What started out as a cute scene between The Recruitment Bros. on The Walking Dead turned gruesome with a new "W" walker. While out in the woods, Aaron and Daryl Dixon stumbled upon a dead woman who had been tied to a tree and eaten alive. When they raised her head to kill her, they noticed the W. So there's no way that the group isn't going to pursue this mystery now that these two are involved. They can't ignore this weirdness or this threat anymore. This season of The Walking Dead hasn't had a clear antagonist, but many threads are drawing together for next Sunday's season finale. These "W"s may still be mysterious, and by the looks of that woman, they are definitely the sign of something dangerous.
I had predicted that the Ws were being carved onto people while they were still alive, because it's the only way the markings could make any kind of sense. So is this a type of sacrifice from a religious group? Is this Is this an allusion to Lavinia from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus? There are a ton of ways to read this single letter.
It could also be a type of execution — Deanna Monroe insisted to Constable Rick Grimes that the Alexandria Safe-Zone did not execute people, and that would make an excellent juxtaposition. They just exile people. There's no way that the W is related to exile, is there? Don't forget about the "A" stamp from the welcome party. However, I can't see anyone at the Alexandria Safe-Zone being so evil that they would tie a living woman to a tree. We haven't known them for a while, but it's already obvious that such a fate is not their style.
Perhaps, instead, Deanna knows about these "W" people and they are her specific reason for wanting to run the Alexandria Safe-Zone the way she does. Rick Grimes does not have the best opinion of the Safe-Zone residents and their level of street cred, if you will. However, I'm willing to bet that they've seen more than he thinks.
Image: Gene Page/AMC
