Season 6, Episode 5:
Now
- The Alexandrians struggle to keep it together in the wake of the Wolves' attack and the herd arriving at their gates.
In Alexandria, Deanna climbs up a ladder and looks out at the aftermath of the Wolves' attack. Various citizens struggle to pull themselves together, while Michonne's group arrives back at the town and informs David's wife about his passing. She hears Rick shouting for help in the distance and turns around, only to see a horde of walkers approaching the front gates, with Rick running just in front of them.
Rick yells to open the gates, and Michonne and Heath run out to aid him. He barely makes it inside before they shut it, and everyone stares in horror at the walkers amassing by the walls.
Rick gives everyone a Rousing Speech, where he tells them that even though the half the horde has still arrived at the gates, he urges them that they're safe for the time being and they'll make it through. He tells everyone to stay as quiet as possible. Aaron pipes up to tell everyone what happened when the Wolves took his backpack and they ascertained the location of the town.
Deanna walks off in a daze, while Jessie carts the body of the female Wolf she killed over to a pile of bodies. She listens to the sounds of the walkers outside and starts to dig a grave for the woman before Rick arrives. He tells her that they don't bury killers, and urges her to wait until the coast is clear before transporting them out.
Olivia is attempting to stop residents from hoarding food in the town pantry when Spencer arrives and urges them to stop their behavior. When they call him out on having left the front gate open, he tells them that they can still make it through and need to pull together to survive. They drop the food and walk away, and Deanna comes by and gives him a small smile when he turns around.
The Alexandrians listen to the sounds outside the walls and paint the names of the dead as Aaron wanders by, still bothered by what happened. He sees Maggie painting Nicholas and Glenn's name on the wall and goes to see her. Inside the armory, he finds her loading up guns and ammo and surmises that she's going on a mission to find Glenn. He tells her that she'll need help and offers to come along as backup. He tells her that he knows a safer way out of the town...
Deanna sits in her home and stares at her wedding ring while contemplating. She has an idea and pulls out a survey of the town, then begins jotting down notes. After doing so, she hears Spencer break a glass and goes to see him. They discuss what happened earlier, and she asks if what he said was a lie. He tells her that he said it just so he could get access to some alcohol, and begins to drink because he believes they'll be dead soon. He rails at his mother for everything that's happened, then catches himself and walks away in a daze.
Ron is playing with a knife when Carl arrives and asks him to help search for Enid. Ron refuses to aid him and tries to stop him from going outside the gates. The situation escalates and Carl shoves him to the ground before storming off in anger.
Tara visits Denise (who is tending to Scott) and asks her how she's holding up. Denise admits to being overwhelmed and unsure of what to do, but Tara reassures her that things will pull through.
Jessie walks through the streets and discovers a woman who turned inside one of the houses after slitting her own wrists. Tobin and others arrive and look on in shock and disgust at the sight, while she tells them that she didn't want to believe what was happening outside the walls of the town. She opens the door slightly and dispatches the walker, then tells them that this is the way the world is, and urges them to fight or die. She walks off as they stare at her.
Aaron leads Maggie to a sewer system that passes under the wall and goes to the outside. Despite her attempts to ditch him, he follows along. Down below, they encounter a pair of decomposed walkers while attempting to move a grate. After a close call, he dispatches both of them and they move on. However, they are impeded at the exit grate by more walkers and are forced to turn back, but not before Maggie tearfully reveals that she is pregnant.
Rick attempts to radio Daryl and Sasha, but receives no response. Ron arrives and tells him about Enid's disappearance. He tells him that Carl is still at the house, then tells him he was right about telling him to protect himself and his mother. Rick engages in some impromptu weapons training with him at the wall.
Denise is reading medical journals when she comes across something that interests her. She uses a syringe to draw some of the infection out of Scott's leg, which stabilizes his condition. Afterwards, she goes to Tara, kisses her and tells her that Scott will be okay. Tara affirms her belief that they'll pull through.
Later that night, Deanna goes to deliver some supplies to a nearby home, but hears arguing inside. She is suddenly shocked by the appearance of a Wolf who turned into a walker and is shambling down the street. She drops her tray on the road, then gets angered and uses a broken bottle to stab it repeatedly. Rick arrives and dispatches it, and she tells him that she wants to live. She says that she can't be a leader anymore and officially hands over control of the town to him before taking the supplies to their destination.
Maggie and Aaron go back to guard the walls in the night. She tells him to wait for a minute, and goes back to the memorial wall to smudge off Glenn's name. Rosita is also in another spot guarding the wall and crying about Abraham when Spencer comes by to relieve her. She thanks him for stopping the tractor-trailer during the Wolves' attack before she leaves.
Rick comes by to talk with Jessie, and tells her that he still doesn't know what happened to Glenn and the others. She tells him to have faith, and that she has hope for the future. He embraces her and they begin to kiss...
Deanna is also surveying the gate. As she passes by, it's revealed that there is a small breach in the wall...
Tropes:
- Character Development: Spencer shows some leadership abilities when he's able to convince the townspeople to not ravage the food supplies, even if he wasn't sincere in doing so.
- Continuity Nod:
- Beth sadly musing that she believed Glenn and Maggie would have a baby back in "Still" comes to pass.
- Glenn and Maggie previously had a pregnancy scare back in the early episodes of the fourth season.
- Rick and Jessie act on their attraction that formed in "Remember".
- Spencer brings up the deaths of Aiden and Reg in "Spend" and "Conquer", respectively.
- Aaron very quickly garners several Death Glare's from the Alexandrians when he comes clean about inadvertently leading the Wolves to Alexandria; Aaron was already unpopular in the town thanks to his relationship with Eric, as he mentioned back in "Forget".
- Carl and Ron's confrontation gives off vibes of the last time a Grimes and an Anderson faced off; Carl confronts Ron over his significant other and Ron instigates a fight, though this fight ended up not turning out as bad as Rick and Pete's fight did.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Ron is really showing shades of his father here when he angrily confronts Carl.
- Dramatic Irony: Aaron erases Nicholas' name from the wall of the fallen, confident that he's survived when Nicholas is indeed dead.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Spencer resorts to a drink of alcohol after believing that they'll all die soon, and rants at his mother for her inability to lead.
- Due to the Dead: The Alexandrians begin painting the names of their fallen loved ones on the inside of one of the walls.
- Foreshadowing: Deanna scribbles out a bunch of notes on a survey map during her Heroic BSoD, although their significance isn't fully explained as of yet.
- Heroic BSoD: Deanna suffers from this in the wake of the Wolves' attack, becoming despondent and wandering around in a daze.
- Improvised Weapon: Deanna uses a broken bottle to beat down a walker that attacks her inside the town walls.
- It Runs in the Family: Spencer shows that he's inherited some leadership abilities from his parents, as noted below and in Character Development.
- It's All My Fault: Aaron gains this attitude as a result of the Wolves stealing his backpack.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The SDCC trailer suggested that the herd would overrun Alexandria. For now, only half of the herd has made it to the place and is simply shambling around the walls.
- No One Could Survive That!: The Alexandrians add Nicholas and Glenn's names to the wall commemorating their late friends and family, believing both to have been killed. Maggie and Aaron go to erase their names at the end of the episode.
- Oh, Crap!: Everyone in Alexandria gets this response when they see the horde at the front gates.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Deanna is able to give her first walker one hell of a thrashing before Rick arrives to put it down.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Spencer gives a drunken one to his mother, blaming her for the deaths of Reg and Aiden.
- Relationship Upgrade: Rick and Jessie finally act on their feelings and embrace at the end of the episode.
- Rousing Speech: Rick and Aaron give one to the Alexandrians when the horde arrives at the front gates, and Spencer gives one to a group of residents trying to hoard food. Jessie gives one after putting down the zombified Betsey (David's wife), who has slit her wrists due to David's death and the zombie horde massed around Alexandria.
- So Proud of You: Deanna has a small, calm, but warm smile for Spencer when he convinces the Alexandrians to not hoard the food. Which leads to a Broken Pedestal when it turns out it was so he could steal some booze.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Deanna repeatedly stabs a walker over and over in the chest and head, getting covered in blood in the process, before Rick arrives to finish it off.
- Took a Level in Badass: Deanna has her first kill-assist and says she wants to live and employ this trope.
- Wham Line:Maggie: I'm pregnant.
- You Are in Command Now: Deanna officially hands over all authority to Rick by the end of the episode.
