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Nov. 28th, 2015 12:04 amAlexandria's gay scout talked Daryl into giving up on the man in the red poncho, and instead investigating the grocery trucks. They were in a territory full of "bad people" (the Wolves) and the man's poncho was red for crying out loud, so this was his version of the basic Alexandrian flaw of non-solidarity. The flaw of Rick's group, which displays total solidarity, is to not let in others. But Daryl, especially when alone, doesn't share this. The gay scout (what's his name again? He's very stage-actory but they make him extremely likable) realizes his mistake once they're in the car, and tries to make up for it by insisting they both make a break for it together: he gets the right idea. But his pack gets left behind, attracting the Wolves to Alexandria because of his pictures and whatnot. Earlier he'd told Daryl that he'd had to exile three men, their leader named Davidson, because of unspecified crimes, and that he wouldn't make the same mistake again. He means he won't let in iffy people, but the phrasing sounds ironic, given the fact that the people back in town are close to exiling Rick: it is exile that is the mistake. We assume at first that the Wolves must be Davidson and co., but the pictures disprove that - they have no prior relationship with the town. Which means they're more like the poncho man: the main problem with exiling isn't acts of revenge it causes, or anyway wasn't in this case - the problem is isolation. The poncho man might have helped them; giving up on him they become helpless. Committing themselves to solidarity with one another regardless of the risks gets them saved by Morgan. Two acts instantly karmatized. Perhaps Davidson won't ever be seen, and is instead the "son" (reiteration) of David, a murdered character who we don't see (at all?) because it suggests how the murderer (Carol) failed to see him as a person. So the name persists sans referent, a sort of ghost.
Whereas Rick's mistakes get the town zombie-attacked in the same episode. The mistrust he'd shown the (essentially kidnapped) priest is part of what sends him into the despair that leads him to not shut the gate properly. All the priest sees of the group, remember, is their extreme mistrust of him despite his obvious harmlessness, their failure to protect their strayed members, their unnecessary hacking to pieces of the Terminus remnant, their dismantling of his church, Maggie's cold shoulder on the road, Rick's mistreatment of Aaron etc. His accusations are projection, but he also feels like he's fsllen into the company he deserves - the damned - and that they're goong to fuck up paradise-ish Alexandria. And it's not clear he's wrong, at least where Rick's concerned; he says the group will care about only its own when the shit comes down, and that's what we see with Rick remonstrating Tara for risking her life to help Spencer.
Rick also gets the town besieged, of course, with his overproud plan of luring the zombies nesr then past it. They're lured by the horn when the truck hits the tower during the Wolf fight. So, since the over caution of the Alexandrians brought the Wolves there in the first place, and Rick brought the zombies close enough to be attracted by the clamor ... both are to blame, or anyway both caused this by their weakness. And since the tower that eventually falls does so because Rick's diverted the builders' attention to reinforcing the walls (I think?) their mistakes have caused that too: the truck hitting the tower weakened it, the zombies Rick brought stream through the gap. Town falls?
And the death of Reg, the maker of the walls and leading advocate of cooperation, is caused by Carol and Rick as much as Pete. Carol deliberately provokes him to do something stupid, by taunting him about his powerlessness and exile and being st the mercy of others. She uses beater logic on him to drive him into a rage. Rick had triggered the (in remission) beaterliness in the first place by general unfriendliness and clearly moving in on his wife, then making his wife agree to kick him out by terrorizing her with slippery slope logic - he hits you today, he'll kill you tomorrow. Refusing to even try to talk to him, they push him into being the monster they assume he is. And the Alexandrians contributed there, too, by turning s blind eye because he was a surgeon: risk aversion, refusal to put themslves in harm's way for one another. Nicholas (whose last act improbably worked out the way he'd wanted) shows they're able to change, though. Whether Rick can we'll have to see.
So you need to see others as precious because alive, and also need to value their life like your own in an active way. Morgan gets it, though he wonders if his all-costs pacifism may have to go. Glen gets it except he doesn't trust others to make the right decisions by themself: he tries to get Enid back into the fold (good impulse) bu force (bad) and she pulls a gun on him (he IS the asshole), wants to change Nicholas (good) but keeps letting Nicholas know that he doubts whether he's there yet (bad) which leads to Nicholas' self-sacrifice (?) suicide rather than their escaping together a la Daryl and Aaron. Michonne's there or almost there too - her own trust of Rick prevents Rick from actually trying to pull a coup. But her loyalty is gradated, rather than shown to all? She says she hit Rick for him, not "them." Glen saves Enod for Maggie, at first, but once he inows her slightky better does it for Enid herself (does Maggie do something at some ooiint because Glen would? I forget). Michonne has the Bob knowledge, because she too had been Alone. Sasha might be close to getting it, as she's been virtually alone herself - we'll see. Daryl's been there too, and Abraham in his fashion. They're the enlightened ones, or close to it - their remaining lessons aren't as punishing.
Whereas Rick's mistakes get the town zombie-attacked in the same episode. The mistrust he'd shown the (essentially kidnapped) priest is part of what sends him into the despair that leads him to not shut the gate properly. All the priest sees of the group, remember, is their extreme mistrust of him despite his obvious harmlessness, their failure to protect their strayed members, their unnecessary hacking to pieces of the Terminus remnant, their dismantling of his church, Maggie's cold shoulder on the road, Rick's mistreatment of Aaron etc. His accusations are projection, but he also feels like he's fsllen into the company he deserves - the damned - and that they're goong to fuck up paradise-ish Alexandria. And it's not clear he's wrong, at least where Rick's concerned; he says the group will care about only its own when the shit comes down, and that's what we see with Rick remonstrating Tara for risking her life to help Spencer.
Rick also gets the town besieged, of course, with his overproud plan of luring the zombies nesr then past it. They're lured by the horn when the truck hits the tower during the Wolf fight. So, since the over caution of the Alexandrians brought the Wolves there in the first place, and Rick brought the zombies close enough to be attracted by the clamor ... both are to blame, or anyway both caused this by their weakness. And since the tower that eventually falls does so because Rick's diverted the builders' attention to reinforcing the walls (I think?) their mistakes have caused that too: the truck hitting the tower weakened it, the zombies Rick brought stream through the gap. Town falls?
And the death of Reg, the maker of the walls and leading advocate of cooperation, is caused by Carol and Rick as much as Pete. Carol deliberately provokes him to do something stupid, by taunting him about his powerlessness and exile and being st the mercy of others. She uses beater logic on him to drive him into a rage. Rick had triggered the (in remission) beaterliness in the first place by general unfriendliness and clearly moving in on his wife, then making his wife agree to kick him out by terrorizing her with slippery slope logic - he hits you today, he'll kill you tomorrow. Refusing to even try to talk to him, they push him into being the monster they assume he is. And the Alexandrians contributed there, too, by turning s blind eye because he was a surgeon: risk aversion, refusal to put themslves in harm's way for one another. Nicholas (whose last act improbably worked out the way he'd wanted) shows they're able to change, though. Whether Rick can we'll have to see.
So you need to see others as precious because alive, and also need to value their life like your own in an active way. Morgan gets it, though he wonders if his all-costs pacifism may have to go. Glen gets it except he doesn't trust others to make the right decisions by themself: he tries to get Enid back into the fold (good impulse) bu force (bad) and she pulls a gun on him (he IS the asshole), wants to change Nicholas (good) but keeps letting Nicholas know that he doubts whether he's there yet (bad) which leads to Nicholas' self-sacrifice (?) suicide rather than their escaping together a la Daryl and Aaron. Michonne's there or almost there too - her own trust of Rick prevents Rick from actually trying to pull a coup. But her loyalty is gradated, rather than shown to all? She says she hit Rick for him, not "them." Glen saves Enod for Maggie, at first, but once he inows her slightky better does it for Enid herself (does Maggie do something at some ooiint because Glen would? I forget). Michonne has the Bob knowledge, because she too had been Alone. Sasha might be close to getting it, as she's been virtually alone herself - we'll see. Daryl's been there too, and Abraham in his fashion. They're the enlightened ones, or close to it - their remaining lessons aren't as punishing.
