The Walking Dead: Forget (5x13)

Carol! What the hell! That was rather intense. Let's take a look!

Everybody continues to settle in to Alexandria, but there are a few who aren't adjusting so well. Sasha goes outside of the walls to practice with her weapon, but she seems really messed up, muttering for the Walkers to come and get her. Daryl goes out hunting and runs into Aaron. The two try to bring a horse back with them, but unfortunately, the Walkers surround the beautiful animal and kill it.

Back in Alexandria, Rick and Michonne are starting to take on their roles as constables. Sasha volunteers to be in the lookout tower, but Deanna doesn't think there's any need for a lookout there. Deanna tells them all that there's going to be a party to welcome the newcomers, and that they are all expected to be there.

Rick, Daryl, and Carol all meet up to discuss what they should do. They decide to steal some guns to protect themselves, but they won't let anybody else in on the plan for the time being. Carol makes a plan to sneak off during the party while everybody is occupied and abscond with some weapons. At the party, Rick meets Jessie's husband and children, and one of Jessie's sons, Sam, stamps Rick's hand with an "A" to symbolize his inclusion in Alexandria. Sasha doesn't want to be at the party, and she lashes out at one point, frustrated by everybody's superficial lives and their lack of understanding about how bad it really is out there. Later, Deanna does say that Sasha can be a lookout.

Aaron earlier had encouraged Daryl to go to the party and make an effort with everybody. However, Daryl ends up having dinner with Aaron and Eric instead. Aaron shows Daryl the garage, where there are a bunch of old motorcycle parts. He wants Daryl to try and put a bike together. He also wants Daryl to be a recruiter for Alexandria, because he says that Daryl knows how to tell good people from bad.

During the party, Carol sneaks off to steal the guns. Sam, Jessie's son, followed her to ask about cookies. Carol threatens to bring him outside the wall and let the Walkers eat him if he says anything.

Carol, Daryl, and Rick all meet up again. Carol and Rick take some of the stolen guns, but Daryl says no - he wants to try to fit in here, and he thinks these are good people. Back in Alexandria, Rick sees Jessie and her husband. He has a strange reaction to seeing them, subconsciously reaching for his gun.

So... I have a few small things to complain about - or maybe more accurately, to question.

What the hell, Carol? Was that necessary? Couldn't she have just brushed the whole thing off? If Deanna or somebody has asked her later, she could have said that she was looking for more chocolate for another batch of cookies. I mean... she just scared the living daylights out of an innocent child!

Also, Rick's strange behavior at the end of the episode made me uncomfortable. What was going on with that? It felt a bit heavy-handed, and I didn't understand it.

I did like a lot of things about this episode, though, and I'm getting more and more excited about this whole Alexandria thing. It's going to be good!

First of all, Daryl and Aaron are adorable. I mean, I sort of ship them already. But I think Aaron and Eric are cute too, so I'm torn. Even if it's just a friendship thing, I love the idea of Daryl finding somebody new that he can form a real connection to. My heart was totally broken when the horse was taken by the Walkers. I loved the dinner scene, with Daryl slurping away at his pasta while Aaron and Eric looked at each other awkwardly. The best moment was when Aaron was talking about how he and Eric have to put up with a lot of awkward remarks from people, even though they're trying to be accepting. That feels like a realistic way that things would work. The apocalypse would probably be enough to stop some of the bigotry, but it would still creep up no matter what.

Even though I think Carol's threats were a bit extreme in that situation, I still really, really loved every moment of Carol in this episode. She's so funny when she's pretending to be this doddering little lady who makes cookies and wouldn't hurt a fly. It's such a strange contrast to the Carol we've come to know. Seeing the contrast between the two versions of Carol should be really interesting moving forward.

Sasha has never really been the most interesting character for me, but I liked the fact that she's not okay. It makes sense for her to be messed up - she's lost so much, and this is all so weird for her. I'll be interested to see how her PTSD plays out in the coming episodes.

Some other details: Michonne and Abraham had a little conversation together. Those two characters haven't really interacted before, so I appreciated that moment. I loved it when Deanna's husband told Rick that he was amazing for saving all of these people's lives. It's not something we hear very often, but Rick is the leader - all of these people's lives are in his hands, and it's quite an accomplishment that so many of them are still alive.

One last thing - what was with the mysterious "W" carved into the forehead of that one Walker? That's intriguing... I can't wait to find out more!

8.5/10