Episode Title: Knots Untie
Original Airdate: 2-28-16
Things cooled off a little this week, but the Group’s world has now opened up to many more possibilities. After letting Rick and Michonne put some clothes on in private, Jesus tells them he is a scout for his community. He looks for other survivor camps with which to potentially open a trade of goods. Rick, Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Daryl and Abraham agree to take Jesus home and discuss trading options with his leader. On the way, they save several members from Jesus’s group after a car accident, including a doctor who was an OB before the apocalypse, lucky for Maggie and Glenn.
Once at the Hilltop Colony, Rick urges Maggie to take charge in the negations with their leader, Gregory. Alexandria needs food and Hilltop needs ammo, but Gregory plays off their dire lack of weapons as insignificant while being a patronizing ass to Maggie. When the Group decides to leave with no trade deal reached, some members of Hilltop return having just delivered goods to Negan, which was on the lighter side. In retaliation, Negan forced one of their men to stay and told them to deliver a message to Gregory, in the form of a knife to the gut. The Group then involves themselves in taking out the hostile members of Hilltop, and as usual Rick ends up bathed in someone else’s blood. After a chat with Jesus, Maggie finds out that Hilltop has been giving Negan and his people, self-titled the Saviors, half of their food in exchange for not being killed. Maggie goes back to Gregory with an offer: Alexandria will exterminate Negan and the Saviors in exchange for half of Hilltop’s food, to which Gregory begrudgingly agrees.
I find the Hilltop Colony interesting in that they’re not thinking they should go to Alexandria or the Alexandrites should join them for survival. There is no longer a mentality of “safety in numbers,” as things have moved beyond that. We are now moving into a world where bartering is available, and that does make this world a whole lot bigger, as Jesus pointed out. It’s the next step in rebuilding a society. Hence, this is a pretty dramatic shift for our survivors, because it raises the stakes even more to make Alexandria permanent. I’m very intrigued as to where this will go.
I love Maggie stepping up as the face of Alexandria when negotiating with Gregory. Other than the episode where she went to look for Glenn earlier this season, I feel she has really been missing from the show since the Group settled in Alexandria. Deanna was obviously grooming her for a leadership position, but now it’s finally starting to show and Lauren Cohan nailed it.
Overall, it was a pretty good episode that could change a lot for our beloved survivors. Though Bisquick is totally ruined for me now. Thanks, Abraham.
Channel: Superhero 