The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 13, “Forget”
Written by Cory Reed
Directed by David Boyd
Airs Sundays at 9pm (ET) on AMC
Once again, it’s difficult to express adequate admiration for Melissa McBride. “Forget” is another episode where Daryl and Carol get to steal the show. And though the episode is mainly about the group integrating back into some form of normalcy, it is mainly a display of survival for Carol. Above all else, go for Carol’s cookies. It’s the wise move of the day. Or maybe one morning, you’ll wake up and you won’t be in your bed. You’ll be outside the wall, far far away, tied to a tree…
This time around, the group find themselves continuing to find ways to adapt to the inside of Alexandria, while Daryl finds himself hunting his own spirit animal, named Buttons. Buttons is a wild horse that’s inevitably done in by the dead, but is a definite wake up call for Daryl, who finds a kinship with the horse and discovers it symbolizes his wilder nature, and how he will inevitably fare in the land of the dead.
The episode opens on two dead walkers, and Carol standing in a sweater that initially appears to be covered in blood, but is really covered in cherry blossoms. It’s a wonderful bit of eye trickery that the director pushes but never calls attention to, and one that is a beautiful summation of who Carol is. She’s bloodshed and a delicate flower all at once, and she is having a hard time blending in to Alexandria.
Another of the main points that emphasizes Carol’s attitude is her declaration that “I get to be invisible again!” One has to wonder how many times she saved husband Ed’s ass in the battlefield, only to retreat into the tent to help Sophia tie her shoes. Carol is not one to be messed with, and is one of the many group members that are finding out that perhaps they just don’t belong in Alexandria.
Perhaps there’s no underbelly, and they’re still fighting the war within themselves. The spaghetti feels like a call back to Hershel Greene, and it’s good to see Daryl get to feast on something that isn’t a wild animal and had children once. “Forget” is about Alexandria’s first world problems, and how the group simply can’t deal with their petty squabbling. It’s reminiscent of the Vietnam Vet on Family Guy: “I’ve seen some stuff and things man! I wouldn’t recommend it!”
Another notable part of the episode involves Sasha attempting to mingle with the party guests, only to be confronted by a neighbor who didn’t want to get her special dish wrong. This prompts Sasha to scream “This is what you’re worried about?!”
Pasta makers. Cookies. Special dishes. Alexandria’s first world problems, or how Rick is slowly going to take this place from Deanna. Who knows, really? But from what it seems, the world of Alexandria has been seemingly closed off enough to where people talk more about going to dinners and brushing their teeth than they do that nasty world changing event called the zombie apocalypse.
Like every world event, you don’t have to obsess about it, but it’s good to let everyone know that you’re aware of it. And most of the people in Deanna’s party seem to either be in denial, or in a state of willing naiveté. How many of Alexandria’s natives are lambs for the slaughter? And what is the deal with branding people in this place? Jesse’s son loves to give residents the scarlet letter (A subtle precursor to Rick and Jesse’s potential affair?), and there’s another walker with the letter W on their forehead. Who is carving the letters in to their foreheads? Is this a form of shame?
Sasha has the good sense to keep sharp, but while she is understandably frightened about becoming a victim to the walkers, she’s definitely taking it to an extreme. Or maybe, like Daryl and Rick, she’s a caged animal that prefers the outer walls over the stage play that is Alexandria? In either case, it’s good to see her become the Andrea of the group by proxy, and hopefully the writers let her excel as a warrior of the apocalypse, like Andrea from the books. With only three more episodes left this season, the momentum is building toward the season finale. “Forget” is a pretty brilliant episode altogether, and one of the best of the season.