AMC’s The Walking Dead
Season 5, Episode 12: “Remember”
Directed by Greg Nicotero
Written by Channing Powell

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “The Distance” – click here
* For a recap & review of the next episode, “Forget” – click here
At the gates of Alexandria, our survivors pass into the community. Daryl (Norman Reedus) “brought dinner” after shooting a possum. Obviously Rick (Andrew Lincoln) is going to remain sceptical, especially once one of the security guys, Nicholas (Michael Traynor), tells the group to hand over their weapons. Aaron (Ross Marquand) will take them to see Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh), who helped build the place.

When Rick meets Deanna she tapes their conversation— it’s “about transparency.” So all new members must do an interview. She was a congresswoman in Ohio before the fall of society, asking him about his past. She explains Alexandria. A nearby shopping mall gave them material to use. They haven’t taken anybody in for a long while, and Rick suggests that was a good idea. Despite rough edges, it’s obvious that he’s a protector, and she can see that immediately. She “exiled” several men and feels guilt, but stresses it was for the greater good, to keep them all safe. These two have many similar goals.
But can these groups co-exist?

“They measure you
by what they can take
from you”

Inside Alexandria, guns are stored. Everybody can take their own weapons again if they’re headed outside. For now, Rick and his people hand everything over. A nice lady named Olivia (Ann Mahoney) takes them for storage. Aaron shows Rick and Carl (Chandler Riggs) around the neighbourhood, offering up a house where they can act like a normal family again. Cautiously, the Grimes men go inside, as if any other house out there that needs to be cleared of zombies. Except there are none.
Rick has the opportunity to have a real shower and shave. He finishes to find Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) at the door with neighbourly supplies. She offers to cut his hair, too. He isn’t used to such familiarity with strangers. It’s all a shock to Rick, readjusting to normalcy.

Deanna interviews Daryl next. He’s pretty antsy. Later he guts a possum right on one of the doorsteps, like he’s still in the woods. Carol (Melissa McBride) hasn’t given up her scepticism. She, Rick, and Daryl want everyone to stay under the same roof. In the evening, some survivors keep watch at the windows while others rest. Michonne (Danai Gurira) admires Rick’s new hair and shaved face. She tells him she’s got “a good feeling” about Alexandria. Yet she stays suspicious. Deanna drops by and sees they’re all camped together. She isn’t surprised, admiring their togetherness. She explains the job situation in their community and has ideas for Rick, Michonne, as well as others.
That night, Rick can’t sleep. So he finds a knife in the kitchen for safety.

Next day, Rick talks to Daryl about how ironic it is that, in the post-zombie apocalypse world, he’s finally living in a place he and Lori dreamed of once. Afterwards, he freaks out because he can’t find Carl or Judith. Jessie shows him his kids are on a porch with a sweet old couple. Carl gets to meet Jessie’s kid, Ron (Austin Abrams). Ron introduces him to Mikey (Elijah Marcano), and Enid (Katelyn Nacon), who came from outside Alexandria. Odd for Carl, hanging with other kids like real life again. He later worries, expressing to his father he doesn’t want to “get weak” because they stop remembering what it’s like outside these walls.

“Looks like the communists
won after all”

Rick goes for a walk in the middle of the night, running into Jessie’s husband, Pete (Corey Brill). Awkward. In the morning, Carol’s interviewed. She’s looking to “keep up appearances” and acts as a “den mother” type, going so far as to talk about her dead abusive husband like he was a good man to add her whole fake story. Glenn (Steven Yeun) is more honest in his interview, talking about how they need to be in Alexandria because they were almost out there “too long.” And Carl watches Enid from afar. She slips out over the community’s wall into the wilderness alone. Others are getting their bearings. Deanna’s son Aiden (Daniel Bonjour) does runs, acclimating Glenn, Tara (Alanna Masterson), and Noah (Tyler James Williams) to how they do things. He was in the ROTC before zombies destroyed society.
What does Rick do? Goes to look for his hidden gun outside the walls, discovering it gone. He decides to hone his skills with a blade rather than use a gun. Perfect time for Carl to show up, giving them father-son killing time, to keep from getting weak.

Past the walls, Aiden brings Glenn, Noah, and Tara with him and Nicholas. They had people die recently. In revenge, they do a “pre–game ritual” using a walker they’ve strung up on a tree to take out aggression on. The zombie’s gone when they get there, and the two Alexandrian men insist on finding it. Glenn stabs it in the head when Tara just about gets bitten. This gets Aiden angry— he’s a sicky.
He tries to sucker punch Glenn getting knocked him on his ass, and Daryl all but goes buckwild on Nicholas. Deanna stops the nonsense, telling her own people, especially her son, that Rick and his group are part of Alexandria, “as equals.” Then she offers Rick a job as constable of their community alongside Michonne, which they gladly accept.

Like it was before the zombies, Rick dons a police uniform and badge to go along with his clean shaven face. He wants to begin settling in. Carol echoes Carl’s sentiments about getting weak. Rick assures: “That‘s not in us anymore.” It’s Alexandria who has to worry. Because the new cop in town says if the people there can’t hack it, their group will take the place for themselves.
Solid chapter in Season 5. Really great to see the survival instincts of the group kick into overdrive as they attempt to suss out Alexandria. After their other experiences, it’s no surprise. But it’s more interesting once this societal experiment gets going over the next few episodes.

“Forget” is next time.