The Walking Dead: 6 Things That "Alone" Did Right (And 3 It Didn't)

1. New Bad Guys

Despite all of the fog and funeral home frights, most deliciously ominous of all had to be what befell Daryl at the end of the episode. After chasing down the car of Beth's abductors on foot all through the night, only to be thwarted by a crossroad, Daryl falls to perhaps his lowest point on the show so far. She was literally all that he had left, and seeing him collapse in the middle of the road in exhaustion and despair was devastating. Well, devastating to us, anyway. To the band of marauders who happened upon him, Daryl was just easy pickings with a crossbow worth acquiring. The men surround him easily and draw a variety of weapons. Luckily, Daryl still has some fight left in him, managing to clock the leader in the face and draw his bow on him before the cronies could fire. Daryl's reflexes impress him, and he gives Daryl the choice of either being recruited into the group or being murdered for his bow. "Why hurt yourself when you can hurt other people?" he asks, smiling broadly. Daryl chooses life, and Joe welcomes him into the group. Obviously, this is not a nice group of people. Daryl clearly would not have aligned himself with them if he'd had any other option, and he doesn't even know the half of it. Joe's voice is distinctive enough for us to realize that his was the group that had invaded the house in which Rick, Michonne, and Carl had been staying in "Claimed." Between this gang's easy violence and clear designs on Michonne in that episode €“ one of them even calling "dibs" when they discovered her shirt €“ it's a relief that Daryl has the sense not to mention that he is searching for his pretty, young, blonde friend Beth. They're a seriously sinister bunch of men, and Jeff Kober as Joe conveys an inherent menace that the Governor never seemed to achieve. Throwing the emotionally fragile Daryl into their midst promises some great drama, and it remains to be seen whether their enthusiasm for violence is contagious, or if they will come across even more prison survivors.