‘The Walking Dead’: Rick Shows His True Colors To Deanna & Alexandria

Things inside Alexandria are tense on ‘The Walking Dead,’ and when a confrontation with Jessie’s husband gets Rick heated, he uses that anger to tell Deanna how he really feels about her town.

On the March 22 episode of The Walking Dead, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) puts everything on the line just to protect Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge). Meanwhile, Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) goes completely rogue outside Alexandria’s walls, and Carl (Chandler Riggs) finally gets through to Enid (Katelyn Nacon) during a sweet moment in the woods.

‘The Walking Dead’: Rick Turns On Alexandria

The episode begins with Deanna, her husband, and her other son mourning Aiden. They are sitting inside their home in the dark when Deanna plays one of his EDM mix CD’s. It’s a weird way to remember him, but it’s how they do. Not to mention the song that plays during the opening montage is a refreshing new sound that adds to the show’s intensity.

When Carol bakes a meatloaf and leaves it on their step with a note, Deanna leaves the pan on the steps and only takes the card. Once she gets inside she lights the card on fire with a candle and watches as it burns. Unfortunately, it looks like Father Gabriel’s speech about Rick’s group being the anti-Christ really got to her. Ugh.

‘The Walking Dead’: How Rick Has Transformed Into Crazy Shane

Somewhere outside of Alexandria Daryl and Aaron are looking for recruits, but they don’t seem to be having much luck. That is, until, Daryl spots a light in the distance. There’s something about it that instantly doesn’t feel right, though.

As the night continues, we see Nicholas on-camera telling Deanna that Glenn distracted Aiden intentionally so that he would get killed. At the same time, Glenn is sitting on the front porch telling Rick what really happened — how Nicholas bailed on his own friend. Nicholas continues, telling Deanna that Glenn and Noah pushed on the door so that the “roamers” would get him, but that he fought back. At that very moment, Glenn tells Rick he watched Noah die.

Deanna watches the screen closely, you can tell the wheels in her head are turning. She seems like she’s on the fence, but the loss of her son might be clouding her judgment. Nicholas continues, telling her that Glenn and the rest of the group are bad news — that they want all of the Alexandrians dead. This is a pretty harsh blow to Deanna’s state of mind, especially after Father Gabriel’s surprising rant.

Once Glenn is finished talking to Rick, Carol comes out and tells him some pretty scary stuff about the way Pete has been treating Jessie. Sam has been confiding in her, and he told her some really horrible stories about how he would find his mom unconscious after hearing them fight. When Rick asks Carol why she cares so much about Jessie, Carol tells him that he knows why. She also puts him on blast by telling him she sees the way he is with Jessie, the way they talk to each other, and Rick says nothing in response.

Then, Carol tells him that if walkers hadn’t killed Ed, her abusive husband, she wouldn’t be standing on that porch with him. Rick tells her that’s simply not true, and he’s right — he would have killed him for her.

Rick Confronts Deanna About Pete & Jessie

The next day, Michonne seems to be struggling with the idea of another day in Alexandria. It must be hard getting used to waking up in a clean bed, with clean clothes, and a job to do after living in the wild for so long. Before she can dress and leave for the day there’s a knock at her door, and it’s Rosita with an update on Tara: she’s stable.

However, Rosita is also concerned about their other friend, Sasha. The last time we saw Sasha was in the watchtower in the middle of the night, and that’s exactly where Rosita thinks she spent the night. The two of them head out to find her, and they find themselves outside of the Alexandria walls for the first time since they entered. Michonne admits it feels different, and Rosita tries to tell her that’s not a bad thing — but Michonne disagrees. Is Alexandria really making them weak?

There’s no time to worry about that because they finally come across the first sign of Sasha: multiple walkers who have been slaughtered. “She’s hunting them,” Michonne tells Rosita as they continue looking for her. Sasha’s really lost it, huh?

Later, Rick finds Deanna dressed in all black standing over Aiden’s grave. He extends his sympathies, but she doesn’t seem interested in hearing them. Then, he tells her they have a problem with Pete. That’s when she reveals she knew all along he was beating Jessie, and that she hoped it would get better. It didn’t.

When she asks Rick what they are supposed to do about it, he tells her they have to kill him. Deanna is appalled at the idea and immediately argues it, reminding him that in Alexandria they don’t kill people. This was such a bad time for Rick to have this conversation with Deanna, especially when he has no idea that both Father Gabriel and Nicholas are putting ideas in her head.

Deanna tells Rick he is never to suggest killing someone again otherwise he is the one that will be exiled. Unfortunately, she has no idea he’s secretly plotting to take Alexandria from her.

Carl & Enid Have A Moment

Believe it or not, there are even more people outside of the Alexandria walls on this day: Carl and Enid. He gets caught following her again, and she asks him to leave her alone. She even admits that he scares her, but then she must have changed her mind because she runs off and lets him follow after her.

After their “fun run” they take a seat in the woods next to a log, and Enid tells Carl that she likes being out in the woods because that’s where they are supposed to be. It’s amazing that such a young girl thinks like that, and it makes you wonder how long she was on her own out there in the world before being brought into Alexandria. When Carl asks her what happened to her, she tells him something terrible did — and he comforts her by telling her something terrible happened to him, too.

Then a hoard of walkers comes, and they run into a hollow tree that’s been split open. They are so close to each other they are practically touching, and that’s when Enid leans in and whispers, “It’s their world. We’re just living in it.” For a moment their hands graze each other, and then Carl wusses out. This makes Enid smile, and she whispers to him once again, “You’re scared of me, too.” So. Cute.

Back inside Alexandria, Glenn decides to confront Nicholas as he’s cleaning Tara’s blood out of the van. Glenn tells him that the four people he and Aiden lost on a run before they arrived are on him, and that now Noah’s life is on him, too. Then he tells him he’s not allowed to leave Alexandria anymore — especially not alone. “People like you are supposed to be dead,” Glenn tells him, much to Nicholas’ astonishment. Then he storms off, hopefully to go tell Deanna the truth about what happened. Whether or not she’ll believe him is the real question, though.

After his encounter with Glenn, Nicholas digs up a gun that he hid near a tree. What does he plan to do with it, though? Kill Glenn? Have fun trying.

Somehow, Michonne and Rosita find Sasha hunting walkers. “I’m sick of playing defense,” she tells them angrily, and then proudly admits that she’s trying to take as many out as she can. At that moment a large hoard comes and, despite Sasha’s resistance, Michonne helps her take some of them out. When Sasha gets knocked down and nearly bitten by the last one, it’s Michonne who saves her — but instead of being grateful Sasha completely flips out on her. “It worked out for you,” she tells Michonne through tears before bringing up Noah’s death and how she once told him he would die out there. Then, she storms off into the woods as Rosita follows.

Sasha’s problems are more deeply rooted than anyone really knows.

Rick Tells Jessie He Can Protect Her From Pete

While looking for people to recruit, Daryl and Aaron come across a body that has been sliced up into pieces. The body is fresh, too fresh, and Daryl wants to find who did it immediately. As they continue through the woods, they find a woman naked and tied to a tree. She’s been gutted by walkers, and Daryl tells Aaron it’s another fresh body. When Daryl lifts her head there’s a W carved into her skull, and just as she wakes as a walker he stabs her in the forehead.

In Alexandria, Rick finds Jessie smoking inside her garage. He doesn’t hesitate to bring up the fact that he knows Pete is hitting her. She immediately defends him by telling him it will get better, that he’s hard a hard life, blah blah blah. Rick tells her it has to stop otherwise Pete’s going to end up killing her. Suddenly she starts questioning him: why does he care? Why is he trying to protect her? She reminds him that she’s married and tells him she needs to take care of herself, and so does he.

When she storms off into her house he tries to walk away, but he can’t help himself. Moments later he walks right through her front door and tells her that Sam asked for a gun to protect her. Her little boy asked for a gun to kill his own father. How awful is that? It gets to her immediately and her tears start flowing, and Rick uses that moment to win her over. He tells her he can protect her, he can protect her boys, and as he does this he gets closer and closer to her. Jessie softens, but asks if he would do this for just anyone. He tells her all she would have to do is say yes, and he’ll save her. So, she says yes.

At that exact moment, Pete comes in through the kitchen to find Rick and Jessie just inches apart from one another. He asks Rick what he’s doing there and instantly realizes something is up. When he asks Rick to leave, Jessie finally mans up and tells him no. Pete’s appalled by her resistance, but she keeps it up. Good for her!

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Then, Jessie tells Pete he has to leave, and he gets irrationally defensive and angry. He’s quick to take it out on Rick, and suddenly a fight breaks out. It gets bad quick, but Rick resists the urge to pull out his gun and kill him.

Rick Loses It On Deanna & Alexandria

When the fight moves into the street — because Rick throws Pete through his living room window — suddenly everyone in Alexandria is there to watch. Carl and Enid come running from the gate, Jessie comes running outside of the house, and Jessie’s son, Sam, hides behind Carol on the front lawn.

As Rick and Pete struggle for control of the fight, Jessie tries to intervene to save Rick. That’s when Pete backhands her straight across the face in front of everyone, and it’s the motivation Rick needs to roll Pete onto his back. However, When Carl tries pulling his dad off of Jessie’s husband he gets shoved back pretty hard.

Suddenly Deanna comes running down the street screaming for them to stop.

While holding him against the asphalt, Rick tells Pete if he ever touches Jessie or her son again he’ll kill him. It’s very clear that he means it. Then, he lets go of him.

Deanna continues to scream at Rick who looks crazed while covered in his own blood, and he pulls his gun out and aims it at Deanna and the people standing around him. He tells her she doesn’t get it, that she just sits around and plans and hesitates because she doesn’t know what the “real world” is like now. Rick’s tirade continues with him telling Deanna and everyone that their way of doing things is “done,” and that they need to control who lives in Alexandria.

“That’s never been more clear to me than it is right now,” Deanna tells him sternly, to which Rick practically laughs.

Rick tells Deanna that her way has gotten people killed and will continue to get people killed, but before he can finish Michonne comes out of nowhere and knocks him unconscious.

The last shot we see is Michonne defiantly standing over Rick’s body in her constable uniform. There’s a new sheriff in town, folks.

Tell us, HollywoodLifers — Do you think Rick is going to get exiled from Alexandria? Do you think he’ll be able to take over first? Should Rick have killed Pete? Comment below with your thoughts!

— Lauren Cox
Follow @Iaurencox