So, there are two things we should start with for this week’s episode of The Walking Dead.
First is another unfortunate death, as last week saw the demise of
Rick’s beard, and this week we unfortunately witnessed the death of
Buttons, the horse. He was a good horse and will be missed. Moving on,
sure, Rick is getting creepier, Sasha has issues, and Carol told the
spookiest bedtime story I had heard since The Babadook, but
how nice was it to see our heroes all washed up and dressed up for a
party? Not everyone was fully embracing the new surroundings, but
“Forget” was another fine episode that made for an intriguing look at
our outsiders stepping back in.
To start with the bad, while I
understand what Sasha is going through, given the recent death of the
two people closest to her, most of these scenes ultimately meant very
little to me. This is not due to anything Sonequa Martin-Green is doing
as an actress, as her performance is strong enough to get across the
required amount of emotion, but watching one thinly-defined secondary
character mourn over the deaths of two other secondary characters can
only take one so far. It especially does not help when you consider how
little we know about Sasha. Checking in with her is fine, but at the
same time, one can only take so much, even with only a couple main
scenes involving her in this episode. It is not as much an issue with
some of the others, as they are frankly more memorable, but I honestly
don’t know how much there is to gain with her character at this time.
Considering only so many episodes are left, it makes me wonder what kind
of results all this may have, beyond having a competent lookout in the
tower.
Some other elements were a little
bothersome as well, but they are aspects that come with the territory of
this series at this point. The writing is always a bit wonky, which is
reflected in the Sasha portions. Few people on this show seem to speak
like real people, which I have come to accept, but it can be trying
with inessential storylines that have little in the way of nuance to go
with them. Similarly, we are once again seeing some heavy-handed
imagery, which is not unusual for the show, but can still be a bit
much. Whether it is Michonne hanging up her sword or the true meaning
of a horse that can’t be caught (until he is), The Walking Dead loves to attempt thematic visuals, but rarely finds a way to say something new.
Let’s move on though, as “Forget” has a
lot of great stuff in it. Rick is a big part of that. I like Andrew
Lincoln and he has certainly put in his hours in the series to make for a
competent, though occasionally bland character. He has had his ups and
downs, but I am currently really enjoying this version of Rick. We now
see him as the town constable with the hots for Jessie, but just a few
episodes ago, he was practically the villain in the way he treated, the
then unknown, Aaron. Now, not everyone knows who Rick was or is
currently, but we, as the audience, are being treated to seeing a man
who wants to make this Alexandria thing work, but is not above having
back up plans and showing emotion towards the life outside of the wall.
The final scene of this episode is a terrific representation of Rick’s
mind, as there is no definitive answer, but we do get some ideas that he
is collected in ways that are not ‘normal’.
Speaking of ‘normal’, we get to see how
much of a schemer Carol is, as she uses her established fake persona to
develop cute relationships, but really work as an invisible presence to
the various people around her. I really enjoy this new side of Carol,
who can fake a smile in front of these strangers, with more thought out
plans playing out behind the scenes. This week we get the idea that she
can bake some cookies, but we get an even better idea of how
threatening this woman can be if caught in certain situations, and she
does not even need a gun. Listening to Carol describe to a young boy
how terrible things will be for him if he tells her mom about what he
saw was the kind of twisted delight that I could use more of on this
show. Seeing some grisly walker deaths and finding a bit of dark humor
in them is one thing, but having a character like Carol use her wits in
these sorts of ways is another equally effective one.
Lastly, there is Daryl. Incidentally,
the top of this show (following the cold open) featured Rick, Carol, and
Daryl discussing how to prepare and get secret guns ready. Daryl has
the best arc here, regardless of how quick it may seem, as we not only
see him reject the gun eventually given to him by the end of this
episode, but The Walking Dead actually finds enough reasons to
make his character earn the right to make that sort of choice. While
shortcuts in logic and character building were taken before and are
still sometimes problematic now, given the ensemble cast featured on
this show, Daryl is one of the oldest characters of the series and we
understand a lot of what he does. It helps that he is pretty consistent
(as opposed to Rick), but Norman Reedus and Ross Marquand have some
solid bonding time as well. Watching these two actors interact in a way
that felt natural is a nice step for a show that is at odds with its
dialogue a lot of the times. By the time the scenes between Daryl and
Aaron wrap up, I can only describe them as moving, because there is a
sense of growth there, which was much appreciated.So getting back to that party, everyone did look nice and I can only
hope we get to check in on the others. It is one thing to pull these
people out of the wild, but it is another to allow us to know what it
means to be at odds with what one knew versus what is now the present.
Michonne and Sasha are among those that have been given the chance to
share those feelings in their own ways. One is more impactful than the
other (regardless of my qualms with the visual) due to knowing the
character more. It will be hard to see this show try and find a way to
squeeze everyone in, but at the same time, until some inevitable problem
for Alexandria shows up, some sort of balance of letting us see our
survivors dressed up nice and letting us know what it means for them
would help in rounding out what has been an overall nice development for
the series so far.
