We started our latest episode of The Walking Dead with Sasha, who has had a bad run of luck in Season 5. She's never been the biggest optimist of the bunch, so each hit she's taken has leveled our strong heroine to the point that she's ready to snap at any point. Whether she's aiming to take out every Walker she sees, or she's willing to go out herself in a blaze of glory in suicide-by-zombie, our girl is walking a very fine line between sanity and snapping.
But what would sanity look like in this new world? That's the question that has been subtly posed by the introduction of the Alexandria Safe Zone. The people that live there are as close to normal as the viewer would expect to find, working, raising families, safe and actually happy within the confines of community. Only now, by season 5 of the zombie apocalypse, normal doesn't look so normal anymore. It looks suspicious and scary. That suspense drives these new episodes as we struggle to make sense of this new place, assessing if it's really what it seems to be (sanctuary) or yet another ticking time bomb.
Rick, Carol and Daryl congregate very quickly to make their own plan either way. Now that Rick has infiltrated local authority as the new constable, he's in a position to assert what he thinks needs to be done to protect the place. Deanna, though quick to invite Rick and his group to be a part of her community, even handing over power immediately (and naively,) still balks at something as simple as putting a guard on duty to protect the walls. Her motives are still unclear and suspect, even after we meet her husband, Reg.
I have to admit that I was surprised to meet Reg. The way she spoke of him last week led me to believe that he wasn't around anymore. Or maybe that's just what I've come to expect from this show. It's rare to see complete families, like Jessie and her brood. I think most of us suffer some weird form of post traumatic stress courtesy of this show, which regularly pulls the rug right out from under us. I don't know about y'all, but the night scenes, even behind the wall, freak me the f*ck out. I keep waiting for the terror of their world to sneak up behind them and catch them all unawares.
Needless to say I support Rick and his plan. And who better to execute that plan that sweet Den Mother Wannabee Mary "Carol" Poppins? I maintain that she's the most lethal member of their group - which she demonstrates in a terrifying way this particular episode. We'll get to that in a minute, where we gather for a much needed group hug as we talk about The Scene.
Despite all the big things that happen with our major characters this epi, to me, "Forget" belongs to Daryl Dixon. He isn't about assimilating into this new weird community. That sort of thing would have been foreign and frightening to him both before and after the the apocalypse. He escapes whenever he can, only this time he gets a very unexpected (and unwelcome) companion. Aaron catches up with Daryl outside the wall, "huntin' wabbits," but it's quickly clear that Aaron has another agenda. He wants to get closer to our Archer. They attempt to catch Buttons, a rogue horse, and this shared goal makes them a team working together to protect each other when they run across a small horde. (This hungry horde makes quick work of Buttons, which... I can't even.)
This feels so much more like The Walking Dead we've come to know than the crazy Walking Dead Dinner Party happening in Alexandria. I will say that Rick Grimes cleans up well... and apparently Jessie thinks so as well as they "share a moment," despite her being married to the community doctor, Pete. Thanks to Chris Hardwick (or C-Hard) from the Talking Dead, this #porchdick from the previous episode comes across as congenial when formal introductions are made. The relationship between Pete and Jessie is strained, though we still don't know why. Jessie seems more aware than the rest, she understands how absurd their attempts at normalcy are in this post-apocalyptic world. But she also has a pretty good argument as to why it's necessary. Unlike Lori's attempts way back on the farm, to maintain the comforts of the world before, Jessie doesn't seem burdened by this task. She has a hopefulness that appeals to Season 5 Rick - maybe a little *too* much.
It dawned on me over the last day or two that Rick is channeling Shane in some pretty interesting ways. Shane once asserted that Rick was too weak to lead, that only Shane had the balls to make the hard decisions. Rick has proven himself, since Season 1, that he is the right one to lead, but it has come at a cost. He's no longer idealistic like he once was so long ago. He's been through too much. He's lost too much. He's turned into a Rick Grimes who will take what he wants when he wants it, like that stolen kiss at the awkward dinner party.
Slightly less awkward was the dinner scene with Daryl and the Gays, who adopted our wayward Archer. They understand what it means to be the odd man out and inherently Daryl understands this. For the first time, perhaps... ever, Daryl is understood and accepted, without having to prove one damn thing. Aaron simply "knows" what kind of a man he is, and he trusts him. This touches Daryl in a way that melted my heart, even if it does put Daryl outside the gate more than he is inside.
Okay, y'all. Group hug time. I love Carol. I'm sure many of you love Carol. She'll do anything - and I do mean anything - to protect her group. And she can do it looking like the mother next door, wearing her floral sweaters and her pearls, and still manage to scare the ever-lovin' crap out of anyone in the process. Her scene with young Sam was one of the most terrifying scenes The Walking Dead has produced. Her final scenes with Lizzy were heart-wrenching enough because we knew that Mother Carol, the one who had loved and lost Sophia, had to do the one thing no woman should ever have to do. She had no choice, and Carol comes through in those situations better than most. By the time we get to Alexandria, Carol is hardened by the experience enough that she can threaten this innocent boy who found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time and we believe her. We know she doesn't want to do the things she so convincingly threatened, but she could. Which makes it even scarier. (To be absolutely honest, the only reason I got through the scene at all was because I was running that Eddie Izzard routine "Cake or Death" through my head the entire time. Desperate times call for desperate measures.)
The #Carolscookies scene was awkward and intense and physically uncomfortable because we know that she needs to ensure that Sam won't tattle to his mom. We want her to succeed in her mission. We know she has to. But how far are we, as an audience, willing to go to see that happen? This scene answered that question. It seems like we are as much the dangerous outsiders as our group.
And that's where our gang finds themselves as the episode closes. Michonne retires her trusted katana, well within reach but no longer attached firmly to her back like an extra arm. Daryl refuses to carry one of Carol's ill-gotten handguns. He's ready to try, to give the place a chance. Meanwhile Rick assesses Jessie's tense domestic situation with an automatic hand to his gun, in an almost Shane-like possessive gesture.
When the episode ends, Rick is at the wall that separates the more idyllic Alexandria, a place for his children to actually grow safe and protected and - for lack of a better word - normal, and the world he's come to know in the last few years. That world has completed who he is as a man and as a survivor, for better or worse. It is a stunning juxtaposition of the two realities... and ultimately it shows that it is Rick himself who gets to choose which will prevail.
Of course we all know that nothing idyllic can last long in this world. The previews next week promise to introduce the conflict and the drama that we've all become used to in the last five seasons. We'll get to see more of our newcomers, including Father Gabriel and the epically coiffed Eugene. In a show known for its body count, that might not be a good thing. Gird your loins as we race ever closer to the March 29th finale, which Norman Reedus promises we'll be crying/yelling at the TV by the time it's done.
Did I also mention that he's going to be on the Talking Dead season finale as well?
The good news is that we made it through this week fairly intact, with no losses to the group.
The bad news... there's still three more episodes to go.
Till next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment