The Walking Dead 1005 – What It Always Is
It’s a walk down nostalgia lane as What It Always Is meanders through its first act. Negan is on the run but he’s soon joined by a fan boy who hails from the Sanctuary and wants to accompany him out of Alexandria to rekindle the old ways. Unfortunately it’s a path that Negan isn’t interested in particularly when erroneous talk of what he did to Carl comes to light.
Negan’s reverence for Carl remains and he becomes even more irritated when his new companion revels in untruths about him, particularly ones that involve hurting kids. Negan was a teacher in the old world and his soft spot for the youth continues with his interest in Lydia’s well being. In spite of everything Negan has done he lives by a code and hurting children is something he’d never do.
In a world where turning into an undead zombie is at the top of the list of concerns, it was only a matter of time before more pedestrian health threats became an issue. For Ezekiel this is a stark reality and when he begins to show signs of illness in Siddiq’s presence it is soon revealed that he is suffering from thyroid cancer.
Alpha has her own thoughts on the health and welfare of others. She’s decided to change her approach to battling Carol and the gang by playing the long game on several fronts. After dropping a tree on the Hilltop’s walls, she has now taken to slowly poisoning the communities by contaminating their water supply. Death by a thousand cuts doesn’t sit well with one of the Whisperers and Alpha demonstrates just how sound a strategy it can be by using his own body as evidence. Gamma’s belief in Alpha’s strategy is strong but then gets a bit of a jolt when she cuts herself on a mission and runs into Aaron who offers her aid.
There are some serious trust issues among the members of the various communities. This becomes even more apparent when Daryl, Connie and Magna search for Kelly in the woods. Daryl soon discovers that Kelly and Magna have been stealing from the Hilltop squirreling away food and supplies in the event things go sideways as they are want to do on this show. Daryl gives them all a spicy admonishment and they decide to return the goods and inform the Hilltop that they found them in the woods.
What It Always Is, if nothing else promotes the theme of adapt or die. Alpha understands this better than anyone and her kernel of advice to Gamma that sometimes there is a need to change masks underscores this. Negan is also well aware of this and even though he’s back in black, full of swagger and reunited with Lucille it is more than likely that his meeting with Beta is the start of a Trojan horse move that will help bring down the Whisperers.
