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Thursday, March 12, 2015

The Walking Dead 5x13: Forget


The previous week's episode of The Walking Dead was titled “Remember.” The title of this episode is “Forget.” This is what Rick's group has to do. They need to remember who they were before the zombie apocalypse. They need to forget what they've become after the zombie apocalypse.

Life in Alexandria seems pretty sweet (relatively). They have houses, food, beer, running water, electricity, walls and welcoming parties. This is the kind of place you would think Rick's group is looking for. However, Rick's group is having trouble adjusting.

Somewhat surprisingly, Daryl and Michonne are the ones who seem most accepting of this newly found sanctuary. Daryl buddies up with Aaron on a hunting mission outside the walls and a spaghetti dinner inside the walls. Michonne feels safe enough to hang up her sword...for the time being. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on her part but it's nice to know she at least wants to live a life peace. (Watching characters live a life of peace can be boring but I do want my characters to want a peaceful life.)

Meanwhile, Rick and Carol are semi-plotting to take it over Alexandria. They're claiming it's only contingency plan in case the Alexandrians are in over their heads. However, Carol verbally traumatized a young boy while Rick thought hard enough about offing a man simply to get into that man's wife's pants that he literally reached for his gun. I'm starting to wonder if Rick's group will be able to analyze the situation and take control of Alexandria only if such action is warranted or if they'll give in to pure id.

Sasha is having the worst time of it. She clearly can't get used to being in a safe environment and seems to resent the citizens of Alexandria for having an easier time. I'm not sure why she seems to be having the worst of it. Sasha has recently lost people close to her but so has everyone else in Rick's group. I suppose trauma affects everyone differently, though.

While Aaron and Daryl were outside the walls they come across the horse Buttons. Daryl makes the a-little-too-on-the-nose comment that the longer horses are in the wild the “more they become what they really are.” That has been the crux of the past two episodes. The question is if Rick's group has been in the wild too long. Can they become peaceful and trusting? Can they coexist with the Alexandrians? Or will they stay what they really are? (I would quibble that it's more “what they thought they had to become” instead of “what they really are” but you've all probably heard too much of that from me already.)

Other Thoughts:
Ahhhh...the gun silencer. The most unrealistic thing to pervade all of media. Although suppressors wouldn't be totally useless. They do make it harder to pinpoint where a gunshot came from. So maybe the zombies would have a harder time honing in on suppressed guns?

Rick called the people of Alexandria the luckiest people alive. I don't buy it. You don't survive this long on luck alone. This is probably a case of Rick not valuing intelligence and ingenuity over brute strength and selfishness.

To add to that point, don't underestimate Aaron. He was able to spy on the group undetected long enough to learn all about them and even left supplies for them undetected.

I'm not sure Aaron was legitimately "hunting rabbits" though. He was following Daryl.

I did legitimately laugh at loud at Abraham's response to Rosita noting that the party at least had beer.

First the dogs and now Buttons the horse. The Walking Dead really is into killing animals this season.

So, how much fan fiction is being written about Daryl and Aaron right now?

Also, who wouldn't want to watch a TV series devoted to Daryl offing zombies with his crossbow whilst riding a motorcycle?

Spencer reminds me of someone but I can't quite put my finger on who.

I definitely think there's a conflict within Rick. Part of him is coming to accept Alexandria but another part is fighting it.

I don't think Carol is conflicted, though. She still thinks they're weak and thus deserving of being overtaken.

Speaking of Carol, I feel like the audience was supposed to applaud Carol's traumatizing of a little child. I did not.

That being said, I'm still surprised that Carol didn't just go ahead and off the kid. Maybe that's progress?

Sasha's freak out at the end kind of played like "how can you be laughing and drinking inside these walls when zombies are eating people outside them?" But, really, Alexandria is a safe haven filled with people actively trying to recruit more people. What else should they do? Why can't they have a little fun?

Did Sasha go outside the walls for more target practice or did she intend to leave the place for good?

7 comments:

  1. I loved the underlining cheesyness of Aaron's comment about how "He always run away" directed at Daryl. Seem to have worked too.

    There could be an interesting thing brewing up with Deanna and her rule over Alexandria. She was/is someone who should be a major proponent of democracy, but it also was her family that built up the place to it's post-Z-day glory and probably wouldn't agree on any measure which would allow someone else take control.

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  2. First the dogs and now Buttons the horse. The Walking Dead really are into killing animals this season.

    Also of note, I suppose, is that this episode marks the second time in the show's run that we've had to see a horse getting devoured by walkers. The last unfortunate equine we bore witness to was the horse Rick rode into Atlanta way back in the pilot.

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  3. what bothered me was how could the kid have tracked Carol ?
    Even assuming he knows Carol is Ms Cookies, we saw her leave the party, Jessie shows up and talks with Rick for 3 minutes, the kid stamps Rick and then someone calls him so he dashes inside the living room. Yet somehow he managed to follow Carol in those dark streets.

    And yeah I do realize getting upset on plotholes or plot-driven stupidity is a lost fight on this show but still.

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  4. Any thoughts on the "W" carved into the zombie? It's obviously setup for something but I'm not sure what. Then they had the kid Carol almost scared to death running around giving everyone "A" stamps and it seemed like maybe we were supposed to connect that to the W, but I dunno.

    while Rick thought hard enough about offing a man simply to get into that man's wife's pants that he literally reached for his gun

    That was weird. Like, there isn't anything I wouldn't put past Rick doing in the name of protecting the group (rightly or wrongly), including gunning someone down in cold blood in broad daylight. But to even contemplate doing that just because he kinda likes a girl seems odd. Like, he has bigger things to worry about in the Zombie Poc than getting laid. So if the intent was to show Rick was already on the edge of taking Alexandria for himself, it failed, because it isn't like he was motivated by a survival thing.

    Sasha is having the worst time of it. She clearly can't get used to being in a safe environment and seems to resent the citizens of Alexandria for having an easier time

    Well-Meaning Lady: "What's your favorite meal?"
    Sasha: "My Brothers-Not-Dead Stew."

    Rick called the people of Alexandria the luckiest people alive. I don't buy it. You don't survive this long on luck alone.

    I agree. They've clearly had *some* luck - it seems like there's nothing protecting that gate but the gate itself, and one decent-sized herd of zombies would knock that right over, so I suppose they've been lucking in avoiding one of those - but I still think there's at least some kind of dark secrets to the place, even if not on the level of a Woodbury or Terminus.

    First the dogs and now Buttons the horse.

    Wait, so was the horse really there all along, did Aaron somehow summon it, or was it just the Smoke Monster?

    Also, who wouldn't want to watch a TV series devoted to Daryl offing zombies with his crossbow whilst riding a motorcycle?

    I would totally watch that. And probably enjoy it more than this one.

    That being said, I'm still surprised that Carol didn't just go ahead and off the kid. Maybe that's progress?

    Ha! When that kid first showed up, I joked that he'd better be careful, since killing little kids is kind of Carol's thing now. Then she went fucking nuts on him and I was like...she could have handled that better. I mean, just from a "keeping it secret" perspective, I feel like she went too far (as opposed to a "don't threaten kids with being eaten by zombies" perspective, in which she absolutely went too far). Tell the kid "oh, let's just keep this between us and you'll get lots of cookies" and he's more likely to keep his trap shut, and even if he does talk, it'd be easy enough for Carol to wave it off. But if she told me what she told that kid, the first thing I'd do is run back to my mom and be like "that lady's fucking nuts, yo!"

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  5. @Teemu: She was/is someone who should be a major proponent of democracy, but it also was her family that built up the place to it's post-Z-day glory and probably wouldn't agree on any measure which would allow someone else take control.

    I wondered about that, too. Like, she seems to have a pretty firm control over everyone in the city, but what happens to the place once she dies, or someone challenges her rule? They say a benevolent tyrant is the best kind of ruler, but the big problem with that is that two rarely show up in a row...

    Which is the kind of thing I'd find fascinating to watch on this show, the power struggles of a small community within the apocalypse, but which we'll never see because Rick will have to blow this whole thing up and get the group back on the road by the end of the season three episodes from now because the producers are petrified of any long term status quo change.

    @Frenchie: what bothered me was how could the kid have tracked Carol ?

    Ditto. And most annoying, it just seems like an editing problem. Have Carol leave after the kid and his family get there and it's a lot easier to wave away the rest. But when Carol is already gone before the kid that tracks her even shows up, it just doesn't work.

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  6. Teebore: Any thoughts on the "W" carved into the zombie?

    Local boys here have spotted "Wolves not far" tags on wall in the trashed home-place of Noah's (was it the walkers, in the end, or did they come in only afterwards when the gates were ajar?) and are adamant that there is a malevolent gang by that name going around and judging from the carved W are closing by.

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  7. Oh damn it. I just realized they didn't probably carve the W into a zombie and the ones in Noah's homeplace weren't overrunners but rather overrunnees... Noah's bro wasn't a zombie-kill. Too little bitemarks.

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