CLEVELAND, Ohio - The midseason premiere of "The Walking Dead" ended with the introduction of a new group that we don't really know anything about.
Last episode, Rick and company went in search of Father Gabriel, who has taken all the supplies from the Safe-Zone and fled. All that's left of him is a note to rick that reads "Boat."
Rick led the group back near the boathouse where he and Aaron found supplies a few episodes ago. But they're ambushed by a large group of stone-faced survivors.
We know from spoilers and teasers for tonight's episode, "Best New Friends," that the group's headquarters is a junkyard with a cool fighting pit and a spiked walker. But what does that mean for Rick's group?
The person with the boots
Let's get the obvious out of the way. The person in the boots spying on the Alexandria Safe-Zone during the midseason finale is with this group. They obviously got the drop on Father Gabriel and forced him raid the Safe-Zone's supplies. You could see Gabriel at the beginning of last episode getting into a car with other people. Mystery of the boots solved.
Proving themselves
In the preview for Sunday's episode, the leader of the junkyard group tells Rick his life belongs to them now. Thus, Rick must prove himself worthy of getting it back. This should lead to a showdown between Mr. Grimes and the spiked walker that peaked our interest in early midseason promos. Assuming Rick doesn't die (I mean, come on!), a victory over the walker could put him the junkyard crew's good graces.
The Saviors
We still don't know if, like the other communities we've met, the junkyard has a deal with the Saviors. It would make sense, considering Negan's group has touched every community in the area in some way. Though, considering the junkyard peeps have managed to stay hidden from Rick's group, it's possible they've managed to avoid Negan's wrath.
Are they good or bad
Making Rick fight a dangerous walker doesn't exactly paint a good picture of the junkyard group. But I guess it's every survivor for themselves at this point. It seems pretty obvious that the next several episodes will focus on Rick recruiting other communities against the Saviors and trying to gather weapons. Thus, he'd be stupid not to get the junkyard people on board, especially since there appears to be hundreds of them.
Where's Gabriel?
Father Gabriel's role on the TV show has been pretty consistent with that of the comic book. So expect him to be alive once the junkyard people reveal his whereabouts (unless he had to fight that spiked walker). In fact, Gabriel makes it pretty far on the comic. Expect him to remain a presence, though not an integral character, moving forward.
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