The Walking Dead: That Awkward Moment When Rick’s Group Think Taking Out The Saviors Will Be Just Another Day At The Office

Episode 12, entitled “Not Tomorrow Yet,” of Season 6 of AMC’s The Walking Dead taught Rick’s group a very valuable lesson: Negan is not just another day at the office. In fact, the Saviors are not Woodbury or Terminus but a formidable group that could just be the toughest group of apocalypse survivors to hit the scene yet.

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses Episode 12 of Season 6 of AMC’s The Walking Dead as well as plot story lines from both the TV series and the comics it is based on. Please proceed with caution if you have not yet viewed Episode 12 or do not want spoilers from the comic book series.

Episode 12 of Season 6 of The Walking Dead was all about Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) plan to take out the Saviors and secure a deal with Hilltop that would involve food for Alexandria.

For Walking Dead fans who have not read the comics and do not know much about Negan ( to be played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the TV series), his group the Saviors or Jesus’ (Tom Payne) group at Hilltop, watching Episode 12 was probably pretty tense. It is unclear yet on the TV version of The Walking Dead just how friendly Hilltop will end up being to Rick’s group, so fans are still questioning whether Rick is just being used as a pawn to take out Hilltop’s rival. Added to this is the fact that, unless you have read the comics, the Saviors may not be as bad as Hilltop claims. So, to see Rick and his group sneak in and slaughter fellow human beings was something that didn’t quite sit right.

Then, at the end, the Saviors announced they had Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Carol (Melissa McBride) captive. For fans who get a little skittish about AMC taking a closer look at characters right before they kill them, opening Episode 13 of The Walking Dead with Carol when she hadn’t been seen so much in previous episodes, was all the foreshadowing they needed. And, speaking of foreshadowing, for comic book fans, Glenn (Steven Yeun) seeing all those pictures of bashed in heads was yet another nail in his coffin as far as him meeting his fate at the hands of Negan and his bat-o-destruction, Lucille, was concerned.

But, for Rick, taking out the Saviors was just another day at the office as far as he was concerned.

So far, since the Season 6 return, Rick has been very cocky about just how easy he thinks it will be to take out the Saviors and show Alexandria just how formidable he is. Episode 12 of The Walking Dead, however, showed Rick that one should never be too cocky when it comes to the zombie apocalypse. Just because his group has managed to clear a prison, take out the Governor (David Morrissey) and annihilate Terminus, it does not mean they are invincible. Walking into a situation thinking you are invincible is only going to get you into a whole lot of trouble.

Considering all the religious overtones cropping up not only in Episode 12, but in general during Season 6, Rick should have seen this coming. Besides the obvious introduction of a character called Jesus and a group called the Saviors, there has been Morgan’s (Lennie James) constant battle with how humans should be treated in the apocalypse and Father Gabriel’s (Seth Gilliam) constant moral conscience.

Episode 12, however, really brought to the forefront the fact that pride really does cometh before a fall. All along, since Rick found out about Hilltop, he has been very vocal about just how easy it will be for his group to take out the Saviors. Then, Rick calls a meeting in Alexandria’s church where he rallies the troops to war like a priest would call his parishioners to the way of the Lord. We also have Morgan standing firm as the group’s moral compass, reminding everyone that perhaps they are doing the wrong thing. This is perfect timing considering Father Gabriel has recently come around to Rick’s way of thinking.

All the way through this episode of The Walking Dead, Rick’s group show the audience just how formidable they are. And yet, by the end of the episode, the tides have turned and two of his group have been taken hostage, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Carol (Melissa McBride). So, how will Rick cope now with the fact that his pride has caused the capture of a pregnant woman and the one person who usually steps up and takes out the bad guys? Only time will tell.

Who do you think will win in the upcoming battle between Negan’s Saviors and Rick’s group? Let us know your thoughts and theories by commenting below!

Season 6 of The Walking Dead returns to AMC with Episode 13 (entitled “The Same Boat”) on Sunday March 13 at 9 p.m. ET.

[Image via AMC]