The Walking Dead: Aaron’s increasingly problematic behavior

Aaron seems to be angrier about losing Eric in The Walking Dead season 10 than he was when Eric died, and his anger put Lydia in the path of danger.

After ten seasons of The Walking Dead, many characters have lost loved ones. Death – excessive, sudden and tragic death – is an unfortunate reality in a world where the undead have come back to life. Aaron knows loss all too well: He lost his boyfriend Eric during All Out War, he lost his best friend Jesus to the Whisperers and then he lost Tara and Enid. Aaron’s grief seems to be manifesting itself in a very dangerous way, creating division in its wake, and the grief and subsequent rage has managed to cloud his judgement.

When Aaron saw Gage taunting Lydia, he didn’t tell them to stop. Instead, he called them back over to continue the lesson. In fact, Aaron was using “what they did to our friends” as a way to stoke rage in his students, so it’s not at all surprising that the students took one look at Lydia and went into rage overdrive.

While it’s fine for Aaron to have his own opinions about Lydia, the Whisperers and Lydia’s mother Alpha, as a leader in Alexandria he has an obligation to keep the peace in the community. When he didn’t shut Gage down, he essentially gave Gage his tacit approval to continue the behavior. Later that night, Lydia was brutally attacked and the culprits tried to pin Negan for killing Margo when it was their own actions that started the whole confrontation. If Aaron had shut them down, though, the attack might never have happened.

Aaron’s erratic behavior was also seen in his confrontation with Negan. Instead of focusing on the task at hand, Aaron was on edge the entire time despite the fact Negan wasn’t doing anything to provoke him. Aaron used Negan’s dead wife to needle him, which only served to distract him from the advancing walkers. Negan didn’t allow him to be bitten, but he left him alone long enough to make a point.

All of a sudden, Aaron seems angrier than ever about losing Eric. True, he just lost Jesus to the Whisperers and that could have a lot to do with the rage he’s feeling. But Aaron has always been known as the level-headed one in the group who wanted to do things the right way. Learning how to fight is the right thing to do, but instilling a sense of division within Alexandria while turning a blind eye to the bullying is plain wrong.

Aaron is a father. He is raising Gracie by himself and he’s trying to protect her by protecting the community. But when his actions are actually serving to divide the community against itself, he needs to open his eyes. Keeping Gracie safe and honoring Eric, Jesus, Enid and Tara means bringing everyone together, not forcing them apart.

Alexandria and the other communities are about to enter into a war with the Whisperers. For all they know, they’re already at war and they don’t even realize it. This is a time when everyone needs to come together, despite their differences. Lydia has invaluable information about how the horde moves while Negan’s experience could prove incredibly useful.

Aaron needs to get his head back in the game. His anger and rage is getting in the way of doing what’s right and focusing on what needs to get done, and if he can’t pull himself together then he might be in big trouble when the Whisperer War begins.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm on AMC.