The Walking Dead: Civilization Isn’t Free

In this episode of the Walking Dead, our survivors learn a little more about the Alexandria safe zone they find themselves in, Daryl becomes a dinner guest, and Carol threatens a child. Spoilers are ahead for this look into the newest episode, “Forget”.

As we saw in the last episode, our survivors are having a hard time accepting that this could be a safe place and not one like Woodbury or Terminus. While some are beginning to get jobs and others are starting to make friends, they are still very wary of Deanna and her intentions for the group and the community as a whole. Daryl is completely out of his element, pacing like a wild animal more than once. Where he thrived in a small group that relied on them all working together, it is clear he’s not only uncomfortable in the community, but blatantly doesn’t belong.

This episode, much like its predecessors, has focused its attention on telling its viewers the story of the characters in the show as opposed to the overall zombie apocalypse theme. This episode delves deep into some of the survivors and their ability (or inability) to integrate themselves into a civilized safe zone.

Rick and his cleanly shaven face is the Sheriff once again, but he is dedicated to attempting to preserve the safety of the safe zone. Deanna tries to reassure him but he’s having none of it: after all, he did watch the Governor’s men drive a tank through every obstacle in its way to get to his group at the prison. Rick still doesn’t trust anyone in Alexandria, but he has gotten good at playing along. However, he refuses to get caught with his pants down, so to speak, and takes measures to ensure his own safety.

Near the end of the episode though, we see a disturbing side of Rick that we haven’t seen in anyone since his pal Shane was around. After a short encounter at Deanna’s awkward cocktail party, Rick plants a kiss on Jessie’s cheek and there’s a long (slightly awkward) moment as they gaze into one another’s eyes before Jessie smiles and walks away. The next morning, Jessie and her odd-ball of a husband, Pete, are walking together and Jessie says good morning to him. As the couple walk away, their backs turned to Rick, he reaches back to touch the handle of his gun in the waistband of his pants. An untrusting twitch, or Rick falling back into the ‘outside’ mentality of “I’ll take what’s mine?” Settle down there, new Shane.

After agreeing to help Rick keep the peace in the small community, Michonne does a police officers uniform, ready for her days making sure no one gets in fist fights and gets along in the idyllic little sanctuary that Deanna is so proud of. She doesn’t have to carry her katana anymore, even though that’s what she’s used to. Its obvious she doesn’t know how to live without it though, as even a slightly intoxicated Abraham points out. Still, this is a new chapter in their lives, come what may, and right now, the only place for her katana that she has so expertly wielded in the past is over the mantle.

Carol has gotten good at making the citizens of Alexandria think that she is about as much a threat as a summer breeze, and her ‘invisibility’ allows her to slip away unnoticed. This comes in handy when she and Rick decide they need to arm themselves a little better and she decides to steal some 9mm pistols from the community’s weapon storage. However, the cookies she bakes in her unassuming ‘mother role’ in the community are quite popular, and one of the boys follows her, thinking she is going to make another batch. That however, is not the case, and Carol is risking everything for the group if she is caught stealing the guns. So instead of letting the little boy off with a warning, she threatens him in a way that left everyone needing to pick their jaws up off the floor. But at least she got her point across. He squeals, he’s dead. Simple as that!

Meanwhile, Daryl avoids the party like the plague (even though it looks like he dressed up and may have attempted to go, but decided it wasn’t for him — his shirt did have sleeves on it…) and is stopped by Aaron, with whom he shared a bonding afternoon with shooting walkers and failing to save Buttons the horse. He invites Daryl in for spaghetti and he begrudgingly accepts. He comes in, shows off why he’s probably not the best dinner guest, and then learns there’s an ulterior motive for the invite. Aaron and Eric want Daryl to be a recruiter, and even offer him a motorcycle — if he can get it running again. Aaron tells Daryl that he knows the difference between good people and bad people, and he’d be an asset in recruiting. Since Daryl doesn’t have anything else to do, he agrees.

Finally, we see Sasha still unable to get over her grief of what has happened to the people she loves, and Deanna inviting her to a party was not the way to go about trying to get her to open up a bit. When an innocent party-goer asks Sasha what her favorite food is so that she could cook her a welcome meal, stating that she was worried she would make something she didn’t like, Sasha loses control of herself, outraged that the woman is worried about getting a meal wrong and presumably, not about the state that the world is in. Its awkward, and its clear that Sasha needs some time to find peace after losing both Bob and her brother Tyreese recently. Whether or not she will come around or allow her anger to consume her like Tyreese warned her about is yet to be seen.

Our survivors are used to working for everything, so a job in a community doesn’t seem like it would be that hard. However, acting in a civilized environment can be a lot more difficult especially following what they have been through. Most of the residents of Alexandria have been inside the safe zone for the two or so years that the apocalypse has been unleashing its furor so they don’t understand and can’t comprehend the horrors that could await them outside the walls. Are the residents safer with Rick and his group there, or are they in more danger? With only three episodes left in the season, we will have to see how their story in Alexandria continues to develop.

Oh, in case you want to make the cookies that Carol made (threatening children not crucial), here’s the recipe.