Rick proved to be a most unwelcoming host on The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 11.
We opened “The Distance” with Sasha and Maggie introducing Aaron as someone with a camp community who wanted the survivors to addition for membership.
He had photos to prove the place was real and serene, but he barely had time to show them before Rick slugged him in the face.
“They’re coming for us,” he explained of why he punched Aaron and why the group should be prepared for an attack.
Aaron did all he could to argue his peaceful case, stating how he could have taken Sasha and Maggie out before if he wanted to and how there’s only one other person out there on a similar recruiting mission.
Finally, Michonne (with Glenn, Maggie, Abraham and Rosita as back-up) embarked on a two-mile walk to see if Aaron was being honest about two cars parked nearby.
Aaron proceeded to offer Judith applesauce as another kind gesture, but Rick made him eat it first. It passed the test and then so did Aaron: Michonne returned and said his car story checked out.
So Rick begrudgingly agreed to check out the community, but only if he drove there and only if they left at night.
That evening, heading off into the darkness with Aaron, Michonne and Glenn, Rick found that the car’s glove compartment was full of license plates. WTH?!?
Want more?
Get more content like this delivered to your inbox for FREE:
Aaron said he wanted one from each of the 50 states for his house. Yes, he has a house. But he has also has a problem: Rick found a listening device in the car, just as Glenn drove them into a pack of walkers. Their severed limbs actually stalled the car.
(Fortunately the RV with everyone else in it had turned back in time. Yet now everyone else was separated from Rick, Glenn and Michonne!)
A flare then went up in the distance and Aaron freaked out. He made a run for it. Glenn eventually saved him from a zombie, they reunited with Rick and Michonne and followed the flare as a group.
Turns out, Aaron was so upset because the flare signaled his partner, Eric, was in trouble. However, Maggie, Sasha and company had rescued him from the “roamers” and even put a splint on his ankle.
Aaron thanked the gang for saving Eric and vowed to repay them when they got to Alexandria. Yes, he now trusted them enough to reveal the location.
The next day, as you'll see when you watch The Walking Dead online, Michonne urged Rick to drop his guard and to fully trust Aaron
As episode wound dead, tension was ratcheted as everyone pulled into the Alexandria Safe-Zone. Rick was stunned to actually hear kids playing playing there.
So, as frightened as he was, he picked up Judith to go inside.
“Even though you were wrong” about this place, Carol told him, “You’re still right."