The Walking Dead: Were Rick and Morgan ever really friends?
By Susie Graham
Rick and Morgan were there at the beginning of The Walking Dead. Morgan has returned to find his friend Rick. But are they really friends?
Morgan Jones and his son Duane were the first people Rick Grimes met after he woke up from his coma and found himself in an empty world that looked much different from the one he left on the day he was shot in the line of duty.
Morgan taught Rick and the audience about the world we were about to enter and fall in love with. This crazy world of bites and fevers and turning and aiming for the head. Rick and Morgan enjoyed a quick connection over their wives taking pictures and both having sons. They hoped to reconnect in Atlanta as soon as Morgan could summon the courage to pardon his wife from her death sentence of a life wandering as a live dead person.
Rick was saved by Morgan, who cleaned his wound and helped him on his way. Morgan was saved by Rick, who gave him hope that there was something waiting for him when he was ready. They were obligated to each other and connected by walkie-talkies.
But walkie-talkies only connect people within a certain distance and that distance became too great as time passed. The connection between Morgan and Rick became a static-filled distant memory.
When Rick found Morgan in the booby-trapped apartment, those memories and that obligation saved Morgan from being killed or left to die. Rick and Morgan saved each other again. Morgan provided weapons and ideas for tactics to fight the Governor. Rick provided some hope and an eventual destination for Morgan after the fire in the apartment.
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In this world, the people bond and become family through common experiences and fighting together. Living and dying together. Helping and hurting together. Rick and Morgan have never done that.
That doesn’t make their relationship any less significant. There is a love and an obligation and an appreciation. But not a pull. They both have the need to find their own way in the world. Like brothers who go to different colleges and find themselves apart from each other.
Rick saved Morgan by giving him a destination to find people again after Eastman died. The people just don’t need to be Rick’s people. To paraphrase Jesus, Morgan’s world is about to get a whole lot bigger. He can be thankful that Rick led him there and move on now.
Next: Morgan and Carol need The Kingdom and each other
“It’s all a circle and everything gets a return.” They are even now. They’ve saved each other twice. They can be grateful for one another. They can respect each other. They can move on without each other.
Were they ever friends? I don’t think they had the time to become friends. Were they important in each other’s lives? Crucial!