The Walking Dead - Remember - Review

The Walking Dead, “Remember,” was one of those terrifically crafted episodes of the show that packs in a lot to an episode without you realizing just how much is really there until a second viewing. Or maybe I’m just slow… The episode was written by Channing Powell and directed by Greg Nicotero. As with every episode this season, the title is an important touchstone. My first impression was that it would refer to the group having to remember what is was like to live in “society.” But, in fact, it is really a reference to remembering what it’s like “out there” to not forgetting what it takes to survive. This theme really builds out of Carol’s (Melissa McBride) words to Rick at the end of the last episode – “Even though you were wrong. You’re still right.” You can’t let your guard down.

It’s interesting to watch how each of them reacts to life in Alexandria. We pick up right where we left off last episode as the group approaches the gate. They hear a rustle in the bushes and all turn immediately, but it’s just an opossum. Daryl (Norman Reedus) immediately shoots it. As they enter the gate, he adds a moment of levity by saying, “We brought dinner.” Daryl is clearly the most uneasy of the group because he is the one who was farthest from the others in terms of social groups to begin with. None of the others would likely have known Daryl or come into contact with him before. The very first time we see Daryl, he is making himself useful to the group by bringing squirrels for dinner – it’s his way of showing them he’s useful to help him fit in.

The group is met at the gates by Nicholas (Michael Traynor) who demands they hand over their weapons – really not the smartest thing to say to this group! Aaron (Ross Marquand) once again acts as negotiator, this time vouching for the group and offering a compromise. He suggests that Rick (Andrew Lincoln) go talk to Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) first – but indicates they’ll all be talking to her eventually. This is the real “audition” he was talking about. Nicotero, as always, has a keen eye to composition, and we see the group quite literally backed into a corner as the gate closes.

        Before the gate closes completely, however, we see a walker approaching. The Alexandrians do nothing, so Rick speaks one word: “Sasha.” She (Sonequa Martin-Green) turns and efficiently takes it out with one shot. Rick turns to go see Deanna, saying, “It’s a good thing we’re here.” The Alexandrians may be surviving with more amenities, but it seems clear to Rick from the outset that they are dangerously vulnerable from the world outside their admittedly formidable barriers. As our group was at the prison. Another memory for the group.

The interviews are fascinating as we see how each of them handles them differently. We see that both Rick and Daryl are uncomfortable in that space. Rick is clearly checking the windows to make sure the location is secure, but both are simply uncomfortable in that social setting too. Rick perches on the edge of his chair while Daryl refuses to sit down. Deanna asks if it’s ok that she film them. No doubt she will study them later – or is she going to show them to someone else? I loved the way it was set up so that sometimes what we see is the narrow focus of the actual footage and sometimes it’s the entire scene. I also liked the shots – only in Rick and Daryl’s  - where the camera pulls back and we see the shot both in the video camera and as it’s happening. Deanna is trying to capture the essence of what these people are, but both Rick and Daryl prove elusive as they move out of her frame. Carol has her duped completely – but I’ll come back to that.

The interviews are also fascinating as we see the series of questions Deanna asks in contrast to the three very efficient questions that Rick has devised, and which the show helpfully reminded us of last episode. What’s really interesting is that Rick tries to answer his questions for Deanna. She wants to know how long they’ve been out there and whether the group knew each other before. These are actually smart questions from her perspective of letting strangers in. She wants to know how difficult it will be for them to assimilate back into “society” – presumably the longer you’re out there, the harder it is. Deanna admits to having exiled three men who didn’t work out, and she’s clearly disturbed at having to do it because in her mind that’s as good as killing them. Of course, we know that exiling them isn’t as good as killing them because when Rick exiled Carol, she didn’t die – she came back even stronger. The three who were exiled, I’m willing to bet, are going to cause trouble. It’s also one more thing that Rick and Deanna have in common. It’s also important to know how close the group is to know how likely they are to stick together and act like a unit.

At first, Rick resists answering her questions. She also asks what they were before. She tells him that she was a Congressperson. She has leadership skills and the ability to rally people to her. Rick maintains that it doesn’t matter anymore. Deanna, however, insists it does matter. They are both right. What you were before is a good indication of who you are at your core and what you’re good at. However, negating how the experiences of survival at all costs shape a person is also a mistake. Who you were before also carries a skillset, however – like Reg being a professor of architecture. Interestingly, we never see Reg nor hear about what happened to her husband.

Rick then asks his own question. He asks if they’ve been behind the walls the whole time. Deanna recognizes that it is a weakness not to have firsthand knowledge of how to survive outside the walls – this is amply proven by what an idiot Aiden (Daniel Bonjour) is when he takes Glenn (Steven Yuen), Tara (Alanna Masterson), and Noah (Tyler James Williams) on a “practice” run. Rick tells her, “You should keep your gates closed.” And this part of the interview is repeated at the end of the episode, emphasizing its importance. The second time we hear it, both Deanna and Rick have finished their assessment of the other. Deanna asks why, and Rick tells her, “Because it’s all about survival now at any cost. People out there are always looking for an angel, looking to play on your weakness. They measure you by what they can take from you. By how they can use you to live. So bringing people into a place like this now…” He leaves unsaid that it’s risking losing it all. The second time around, Rick and Deanna have measured each other.

Deanna asks Rick, “Are you telling me not to bring your people in? Or are you already looking after this place?” He clearly is, but not for her – and that’s made clear in the last scene of the episode. Rick then goes on to answer two of his own questions. In fact, he can’t even tell her anymore how many people he’s killed. But he can tell her why – which has always been the most important question anyway: “They’re dead so my family – all those people out there – can be alive. So I can be alive for them.”

Rick wants to know what Deanna wants from them. She tells him that families – like his own – should be able to raise their kids in a safe environment. She wants him to help them survive. She goes on to tell him that she was going to become a professional poker player because she is so good at reading people – and she proves it here. Rick’s own words have confirmed how important family is to him and the fact that he’s kept these people alive for so long proves that he’s good at it. She tells him that it’s 3:37 and time to make a decision – “If you’re the one doing the deciding.” Time is important as we’ve seen in the past – from Carol giving up her watch to Rick (and this ties back nicely to the exiling part of the conversation) when she goes into the wilderness to giving Rick back his watch in Terminus. Time is a luxury and a mark of civilization. Rick winds his watch as he considers and then offers, “I was a Sheriff.” Deanna, of course, is not surprised.

This scene is beautifully blocked. As the interview begins the two are facing each other on the couch – they are seeing eye to eye, feeling each other out. But at the end of the scene they are standing and Rick towers over Deanna. He is totally in the position of power. She isn’t necessarily submitting as she maintains eye contact with him, however. But it is clear – and becomes clearer – who is really holding all the cards. I really believe that Deanna’s ultimate plan is to concede leadership to Rick. I think she’s been looking for someone to hand the reins to, and I think she realizes that despite their fortifications, Alexandria is vulnerable to outside forces. Feldshuh is an excellent addition to the cast – I’m hoping we don’t lose her too soon! For those of you not familiar with the comic, there isn’t an exact parallel character, and I think that sets up all kinds of interestingly different dynamics.

Aaron is the one to show them to the two houses that group has been allotted. Rick and Carl (Chandler Riggs) check out one of them. There’s a shot of piled, empty picture frames – a symbol of erasing the previous occupants. Rick has a shower. He symbolically washes the dirt from himself and then cuts away the beard to reveal his face. The hair and beard have very much been a persona that he’s adopted to help look more intimidating – because who else was surprised to see how delicate Lincoln’s face is!?!? I’d forgotten what he looked like.

Michonne (Danai Gurira) remarks that she’d never seen his face like that. Rick tells her, “That’s what I felt – before and after.” Rick really hasn’t had the opportunity to see what he looks like – what he’s become. Being in the company of strangers also gives him the opportunity to reflect on how different he is from them now. Even clean shaven, his reflection is foreign because he’s no longer that person.

Jesse (Alexandra Breckenridge) shows up with a care package for the house from Deanna and offers to cut Rick’s hair. He’s amazed that she’d offer when she doesn’t know him, but she assures him that she can take care of herself. She has two boys, Ron and Sam, and would like to introduce Carl to Ron. She’s empathetic with Rick being a little overwhelmed. When she hands him the mirror to see how he looks, we see that she has a tattoo of an owl on her forearm. Later, when Rick is freaking out over losing sight of Carl and Judith, he knocks over her owl sculpture. When Rick goes for a walk late one night, he encounters Jesse’s husband on their porch, apparently a night owl, and he’s not terribly friendly – but he is watching.

Daryl’s interview is uncomfortable. I loved that he’s still dragging the dead opossum with him – no doubt bleeding all over the floor and furniture! Deanna asks him if he even wants to be there. He tells her, “The boy and the baby. They deserve a roof. I guess.” He’s there for his family, but there’s an implication in how Reedus delivers the line that Daryl doesn’t think that he deserves it. He resists being in the house, and we see him gutting the opossum – because regardless of the pantry… food is still important – on the front steps of the house. He doesn’t want to explore when the rest do. He has no interest in trying to fit in where he clearly doesn’t feel he belongs.

Rick tells Daryl about how he and Lori used to drive through neighborhoods like they’re in, where the houses cost in the low 800,000s as Deanna tells him. They’d dream about being able to live somewhere like that someday. Daryl so clearly never came from a place that would even have that kind of a dream. It underscores how different he is from the rest of the group. There’s a terrific shot of him sitting beside his crossbow in such a way as to invoke the shape of the crossbow.

When Deanna has assigned the others roles, she is still trying to figure Daryl out. You can see in that scene that it hurts him that she singles him out, that she can’t decide how he fits in. Again, he’s absolutely clear in how he fits in. Just as the kids were paramount to him in his interview, in this scene he stands guard over Judith. Carol tells him to have a shower, to keep up appearances for the neighbors. Daryl tells her, “I ain’t starting now.”

Carol was the most interesting in this episode. Her interview left me with my mouth hanging open, until I put it together with everything we see of her in the episode. When Deanna has them give up their weapons, Carol looks utterly clumsy and uncomfortable with her rifle. I put it down to her still being injured. She’s also smiling in a self-deprecating way.

Then in the interview, she is bubbly and charming. McBride delivers just an outstanding performance in this episode. She tells Deanna that she did laundry and gardened and happily put dinner on the table for her wonderful husband, Ed. Um… what?!?! The Ed who beat her and had her running to a shelter? She goes on to tell Deanna that she didn’t have much to offer the group and was just grateful they offered to protect her. WHAT?!? The woman who single-handedly rescued them from cannibals?? I loved it. She completely plays the non-threatening persona to a T. Deanna asks her where she thinks she’ll fit in, and Carol suggest somewhere that she’ll be able to observe the community and how it works. Even the way McBride speaks in this scene is utterly non-threatening. She ends every sentence on an up note, like a question, as if she’s asking for validation. Just like this version of Carol, the video image of her is over-exposed.

When she comes out of the house and tells Daryl “Time to punch the clock and make the casseroles,” she’s clearly playing a part – right down to her costume – which Daryl calls ridiculous. But it’s camouflage. She’s abiding by civilizations rules. She’s good at playing a part, especially a non-threatening one - she did it with Ed for years. But it’s absolutely clear that Carol, Daryl, and Rick are still on guard for the group.

When they first arrive at the houses, Rick, Carol, and Daryl walk the perimeter and discuss the advantages of staying together in one house, and the implications of them trying to get the group to split up. The Carol we see in these scenes is still the serious, non-grinning Carol we’ve come to know and love. I loved the scene when Carl wants to check out the other house and Carol and Rick simply exchange a look before she goes with Carl to make sure it’s safe. She picks up a pad of paper while there, which we later see she uses to draw diagrams of the area.

The final scene has Rick donning the sheriff’s uniform and coming down stairs, he doesn’t join the others, but goes out on to the porch. It’s just Daryl and he until Carol joins them. Daryl asks if Rick is a cop again, and Rick says he’s just trying it on for size. Daryl is clearly not that happy. Carol asks if they’re staying. Rick says he thinks it’s safe to sleep in their own homes. “Settle in.” Carol says, “If we get comfortable here, let our guards down, this place is going to make us weak.” This is something Rick has considered himself. He goes outside the walls to check the safety of the perimeter, but also to check on the gun he’d hidden – which he finds is gone. It’s interesting that he doesn’t try to kill the first walker he sees, but he is fully committed to taking out the ones around the cabin – and he chooses to do it with an up-close weapon, his knife, rather than either his gun or the machete. He doesn’t chastise Carl for being outside the wall because he realizes it’s Carl’s way of making sure he doesn’t become weak. It’s what’s behind the super creepy son/father moment of Carl and Rick killing walkers together – it’s also why Enid (Katelyn Nacon) keeps going over the wall by herself. I particularly liked when Carl asks Rick for the iron bar to kill the final walker.

Rick tells Carol and Daryl that Carl had worried about the place making them weak too. He goes on to say, “But it’s not gonna happen. We won’t get weak. That’s not in us anymore. We’ll make it work. If they can’t make it… Then we’ll just take this place.” Both Carol and Daryl are pleased to hear Rick say that. At the end of the day, he’s going to make sure their group is safe whatever the cost.

It’s really interesting that Michonne isn’t included in these discussions, but it’s clear that she is more willing to be assimilated. In her interview, she picks up a book and holds it in her lap throughout. The book is Crime Without Punishment. More than anything it would seem, Michonne wants to move on from the past and be untainted by it. It makes her a good balance for Rick, but it also makes her vulnerable if she forgets that past. She’s ready to believe Deanna. She tells Rick, “I get why we’re playing it safe. We should. I just have a good feeling about this place.” Yet she too is having trouble sleeping – at least at first. There’s also a shot of Rick getting up in the middle of the night, covering Carl and then Michonne with blankets they’d kicked off before he goes into the kitchen to hold a knife. Rick is always on watch and on protection duty.

Glenn’s interview is similar to Michonne’s. He tells Deanna that they need to make this work because “we were almost out there too long.” Yuen is also terrific in this episode. You can see him grinding his teeth the entire time he’s with Aiden, who is indeed the douchebag he says he is. Glenn is put out not to be given his own weapons back – but the ones Aiden has chosen for them. But of course, it’s Aiden needlessly putting them in harm’s way with a total incomprehension of the dangers posed by walkers that puts him over the edge. It’s utterly laughable when Aiden tells them that they’re not ready for runs yet. Glenn finally tells him, “Yeah. Pretty sure you got that backwards.”

As soon as there is a conflict, the entire group shows up. I loved Glenn putting Aiden down with one punch. When Nicholas makes a move to go after Glenn, Daryl has him down on the ground in an instant and only Rick’s intervention saves Nicholas from serious harm. Michonne intervenes between Aiden and Glenn. Deanna shows up and diffuses both sides of the situation. She thanks Glenn for knocking Aiden on his ass. She at least realizes that Aiden is out of his depth – no doubt the number of people he’s lost on runs hasn’t been lost on her.

Deanna then asks Rick to become their constable and Michonne to be his deputy. Both agree. Daryl is visibly upset and storms off. At first I thought it was because Deanna picked Michonne over him – and Rick agreed to it, but I don’t think that’s what bothered Daryl. I think Daryl saw it as Rick’s acceptance of staying. Daryl isn’t convinced of their safety there. After all, a roof is no good to you if you’re dead.

There are two parallel scenes in the episode which really struck me. We see the group on the first night in the house. They are all staying together in the living room. Sasha, Abe (Michael Cudlitz), and Daryl are all on watch at the windows. Deanna drops by and remarks “Staying together. Smart. You said you’re a family.” She also says it’s “amazing how people with completely different backgrounds and nothing in common can become that.” Of course, they all do have a shared history now. At the end of the episode, we see them all still together in the living room, but now, no one is on watch – except Daryl on the porch. And perhaps that’s the idea. Daryl will always be the one watching their backs.

Carl meanwhile also tries to fit in. His interview with Deanna is also interesting. We clearly don’t see all of it but we do see is Carl telling Deanna quite matter of factly about Lori. Deanna delivers the socially acceptable, “I’m sorry you lost her.” He’s holding Judith as he tells her, “I didn’t just lose her. I killed her. It had to be me.” Rigss, as always delivers a terrific performance. He's chillingly clinical in describing his mother's death and then looks so much like a young, vulnerable, regular kid when trying to adjust.

        When he first meets the other kids, he’s quite at sea. They are simply being kids, but he’s mostly lost that ability. It’s actually Enid being nasty to him – “Pull it together, Sport” – that snaps him out of it. Later, he says to her, “You don’t like me, do you?” She just looks at him and walks away – but it’s classic teenager behavior. Enid may like Carl more than the others because he’s clearly not weak in the way they are. She’s also clearly been trained by the outside world not to count on anyone being alive for long. Why make friends and get to know them if they are just going to die.

This was another really interesting episode – thanks for reading my comments if you’ve gotten this far! Do you think our group is still in danger? What job do you think Daryl should have? Do you think Deanna will give control to Rick? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.