One of the biggest issues with Season 5 of The Walking Dead is the ridiculous amount of decompression in the storytelling.  It has taken ten episodes to get to the true introduction of Alexandria, and even then, we only see Aaron and have no inkling of what he represents, other than the potential light at the end of the tunnel.  Time was needed to eliminate Beth and Tyreese to bring the characters down to a manageable number that aligns with the source material better, but considering how fast the Terminus/Hunters arc was handled, this felt like forever.

Add to that the realization that this mostly an exercise in grieving those lost, while contemplating a bleak near-future, and it’s basically enough material for an extended montage stretched to an entire episode.  Does it effectively portray how strung-out and on the brink Team Grimes is at this point?  Of course it does.  Does it bring Team Grimes to a point where they have to choose between giving up and fighting one more day?  Without a doubt.  That also happens to be the underlying message of the entire post-Terminus run, though.  I suspect that the next episode will only make the point more evident.

If the Walkers could have been any more a metaphor for death itself, I can’t imagine it.  Death stalking them every step down the road.  Death creeping over one’s shoulder, regardless of the need to take a moment to grieve.  Death banging down the doors of the only refuge from the storm.  The writers ought to have a little more confidence in the audience by now.  We get it.  We’ve always gotten it.  The Walkers were never about the Walkers.