Did the Alexandrians on The Walking Dead just turn evil?

SPOILERS. This post talks about Season 6, Episode 12 of The Walking Dead 'No Tomorrow Yet'. If you haven't watched the episode yet, GO WATCH IT!
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Still here? Great. So, what the HECK are Rick & Company doing? Are they just as bad as the Governor?  Are they going to start eating people?  Is this another step on Rick's long descent into tyrannical evil? Those seem to be the questions a lot of fans are asking. Apparently, breaking up with Rosita is a big no-no. ESPECIALLY if you do it with a dingleberries quote.



Just kidding. The main issue out of this episode was that the Alexandrians, lead by Team Rick, invaded Negan's fortress and killed a bunch of humans in their sleep, It was suspenseful, gripping, and left many people wondering if our "good guys" had turned a corner toward darkness. And many of the characters seem to be wondering the same thing, including Glenn.

Here are a couple points that I haven't seen many people bring up. First, why kill people the with the stab to the head. Isn't that a tactic for walkers? Well, sure. But if you DON'T spike the brain, your murdered bad guy will become a zombie, and then you have to kill them all over again. And really, isn't it MORE humane to prevent people from becoming zombies? So I don't have an issue with their preferred method of disposing of opponents.

The bigger question, though, is whether or not it's right to kill people in their sleep. The show definitely makes it look morally questionable and horrific, But let's examine the strategy a little bit. If you're convinced that you can't make peace with your enemy, then you need to kill them. Clearly, you want to kill them with the least loss of life on your side. So you're not going to knock on their door and say "hey, we can't co-exist, so can you come out here so we can kill you?" Because doing that results in a lot of your friends, and people who see things as you do, dying. Basically, Glenn can kill bad men in their sleep, or take a chance that the bad men will kill him.

Second. This isn't some crazy zombie apocalypse strategy. It's how armed forces and police units in the real world work.  Seal Team Six didn't enter Osama bin Laden's compound at noon. They went in under cover of darkness, and struck while their opponents were too groggy to react.

In Iraq, our forces did the same thing. Striking insurgent hideouts at night, when they had the advantage of night vision goggles, and they could neutralize the enemy's home-field advantage by hitting the while all or most of them were sleeping. Police units often make raids at night or early in the morning for the same reason. It's safer to deal with people when they're not awake and alert.

For a long time, Rick Grimes and his fellow survivors have basically wandered from one situation to the next, trying not to die. In the process, they've experienced some brutal things, and done some brutal things. But for most of the show's history, movng on, getting away from danger, was a big part of Rick's plan.

The loss of Carl's eye seems to have sparked a moment of clarity for Rick. His character is working to build a future, instead of simply surviving. Now that he's fighting FOR something greater, he's making the sort of strategic choices that organized groups make. Let's hope this trend continues.