The Walking Dead Review: Episode 5×15 “Try”

A battered and bloody confrontation leaves jaws on the floor after this gutsy episode of The Walking Dead. Oh what a finale we must have coming.

The Walking Dead — As both the residents of Alexandria and Rick’s (Andrew Lincoln) family deal with the loss of Aiden (Daniel Bonjour) and Noah (Tyler James Williams), tensions begin to bubble over from both sides. With Nicolas (Michael Traynor) lying to cover himself, it would seem that a confrontation is coming between he and Glenn (Steven Yeun), but unknown to Glenn, Nicolas has a hidden gun of his own. Rick, now facing more adversity than ever, must decide what to do about both the recent deaths he feels are caused by Alexandria’s lack of acceptance of the new world and the growing sense that Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) is in far more trouble from her abusive husband Pete (Corey Brill), than anyone may realize. Meanwhile Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) is struggling with her own grief as she spends more and more time outside the walls hunting walkers in a futile effort to rid herself of the pain she feels from the losses of Noah, Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.) and Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman). When Rick approaches Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) to inform her about Pete, he discovers she already knows. Incensed, he insists that Pete be separated from Jessie and if he refuses, Pete should be executed for the long-term safety of the group. Appalled, Deanna insists that no one will be killed. In a civilized world, that’s not acceptable, but in Rick’s eyes the world has changed into one where people do die.

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While the adults struggle to come to grips with the new world, Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Enid (Katelyn Nacon) meet outside the walls and share an innocent gesture of affection while hiding from a herd of walkers strolling by. Despite the threat, the two have seemingly come to terms with the idea that the world is dangerous and people always die. While everyone else is struggling inside the walls and out, Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) approach the location of a fire they saw the night before only to find dismembered remains and a dead woman tied to a tree for walkers to feed upon with a W cut into her forehead. Meanwhile, Rick confronts Jessie about her abuse and in an emotional exchange where the two seem to understand there are feelings between them, Jessie accepts his plea for help only to be interrupted by Pete. When the confrontation between Pete and Rick comes to blows and crashes from the house into the street, a battered and bloodied Rick lashes out at all of Alexandria for being careless with what they have. Before his erratic speech can continue, Michonne (Danai Gurira) knocks him out much to the surprise of everyone leaving things wide open for the season five finale the following week and giving us plenty to sift through in this week’s episode of The Walking Dead!

Many stages of grief were on display and the whole was more than the sum of the parts.

Grief is a curious thing. Everyone deals with loss differently, but as human beings we all share common traits during the grieving process and the loss of Aiden and Noah hit everyone hard. Not everyone agrees on the stages of denial, bargaining, depression, anger and acceptance, but when they do show up, the signs of each are relatively easy to see and labeling them makes it easier to understand by those on the outside looking in on those going through it.

For the first time, Rick’s family has a home. A place they thought they could feel a little more safe from the world. Until now, they’ve been racing ahead faster than their grief could follow, but that’s changing. If this episode highlighted anything, it may be that there is a drawback to safety. When you stop running, the grief, followed by the anger and guilt that comes with it, catches up to you. Especially when tragedy strikes again to remind you of all the losses you’ve felt before.

Everyone’s grief appeared in different ways. Reg was somber. Glenn was determined. Deanna was a slow burn. Sasha was consumed. Michonne and Rosita (Christian Serratos) were cautiously optimistic. And Rick was a kettle about to boil. When blended, the cross-section of grief across all the characters was brilliant writing. Seeing it in all phases was a fabulous character study. The denial of Deanna, the reckless irritability and frustration of Sasha, the therapeutic flashbacks for Michonne and the bubbling rage of Rick all represented different points on the grief arc that people from the old world would naturally go through.

“After Eugene, after finding out he lied, I was screwed up because I lost something. You seem screwed up because we found something.” ~ Rosita

“Noah’s dead. And I think-I just feel like I was asleep in there.” ~ Michonne

“You were trying to forget so you could try.” ~ Rosita

“I don’t want to forget.” ~ Michonne

“So don’t. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up.” ~ Rosita

Deanna, perhaps for the first time, felt the effects of the real world around them in the loss of Aiden. We don’t think it’s a coincidence she cut Nicolas off in the middle of his explanation. Has she been in denial all this time? Did she know the dangerous game that Aiden and Nicolas had been playing? Tovah Feldshuh certainly played her cards carefully and indicated to Nicolas that she knew far more than he realized. It was hard to tell exactly what Deanna was thinking. Kudos to her because we want to know.

All the actors were brilliant in their portrayals. Rick’s quiet rage was nearly throbbing through the screen with every twitch of his fingers and jaw. Sasha’s horrified guilt and tears were exposed and raw. Michonne was her deliberate and stoic self, but the respect for how far she’d come was still there in every cut of her eyes. Deanna’s cautionary reserve was equally well-played and together the ensemble was a brilliant slice of life, with all its layers, in the new world.

Oh to be young in the zombie apocalypse.

Perhaps the only two that dealt with the aftermath well were Carl and Enid. We know Carl touched a place of hell no one should ever have to when he was forced to end his mother’s life. Enid may be doing something similar in her own way. But where every adult didn’t deal well with the idea that death comes to everyone, Carl and Enid seemed to accept it freely. The world now belongs to the walkers. Humanity has lost its place as the apex predator. The hunters are now the hunted.

“This is their world. We just live in it.” ~ Enid

That’s a reality that Rick, Sasha and Deanna all seem ill prepared to accept. As adults who have lost the most, they seem to be having a much harder time with loss than the children who are growing up in a world where loss is an accepted part of life. For the adults, the question seems to be how to choose between two realities—one outside the walls and one inside.

“We’re supposed to be out here. We’re supposed to feel like this.” ~ Enid

“I don’t want to forget.” ~ Carl

“And running makes me feel better.” Enid

“I can’t forget. I dream about it. Being in the forest with them.” ~ Carl

“I do, too.” ~ Enid

Carl and Enid, more than anyone else, seem to clearly understand that there is only one reality. The world is a dangerous place. The edge that comes from that danger should not be lost, but it also doesn’t need to consume you. They’ve clearly moved past the denial, anger and lashing out to a place of acceptance that none of the adults have yet reached.

They were both serenely calm. Even as walkers surrounded them they could still understand what the touch of each others hand meant. Both played the scene with a solid and grounded feeling that didn’t seem out of place despite a herd of walkers passing them by. Their quicker and easier acceptance may prove to be what allows them to survive with their sanity intact. They may never go through the natural stages of grief the same way their parents have. The world they are in now, will be all they ever know.

The Main Event: Porch-dick Pete vs Raging Rick. Is Jessie the prize or will she be disgusted by both?

As the episode drew to a close and Sasha’s grief only intensified with every walker she could kill, it seemed that there weren’t enough walkers in the world that would fill the void she felt. She still has a long way to go in order to move past the guilt and anger of losing Bob and Tyreese.

Rick on the other hand seems to be lashing out in a different way. We wondered as the last few episodes unfolded and something began brewing between he and Jessie if in some ways Rick sees Jessie as the Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) he can actually save if he acts. Don’t get us wrong, we think there’s some genuine chemistry between Rick and Jessie, but his attachment seems to have manifested quickly and her impending danger pushed things much more quickly than anticipated.

Rick may still be harboring guilt and grief about Lori that he can’t seem to put to rest. Now that the group has stopped running, perhaps that grief has come roaring into play for him to finally face once and for all. We can’t be certain how much that might be his motivation, but it certainly crossed our minds as he pushed desperately into her house and pleaded with her to say yes that she needed his help.

Both sequences with Jessie and Rick were brilliantly written and were equaled by superb performances by Alexandra Breckenridge and Andrew Lincoln. So much so that there were volumes not said in between the things that were spoken aloud. Her statement that she was married was a clear admission that she knew something was genuinely happening between them. Her questioning him if he’d do this for anyone else later was equally brilliant in what it said without speaking the words.

“Jessie, in here, you can’t see it, but it’s the same. It’s the same as out there. We have food and roofs over our heads, but you don’t get to just live. You don’t get to put it off or wish it away, Jessie. If you don’t fight, you die. And I don’t want you to die. I can-I can help you. I can keep you and your boys safe. I can. All you have to do is say—yes.” ~ Rick

“Would you do this for someone else? Would you do this for anyone?” ~ Jessie

“No. No.” ~ Rick

“Yes.” ~ Jessie

Rick, like Carl and Enid, may be approaching the idea that there is only one reality in the new world both inside and outside the walls, but he’s a long way from Carl and Enid’s calm acceptance of it. When confronted by Pete and the two come to blows, Rick found himself right in the middle of the fight he’d insisted Jessie embrace.

In what was perhaps the most intense and gritty struggle between two human beings on this show in some time, Andrew Lincoln and Corey Brill absolutely left nothing to doubt. The stunt and makeup teams deserve a ton of credit for bringing the entire sequence to light, but both men acting their parts were brutal in their approach.

As a bloodied and seemingly unstable Rick waves a gun at the surrounding crowd, we couldn’t help but think that the Rick from the beginning wouldn’t even recognize himself now. His theory of keeping the windows unbroken to maintain order in society was certainly looking prophetic as he lay in the street amongst the glass shards of Jessie’s front window.

When he lamented Alexandria’s lack of understanding and insisted he would not stand by and let more people die by their inaction, the only person that could have knocked some sense into him did. Michonne. We can’t wait until these two have THAT follow-up conversation next week.

FINAL VERDICT: It takes a long time to overcome monumental loss even in ideal circumstances and the zombie apocalypse is far from ideal. With brutal and raw performances, this was definitely an episode of The Walking Dead we won’t soon forget.

In an episode that saw both Sasha and Rick lose themselves in something they didn’t seem to emotionally grasp, we fell in love with the idea that all the stages of grief and loss were on full display by every character that showed different steps along the path. Of the adults, Michonne’s path is perhaps the most complete, but Glenn doesn’t seem to be far behind. Ironically, Rick may be the one person from his own group that is lagging the farthest in the back.

All together, the different perspectives on loss, acceptance and the lashing out of the guilty and grieving made for a fantastic script by Writer Angela Kang. She’s penned a number of great episodes and this was no exception. All of these characters are facing their journey in different ways. What it may require for them all to finally come together could be a threat from the outside. The mysterious Ws on the walkers and the grisly discovery by Daryl and Aaron certainly seemed to indicate that a threat is looming nearby. That may be just what this group needs to finally unite. That is, if it doesn’t kill them first.

Veteran director Michael E. Satrazemis who also directed the season 4 masterpiece, “The Grove” was the perfect person to bring this complex and nuanced episode to fruition. On the surface, the emotions and motives by everyone seemed like simple grief and anger, but deep down, everyone is facing unique lingering haunts and fears to different degrees. Pulling that all together was done extremely well by Satrazemis, most especially the dramatic fight sequence to end the episode. Fantastic stunt work and exceptional physical performances by both Lincoln and Brill made for a stunning finish.

If we have one beef with this episode, it would be the lack of addressing Father Gabriel’s (Seth Gilliam) accusations to Deanna. While we know a direct confrontation isn’t yet warranted and will likely happen in a finale, we did expect to see Maggie (Lauren Cohan) at least confide in someone about what she’d heard. We know it will be addressed later, but not seeing it move a step forward here felt like it was missing. Granted, if Rick had that information, would he have acted in such a way to prove those words true? Probably not, which leaves a plot hole, but one that can get resolved if addressed properly in the finale.

If a wild-eyed Rick being laid out Michonne shocked us, an extra half hour in the season finale may push us over the edge. This entire group has fought to get to a place of safety and it would certainly seem that if both Alexandria and Rick’s family could come together as one, then Glenn’s words would ring true. “We are them” he emphatically told Rick. Both sides desperately need this to work in order to survive. Rick’s family needs some level of healing and Alexandria needs the toughness Rick and his group can provide. Will they come together? Only time and more episodes will tell. We can’t quite believe that the season finale is upon us so soon. We’ll be ignoring the world for an hour and a half next week as we learn where this season wraps. If they last few episodes are any indication, it’s going to be a wild finish for The Walking Dead!

Questions, Comments, Concerns and My reaction on Twitter…

• I was happy to see Eugene grow a nut last week. Not quite two, but he’s getting there.
• NIN! It’s about time they channeled some Trent Reznor here. But a memoriam? Uh..
• Hmm. Is Deanna a little pissed here?
• Awe man. Why do lights in the distance scare me on this show worse than walkers?
• Nicolas. Needs. To. Die.
• You’re damn right Nicolas. They are NOT like you at ALL.
• You know why. And I know why you do. Oh boy. This is gonna get messy.
• Rick is perilously close to losing his humanity. Michonne on the other has a grip on hers.
• Ding! Walker time!
• Don’t forget what I said. Tell it like it is Glenn.
• Cool. You’re afraid of me too. Well this just got interesting. @ChandlerRiggs @katelynnacon
• The women of #TheWalkingDead aren’t just eye candy. That’s three bad ass women right there.
• It’s telling about RL that I understand the fear of a teenage girl more than I do a walker.
• Yes. Oh shit. @alexandrabreck1