'The Walking Dead' Recap: A 'Forget'-able Hour

In another instance of The Walking Dead getting cutesy with the titling of their episodes this week’s “Forget” (last week’s episode was “Remember”) was more suggestion to the audience than anything as the episode was easily forgotten. “Forget” continued Rick and company’s re-acclimation to society as some of the characters struggle to forget the post-apocalyptic outside world. But somewhere between the most boring party in the history of the post-zombie world and Sasha’s PTSD freakouts there wasn’t much going on. “Forget” was a dictionary definition of a filler episode and refused to give the audience the ultimate payoff -- Daryl having schmooze with everyone at the party.

The characters that had the most to do in “Forget” were Sasha and Daryl. Sasha can be simply discussed. She has developed some PTSD from her time out in the wilderness and is starting to feel the effects. This wasn’t really hinted on in any of the previous episodes but it makes sense due to the loss of both Bob and Tyreese earlier this season. Her flare up at the party seems to have had no repercussions as Deanna trusts her enough, or is just trying to separate her from the settlement, by letting her patrol the walls on the outside. It’s sort of a disappointing development for her character as she didn’t try and seems completely uninterested in integrating into the Alexandria community.

Daryl, on the other hand, seems to have found a friend in Aaron. This seems a little too perfect to have the uncouth redneck befriend the first homosexual the show has seen but it is what it is. Luckily Aaron also is interested in fixing up a motorcycle left from before the apocalypse, which just so happens to be Daryl’s interest! So while Daryl continues his untamable nature man routine Aaron has conveniently given him the job of recruiter so that Daryl doesn’t have to try and settle down. Not forcing Daryl to try to reintegrate is very disappointing as well as there could have been some comedy mined from Daryl trying to be something he’s not. The fact that he doesn’t even need to try to become part of the community also doesn’t allows his character to develop much. But it is clear TWD needed one of the fan favorites to be out on the road so that they don’t get bogged down in the boring Alexandrian minutiae that was a focus for “Forget”.

In regards to plot, “Forget” saw Carol, Rick, and Daryl coming up with a contingency plan to steal a couple of weapons for the armory in case something went down inside the walls of Alexandria. This seemed to jive with the final sentiment of “Remember” where Rick said he would take Alexandria if the current residents couldn’t hold their own against an invasion. They devise a plan for Carol to sneak into the armory at some future point, because she is “invisible” by playing the role of neighborly housewife. Of course their random meetings in the woods, in which they all conspicuously return to Alexandria together, seem like it should raise a red flag somewhere but what can you do.

Luckily Deanna is throwing a party at her house for Rick and company to welcome them into the community. First it is met with trepidation but as the alcohol is imbibed (they have beer and liquor) and Rick sees Carl getting along with some of the kids everyone starts to feel a little more at home (except the aforementioned Sasha). Rick even drunkenly gives his married neighbor Jessie a kiss on the cheek, which she also seems to enjoy. But make no mistake this party is incredibly boring and just goes to show how untouched Alexandria and its survivors have been by what is going on outside the walls. Had any of the townspeople needed to survive outside for an extended period of time there would be no way the party would follow every social more from pre-apocalyptic times. Everyone is dressed up all nice -- even Daryl wears a long sleeve shirt before ultimately deciding not to attend -- and it’s a fairly quiet affair. It’s awkward, it’s repressed, and its uninteresting. Quite a shame.

During the party Carol sneaks out to steal those guns from the armoy. Unfortunately she isn’t as invisible as she thought as she was followed by someone’s kid who was hoping she went to make more cookies -- pretty thin excuse. But then Carol threatens his silence by telling him she will tie him up outside the walls and let zombies feast on him and no one would ever be the wiser. What?! Where did this come from? Sure, Carol has shown herself to be unapologetic in her desire to teach kids how to survive -- as evidenced by the beginning of Season 4 -- but this just seemed cruel. Sure, she needs him to be silent but her gruesome description of what would happen to him as zombies ate him was even more over the top. At best it could be seen as a story of warning to someone who has not been outside the walls but it seemed out of character for Carol -- unless this was meant to show how she had changed since having to kill Mika last season. If that were the case, however, it was still a pretty huge jump in her character with no warning.

Carol gets the guns but by the end of the episode Daryl decides he doesn’t need one and Rick has to consider it before taking one. It is clear the previous night of socialization, whether it was Daryl coming to Aaron’s dinner or Rick at the party, they seem to be weakening from the easy life that is Alexandria. Yes, Rick has gotten Deanna to bolster her defenses with patrols and an always manned watchtower. And there is the mysterious case of zombies with the letter “W” carved into their foreheads. But “Forget” did little besides show Rick and the group incrementally integrate into Alexandria, which was done in a fairly uninteresting way.