Sadé Green reviews the thirteenth episode of The Walking Dead Season 5…
As the gang get acquainted with their brand new surroundings in Alexandria, they try to ensure their safety by blending in as much as possible and of course stealing themselves some secret weapons. But is there a division forming in the gang or is it the residents of Alexandria that are beginning to divide?
There is something about Alexandria… I’m sure you’d agree. It’s not something you can quite put your finger on but there is something suspicious afoot. With the revelation that they don’t assign guards to the clock towers, one has to wonder why the residents don’t seem to be scared of what their walls hold back. Rick, Carol and Daryl can’t be blamed for plotting to steal and hide some guns for protection – just in case. In ‘Forget’, our favourite family show us just how difficult it is to forget the horrors of the outside world. The residents of Alexandria plan to throw our Family a little soirée to help them settle in better, but their nonchalant attitudes only rile the gang up more.
Poor Sasha starts the episode in the middle of the night. Unable to sleep she goes beyond the walls and does as a bit of target practice on some picture frames containing images of the family that once lived in her home. All the while she is apparently having some sort of panic attack making it evident that some of the gang are still finding it incredibly difficult dealing with the normality of Alexandria. Michonne however, clearly feels perfectly safe. In one scene we see her hanging up her sword above her fireplace. The imagery alone of her ‘hanging up her sword’ is terrifying enough – surely she doesn’t feel that safe? Or maybe the placement of her sword, central to her living area is a means to remind her to not get too comfortable, that danger always awaits. We can only hope for the latter…
Daryl continues to have a difficult time. Whilst outside the walls hunting, he bumps into Aaron and after an initial confrontation, they work together to try and catch a wild horse (Buttons – Daryl’s face is a picture when Aaron tells him this), who escaped from Alexandria. Unfortunately, some Walkers spook it and after a short chase, the poor horse meets an untimely demise. This whole charade brings Daryl and Aaron slightly closer. Daryl appears to be a little bit more trusting of Aaron and later on, is invited to have dinner with Aaron and his boyfriend Eric. Being the only gay men in a village of southern white people, Aaron confesses to Daryl that he and Eric still feel like outsiders and Daryl can clearly relate to the idea of being an outsider. Having earlier told Aaron that he was a biker, Daryl is then led into the garage where the shell of a motorbike awaits him plus the many parts that Aaron and Eric have scavenged on their various trips out. Aaron tells Daryl that he hasn’t been given a job yet because Aaron wants him to become a fellow recruiter with him. Daryl accepts and for one tiny minute, it appears that Daryl might be close to tears. He has had an emotional time of it! But is there another motive in Aaron’s actions? His exterior seems trustworthy and actually he has arguably come across as the warmest resident of Alexandria so far but will he lead Daryl astray – is it all part of the plan to split up the Family?
This week’s star turn however has got to go to Melissa McBride. Now we all know that as The Walking Dead has gone on, McBride’s character, Carol, has become more and more badass. Starting the show as the downtrodden victim of domestic abuse and then losing her beloved daughter Sophia, Carol could easily have slipped into the path of a wandering Walker, easily overpowered. Instead Carol has gone from strength to strength – a powerful depiction of girl power at its best, this week we had one of the best Carol-centric scenes in The Walking Dead’s run so far. Until now, Carol has been playing the domestic goddess role perfectly. Going as far to say in her interview with Deanna that she missed her deadbeat husband, Carol has been wearing high necked flowery shirts and baking cookies to try and become invisible to the residents of Alexandria. Knowing that she won’t be missed from the party, Rick and Daryl plan for Carol to slip out and steal some guns from the supplies house. Unbeknownst to Carol, she is followed by Jessie’s youngest son, thinking that Carol was off to get more cookies. When Carol tells him he is not to tell anyone he saw her, he insists that he tells his mother everything. Carol launches into a calm and controlled threat, gradually creeping closer and closer to him until he is left quivering in the corner. Told he would find himself tied to a tree with only Walkers to keep him company unless he keeps quiet, cements Carol as one of the strongest (scariest) members of the Family. She strikes fear into the poor kid only to end her speech by promising him all the cookies imaginable. Carol is the perfect blend of mother figure and maniac and McBride depicts her perfectly. Her speech will knock your socks off and terrify you in equal measure.
Back at the party, the rest of the gang all look visibly uncomfortable. Abraham and Rosita look somewhat bizarre in regular clothes, Noah tries to skip out before Glen and Maggie force to him to endure the same nightmare as them but poor Sasha has an actual meltdown. The juxtaposition of the calm, seemingly happy party environment is too much for her vulnerable self to handle and she explodes at one of the residents.
In the meantime, Rick continues to plan for a war, just in case. His flirtation with Jessie however can’t go unmissed and this week he is introduced to her somewhat creepy husband, the resident surgeon. Rick considers the Alexandrians a lucky bunch of people, especially now his Family are there and he is right; they don’t seem to have a clue about the outside world. But in one desperately creepy moment, Rick observes Jessie and her husband walking around and Rick reaches around to grab his gun from his holster, as if giving a brief moment to think about killing Jessie’s husband so he can get what he wants. Or maybe he was just comforted by having a gun on him once again? As if that wasn’t creepy enough, Rick then looks towards the walls and senses a Walker on the other side. Rick puts his hand up as if to feel the Walker’s presence and leans against the fence as if lamenting the loss of his long lost lover. Our poor Family – they really can’t exist without those Zombies in their lives!
‘Forget’ was an interesting episode. The gang are clearly finding it impossible to forget their former lives and are finding it difficult to fully trust the residents of Alexandria. No one seems 100% comfortable in their new surroundings. Unfortunately there seems to be too many characters now – no one is getting a huge amount of screen time. This can only mean one thing… despite the amount of deaths we have already had this season, we must be due a few more. With the weird red A you must have stamped on your hand and the letters carved into the heads of various Walkers, I think it is clear to see that things are going to get weird in the next few episodes. One can only hope that it isn’t our family that become divided, but the residents of Alexandria instead.
Zombie Kill of the Week
Again, not strictly a Zombie kill of the week but certainly the most dramatic death of the episode. As Daryl and Aaron attempt to catch poor Buttons, she is soon swamped by a swarm of Walkers. They manage to drag the horse down to the ground and rip open her stomach. As the Walkers pull out her intestines, blood gushing everywhere, she neighs in pain, helpless against the actions of her murderers. That is until Aaron and Daryl decide to massacre the Zombies that surround her, and putting one final shot in Buttons’ head, putting her out of her misery.
Sadé Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ONsp_bmDYXc&list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5
