The Walking Dead: No Rest For The Weary

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead made one thing abundantly clear to Rick’s group: Try as they might, there’s no rest for the weary.

Things have gotten rough for The Group lately in The Walking Dead: Abraham and Glenn are gone, Daryl’s being held hostage, they’re being extorted by The Saviors and, frankly, being humiliated in the process; As I said, rough.

We saw this all of this thrust into the spotlight in this past Sunday’s episode, “Service”. Negan and company came to town to confiscate everyone’s weapons, their furniture, and their beds. The Alexandrians had to watch as creeps and thugs (Seriously, that dude with the balloons was a scumbag) made off with their possessions. Worst of all, Rick, Aaron, and Father Gabriel had to scour the town looking for two measly pistols, or risk Olivia being killed.

But, throughout the whole ordeal, there was a theme, a theme which was typified by Michonne’s discovery of their torched beds the next day: You can NEVER rest.

Case in point: The Saviors arrived earlier than they said they would.

They made a point of arriving before The Group could gather anything to give them (Note: Spencer and Rosita were leaving to do just that). They did this so that they could take their guns, furniture, and beds instead…what nice guys.

The whole exercise was a quick reminder to Rick and company that The Saviors could arrive at any time they wanted and there’s nothing Rick could do about it.

Then, there was what they took. While taking the guns was obviously just smart strategy on Negan’s part to prevent further attacks, they also took The Group’s furniture and beds.

One would think that the reason The Saviors did this was to use the beds for themselves; As we saw in “The Well”, The Saviors accommodations can be a little…Spartan, at times.

It would certainly make sense for The Saviors to confiscate something that are probably tough to find, and not going to be made new any time soon. The same goes for the chairs and lamps.

However, that isn’t what they did. Nope. Instead, they took all of the beds they’d confiscated, threw them into a big pile…and burned them.

The message was clear: “You work for us, now. You are on our schedule. You don’t sleep comfortably unless we allow you to.”

But the most driving part of this message was sent to Rick by Negan himself, and it had nothing to do with beds, but with a camera.

After one of his men found Deanna’s camera, Negan watched Rick’s interview video before playing around with the camera himself and mocking Rick.

As he watched Rick’s interview (With Rick sporting his full “Crazytown” beard) Negan remarked how he would not have messed that Rick before pointing out how the Rick who stood before him…was not that Rick.

And while Negan’s message was pretty clear — That Rick had lost his edge — there was deeper one hidden beneath: That The Group had to have that edge. They could never stray from it, lest they get weak, because the moment they got weak, someone would take advantage of it.

There’s NEVER Been Any Rest

Frankly, this has been a theme in the show since at least season four. As the flu ravaged the prison, and Rick was grappling with the fact Carol had killed Karen and David, she imparted on him a sad fact: “You can be a farmer, Rick. You can’t just be a farmer.”

Carol was reminding Rick that, as much as he might have wanted to, he could never just lay down his arms and live peacefully; the world they now existed in wouldn’t let him.

Sadly, this was proven true. The Governor returned, killed Hershel, and laid siege to the prison, destroying it in the process. Everything they tried to build, destroyed.

After that, the first sign of hope they had, Terminus, proved to be nothing but an illusion. The peaceful, welcoming place they’d seen so many signs for was, in fact, a slaughterhouse.

After that, Rick became paranoid and violent, so much so, that he became willing to kill people regardless of whether they were actually a threat.

The Group’s time after losing the prison made them hardened and, in Rick’s case, bloodthirsty. Rick started killing or almost killing everyone they met, and was willing to do it even to the Alexandrians.

When The Group arrived in Alexandria, while Michonne recognized their need to get out of the sort of perpetual “survival mode” they’d been in, others weren’t quite so on board.

Carol passed herself off as The Group’s helpless den mother to spy on the town, Rick kept plans to overtake the town on the back burner and Carl feared that being in Alexandria would make them all “soft”.

Sadly, it appears that he was right. Since defeating The Wolves and the quarry herd, The Group seemed to get complacent.

No longer having an immediate threat to deal with, they became overconfident and relaxed. It caused them to underestimate The Saviors, which caused them jump into essentially declaring war on him without really knowing what they were getting into. Ultimately, this led them to where they are, including losing Denise, Abraham, and Glenn.

In the end, while Negan reminded Rick of how far removed he was from his “Crazytown” period, and how that Rick wouldn’t have had anything to fear from him, circumstances have been driving this point home to The Group for a very long time.

The reality is, whenever The Group’s relaxed their survival instincts, they’ve underestimated just how the dangerous the world they live in is. The Group assumed threats were not severe, and that turned around and cost them friends’ lives.

The Saviors may have burned their beds, but, that doesn’t matter. Negan showed Rick the edge he’s lost, but, that doesn’t matter. The fact is, Negan is simply the latest vessel for a message the zombie apocalypse has desperately been trying to beat into The Group’s heads for a long time: They can not rest.

Next: The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: Acceptance

Do you agree? Disagree? Do you think I’m reading too much into this? Do you think The Group will ever be able to get out of “survival mode” and have peace? Is peace even possible in a zombie apocalypse? Let me know in the comments!

And, of course, if you like this and want to hear my thoughts on how to survive the zombie apocalypse, why not pick up a copy of my book: The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can get it on Kindle here and on iTunes here!