The Walking Dead: What is Deanna’s Deal?

She seems like a never-ending font of enthusiasm, and that’s something that has really taken Rick in…but many viewers are still skeptical. The fact that she is not Douglas Monroe, the character from the comics on whom she’s based, means that even comic readers who often think they know what’s coming have an anything-can-happen philosophy when it comes to the character.

So…what is it that we have on our mind?

Does she know Carol is faking?

As they noted on tonight’s episode of Talking Dead, if there’s anyone who knows that Carol is playing at being a happy, hippy-dippy housewife, it’s going to be Deanna, who told Rick last week that she considered being a professional poker player because she’s so good at knowing how to read people.

And it’s that sense — the idea that she could know more than she’s saying, and that she could be playing it straight for the benefit of her audience — both in-story and out of it — that infuses all these questions with a sense of urgency.

What does she want from Rick?

The easy answer is that she wants to build a bigger society — one that can endure beyond her and become the start of civilization and sustainability. That’s what she says, over and over again…

…and if that’s the case, the hard sell is understandable. But why are THESE GUYS the first new survivors they’ve done in however long it’s been?

Well, that’s a pretty big question. What about Rick and company would make them good additions to the community? We know that Aaron and Eric were following them for a while, and while we don’t know how long, we do know that for that whole time, all the group was doing was killing stuff. Walkers, animals, and possibly people, depending on how long Aaron was keeping watch.

So are Deanna and company really looking for brute force? And if so, is that part of why she’s so keen to keep guns out of their hands when they’re inside the walls? She’s specifically cultivating a dangerous group?

What does she know about the origins of the outbreak?

There’s obviously some things that she’s involved with here; everyone is speculating (probably rightly) that the people she expelled from Alexandria will turn out to be a threat later, and might be part of the reason she wants Rick and company.

That said, she was also in Congress. Even if she didn’t rate very highly, she’s still got to have some information — if not about the roots of the outbreak, then about the government’s initial response and damage assessment. How much does she know? Did DC hold up better than Atlanta? Did the government outlive the CDC? And if so, does she know as much as Jenner did, or maybe more?