The Walking Dead “Forget” 

The question going into the latest installment of The Walking Dead, titled “Forget,” was how would Rick and co. assimilate into the Alexandria community. Well, it’s safe to say some were handling it better than others.

Out of the entire gang, it appeared that Sasha is unraveling the quickest. She’s took her frustrations out by shooting pictures of former Alexandria residents out in the woods. Sasha quickly offered to take on the role of clock tower sniper. We don’t know much about Deanna yet, but she’s very observant. She knew that Sasha was not in the right state of mind to handle a role like that yet. However, Deanna insisted that Sasha attend the party she was hosting for everyone.

The neighborhood party was one of the strangest sequences the show has ever had, and I mean that in the best way possible. Throwing dinner parties while the outside world has been thrown into chaos seems insane. These people have clearly not seen what horrors lie behind Alexandria’s walls. It was great to see how everyone in the gang reacted differently to the dinner party. Obviously Sasha handled it the worst by yelling at a woman for asking her what her favorite dish was.

Carol is probably the most intimidating member of the gang now. This woman knows how to manipulate and lie to the unsuspecting people in the community. Carol’s mission to steal the guns went in a completely unexpected direction when Jessie’s son, Sam, followed her. To sum up Carol’s speech to the boy: Keep quiet about what you saw, and you get cookies. If you talk, you die.

That was some ice-cold, murderous talk there! It’s not necessarily surprising what she said, but it’s more about how she said it. In reality, she would never feed the boy to walkers. Yes, she killed Lizzie, but that scenario was completely different. Here she was trying to put the fear of God into the boy, and it looked like it worked. I’d crap my pants if I were that little boy.

Rick’s attitude toward Alexandria is incredibly confusing. He’s playing the part of the constable, but making sure they have weapons hidden just in case. At the party, he seemed to enjoy watching Carl make friends with other kids. Rick’s interaction with Pete, Jessie’s husband, was… interesting. These two are probably going to come to blows at some point. If Jessie and Rick continue to look at each other longingly, it’s certain to happen.

What’s hard to pinpoint, though, is Rick’s motivations. Did he kiss Jessie’s cheek because he’s interested in her? Or did he kiss her cheek as some sort of plan to manipulate her? It’s hard to tell. Rick might not be unraveling as publicly and quickly as Sasha, but it’s definitely happening. What was the purpose of Rick putting his hand near the gun he was hiding behind him when he saw Jessie and Pete walking to their home? It almost seemed as if Rick was being territorial. If so, then Rick moves a lot faster than any guy I’ve ever met.

Daryl had a crucial turning point in this episode when it came to Alexandria. He’d been stubborn from the start, but Aaron was able to find a way to bond with him. Both men tried to save Buttons, the horse, but sadly, Buttons was eaten by walkers. Side Note: Is it bad that I get more upset when an animal dies rather than people in a TV show or movie? End Side Note. This senseless loss served as a way for Daryl to work with Aaron.

Aaron tried to relate to Daryl by comparing their “outsider” struggles. It makes sense on some level. Daryl has never fit in due to his upbringing, and he certainly feels out of place in the suburbs. Aaron had been an outsider due to his homosexuality. Aaron’s been a terrific character so far. He’s able to look at the people around him, and figure out the best way to relate to them. No wonder he’s in charge of recruitment.

After accepting some spaghetti from Aaron and Eric, Aaron revealed that he asked Deanna not to give Daryl a job. Aaron wants him to recruit alongside him. Daryl knows how to take care of himself in a way Eric can’t. It didn’t hurt that Aaron had a bunch of motorcycle parts just waiting for Daryl’s enjoyment. Daryl was swayed in that moment. He even declined a gun from Carol and Rick the next day. Who are you, and what have you done with distrusting Daryl?

There’s also the mystery of the letter “W” carved into walkers’ foreheads. We saw other walkers like this in an earlier episode. There’s obviously another group out there doing this. Perhaps it’s the same people who chopped up all those walkers’ bodies. Maybe the group includes the people whom Deanna exiled from Alexandria. Maybe it’s a group of people far worse than anything the group experienced with the Governor or the Termites.

These Alexandria Safe Zone episodes have been brilliant so far. Alexandria represents the world Rick and co. believed couldn’t and didn’t exist anymore. It hasn’t been that long, in the grand scheme of their lives, that the zombie outbreak has happened, but Alexandria feels like a world long gone to them. It’s not easy to turn back time and pretend like they can live normal lives. They’ve seen what man has become, what man is capable of.

Rick’s scene at the close of the episode could be seen in different ways. As he put his hand up against the wall and listened to the walker on the outside, he could have been thinking about the safety this place provides for his people. On the other hand, he could be thinking that his group belongs on the other side of the wall out in the woods fighting the walkers. Rick has to think about his children and their safety, so he’s in quite the predicament. Despite what he’s being told, he can’t trust that the people of Alexandria won’t turn on them. If and when that day comes, he and his people will be ready.

Questions to Ponder:

– Who is carving the letter “W” into walkers’ foreheads? Why?

– Is Pete a dangerous man?

– Will Sasha ever flirt with Deanna’s son, Spencer? (Hello, Austin Nichols!)

– Will Daryl regret not taking a gun from Carol?

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

Check out a sneak peek of the next episode titled “Spend.”