Recap / The Walking Dead S05 E12 "Remember"

Season 5, Episode 12

Remember

Rick's group is welcomed into Alexandria, but the hardened group questions how complacent they can get in this untouched sanctuary.

The front gate of Alexandria opens for Rick's group, and a man named Nicholas orders all of them to put their weapons in a trolley cart. When they refuse, Aaron says that they can keep their guns until they meet with the town leader, Deanna Monroe.

In Deanna's furnished home, Rick stands looking at the civilized atmosphere and opulence of her guest room. She asks if she can videotape their conversation and he agrees. She tells Rick that Alexandria is a community that was built with sustainability in mind, as it uses solar power and was sewage filtration, and was planned to be used by civilians before the walker outbreak occurred. After learning that Rick was out on the road a long time, she tells him that she used to be a former congresswoman, and wants him and his group to help them survive.

Rick and the others finally surrender their guns, and Carol pretends to be unable to hold her weapon or unstrap it properly.

Afterwards, Aaron tells them that they can each have their own house in the community. Everyone packs into one house, and Rick finds that the rooms have hot water and heating.

Rick takes a shower for the first time in who knows how long and shaves off his beard. When he finishes, he is greeted by a woman named Jessie, who welcomes him to the town and offers to cut his hair. While doing so, she tells him about her two children and the general safety of the community.

Elsewhere, Carol and Carl go to explore another house. They both agree that it's suspicious that Deanna would want to put them in separate spots, and agree with Rick that they should all stay under one roof together. That night, Deanna stops by and sees the group all sleeping on the floor, and tells Rick that she's assigning jobs for his group.

The next morning, Deanna interviews Daryl (who is clearly uncomfortable in Alexandria) and Michonne (who tells her they're ready to help the community). Rick goes out for a walk and finds Jessie, who shows him that Carl and Judith are introducing themselves to some of the neighbours, and offers to have Carl meet her sons. Carl then meets Jessie's son Ron, who introduces him to two other kids - Mikey and Enid. Carl looks at Enid, who coldly ignores him.

Later, Carl tells his father that the community is weak, and that he doesn't want everyone else to become weak as well. Rick goes out for another walk that night, and comes across Pete Anderson, Jessie's husband. Pete smokes a cigarete and coldly remarks that he knows his wife cut Rick's hair, before sarcastically welcoming him to Alexandria.

The next morning, Carol continues her deceit by pretending to be a meek housewife who was cooking for Rick and the others, much as she did in the early days of the outbreak when she was with Ed. She tells Deanna she wants to be involved in the community. Soon after, she dresses in a different floral ensemble, and Daryl snorts in derision. She tells him that she's just keeping up appearances.

Glenn, Noah and Tara meet Nicholas and Deanna's son Aiden for a scouting run. It soon becomes clear that Nicholas and Aiden are incredibly naive about walkers, and attempt to school them about protocol. The group finds a walker that was supposed to be chained up after it killed some of Aiden's friends has escaped, and Glenn rails at him for being so cavalier. When the walker suddenly attacks, Glenn stabs it in the head and Aiden yells at him for not following his rules.

At the town, Carl sees Enid using support struts to scale the walls and trails her outside. He loses track of her, but comes to the abandoned shack where his father planted the handgun. Rick has also appeared while scouting the outer perimeter of the town, and discovers that the gun is missing from its hiding spot. They both see a pack of walkers approaching, and wordlessly acknowledge each other before dispatching all of them.

The scouting group arrives back in town, and Glenn accuses Aiden of being impulsive and incompetent. When he points out that he and the others know what they're doing, Aiden swings at him, only to be punched to the ground in response, while Daryl shows up to save Glenn from an attack from behind by Nicholas. Deanna, Rick, Carl, and Michonne arrive to break up the fight, and Deanna incredibly sides with Glenn, and announces that Rick's group is to be treated as equal members of the community, before telling Aiden and Nicholas to leave.

Deanna tells Rick that she has found a job for him - he will be the town's new constable, and Michonne will one as well. They both accept the job.

That night, Rick dons his constable's uniform for the first time and walks out onto the patio, where Carol and Daryl are waiting. He tells both of them that it's safe to sleep in their own houses now. When Carol points out that getting complacent could make them weak, Rick says that it won't happen.

He then says that they'll make it work, and if the town residents can't make it, they'll just take it by force...

Tropes:

• The Aloner: Daryl.
• Anti-Hero: Rick displays characteristics of this, telling both Daryl and Carol that they'll have to take the town over by force if the residents don't want to change. This is a far cry from his idealistic mentality in the early episodes, and shows that despite his earnest attempts to make things work, his goals and ruthless personality seem a lot closer to Shane than ever before.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Rick and Carl engage in some father-son teamwork in fighting some walkers outside Alexandria.
• Berserk Button: Aiden's is hinted to be being told he's incompetent, as Glenn (justifiably) pushes at this until Aiden finally lashes out (not that it ends well for Aiden).
• Blatant Lies: It becomes immediately obvious that Carol isn't buying into Alexandria's community when she tells Deanna how much she missed her beloved husband, Ed and how the group protected her in exchange of her becoming Team Mom. The latter is Half-Truth as Carol was originally unable to defend herself before she Took a Level in Badass.
• Bullying a Dragon: Aiden and Nicholas do this with their new supply run recruits, especially Glenn. They think they can order them around and know better than them because they have been in Alexandria longer, even though Glenn and the others have been surviving the apocalypse since the very beginning instead of being sheltered like the two of them. When Glenn states that Aiden is unfit to lead a supply run, Aiden keeps pushing him, daring him to say it again, even as Glenn tells him to drop it and walk away, giving him an out. Then when Glenn outright calls Aiden incompetent, Aiden tries to swing at him, only for Glenn to duck and knock him to the ground with one punch.
• Call-Back/Continuity Nod:
  • The episode title (along with the four following episodes) are taken from words used by Dale in the episode "Vatos".
  • Carl mentions having to kill Lori.
  • Aiden instructs Glenn, Tara and Noah the same technique Aaron used in the previous episode.
  • Rick goes to get back the weapon he had hidden just in case, but to his shock, it's gone.
  • Carl is dumbfounded and nearly driven to tears by the prospect of playing video games, something he sadly pondered back in "After".
  • Rick mentioning how "People out there are always looking for […] how they can use you to live" refers mostly to the last two groups they encountered: Terminus and Grady Hospital.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: It's not much of a battle, per se, but when Aiden tries to strike Glenn, the latter easily ducks and lays him out with a fast punch of his own. When Nicholas tries to back Aiden up, he doesn't even get a chance to get close, as Daryl flattens him and has to be pulled off him by Rick. The two naive Alexandrians stand no chance against two experienced survivors who have spent the past five seasons regularly fighting for their lives against far more dangerous threats.
• Gender Flip: Deanna Monroe is the show version of Douglas Monroe from the comics. Likewise, Deanna's husband name is Reg, whereas Douglas's wife was Regina.
• Genre Blindness: Glenn, Noah, and Tara see just how clueless Aiden and Nicholas are. The two of them tie up the Walker that killed their friends and torture it before going on supply runs, even though Walkers don't feel pain, instead of simply killing it, and waste time and energy trying to catch it when it escapes. They also whistle loudly to draw it out, even though doing so will also draw any other Walkers to the area. Glenn bluntly calls them out on their stupidity when they return to Alexandria, saying that he, Tara, and Noah actually know what they are doing.
• Epic Fail: Aiden and Nicholas try to pick a fight with Glenn when they get back to Alexandria for him disobeying them, but he isn't scared of them at all. Aiden misses Glenn when he tries to punch him and gets hit in the face himself, and when Nicholas tries to tackle Glenn, Daryl rushes him and takes him to the ground immediately, almost choking him out before being called off.
• Fish out of Water: Much of the group, but Daryl especially, since he makes no effort to try to fit in.
• Humiliation Conga: Aiden and Nicholas are quickly humiliated by Glenn and the rest of Rick's group shortly after meeting them. Glenn kills the Walker they had been torturing and calls them out on their stupidity, Aiden is beaten in one punch by Glenn when he tries to sneak attack him and Nicholas is tackled and nearly choked out by Daryl when he tries to back up Aiden, and finally, Deanna, Aiden's mom, sides with Rick's group over the two of them and tells them to listen to whatever Rick's group tells them, even thanking Glenn for knocking Aiden on his ass. She also orders Aiden and Nicholas to come talk to her later, presumably so they can discuss their punishment.
• Important Haircut: Rick has his hair cut short and appears clean shaven for the first time since season one, highlighting his move back to society.
• Jerkass: Aiden admits he's a douchebag as he tries to train Glenn, Tara and Noah, but it doesn't excuse his treatment of the three.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Aiden, upon returning to the city, dismissively tells Glenn, Tara, and Noah that they aren't cut out for supply runs, blatantly ignoring the fact that it was his ineptitude that put them in danger. Glenn flat-out fires back that he's got it backwards.
• Naked First Impression: Downplayed. Rick is shirtless when he meets Jessie.
• No, You: Aiden tells Glenn that he, Noah, and Tara aren't a good fit for supply runs, but Glenn immediately tells him that it's the other way around.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Carol pretends to be a meek helpless housewife from the very moment she enters Alexandria, from fumbling to drop her gun in the cart to telling Deanna about how she is a "den mother" who cooks for everyone else.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Deanna is very patient with Rick's battle-worn, scarred group of experienced survivors and to Aiden's surprise, sides with them over him despite him living in Alexandria longer, and being her son.
• Running Gag: People reacting to Rick shaving his massive beard he's grown for the past few years.
• The Sheriff: Deanna wants Rick and Michonne to be Alexandria's "constables"
• Ship Tease: Rick with Jessie, who seems to take a shine to him at first sight.
  • Carl also takes an interest in Enid.
  • Watch that scene between Rick and Michonne after Rick gets his beard shaved and say that Michonne is not attracted to him.
• Shirtless Scene: Rick gets a shower scene and he's got his shirt off just in time to meet Jessie.
• Skewed Priorities: Aiden and Nicholas show this in spades, demonstrating to Glenn, Tara, and Noah how incompetent they are as a result:
  • They reveal that they have captured a walker some time ago, and, rather than put down the threat, keep it chained up to torture it from time to time (a pointless endeavor, since walkers don't feel pain).
  • When they discover that the walker has escaped, they start whistling loudly to call it back, despite Glenn and the others' admonishments that they might bring more walkers down on them.
  • When the walker does arrive, Aiden and Nicholas insist on trying to capture it again, rather than killing it, even when it comes dangerously close to biting both Aiden and Tara.
  • Finally, when Glenn kills the walker to save Tara, Aiden rails at him for killing it and at Tara for not blindly following his orders, focusing on the threat to his authority rather than the obvious hints that he isn't fit to lead or even participate in a supply run.
• The Starscream: Rick tells Daryl and Carol that if Alexandria proves to be too weak for them to live there, they'll take it.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Carl stops Rick from impaling a walker on the ground so that he can do it himself.
• True Companions: Deanna realizes that Rick's group is close knit like a family upon seeing them all together in the same room.
• Wham Line:
  Rick: We'll make it work. And if they can't make it? Then we'll just take this place.

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