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Despite taking place during a zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead (2010) is fundamentally a show about people. It explores how people evolve physically, mentally, morally, emotionally, when forced into an existence grounded in violence, constantly overshadowed by the spectre of death. Death constantly looms at their doorstep, pounds on their walls, waits to literally drag them down. Attempting to hold onto the “type” of people they were pre-apocalypse proves an ongoing battle, as hardening to the realities of their necessity is what fuels change and strips away the ethics and codes that govern civilization. Each character handles things in their own way.

By the time the group arrives at Alexandria, a pristine self-sufficient walled community outside Washington DC (with homes starting in the $800ks!), Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) can hardly believe these “regular” people still exist. The townsfolk are relics of a dead world, people living life as if they weren’t surrounded by endless madness and violence. They exist like fish in a tank, completely unfit for survival outside the protection of their constructed safety. Rick, who has bravely confronted the zombie-filled world since the beginning, who has met men who crossed the line of sanity with no hope for redemption, who has slaughtered hundreds if not thousands of undead, who has met cannibals and crazies and people determined to sacrifice others, who has lost his wife and dozens of friends to the undead, can’t handle the idea that these people are surviving the old-fashioned way. He knows they won’t be able to forever.

Season Five depicts Rick challenging the authority of the Alexandria community. He pleaded with their leader Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) to allow guns within the walls. He fought with people who questioned the horrors that his group had survived. Rick even exploded into a tirade in the street, covered in blood, waving his gun at residents until Michonne (Danai Gurira) knocked him out. The season closed with him proving his point; Pete (Corey Brill), the Alexandria man who Rick deemed dangerous proved he was, murdering Deanna’s husband Reg (Steve Coulter) before Rick put him down in front of everyone. Then, suddenly, Morgan (Lennie James) showed up.

Season Six opens with a big plan: There’s a huge quarry full of thousands of walkers near Alexandria. It’s what has been keeping the town safe. But the barricades keeping the walkers inside are weakening, and Rick devises a plan to pied-piper them down a controlled road and divert them away from the town. It’s not a good plan. There are countless flaws, and unnecessary risks that could be avoided by figuring out a way to dispose of the walkers while they are kept in the quarry. But it’s intentionally dumb for plot and character reasons. It’s what Rick says he wants to do, and by this point, he’s in charge. Deanna cracked after Reg’s murder, and put all her trust in Rick. The plan shows the way people are following Rick despite their reservations. But like the stylistic choices of the episode that drives this point home, “First Time Again,” not everything is black and white.

Rick is a flawed character. He’s made numerous poor decisions throughout the series. From a narrative perspective, Rick’s shortcomings make him more accessible to the viewer —it shows he’s human—and nobody wants to watch an infallible protagonist, which renders an already fantastic world even more unbelievable. But by the time this junction arrives during the Alexandria story, Rick is at an inflection point.

The Walking Dead has always had a “moral compass” character that helps keep everyone’s sanity in check. They help people hang on to shreds of their former selves. First it was Dale (Jeff DeMunn), then Hershel (Scott Wilson). Hershel’s somewhat-son-in-law, Glenn (Steven Yeun) often fills the role, among others. When he returns for Season Six, Morgan, a character only presented a few times prior, the last of which he was point-of-no-return crazy, possesses a zen understanding of the world. He challenges Rick’s decisions and motivations at Alexandria. He also harbors a belief that the Rick Grimes he met in the series pilot still exists inside.

Rick still thinks he’s the good guy. He thinks his plan, along with all his actions, are in the best interest of his family and the people he’s protecting. The AV club says “Rick isn’t somebody you can trust without reservations at this point. He’s got a hectic, nervous energy to him that always seems to be on the edge of collapse, and he doesn’t deal with rejection well.”

Jon Sham of The Baltimore Sun adds “Rick is torn between his fierce desire to protect his family and his ability to convince the Alexandrians that they need to rethink the way they protect themselves.”

But in doing so, Rick is bordering on The Governor (David Morrissey) territory. The Governor had a town he controlled, with people who followed along with whatever he said, who existed peacefully so long as they didn’t contest anything he said. The town was pretty, the way towns used to be, led by a man willing to murder anyone who threatened its existence (like groups of Army soldiers, and Rick’s own group).

That’s the exact definition of Rick’s present situation with one glaring distinction: Rick isn’t yet a full-on psychopath like The Governor. Delusioned as he may occasionally be, Rick still operates out of desire to protect his family and friends, where The Governor sought power and protection only for himself. But the show uses the Alexandria setting and his character development to put Rick in a position to build his own Woodbury, and they give him all the tools to make it happen. The distinction comes in Rick’s associations, his family, and his proven ability to bounce back from rage mode, trauma mode, or whatever other mode he’s in. But he rarely does it alone, which means this is a great time for Morgan’s reappearance.

Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Tara (Alanna Masterson) engage in a conversation about second chances, and how giving them to the right people is the only way to survive this world. “Out on the road, it’s kill or be killed, but that way doesn’t work inside these walls,” says Sham. That mentality is what separates men like Rick from men like The Governor. That’s a distinction Rick has to make if he doesn’t want to transform into his greatest nemesis, and one Morgan will likely assist with.