The Walking Dead: JSS

Episode “JSS” is simply the most brutal and violent episode in the history of The Walking Dead, a television show that has a long history of brutality and violence. Some of the violence felt a bit on the gratuitous side, and I can’t say I’m entirely digging the Wolves storyline. My biggest issue with it is that it seems so unnecessary and not entirely realistic. The show has gotten to the point where simply fighting off zombies isn’t enough. It’s hard to sustain six seasons of battling zombies, so they have to move onto fighting against other humans. To a certain extent, I understand that people would be fighting over limited resources. However, in the post-apocalyptic zombie world, just surviving against zombies who want to eat you would be enough. I can’t fathom that there would be a group like the Wolves—who exist on brutality simply for the sake of being evil. What would they even gain by taking over Alexandria? It’s one thing to kill people, and it’s another to hack them up into small pieces because it’s a fun thing to do. They’re weakly developed and unrealistic, and I expect more from The Walking Dead.

In this episode, we finally got to learn what JSS means. It ties back to Enid and it means Just Survive Somehow. They showed Enid’s difficult path to Alexandria. We also learned that the horn that led the zombies away from the paths of the Pied Pipers and back to the community came from the truck horn of one of the Wolves.
MVP of the defense of Alexandria
No question here. Carol by a mile. As soon as she saw what was happening, she stepped into action, killing a Wolf and disguising herself as this person. She showed what I like so much about Carol. She is practical and no-nonsense, doing whatever is necessary for survival. She is the perfect soldier. I guess the jig is up so to speak with pretending to be a vulnerable housewife.

LVP of the defense of Alexandria

The easy answer would be the original members of the community, but that would be too easy. I mean, I knew these folks were useless and pathetic, but not this useless and pathetic. At least Deanna acknowledged the fact that she would serve no purpose in a fight and stayed out of it. If not for the few remaining members of Rick’s group, they would all be dead.

No, the real least valuable person is Morgan. I was really liking his character until this episode. Morgan refuses to kill people. Sorry, pal, but in zombie apocalypse world there’s no room for pacifism. He let members of the Wolves escape—with a gun no less. These people he let escape are just going to come back and kill members of the community. By letting them live, he is sentencing members of his community to death. This is beyond foolish, and I lost all respect for Morgan. On the other hand, he did provide the best moment of the show, when he subdues a Wolf and ties him up, only to have Carol come by and shoot him. That was pretty awesome.

The Traitor

Someone from the community had to betray them to the Wolves. It can’t be a coincidence that they knew the exact moment that Alexandria was going to be vulnerable to attack because all of the best fighters (Carol aside) was away. So who was the traitor? Enid. I don’t think it was a coincidence that they gave her backstory at the beginning of the show. My theory is that she is a Wolf plant who they sent to infiltrate Alexandria. She even provided some hints such as when she said this place was too large to defend. She also didn’t join in on the fighting. Enid is the traitor.

Random Thoughts

What the hell took Rick and company so long to return? Even by the end of the episode, they still hadn’t returned. I get it that they have a zombie horde to contend with but they should have made it back by then.

Denise, the psychiatrist turned community physician, needs to man up. I mean her patient was going to die anyway. What was she worried about, getting sued for malpractice? These Alexandrians are pathetic.

If this skeleton group of defenders can fend off the Wolves, what chance are they going to have when Rick, Darryl, Abraham, etc. join in on the fight? Not a very good one.

Not my favorite episode by a long shot, but certainly an entertaining one.