It was another building week for the walking dead.  But this time around it honestly feels like we are heading somewhere.  And we got to take a road trip to another distant place in the ol’ RV so while you queue up the theme song from National Lampoon’s Vacation, I’ll remind everyone….

***Spoilers ahead. ***

If you have not seen this episode already and don’t want to know some of what happens you might want to stop reading now….no really! now! Any further and your just tempting yourself to read what happened this week.

When we last left Jesus, he had just sent naked Rick and Michonne scrambling for their weapons by invading their bedroom and mentioning he would like to have a chat.  Turns out he also visited the armory, and the pantry.  (Great security Alexandria Compound!!!)  It turns out he is some sort of scout for another survivor group called the Hilltop Colony (about a day’s drive away.)  He also mentions that Rick and Darryl could have just left him out there to die, but they didn’t so he felt they were good people and worthy of possibly trading with.

It seems to be only a shock to the Rick and his peeps that other people in the world of walkers would have built encampments and attempted to return to some sort of societal normalcy, but as Jesus someone ominously tells them, “Your world is about to get a whole lot bigger.”

We also have the typical character building subplot line to contend with, and this week it’s time to get to know Abraham a little better.  It appears he is a bit smitten with Sasha, who apparently he has been patrolling the compound with for awhile.  But that is coming to an end.   She breaks the news to him that Eugene (who is wanting to step up and make a difference) will be his new partner as she is going to take a lookout tower post.  It really seems to me that she is trying to put some space between them. Perhaps to avoid any unfortunate emotional entanglement.

How the heck did we go from Abraham beating Eugene almost dead because he lied about being the only one with the cure to the walker outbreak to being ok with Eugene being his new partner?!?!

Anyway…Next thing we know Abraham is bed with Rosita and she is presenting him with a necklace she has made for him out of a found busted piece of tail light.  Kind of makes sense that Sasha would want to avoid a love triangle, and Rosita seems to really REALLY like Abraham.  But something isn’t right…we can tell.

So suddenly Darryl and Denise discover that Jesus has slipped through their iron tight security and somehow converge on Rick’s house.  One-Eyed Carl manages to get the drop on Jesus who now is just sitting at the top of the stairs while Rick and Michonne *ahem* compose themselves.

So after Jesus fills them in on the existence the group quickly packs up the RV for the road trip to check things out.   Denise makes Darryl a homemade nutrition bar for the trip (gee thanks mom…grapenuts and peanutbutter, my favorite!!!)  and basically tells him to lay off the potentially rabies infested roadkill.  And in a nod to last week’s abrupt introduction of Rickshonne, Rick tells Carl that the whole thing with them being together “just happened” (no seriously!!!) Carl was just as blindsided as we were, and it’s such good story telling to skip all that mushy romantic stuff.  (Think how much simpler all those pesky fairytales would be if they had just adopted this writing style…Cinderella flees the palace losing one of her glass slippers, and then suddenly was tangled with the prince in post-coital soft core bliss…”the end”)

Meanwhile out on the road…and before Darryl has had a chance to bust out the beer keg and portable BBQ to “roast him up some squirrel”, we run across a small SUV that has forgotten it only drives well when it’s 4 wheels are on the ground. Jesus recognizes it as one of his compounds, and soon they are entering a nearby medical center in a search for survivors.  It’s worth mentioning here that the walkers they encounter hanging out of the side-turned SUV and inside the medical center are the only walkers we see the whole episode.  (If I were the walkers I would be chewing up my representation…I mean they are only getting 7 minutes of airtime and having to do their own stunts in their own show)

In a short lived offensive, Team Rick manages to liberate a few survivors including the Hilltop Compound’s doctor, who happens to be an obstetrician much to Glen and Maggie’s delight, and (in a waiting and doctor selection method that eerily mirrors many current HMO’s) offers to help care for her during her pregnancy.

Funny side note:  Along the way Abraham asks Glen “When you were pouring the bisquick, did you mean to make pancakes?”   He can’t seem to believe that Glen and Maggie would want to bring a child into the world of the walkers.

When they finally arrive they discover that Hilltop Colony is actually the remains of a plantation style farm that was restored to give local school children a place to see how life was “way back in the good ol’ days” (and if they add some audio-animatronic figures that die and stay that way, it might actually be a little taste of that.)

They meet the colony’s leader Gregory and attempt to negotiate immediately, only to discover he will only talk to them after they have “freshened up” (This is a historical landmark after all and walker blood is very hard to get out of the antique reproduction colonial arm chairs)   Turns out this is more just a chance for Gregory to get the lowdown on the Alexandria Compounds bountiful ammo and dwindling food supply.  Rick unexplainably decides to put Maggie in charge of the trade negotiations and Gregory refuses to deal with her.  They don’t seem to need anything from the Rick and Co compound even though the Hilltop Colony has resorted to sharpening sticks for spears as their bullet reserve has reached zero.

Another returning group changes the situation dramatically, because they have been off for a visit with Negan, and the tribute they took him wasn’t acceptable.  To make sure they group returns with the additional demanded supplies Negan has taken hostage the brother of Ethan (a member of the group…don’t get too attached he’s about to die) and also ordered the public execution of Gregory.  Ethan does stab Gregory with a knife in the stomach, but Rick and his group rapidly take him and a few others on in a fight that shows us how Darryl quickly can turn fully functioning human arms into slightly less functional broken ones, and sees Abraham almost choked to death.   After Rick cuts Ethan’s throat, the rest of the Hilltop Colony inhabitants descend on Rick and company spears in hand, until Jesus steps in and settles everyone down.

Rick demands to know more about this Negan they keep hearing about,  and are told that when he visited he came to Hilltop with his group (called the Saviors) they demanded half the supplies and food the colony produces and to show their brutal nature publicly killed a 14-year-old boy in the middle of the town.    Darryl rips them apart for paying the ransom, and when Maggie returns to negotiate with the now bedridden recovering Gregory, she has all the power.  She demands half of what Hilltop has upfront, and Rick and his group are now going to deal with Negan.

Before the Alexandria group leaves with its RV loaded to the brim, Glenn and Maggie get an ultrasound picture of their unborn child.   Buckle up kids…I’ve got a feeling we are getting towards the top of the rollercoaster lift and it’s going to be camel backs from here to the end of the season.