Forget (The Walking Dead)
| "Forget" | |
|---|---|
Bee-Gees | |
| Original air date | March 8, 2015 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Forget" is the thirteenth episode of the
This episode marks the first appearance of
The episode received positive acclaim, with many praising the continuing Alexandria Safe-Zone story arc.
Plot
Sasha wakes up and glances at several family portraits left behind in her new house. Later that day, she takes them outside the walls to use as target practice. Finally she sits down on a tree stump, quietly saying to the walkers, "Come and get me."
In the woods,
Elsewhere in the woods, Daryl catches Aaron following him, and together they go hunting when they come across a black horse Aaron calls Buttons which he has been trying to catch for months. The horse is spooked away by some walkers, and later others corner and attack it. Aaron and Daryl kill the walkers, and Aaron regretfully puts down the mortally wounded horse.
Meanwhile,
Deanna invites the entire community to the welcoming party. Rick meets Jessie's husband, Peter Anderson (Corey Brill), and their son, Sam, and later gives Jessie a kiss on the cheek. Daryl skips the party, so Aaron invites him to dinner along with Eric, and shows Daryl their garage full of old motorcycle parts. Aaron tells Daryl that he will need to construct a bike because Aaron wants him to replace Eric as a recruiter for Alexandria. Meanwhile, members of the group that attend the party have trouble adjusting to their new surroundings: Abraham and Michonne discuss the difficulty of leaving behind the road and its dangers, and Sasha has flashbacks of her recent traumas and storms out after an outburst.
While the party is underway, Carol, having already unlatched a window, sneaks into the storeroom where the guns are being held and takes three pistols from a bin as well as a small chocolate ration. Jessie's son Sam catches her and says he will tell his mother what he saw. Carol persuades him to remain silent with the promise of cookies, and a threat of tying him to a tree for walkers to eat if he breaks his silence.
At their meeting spot in the woods, Carol hands both Rick and Daryl a revolver, but Daryl refuses. Rick goes for a walk in Alexandria, where he sees Jessie and Pete, and briefly reaches toward his revolver. He hears a noise from outside the wall and runs in its direction, where a lone walker is banging on it from the other side. Rick puts his hand on the wall and appears to take some satisfaction in reconnecting with the animalistic life outside the walls.
Production
The episode was written by Corey Reed and directed by David Boyd. It marks the final overall appearances of
."Forget" adapts material from "Volume 13: Too Far Gone" in
Reception
Ratings
Upon airing, the episode was watched by 14.534 million American viewers with an 18-49 rating of 7.3,[2] an increase in viewership from the previous episode which had 14.43 million viewers, and a slight decrease in 18-49 ratings from the previous episode's 7.5.[3]
The Australian broadcast was watched by 86,000 viewers, making it the seventh most-watched broadcast on pay television that day.[4] In New Zealand, it was the fifth highest-rated timeshifted broadcast, with 33,330 viewers.[5]
Critical reception
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The episode received positive reviews, with most attention going to the storylines involving Carol and Sasha. Matt Fowler of IGN gave "Forget" an 8.6 out of 10, and wrote positively about Carol's intimidation of the young boy, Daryl's storyline with Aaron, and Sasha's actions in the episode. He concluded, "So even though there's no imminent threat at the moment, things within Alexandria are still really intriguing."[6]
Sean McKenna for TV Fanatic spoke positively about the episode, saying he "didn't disagree with Sasha's feelings [towards Alexandria]" and noted Carol's scene with Sam as the highlight of the episode saying: "But man, did Carol take the cake when she went super dark on that kid threatening to feed him to the walkers if he told his mom that she was grabbing the guns. What an intense scene that perhaps, if I hadn’t been watching The Walking Dead up until now, might have thought she was one of the bad guys on the show."[7]
Shane Ryan for Paste Magazine positively reviewed the episode. He compared Sasha to Charles Whitman and felt that she should be kept away from the tower completely and said the scene involving Carol and Sam was "disturbing." In further detail he said: "That scene was so strange and memorable that it’s almost like I’ve been watching a fake Carol all these years, and we just saw her bona fide psychopath interior seep to the surface. Somehow, even killing those sick people at the prison didn’t seem quite so bad—at least there was a twisted logic there."[8]
Tim Surette for TV.com said "Carol, you continue to amaze me and I am really close to asking you to prom."[8]
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Paul Vigna praised the episode and said it had "wonderful, subtle touches, things to savor, and understated but confident storytelling, from watching the Grimes clan try to fit into a cocktail party to Daryl and Aaron’s bonding through a walker-hunting spree." He also praised Melissa McBride as Carol saying: "What Melissa McBride is doing with Mrs. Peletier, with Carol fooling everybody with this den-mom Junior League act, is simply delicious. The whole thing was a fantastic change of pace." He praised Daryl and Aaron's bond and was sympathetic towards Sasha, calling her situation a "sad story".[9]
Patrick Kevan Day for the Los Angeles Times was complimentary of the episode, and felt that Rick set the table for "screwing the entire place up". He compared the show to the ABC television series, Lost saying: "seeing our band of survivors cleaned up and wearing Saturday-afternoon suburban duds in a halfway civilized setting brought back intense Lost and The Others flashbacks. Perhaps intentional, perhaps coincidental, but it does seem that The Walking Dead writers are enjoying playing with our expectations of the residents of Alexandria." He also considered Sasha's problem to be fixable, and called Rick the "real problem".[10]
Ron Hogan for Den of Geek! felt that Sasha's breakdown at the party of Alexandria served as the episode's highlight. He said: "A few days ago, she was eating beans out of a can; now she's at a dinner party with people eating potato puffs off little plastic swords and drinking beer like there's nothing happening just beyond those corrugated steel walls. But there is. Sasha knows this, and Sonequa Martin-Green plays this perfectly." He went further to say, "I understand what she's going through completely, and her lashing out makes perfect sense, both in ferocity and in timing." He also felt that the direction complimented Martin-Green's performance.[11]
Alan Sepinwall for HitFix was positive towards the episode. He said: "This is some ugly stuff — the Carol/Sam scene was one of the show's most uncomfortable scenes ever that didn't involve a zombie makeup effect — and has breathed a ton of life into the show after that bumpy start to this half-season. Where Hershel's farm and even the prison felt like places where the series overstayed their welcome for budgetary reasons, this new/old world feels rich and complicated enough that I could see a very long and creatively healthy stretch here, as the arrogance of Rick, the paranoia of Carol, the PTSD of Sasha, etc., slowly causes this paradise to crumble around them."[12]
References
- ^ Huntington, Brian (2015-03-09). "Season 5 Episode 13: Panel to Screen Comparison". The Walking Dead. Archived from the original on 2016-12-30. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
- ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (March 10, 2015). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, 'Talking Dead', 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on March 12, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
- ^ Bibel, Sara (March 3, 2015). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, 'Talking Dead', 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', Sister Wives', 'Shameless', 'Bar Rescue' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
- ^ Knox, David (March 10, 2015). "Monday 9 March 2015". TV Tonight. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
- ^ Regan (March 17, 2015). "Time Shifted TV Ratings: 9 March 2015". Throng. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
- ^ Fowler, Matt (March 8, 2015). "The Walking Dead: "Forget" Review". IGN. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
- ^ "The Walking Dead Season 5 Episode 13 Review: Is This Real?". TV Fanatic. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
- ^ a b "The Walking Dead Review: "Forget" :: TV :: Reviews :: the walking dead :: Paste". Paste. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
- ^ Vigna, Paul (2015-03-08). "'The Walking Dead' Recap: Season 5, Episode 13, 'Forget' - Speakeasy - WSJ". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
- ^ "'The Walking Dead' recap: Rick wears the scarlet letter". Los Angeles Times. 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
- ^ Hogan, Ron (March 10, 2015). "The Walking Dead season 5 episode 13 review: Forget". Den of Geek!. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
- ^ "Review: 'The Walking Dead' – 'Forget': Z is for cookie". HitFix. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
