Was Michonne right to stop letting people in on The Walking Dead?

Michonne learned a hard lesson about taking people in on The Walking Dead but is isolationism the best apocalypse policy? Our panel is split.

After seeing what happened the last time Michonne let someone new into the Safe Zone on The Walking Dead, it’s easy to understand why she refused to let anyone else in and turned away Magna and her group. Michonne was totally betrayed by someone she trusted and wasn’t going to risk anyone, especially her kids, getting hurt.

But Michonne’s isolationism hurt the people of Alexandria as much as it kept them safe. Not being open to the other communities broke down the tight bond between the settlements and between Michonne, Maggie, and Carol. And it kept from Alexandria from growing. In the apocalypse people are a resource, not adding new people to the community makes the community weaker, not stronger.

It’s easy to see why Michonne made the decisions she made, but now the communities are facing a threat that they will have to face together and Michonne may no longer have the support of the other communities because she’s been unwilling to allow Alexandria to be part of the collective.

Considering how important people are in that world was the decision to close the Alexandria Safe Zone and not let new people in the right decision or was it an overly emotional decision that Michonne made when she was still dealing with the traumatic events she went through? Would Rick and Carl have supported the decision to turn people away instead of taking them in? Here’s what our panel thinks:

Gates Don’t Keep You Safe

After what happened in the flashback, do you think that it’s a good idea for the communities to let new people in?

Sonya says:

"I totally understand why Michonne would want to stop letting people in. But, people are necessary in order to keep the community going. There’s safety in numbers in that world. I think that Michonne needs to be more open to letting people in. They have the council system to vote on letting people in, Michonne needs to trust that system and be more willing to take people in."

Sara says:

"The groups are definitely going to need to be more careful on who they allow to stay in their communities that’s for sure. However, there isn’t a need to not completely allow new people in. For example, Magna’s group have proven themselves to be a trustworthy and kind group of people. There will always be good and bad people in the world. Just maybe no more sleepovers from now on!"

Jeffrey says:

"Letting in new people is ALWAYS a risk. This episode proves it. Michonne had no reason to doubt Jocelyn considering they knew one another for years before the apocalypse. The fact that she would betray her own friend shows that only family can be truly trusted. Still, we have seen that letting people in is crucial to the survival of the group. What if Magna’s group wouldn’t have been let in? What if Glenn had never brought Tara into the fold? What if Carl had never brought Siddiq to Alexandria? There are good people still out there, but the communities must be extremely careful letting new people in."

Sarabeth says:

"I think they need to have a system in place for new people. They can’t turn everyone away, and they also have to be careful. They see how much good it has been to have Magna’s group. They need new people. But they also need to be careful, so having some kind of check in system makes sense. Don’t let anyone wander off until they can be trusted. Even then it’s a risk, but I think the risk can be mitigated with the right precautions."

What would you do TWDFamily? If you were in charge at Alexandria would you let new people in? Would you have some kind of vetting system in place? Or would you close the gates and not let anyone in? Tweet us: @SonyaIryna, @WrittenBySara, @TWalkingDWorld, @SarabethPollock, and @UndeadWalkingFS to tell us how you’d deal with strangers if you were living in The Walking Dead world.