Rick has been warning the community of Alexandria for quite some time that they need to prepare for a real threat.  And sure enough, at the worst possible time, the Wolves come calling.  Those of us who guessed that the sound of the horn was a very bad sign had it right.  On the other hand, would this be the equivalent of weeding out the weak and unworthy?  

Whether or not the Wolves are just a marauding band of psychopaths or the sign of a bigger threat to come, they certainly make their mark.  They learned about the location of the town at the end of the previous season, and they were clearly watching for the right time to strike while the most capable protectors were dealing with the herd.  The only question now is whether or not this was the full brunt of the Wolves’ assault or just the opening salvo.  If the latter, Alexandria is in for a world of hurt.


Not that it wasn’t feeling that hurt already.  This was easily one of the most bloody and uncompromising episodes of the series.  It was made worse by the fact that the Alexandrians were little more than sheep waiting for the slaughter.  Hardly any of them lifted a finger to defend themselves.  All it did, of course, was prove a point: by systematically removing the most willing to kill out of their community, the Alexandrians made themselves a perfect target.  

However, talk about giving a character time to shine.  Carol’s been itching to inflict some carnage for a while, and this gave her the perfect opportunity.  Wolf in sheep’s clothing, indeed!  It was satisfying to watch, but more importantly, it was also a commentary on the Alexandrians themselves.  To survive in a world of Wolves, one must be willing to become one.  Carol did more than that; she established her clear superiority.


Morgan was a nice counterpoint.  Is it possible to survive without becoming the very thing you despise?  Only if you bring an equally effective option to the table.  Morgan is far from sane, but his current sense of discipline is to give his enemy a chance to live and atone.  It’s a furthering of what he was bringing to the table with Rick in the premiere, but with a big stick.  That said, the Wolves and Morgan have a connection, and that could prove to be divisive in the future, to say the least.





The upshot of the encounter between the herd and the Wolves, as it continues into the next episode, is that the current crisis is eliminating the dead weight (now literally so) and those who remain in Alexandria are truly the survivors.  They are also going to have to deal with the fact that the presence of the Wolves suggests a much bigger, more complex set of circumstances in this part of the world.  It’s not the sparsely populated regions of Georgia; this is the outskirts of a vast (formerly) metropolitan area.  What lies beyond Alexandria could be worse than even this nightmare.