The Walking Dead Ep. 511, The Distance

The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 11: The Distance

TV rating

TV-MA

ZPAA rating

Teens and u

Offensive content

The usual assortment of bloody zombie deaths; bad attitudes; one gay kiss.

Synopsis & Review

The group takes Aaron in and interrogates him about who he is and where he is from. He's mostly open and upbeat even after Rick punches him out. Aaron is sent from a large community to bring in people because humans are the most important resource to them, even more so than their massive metal walls. Rick has a really hard time buying into Aaron's story though the others are more open to a hopeful outcome.

The episode deals with Rick's pessimism about finding others who can be trusted. At one point, he admits to Michonne that he can't think of any reason why he'd join Aaron's community but he'll go to the gates anyway just to find out if there would be a reason. He still has a kernel of hope. But is this just another Terminus/Woodbury/etc.?

Fans of the comics (like me) probably have a better idea about what's coming, but that doesn't lessen the excitement. What did lessen the excitement was a couple of missteps. I was never convinced Aaron might be lying so a lot of the tension is lost there. The group gets divided at one point and then later gets back together, though how they found each other isn't clear at all. Maybe there's a deleted scene that makes the connection. Also, Aaron says that Rick's group has to "audition" to join the community but that seems like it's forgotten by the end of the episode. Unless next week's episode begins with the audtion...