#5x16

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In an earlier scene, Carol warns him against trusting Michonne after she knocked him out, but he shuts her down immediately.

What does he say?

“I deserved it.. She’s with us.”

He kept her in the dark about his suspicions and plotting, because she is the only one who can reason with the rational side of him at this point.

He expects her to talk him out of it, and first tries to blame it on her knocking him out, but as soon as she makes it clear she did it for him and not them (Alexandrians), he tells her the truth.

He reveals how much of a sway she has on him, what power she holds over him.

“I was afraid you’d talk me out of it. You could’ve.”

He expects disdain, disgust, anger. Instead, he’s met with affirmative trust and counsel.

What is the most important thing she says?

“(Whatever happens), I’m still with you. “

Lori backed away from his growing dominance, because Lori only ever saw/knew a part of Rick, but Michonne has seen it all, and isn’t backing away. She understands that violent men like him are needed now, and that her best spot is wherever he is.

She understands where the violence and rage come from, and trusts her bond with him to temper some of his worst impulses.

She trusts him to be good. She trusts him to lead. She trusts him to commit violence when needed. She trusts him to not hesitate.

She doesn’t shy from telling him her opinion, and affirms she’s with him while also insisting he try to find another way. If he can’t, it’s still them together.

Lori couldn’t understand the change in Rick, She underestimated the fact she was seeing something which had been in him all along, but had been tampered down by society and trying to be a good man. Lori had no experience with the kind of man he had become in the new world, no idea of what he was really made of. She even mentions how non confrontational he had been (“Sometimes I wish he would just have it out with me.”)

She seemed to be almost fearful, and constantly trying to placate him by not disagreeing with him. Whether it was fear, guilt, being worried about his much more volatile reactions, or a combination of all three.

She took it as an attack on her and a deep hatred when really she could not see he was focused on keeping her alive. He could still be a husband and father,eventually, but he couldn’t JUST be a husband and father, not right now, not anymore.

He looks shocked at Michonne not taking the gun and scolding him, a direct opposite of the scene where he tells Lori that he killed Shane.

She backs away (literally) and is disturbed and scared of what he is now. Michonne already knew what he was, he just thought she was in the dark still. But no, she knows him, and she’s STILL with him.