"Remember" is the twelfth episode of the
fifth season of the
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...
horror television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''
The Walking Dead'', which aired on
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
on March 1, 2015. It was written by Channing Powell and directed by
Greg Nicotero
Gregory Nicotero (born March 15, 1963) is an American special make-up effects creator, television producer, and director. His first major job in special effects makeup was on the George A. Romero film ''Day of the Dead'' (1985), under the tutel ...
. In the episode, the group enters the Alexandria Safe-Zone and struggles to adapt to the community's normality and lifestyle, as well as distrusts their environment. Several group members are interviewed by the shrewd former congresswoman, Alexandria leader,
Deanna Monroe (
Tovah Feldshuh
Terri Sue "Tovah" Feldshuh (born December 27, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and playwright. She has been a Broadway star for more than four decades, earning four Tony Award nominations. She has also received two Emmy Award nominations f ...
), as they are given houses to live in.
The episode introduces many prominent characters from
Robert Kirkman's original source material, including Nicholas (
Michael Traynor
Michael Traynor (Irish: ; 1917 – fl. 1970) was a leading member of Sinn Féin in the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in Belfast in an area with a mix of Protestants and Catholics, at an early age, Traynor saw the dead bodies of three Irish Republican A ...
),
Olivia Olivia may refer to:
People
* Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Olivia (singer) (Olivia Longott, born 1981), American singer
* Olívia (basketball) (Carlos Henrique Rodrigues do Nascimento, born 19 ...
(
Ann Mahoney),
Jessie Anderson (
Alexandra Breckenridge
Alexandra Hetherington Breckenridge is an American actress. She began her career with supporting roles in the teen comedy films '' Big Fat Liar'' (2002) and '' She's the Man'' (2006). She later played reporter Willa McPherson in the FX series ...
) and her family, as well as a remixed version of the Monroes. It heavily adapts material from Volume 12 "Life Among Them", with major differences being the use of original characters such as
Daryl Dixon
Daryl Dixon is a fictional character from AMC's horror drama series '' The Walking Dead''. The character was created for the television series by writers Frank Darabont, Charles H. Eglee and Jack LoGiudice specifically for Norman Reedus, and ...
and his struggle to adapt.
Commentators lauded the episode, citing the introduction to the community and a new
safe haven as providing fresh storytelling and a change in tone for the rest of the series. Several critics adulated
Carol Peletier's character development and
Melissa McBride
Melissa Suzanne McBride (born May 23, 1965) is an American actress. Her breakout role was Carol Peletier on the AMC series '' The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022). She has garnered critical acclaim and received multiple awards and nominations for ...
's acting. The episode also saw a rise in ratings from the previous episode with 14.43 million viewers in comparison to 13.44 million viewers in the previous week.
This episode marks the debut of the young actress
Katelyn Nacon
Katelyn Nacon is an American actress. She played Elisia Brown in the go90 web series '' Tagged'' (2016–2018) and Enid on '' The Walking Dead'' (2015–2019).
Personal life
Nacon attended Woodstock High School, in Woodstock, Georgia.
Career
...
who plays
Enid, an exclusive character for the television series.
Plot
Rick
Rick may refer to:
People
*Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name
*Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality
*Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...
and the group enter the Alexandria Safe-Zone and are met by Nicholas (
Michael Traynor
Michael Traynor (Irish: ; 1917 – fl. 1970) was a leading member of Sinn Féin in the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in Belfast in an area with a mix of Protestants and Catholics, at an early age, Traynor saw the dead bodies of three Irish Republican A ...
), who asks the group to surrender their weapons. When Rick refuses,
Aaron
According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...
suggests he first meets their leader,
Deanna Monroe. Deanna, who first discloses to Rick that she was a former
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
congresswoman, explains that Northern Virginia was effectively evacuated but the Army redirected her to the recently constructed planned community with its own solar grid, water cisterns and eco-based sewage filtration. Her architect husband Reg started building the walls and they've been lucky with very few people around, living or dead. Deanna interviews the group members individually, documenting the conversations on camera. During his interview, Rick warns her not to accept strangers, to which she retorts that he is already protecting the Safe-Zone. While being interviewed,
Carol lies about her past, implying that she has few survival skills and was merely a "den mother" for the group.
After hesitantly surrendering the weapons, the survivors are given housing, complete with electricity and hot water, and begin meeting the other residents. An elderly couple are enthused about Judith, having not seen a baby for a long time. Rick meets
Jessie Anderson (
Alexandra Breckenridge
Alexandra Hetherington Breckenridge is an American actress. She began her career with supporting roles in the teen comedy films '' Big Fat Liar'' (2002) and '' She's the Man'' (2006). She later played reporter Willa McPherson in the FX series ...
), a former stylist who gives him a haircut, while
Carl Carl may refer to:
*Carl, Georgia, city in USA
*Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name
*Carl², a TV series
* "Carl", an episode of te ...
meets the local youth, whose latest member is Enid (
Katelyn Nacon
Katelyn Nacon is an American actress. She played Elisia Brown in the go90 web series '' Tagged'' (2016–2018) and Enid on '' The Walking Dead'' (2015–2019).
Personal life
Nacon attended Woodstock High School, in Woodstock, Georgia.
Career
...
), a young survivor recently brought in from the outside. While pleased with their protection, the group is unimpressed with the residents' survival skills, especially Carl, who notes to his father that the comfort in which they live has made them weak. Carl notices Enid sneaking out of the Safe-Zone and follows her over the wall but loses track of her in the woods. He instead meets Rick, who is attempting to retrieve the
pistol he stashed in a blender, only to find it is missing. Rick and Carl team up to kill a group of walkers that rushes them, and one that may have been left as a trap.
Glenn,
Tara, and Noah join Nicholas and Deanna's son, Aiden (Daniel Bonjour), for a training run. Despite Aiden's cocky behavior, his inexperience and recklessness nearly gets Tara killed by a walker which they had tied up as a practice dummy in revenge for it killing half of the last group. Glenn and Tara disagree with Aiden's careless use of a walker; Aiden confronts Glenn about this when they get back, starting a shoving match, then taking a swing at Glenn in front of Rick and Deanna. Glenn ducks the punch and lands one on Aiden, while Nicholas tries to get involved, only to be taken to the ground by
Daryl
Darryl is an English name, a variant spelling of Darell.
Male variations of this name include: Darlin, Daryl, Darrell, Darryl, Daryll, Darryll, Darrell, Darrel.
Female and unisex variations of this name include: Daryl, Darian, Dareen, Darell ...
. Rick pulls Daryl off to keep him from going too far, and Deanna instructs the town's residents to treat Rick's group as equals. Deanna sends everyone off to check in their weapons and offers Rick and
Michonne
Michonne ( ), later revealed as Michonne Hawthorne, is a fictional character from '' The Walking Dead''. The character also appears in media adaptations of the series, most notably the television series of the same name, in which she is portra ...
the jobs of town's
Constables
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
, which they accept. Deanna makes a point of thanking Glenn for knocking her son "on his ass." Later that evening, alone with Carol and Daryl, Rick states that if the residents prove too weak to protect themselves, their group will have to take over the settlement.
Production
The episode marks the first appearances of many characters of the Alexandria Safe-Zone community.
Katelyn Nacon
Katelyn Nacon is an American actress. She played Elisia Brown in the go90 web series '' Tagged'' (2016–2018) and Enid on '' The Walking Dead'' (2015–2019).
Personal life
Nacon attended Woodstock High School, in Woodstock, Georgia.
Career
...
as
Enid,
Alexandra Breckenridge
Alexandra Hetherington Breckenridge is an American actress. She began her career with supporting roles in the teen comedy films '' Big Fat Liar'' (2002) and '' She's the Man'' (2006). She later played reporter Willa McPherson in the FX series ...
and Corey Brill were cast as
Jessie Anderson and her husband, Peter Anderson, a gifted surgeon.
Major Dodson
Major Dodson (born July 8, 2003) is an American actor known for his roles on '' The Walking Dead'', ''American Horror Story'' and ''Left Behind''.
Career
Dodson began acting professionally at the age of six, he had many small roles until his f ...
and
Austin Abrams
Austin Noah Abrams (born September 2, 1996) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Ron Anderson in the fifth and sixth seasons of the television series '' The Walking Dead'' (2015–2016), as Ethan Daley in ''Euphoria'' (since 2019) ...
were cast as their sons Sam and Ron Anderson. (In the comics, Ron was a counterpart to a 9-year-old Carl; his role was split into two for the series: a young, timid Sam and a troubled teenaged Ron.) It also features Aiden Monroe, Deanna's son, a character exclusive to the television series portrayed by Daniel Bonjour.
The episode also featured the introduction of Alexandria Safe-Zone leader and former congresswoman from
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
,
Deanna Monroe. The character itself is a remixed version and gender-swap of Douglas Monroe from
Robert Kirkman's original source material.
Tovah Feldshuh
Terri Sue "Tovah" Feldshuh (born December 27, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and playwright. She has been a Broadway star for more than four decades, earning four Tony Award nominations. She has also received two Emmy Award nominations f ...
was cast as Deanna Monroe in 2014. Feldshuh explained that her portrayal of Deanna was inspired by
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
. She said: "I based her on Hillary Clinton. She's somebody I've admired and somebody incredibly qualified to lead the nation. She's been in service to the United States for a good deal of her life. I studied her as my immediate prototype. I looked at other wonderful congresswomen, and tried to think what I could bring to it: Where did the character connect with my character as a human being? Because there was no time. Don't forget, this wasn't my audition (character). It's not like subliminally I had prepared." On her auditioning process, she described it as "extremely tense" but also "wonderful". She considered Alexandria an "incredible naivete" citing that nothing has happened to the community since the outbreak. On bringing
Rick Grimes
Rick Grimes is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the post-apocalyptic comic book series '' The Walking Dead'' and the first nine seasons of the television series of the same name, in which he is portrayed by Andrew Lincoln. Creat ...
and the survivors into the community, she said: "Deanna is clearly looking to connect with street smarts, brawn, muscle, but not hooliganism. She has to make sure these people are rational." She further commented that Deanna is a culturist who "needs
ick'sbrawn
ust as much ashe needs her cultural brain."
She further assessed the community and her character saying: "Alexandria is named after the greatest city with the greatest library in the world—it was the first great library in Alexander’s empire. And Deanna is a woman of the book. She’s a woman of high intellect and a woman who is highly cultured. She’s a woman who knows how to get a grandma to babysit little children in her 30-member society. But as a great leader, she knows they need new blood. They need new blood to procreate. They need new genetic pools to get some strong blood in there. And she’s desperate for brawn, for warriors that they can trust."
Scott Ian
Scott Ian (born Scott Ian Rosenfeld, December 31, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the thrash metal band Anthrax. Ian is the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroo ...
of the American thrash metal band
Anthrax makes an appearance in this episode as a walker.
Reception
Ratings
Upon airing, the episode was watched by 14.43 million American viewers with an 18-49 rating of 7.5, an increase in viewership from the previous episode which had 13.44 million viewers and an 18-49 rating of 6.9. The UK broadcast was the most-watched on the network that week, with 1.22 million viewers. In Australia, the episode was watched by 86,000 viewers, making it the most-watched telecast on pay television that day. In New Zealand, it received 134,620 viewers, as well as 27,190 timeshifted viewers.
Critical reception
![MelissaMcBride](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/MelissaMcBride.jpg)
The episode was critically acclaimed, with many praising aspects such as the introduction of the Alexandria setting, its shift in narrative, the theme of
civilization
A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system).
Ci ...
, and the character development of
Carol Peletier and
Rick Grimes
Rick Grimes is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the post-apocalyptic comic book series '' The Walking Dead'' and the first nine seasons of the television series of the same name, in which he is portrayed by Andrew Lincoln. Creat ...
.
Writing for ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', Alex Straker praised
Andrew Lincoln and
Melissa McBride
Melissa Suzanne McBride (born May 23, 1965) is an American actress. Her breakout role was Carol Peletier on the AMC series '' The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022). She has garnered critical acclaim and received multiple awards and nominations for ...
's performances, as well as noting that the episode would be referred to as "the turning point of the season" in retrospect. Rebecca Hawkes of ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' summed up the episode as "gripping" and deemed Alexandria "brilliantly realised." She also noted that Carol's interview was one of the most interesting scenes of the episode, inferring of her transformation from "victim to killer, heroine, and tough-as-nails fighter, described herself as a former housewife, happiest when cooking and homemaking."
Zack Handlen for ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave the episode an A−, complimenting the writing team for its improvement on structure over the course of the series, and called the episode one of his favorites of the season. He praised the scene involving
Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride)'s interview and the character of
Carl Grimes
Carl Grimes is a fictional character and is one of the main protagonists in the comic book series '' The Walking Dead'' and was portrayed by Chandler Riggs in the American television series of the same name. The character was created by writer ...
and his struggle settling back into a normal lifestyle. He also adulated the prospect of a new status quo, saying: "Another reason that “Remember” works is that it’s the first time in a while that the show has suggested the possibility of a new status quo, one that could significantly affect how things work from now on." He further assessed that "What comes across most clearly in “Remember” is the uber-competence of the central ensemble, their skills as survivors, their hesitance to accept the possibility of peace, and their ruthlessness once they realize they might have found a new home." He further complimented the setting as opposed to previous safe havens the characters had stayed in temporarily saying: "Alexandria could be a home base that offers more chance for loss and moral complexity than previous settings. Rick keeps saying that life is about survival, but here’s a chance to make it about more than that, and it could be interesting to see how Rick deals with that possibility."
Tim Surette of
TV.com
TV.com was a website owned by Red Ventures that covered television series and episodes with a focus on English-language shows made or broadcast in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Origin ...
praised the introduction of Alexandria and felt it was a vast improvement of depicting civilization in comparison to Woodbury, a community introduced in the third season. Surette found Carol's reaction to be the standout and most interesting. Surette said: "Carol's reaction was the most interesting one, as she seemingly went all-in on participating in the Junior League, downplaying the kind of badass she became in the woods, and fondly remembering her abusive husband (yeah right) to Alexandria leader Deanna, while also warning Rick in private that the longer the group stayed in Alexandria, the weaker they would become. I love you, Carol, and I love your huge-ass guns." He also noted: "Carol surrendering her guns was hilarious. She continues to be the absolute best." The theme of civilization itself was praised as well. Mark Perigald of ''
The Boston Herald
The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Puli ...
'' and Amanda Michelle Steiner for ''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' found Carol to be humorous in her lies in the episode.
Matt Fowler of
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
gave the episode an 8.2 out of 10 saying that the episode had "some really satisfying moments featuring the dirty, exhausted survivors experiencing a bit of 'culture shock'."
References
External links
"Remember"at
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
*
{{The Walking Dead episodes
2015 American television episodes
The Walking Dead (season 5) episodes