The Walking Dead 5×12 Review: Remember

It’s pretty clear that The Walking Dead is really pushing toward their extended season five finale, and I’m looking toward it with a sort of interested bemusement. “Remember” marked the second week in a row where the episode was enjoyable as only Walking Dead can be, but it also left me wondering if they can possibly keep this pacing up for four more weeks.

As they discussed on Talking Dead, it’s hard to tell whether the people in Alexandria are faking it, or if they’re truly just that inept. I’m guessing that it’s a balance of both; regardless, most members of the group aren’t letting their guard down. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will hold it together, though, and “Remember” did its best to remind us of that, over and over and over again.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the use of the video camera interviews at first, but in the end I was actually left wanting just a little bit more of these interviews. Except for Carol. Carol freaked me out a bit there, in a way that’s somehow both good and worrisome.

In all seriousness, sometimes Walking Dead does tension really well, and right now is one of those times. I want these characters to be able to relax for once, but the idea of them doing so is foreign to me. I have to admit that I was relieved every time they made a cautious decision, such as all staying together in one house.

The writers certainly didn’t shy away from throwing around a few good reasons to back up that caution, as they introduced both Rick’s new friend Jessie’s creepy husband and Deanna’s obnoxious son in this episode. And speaking of Deanna and Aiden, I’m wondering if they’re going to take this story in the obvious direction (Deanna having hired Rick as Constable because she can’t control Aiden on her own), or if they have something else up their sleeve. Of course I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s the latter, but Deanna’s reaction to the group fighting with her son points to the former. Either that, or we’ve got a crazy manipulative leader on our hands…again.

And therein lies one of the major problems with this show: the fact that they can take things in so many different directions, but more often than not they tend to lean too far to one side or the other – if it’s not overly predictable, it’s completely ridiculous. Thankfully they really do get plenty of things right; “The Distance” and “Remember” are proof of that. I’m still not over the fact that they were able to put me on the edge of my seat just by showing the group doing what would be considered “normal” things – shaving, meeting neighbors, playing video games. I hope that they’ll continue doing such a good job with this Alexandria story line, because I do think it’s possible for there to be a fixed home base but also enough going on to keep things interesting. (Of course at times I find myself wondering whether the writers know that…)

Meanwhile, though, I’m going to try to take a page from Daryl’s book and just sit back and watch things unfold. Because even when I don’t care for the way things turn out on this show, I still usually enjoy the ride.

Author: Tara Lynne

Tara Lynne is an author, fandom and geek culture expert, and public speaker. She founded Ice & Fire Con, the first ever Game of Thrones convention in the US, and now runs its parent company Saga Event Planning.

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