‘The Walking Dead’ season 7, episode 10 preview: What’s next for Andrew Lincoln’s Rick?

In the buildup to the second half of “The Walking Dead” season 7, the name Oceanside was thrown out an awful lot. Specifically, the implication here was mostly that this was a place that could surface again on the show moving forward … and it certainly makes sense that it would when you consider for a minute what some of the characters are going to need from it. If Rick Grimes and the rest of the group want to stop Negan completely dead in his tracks, they’re going to need weaponry. Meanwhile, Oceanside has weaponry.

We could foresee a dilemma coming whenever these people are found, whether it be in next week’s “New Best Friends” episode or otherwise. You don’t want to murder the entire town, since that basically makes you even bigger monsters than most of the Saviors, who at least let many of the communities still survive. However, it’s going to be pretty darn tough to get anyone in Oceanside to buy what you’re selling. These are not people who are very trusting, and for good reason since they’re trying to survive in an extremely cruel, extremely unforgiving world where survival is not something that seems all that possible for many people.

Next week’s synopsis – “While searching for a missing Alexandrian, Rick and his group encounter a mysterious collective, its inhabitants unlike any they have come across.”

That certainly sounds like Oceanside, no? The main reason that we’re speculating so much about this story is simply because of this! It also makes some sense that if the group are going to make some progress in their attempts to thwart Negan, they are going to need the assistance of this town sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it may be hard to convince other communities and leaders to take part in something that feels a little more like a suicide mission than anything else.

Even with the weapons (if they so get them), we’ve still got a feeling that this is going to be a rather difficult road ahead.

Promo – Is our theory about Oceanside wrong? It could very well, since these people Rick’s running into, now that we’ve seen the episode, seem more to be a group that Father Gabriel’s trail led them to. It’s still possible that they could help, but we’ll just have to see…

Tonight’s episode – In addition to sharing what you want to see on the show next week, be sure to head over here to read our most-recent review right now. (Photo: AMC.)