Rick grabs his own child and walks toward the entrance. Cliffhanger.
Previews for next week show Rick and the group beginning to assimilate with Alexandria. Things look good! Rick will finally have the opportunity to shave! But how long will the peace last?
One more thing: We spotted two scenes during Sunday’s episode where Abraham took deep looks at Rosita. Is he starting to have feelings for her?