The Walking Dead Review: “Forget” (Season 5, Episode 13)

Last week’s episode of The Walking Dead ended with Rick, Daryl and Carol at home in the Alexandria Safe Zone, and taken aback by the idea that they may have found an actual safe haven that is as it promises. Ever the doubter though, Rick said that if the residents of the ASZ can’t make it, then he and the group will just have to take it because, let’s face it, these people are a little divorced from the reality of a world full of zombies, cannibals, despots and opportunists. The week’s entry, “Forget,” rephrases the question though, by not asking where Rick’s group can turn the residents of the ASZ, but can the residents of the ASZ turn them?

“Forget” seemed to be about fine tuning how we approach the residents of Alexandria and how their latest residents fit in. There may be some issues – the missing gun, a ‘W’ carved into the head of slain walker – but by and large we can accept that Alexandria and its people are who they say there. So how do Rick and others fit in? And more importantly, can they? How can you adjust to being somewhere that people talk about “first world problems” when you’re fresh from behind the wall where the question isn’t what’s your favorite meal, but where’s your next meal coming from?

Some people were obviously going to have a tougher time with this than others. Maggie’s adjusting well, being groomed for government by Deanna. Abraham’s okay as long as there’s beer flowing. Michonne is bound and determined to make things work, as she’s one of the ones that pushed heavily to accept Aaron’s initial offer to audition. Noah, though looked positively shell-shocked amongst the folks at Deanna’s welcome party, perhaps being a part of a tight knit community hits a raw nerve after finding the one he thought he was going home to was destroyed. And then there’s poor Sasha.

It seems that losing Bob and Tyreese in quick succession has unhinged her. Unable to sleep surrounded by pictures of a happy family, she takes them out behind the wall for target practice, and then slumps down on a log disappointed when the walkers don’t come. Is she still spoiling for a fight? Like those guys last week, was she assigning intent to mindless walkers for killing loved ones and seeking revenge as if it’s a grand scheme? Sasha gently saying “Come and get me” could be read as a sign of giving up, a sign that she can’t cope with the comparative avarice of the ASZ, or a sign that she still has a whole lot of fight in her and no where to direct it.

We never learn what all important job Deanna had in mind for Sasha, because Sasha lost it after hearing all those around her at Deanna’s party sound like they were living in pre-zombie apocalypse times and sounding especially unappreciative of the fact that, relatively speaking, they live like royalty.

Before we move on, I’d like to say that Mrs. Neudermeyer’s obsession with finding a pasta maker in spite of the fact that the pantry has a lot boxes of dried pasta was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but we’ll never know. Deanna also seemed to demonstrate very little understanding about the issues Sasha may be facing. Perhaps PTSD is something that went the way of the pasta maker post-end of the world.