The pace may have slowed considerably in the past couple episodes, but make no mistake: the groundwork is being laid for some serious events in the mid-season finale.  This episode in particular starts setting the stage for Team Grimes and Alexandria to discover the larger context of the DC metro area in which they live, and by all accounts, it’s not going to be pretty.  

Starting off with Daryl was probably the right move.  While it makes sense that the current structure of the season is designed to give the core cast more time off to rest and handle the grueling conditions of the production schedule, Daryl is one of the most popular characters and his absence is felt.  Given his relative position to the rest of the group, he’s also the logical one to come across new faces and threats.


It’s seems rather likely that this new group is, in fact, the group of marauders with an infamous leader that has been awaited, eagerly by some, for ages.  And if one looks at the source material and considers how to streamline the introduction of that threat, the current progression of events makes a lot of sense.  And the cult-like description of life among this new group certainly fits what many have been anticipating.  

Daryl has been going through an interesting character turn since arriving in Alexandria, from isolating himself out of mistrust to taking on a prominent role as a recruiter.  Daryl’s still in that mode in this episode, which turns out to be against his best interests.  He’ll very likely take note that those running from this newly-mentioned rival community make bad potential residents of Alexandria.  And after what Daryl has learned in this episode, Rick might be well advised to steer clear.  (Of course he won’t, but that’s why things are about to heat up again!)


Meanwhile, Abraham and Sasha found themselves staying in an auto insurance office building and contemplating the future.  It was all very odd, as there were moments that felt like the writers wanted to have them wax philosophical but didn’t quite know how these characters would express their internal motivations.  Part of the problem is that Sasha’s mindset seems to shift as the needs of the situation demand; in this case, the need to be a foil for Abraham’s doubts.  





Not surprisingly, that all took a backseat to the possibility that was raised at the very end of the episode.  Just who was responding to Daryl?  Keeping in mind how the episodes are playing out over the same very short time period, there’s one obvious answer.  Who might be in a position to need help right now?  I’m fairly sure that was Glenn, and quite a few others agree that it sounded more like Glenn than Rick (the only other obvious candidate).  Considering the rabid interest in Glenn’s fate since his apparent death, that was a nice way to sneak in a clue to his potential survival.