The Walking Dead: Forget Recap

Synopsis of 5×13: Some members of the group assimilate better than others – Daryl even makes a friend! Sasha does not.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Sasha, who lost her brother and her boyfriend recently enough for it to still be traumatic, is finding life in the Alexandria Safe Zone to be a little bit… too safe. She uses the happy family photos from the house she’s now staying in as target practice and let’s herself fall apart just that much more.

Elsewhere outside of the walls of Alexandria, Carol, Daryl, and Rick are back at the abandoned house where Rick’s blender gun disappeared. Rick wants everyone else to try to assimilate, but the three of them are meant to be the contingency plan. They plan to steal guns from the armory at Alexandria and store them here. When a random walker stumbles upon them, Carol empties her clip into it – so as not to look suspicious, since she was out here ‘practicing’ – and they find a ‘W’ carved into its head. What does this mean, comic book readers? The Wolves perhaps?

Michonne is settling in better than most, though she’s still weary. While she’s adjusting her new sheriff’s jacket, Rick comes to her about how Deanna has basically handed over authority to them. He’s suspicious and Michonne says it seems like a smart play. At least she’s not going to underestimate how clever Deanna might be.

Daryl is out by himself when he calls Aaron out on following him, the latter being suspiciously eager to come across him. He asks if Daryl knows the difference between walkers and humans by sound, and if he knows the difference between good guys and bad guys – something he says Rick struggles with. Burn, Rick, burn. Daryl allows him to follow when he admits he was just out hunting rabbits.

Deanna makes another go at explaining herself to Rick and Michonne. She sees the future of the community, and she wants Maggie at her side helping. She thinks there’s going to be a government and a new start to civilization. Rick mostly just wants to talk security with her. He takes her outside to explain that they need people constantly monitoring the walls, since they can easily climb the outside supports and get in. Crazy-eyed Sasha comes up and volunteers to sit in the watchtower, which is normally not manned. Deanna concedes so long as her son, Spencer, gets the first watch and they all attend a gathering at her home later in the evening.

Aaron and Daryl come across a horse – the kids have seen it previously and named it Buttons – and Daryl makes an attempt to catch it so that they can bring it inside the walls, something Aaron has been trying to do for months. It’s a gentle moment interrupted by a few walkers, which spooks the horse and sends it running.

The party gives Carol the cover she needs to sneak into the armory and steal the guns – something only she can do because she’s ‘invisible’ to this community. While she’s getting supplies to make cookies for the party from Olivia, the gun collector, she manages to open a latch on a window to come back in later.

Catching up to the horse provides Aaron and Daryl some time to bond. He explains to Daryl that he and Eric are still seen as outsiders most of the time, though people are less afraid of them because they’re known. He encourages Daryl to go to the party, even though Daryl brushes it off by claiming he has nothing to prove. Unfortunately, by the time they catch up to poor Buttons, he’s been cornered by walkers and they have to put it down.

Carol, Rick, Judith, and Carl show up to Deanna’s house for the get together – with much of their group already there. Abraham appropriately sets about getting sloshed and Rosita rolls her eyes at him. Deanna introduces Rick to her husband and he’s in awe of Rick’s accomplishments. Noah tries to leave the party, but Maggie and Glenn remind him that he’s family now and that he should stay with them.

Rather than go to the party, Aaron catches Daryl wandering the streets and invites him in for spaghetti. While they’re eating, Eric tells Daryl about keeping an eye out for a pasta machine when he’s out there before realizing that Aaron hasn’t asked Daryl yet. The asking turns out to be him offering Daryl a motorcycle to fix up and becoming the second recruiter in lieu of Eric. He trusts Daryl’s judgment and Daryl begrudgingly accepts in his own way.

When Carol and Rick notice Olivia show up, Carol leaves to gather the guns. Meanwhile, Jessie shows up and introduces Rick to her husband, the community’s doctor. Things are tense until he excuses himself to refill his drink, leaving Rick alone with his wife. She gives him a big, hopeful monologue about how they’ve gotten something of the past back with the Alexandria Safe Zone and Rick takes a moment to appreciate it. When her son runs up to complain about how fast Carol’s cookies have been eaten, Rick tells Sam that he’ll talk to Carol about making more. In return, he gets his hand stamped by Sam with a big red A – something that’s never given them trouble before, right?

Sasha shows up the party, but struggles to socialize like a normal human being. When Deanna encourages her to stand in with a group, and when someone asks her about her favorite meal, she ends up screaming about how their concerns are that they’ll cook something she doesn’t like. Elsewhere, Michonne and drunken Abraham even end up having a heart to heart at the party, about how things have turned out for them.

Making a pit stop before gathering the guns, Carol ends up taking another piece of chocolate from the food supplies and is surprised when she finds she’s been followed by Sam. She offers him cookies for his silence and follows that up with a truly terrifying threat delivered with a smile.

Jessie somehow ended up with Judith at the party and when Rick goes to take her, he ends up kissing her on the cheek. Some intense staring occurs and you already know what direction this is going to go.

The next day, Deanna is the one to let Sasha outside the walls, but not before telling Sasha that she’s trying to figure out what her problem is. Sasha tells her that Alexandria isn’t real, even as Deana calls bullshit and lets her go off to be crazy on her own again.

At the abandoned house, Rick, Carol, and Daryl are passing out the contraband guns. Daryl surprises them by refusing one, saying he’s going to make the effort for now. Rick, on the other hand, takes one, and presumably so does Carol. Once they get back inside, the three go their separate ways. Crazy-eyed Rick strikes when Jessie greets him, before he watches her walk away with her husband. He briefly touches his hidden gun and then runs up to the wall – holding his hand up and listening to a walker just on the other side.

And we’re left with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNfFZULPcgk