‘The Walking Dead’ Episode 5.13 “Forget” (8.5 out of 10) Created by Frank Darabont; Starring Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan; Sundays on AMC.
After tonight’s episode, the big question is whether or not Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) crew has become the type of people that he warned Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) about in his entry interview. Sure, we still love Rick, Daryl (Norman Reedus), Michonne (Danai Gurira), and the rest of them—but tonight we saw them steal weapons (and chocolate), throw sexy vibes at married women, and terrify children into submission. It was fun as hell to watch, but, to quote Harvey Dent, have our heroes survived long enough to see themselves become the villains? As usual, spoilers will happen.
The Triple Threat
Rick, Daryl, and Carol (Melissa McBride) have been meeting to discuss what happened to their stash-o-guns, and these meetings have evolved into what appears to be a super-secret contingency club—I’m not sure that even their own group knows what they’re up to. It’s here that we start to see an interesting, but kind of scary part of Rick Grimes. During his description of why the folks at Alexandria are lucky, he wraps up by saying, “And now we’re here.” Clearly, Rick thinks he and his people are better than the Alexandrians in some capacity. It’s something that we saw last week, when Aiden (Daniel Bonjour) got smacked by Glenn (Steven Yeun) for acting tough instead of being tough. While it’s true that Rick’s team has been forged into some hardcore survivors, lording that over the Alexandrians is a slippery slope to navigate—it was that same air of superiority that led the Termites to start eating people. The show appears to be using the relationship between Rick and Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) as a microcosm of this larger issue—after Rick delivers a surprisingly sexy kiss on Jessie’s cheek, we see him grip his newly-stolen pistol as Jessie and her husband walk by. There’s some great chemistry between these two actors, and as much as I hope they hook up, I hope they do so without anyone getting murdered.
Daryl’s storyarc during this episode is a bit more on the positive side. I wouldn’t have pegged Aaron (Ross Marquand) as having much in common with Daryl, but the mutual respect that they develop for one another was great to watch. It made Daryl seem like less of a man-beast and Aaron seem like more of a badass. As unexpected as this pairing was, their conversation about being outsiders in a place like Alexandria made their scenes believable.
And man, oh man, do we need to talk about Carol. Watching her talk recipes and gossip with the local busybodies only to turn around and threaten to feed a small child to the zombies if he snitches on her gun heist—brilliant stuff. There was a moment when one of the Alexandrians displays some machismo when offering to teach Carol how to handle a weapon when I thought, “Dude, if you only freaking knew how Carol handles a weapon…” Melissa McBride was equal parts charming and terrifying tonight, and I love the direction that her character has taken.
The Dinner Party
While some of Rick’s group was nonexistent tonight, the ones that were around had a few choice moments at a dinner party that Deanna throws in honor of their new guests. Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) was the most uncomfortable, as she’s dealing with a mixture of survivor’s guilt, hostility towards her hosts, and what could be defined as an addiction to the survivalist lifestyle. She criticized the Alexandrians’ lifestyle during an outburst at their dinner party, which is a juxtaposition that we’ve been running into lately. Our heroes have been through hell, and now that they’ve met some people who haven’t experienced that kind of hardship, they worry about getting soft. While I don’t love how Sasha’s character has been narrowed down to “pissed-off girl,” I do like seeing how a group of survivors has been thrown into a different environment with a different set of rules for survival. Sure, our team can mow down a zombie horde without breaking a sweat, but can they put up with the profound terror of chit chat about pasta makers?
I think the conversation that Michonne has with Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) most clearly defines their new struggle. As Michonne ironically observes a plastic, sword-shaped toothpick, Abraham tells her that they’re fighting with a different set of weapons now. There’s a balance that our survivors are striving to achieve; one in which they’re still tough enough to deal with life when things go down the toilet, but not so tough that they’ll forget to learn how to play nice with others. It’s been great seeing them struggle with the Alexandrian’s alleged normality while the outside world is still a place of nightmares.
Verdict
Watching Rick’s group adapt to their new surroundings has been a blast to watch. I love seeing how firmly-established characters navigate new and unfamiliar territory. Each person has dealt with this in their own way, but my favorites are still Carol and Daryl. I’m a little worried about Rick, but I think his self-confidence is just setting the stage for their inevitable confrontation with Negan. I do think the series is going to start following along with the comic book’s storyline—we saw Rick get stamped with an A for Alexandria, but we also saw a walker with a W carved into its forehead, which hints at the existence of another more savage community.