The Walking Dead 5.11 “The Distance”

We are moving into a new narrative landscape for The Walking Dead. But we’re going to have to explore it with baby steps.

Up until this episode, pretty much the only other good people our heroes have encountered have been Hershel and his family (although we could also count the folks from episode 1.04 “Vatos” if they had been given a chance to develop into something other than an awkward attempt to undermine a stereotype and then be cast aside, forgotten for the rest of the series). At the farm, the gang found a place to relax, heal, and brew up some delicious melodrama before burning it all to the ground, killing most of the good people there, and ending up on the run.

Since then, the only other communities that they’ve encountered have been the Governor’s haven of Woodbury and the cannibal apocalypse of Terminus. Neither would inspire confidence in survivors, and as with Hershel’s farm, both ended up in flames — granted, Woodbury was burned to the ground by the Governor, but still…

So when Aaron (Ross Marquand) shows up offering a safe place to live, it’s no wonder that Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) first instinct is to knock him out, tie him up, set up sentries, and interrogate the poor guy. Rick challenges Aaron at every step of the way and almost dooms his own people with his stubbornness, before finally giving in and agreeing to see what the stranger has to offer. And when we get to the end of the episode and discover that Aaron’s invitation was real and that Alexandria is a safe haven, Carol (Melissa McBride) says it best: “You were wrong, but you were right.”

This new narrative landscape is one we haven’t been given any glimpse of before now. Our heroes are going to have to figure out how to readjust to safety, with the knowledge that it can collapse into chaos and death at any moment. They’re going to have to figure out how to live with the violent things they’ve done, if they don’t have to be those people any more. We’re going to be moving into PTSD territory, particularly after the events of the last few episodes.

The strengths that have held them together on the run, could easily turn into the weaknesses that destroy them once they’ve settled.

But that’s the future.

This episode, “The Distance,” is about the transition — not really the transition, I guess, but the opening up of the characters (Rick in particular) to the possibility of hope and happiness and safety. It’s about the breaking down of the barriers that have kept them alive so far, exposing them to the glimmer of normalcy. If they don’t have to fight to survive any more, what do they do?

We saw some of this at the Prison. A routine set in. People became comfortable. And then suddenly they found themselves open to attack. That lesson isn’t going to be forgotten. The question is going to become, can they return to at least a variation of that life? Can they trust? Can they heal? Can they go back?

Last episode, when Rick told the story of his grandfather behind enemy lines, we focused attention on the act of living through the experience; the acceptance that he (and they) were always-already dead and carrying on despite that. But it wasn’t the end of the story; it was the middle. In the end, Rick’s grandfather survived and came home and was able to pass on stories of the war to his grandson.

We’ll have to wait and see if Rick can do the same.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

Aaron’s gay.

If that’s a problem for you, then either grow up or fuck off.