One thing The Walking Dead has never been particularly good at is juggling such a big ensemble cast, which is why the tail end of Season 4 remains some of the show’s finest hours since the first season. This is why we catch up with one character and really flesh them out, and then watch while they fade back away into that background for about two or three episodes, only to be given a couple of seconds to try and recapture what made their arc so interesting. Sasha has suffered from this game of in-and-out development for awhile, and her relevance to the group and viewers was really defined by her relationship to Tyreese, and – to a lesser extent – Bob. Both of those characters are dead now, both victims of their own lapses in attention and vigilance. Something Sasha has seemingly learnt a great deal from.
Sasha’s two big losses have split her in two, there’s the side we see at the eerie start of “Forget” when Sasha uses pictures of happy families as target practice and then seemingly awaits walkers – indicating a slight death wish – and there’s the side that is hyper-vigilant, whose mind is still very much in a warzone and who can’t stand the trivial day-to-day life in the pleasant Alexandria. It’s a good thing for Alexandria that Sasha is choosing to stay angry, paranoid, and realistic; now they have someone who is willing to watch the perimeter just because she can’t stand to be inside.
While Sasha’s restlessness is relatively easy to read, Daryl’s isn’t. It’s our favourite crossbow-wielding survivor that goes through the biggest transformation here, flat out refusing to even take a shower in “Remember” to talking Rick and Carol down on their plans to stash guns away from Alexandria. All it took was the genuinely nice and highly likeable Aaron to bump into him in the woods and chase a horse. “Buttons”, the horse, ran from Aaron over and over again and that ended up being his undoing. Could it be the horse represented Daryl and the fate that awaits him if he continues to keep ‘running’? Whether there was a metaphor in there or not – and there usually is, nothing in The Walking Dead is done for no reason – Daryl’s little adventure with Aaron and resulting warmth when he was presented with ALOT of bike parts was the episode’s strongest moment.
Though almost as a strong was Carol, who proved to be even darker than Rick at the end of the previous episode. Her commitment to undermining the folk in Alexandria is downright creepy, and she’s going about it in the smartest way possible. The most powerful play for those who aren’t in an overt position of power is to remain subtle, and Carol’s happy/naive mask grants her the ability to do just that. As she said, she gets to be a spy again.
And what a terrifying spy she makes. When Jessie’s son follows her and witnesses Carol stealing guns from the rather unsecured armory (that many guns and all they have to protect it is one of those flimsy windows latches?) she smiles at the boy and calmly launches into one of the most brilliant threats in a TV show, ever:
“One morning you’ll wake up and you won’t be in your bed. You’ll be outside the walls far, far away, tied to a tree. And you’ll scream and scream because you’ll be so afraid. But no one will come to help because no one will hear you. Something will hear you. The monsters will come, the ones out there. You won’t be able to run away when they come for you. And they will tear you apart and eat you up all while you’re still alive. All why you can still feel it. And then afterwards, no one will ever know what happened to you.”
It’s either the above situation or cookies for the kid, who is told to keep his mouth shut and not tell anyone that Carol has been raiding the armory. Still, it does seem like the more restrained response from a woman who has killed a kid to protect her ‘family’ before.
Circling back to The Walking Dead’s weakness – a large ensemble – we are taken through a cocktail party which Deanna has thrown to welcome Rick and his group into Alexandria. We see Glenn and Maggie fitting in and coaxing Noah to do the same, we see Abraham being tempted into assimilation by alcohol, and we see Michonne putting in the most effort, trying the hardest to fit in because she really wants to make this work. Surprisingly, she has been the one who has fallen into the ideal the deepest, even putting away her katana and trading it for a small plastic cocktail sword. All these scenes feel like obligatory spots; in Glenn’s case especially, as it cancels out all the nice steps his character has taken in the previous two episodes.
Rick is still Rick. Rick isn’t in danger, he IS the danger (heh). Rick Grimes may be sheriff now but he is much more interested in sticking on Carol’s side and preparing for the worst. Although storing guns in a dilapidated old house, where he only just discovered that someone took the gun he had hidden in a blender, isn’t one of his best ideas.
It was funny to see Jessie’s son stamp Rick with a big ‘A’ when just a few episodes ago ‘A’ was the mark of death for them (they were captive in train cart ‘A’ at terminus). It could also be a reference to The Scarlet Letter.
Sheriff Grimes has a slight air of arrogance about him now, a sense that he is the strongest in Alexandria so if he wants something he will take it. This is shown clearly through his VERY awkward kiss on the cheek to Jessie and then the final scene where he goes for his gun when he sees Jessie with her husband. May I add a husband who was ominously creepy, half hidden in the dark, during a small scene in “Remember” and then is all smiles and ‘I’m a doctor and I want to help you’ at the cocktail party; something doesn’t make sense here.
Review Score: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Hightlights:
– Carol’s threat
– Daryl warming to Aaron
– Sasha rejects Alexandria
– Rick’s sense of ownership
Lowlights:
– Many characters brushed over (was Father Gabriel, Tara, or Eugene in any scene at all?)
– Alexandria and their lax internal security is very frustrating
– Deanna not really understanding Sasha’s freak out
– Jessie’s husband very different to the small scene with him in “Remember”
Episode MVP: Daryl/Carol
Walker Kill of the Week: Daryl
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