"Remember" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the sixty-third episode of the series overall. It premiered on March 1, 2015. It was written by Channing Powell and directed by Greg Nicotero.
Plot
Adjusting into a new lifestyle is proving difficult for the group. Has life on the road proven too treacherous to go back to who they once were?
Synopsis
Rick's group walks through Alexandria's front gate. They're met by a guard, Nicholas, who orders them to hand over their weapons. They refuse and Rick attempts to reason by saying they're not even sure if they are going to stay, but Aaron intervenes and insists they can keep their guns until after they speak with the community's leader, Deanna Monroe.
In a well-furnished living room, Deanna videotapes Rick as she questions him about his group. She explains that Alexandria was previously a sustainable community complete with its own solar grid, cisterns and eco-based sewage filtration. Rick asks Deanna -- a former congresswoman from Ohio -- what she wants. "I want you to help us survive," she says.
Rick's people surrender their guns to Olivia, who manages the armory. Olivia says they can sign out their guns whenever they go outside the walls. Carol feigns struggling to unshoulder her rifle and then meekly places it on the pile, whilst exchanging friendly smiles with Olivia.
Aaron brings Rick and Carl to the group's assigned homes — two picturesque colonial houses next door to each other. Inside, Rick and Carl find immaculate rooms with running water.
Rick takes a hot shower and shaves his overgrown beard. One of the neighbors, Jessie, stops by with a bin of food and toiletries from the town pantry. Noticing his unruly hair, Jessie offers to give Rick a haircut. While cutting his hair, she mentions that she has two children, Ron and Sam. Ron is Carl's age and suggests they meet.
In her interview with Daryl, Deanna asks if he wants to be in Alexandria. He evades the question, but says that Carl and Judith deserve a nice home.
Carl and Carol explore the second house. Carol is suspicious that Deanna would just give away such luxurious accommodations. She meets with Rick and Daryl on the front lawn. They worry about splitting the group between two houses and agree they should all sleep in the same house.
That night, as the group prepares their beds on the living room floor, Deanna stops by. "Staying together," she observes, "Smart." Rick notes that she hasn't assigned him a job yet. Deanna says she has a job in mind for him, but is still trying to figure out Michonne, Sasha, and Daryl.
That night, Rick finds himself unable to sleep. He goes to the kitchen and grabs a knife from the drawer.
The next day, Deanna interviews Michonne, who says that the group is ready to join the community.
Meanwhile, the group leaves their house to explore the neighborhood. Rick urges Daryl to join them but he decides to hang back.
As they're out walking, Rick loses track of Carl and Judith. In a panic, he finds Jessie, who takes him to a nearby house where Carl and Judith are sitting on the porch with two elderly people who are fawning over Judith. Jessie identifies them as Bob and Natalie Miller, whose family comprised five children and twelve grandchildren before the apocalypse, and remarks that Judith will have to put up with a lot of attention since few in Alexandria have seen a baby for a long time. Jessie also suggests that they introduce Carl and Ron since the two are nearly the same age.
In his bedroom, Ron introduces Carl to his friends Mikey and Enid and suggests they play video games. Carl can only stare back in disbelief. Ron apologizes and urges Carl to take his time adjusting to this new reality. He says it took Enid – another recent addition from outside the walls -- three weeks to open up. Carl looks curiously at Enid.
During his interview, Carl says his mom always wanted them to live in this sort of community. When Deanna expresses her condolences for the loss of his mom, Carl explains that he didn't just lose her, he had to be the one to kill her. Later, at the house, he tells Rick that he likes the people in Alexandria, but "they're weak, and I don't want us to get weak, too."
That night, Rick tells Michonne that his guard is still up. Michonne argues there's nothing to be concerned about. "Then why are we both awake?" he asks. Still restless, Rick takes a nighttime stroll and sees Jessie's husband Pete quietly smoking on his porch. Pete calls out to Rick, noting that his wife cut Rick's hair. "Welcome to Alexandria," he says.
In her interview, Carol puts on a front as a doting, domestic housewife who became the den mother of Rick's group. She describes her previous role as doing laundry, gardening and preparing meals, citing she really didn't have much to offer her group. She asks for a job that would allow her to be involved in the community.
Later, Carol steps out of her house dressed in a button down, dress pants and a cardigan sweater. She tells Daryl that her assigned job — making meals for people — will allow her to get close to the neighbors. She urges Daryl to clean himself up to keep up appearances. He shrugs her off, telling her she looks ridiculous.
In his interview, Glenn says they need to make things work with the new community. "We were almost out there too long," he says.
Meanwhile, Carl watches Enid sneak over the wall. Intrigued, he follows her into the woods, but eventually loses her.
Rick goes outside the gate to examine the perimeter wall. He backtracks to look for the gun that he stashed outside the abandoned house, but discovers that it's missing. Carl runs into Rick as a group of walkers approaches. Together, they take down the dead.
Glenn, Tara, and Noah meet with Nicholas and Aiden, Deanna's son, to begin their job helping with supply runs. As they carry out a dry run, Aiden explains that they must follow his orders at all times if they want to avoid getting killed by walkers, like his previous team.
Aiden and Nicholas lead the group to a site where they had chained up a walker that killed their former crew. They find that the walker has escaped, but are able to track it down. The walker attacks Tara, prompting Glenn to stab it through the head. Aiden yells at Glenn for killing his trophy.
As they storm back inside the walls, Glenn accuses Aiden of incompetence. Aiden takes a swing at Glenn and they fight, drawing a crowd of people including Olivia, Jessie, and Stacy. Deanna intervenes and announces that Rick and his group are to be treated as equals. She then asks Rick and Michonne to be the town's constables. They accept.
At the house, Rick walks downstairs in his constable uniform and tells Carol and Daryl that it's safe enough to sleep in two houses now. Carol repeats Carl's concern that Alexandria will make them weak. "We won't get weak," Rick assures her. "That's not in us anymore. We'll make it work. And if they can't make it? Then we'll just take this place."
Other Cast
Co-Stars
- Corey Brill as Pete Anderson
- Major Dodson as Sam Anderson
- Ann Mahoney as Olivia
- Elijah Marcano as Mikey
- Katelyn Nacon as Enid
- Jordan Woods-Robinson as Eric Raleigh
- Michael Traynor as Nicholas
Uncredited
- Charlotte & Clara Ward as Judith Grimes
- Curtis Jackson as Bob Miller
- Helen Jackson as Natalie Miller
- Stacy Payne as Stacy
- Robert Morato as Bobby
- Anne McBrayer Childress as Alexandria Resident
- Rachel Collins as Alexandria Resident
- Deborah Douglas English as Alexandria Resident
- Emerick Martin as Alexandria Resident
- Kevin Galbraith as Walker
- Scott Ian as Walker
Deaths
- 3 unnamed Alexandria residents (Confirmed Fate)
- 1 opossum
Trivia
- First appearance of Enid.
- First appearance of Nicholas.
- First appearance of Deanna Monroe.
- First appearance of Olivia.
- First appearance of Jessie Anderson.
- First appearance of Sam Anderson.
- First appearance of Bob Miller.
- First appearance of Natalie Miller.
- First appearance of Ron Anderson.
- First appearance of Mikey.
- First appearance of Pete Anderson.
- First appearance of Aiden Monroe.
- First appearance of Stacy.
- First appearance of Bobby.
- The title of the episode, "Remember", refers to how Rick's group remembers how life is different outside Alexandria.
- The episode's exact runtime is 00:42:57.
- Reportedly, a South-African network accidentally aired the promo for this episode instead of episode 11's after the premiere of episode 10.[2]
- This episode marks Norman Reedus' 50th appearance on the TV Series.
- The comic book Carl finds in his attic and later returns to Enid is Invincible, another story written by Robert Kirkman and published by Skybound.
- Several scenes were cut from the final version of the episode, some of which revealed the job assignments for a few members of the group, including Abraham joining the construction crew, Rosita meeting Pete to become a medical assistant, Eugene meeting with someone to work on the solar arrays, and Maggie working with Deanna.[3] The scenes were supposed to be before the fight between Glenn and Aiden, as Maggie can be seen walking with Deanna toward the confrontation.
- Due to these scenes being cut, both Maggie and Rosita have no lines in the final version of the episode.
- In an Instagram post, Chandler Riggs explained why he appears to be dominating Noah in poker. Neither he nor Tyler James Williams knew how to play poker beforehand and were instructed by Josh McDermitt. Before shooting the scene, everyone bet all they had, which Chandler won, "thus making Carl the poker god of the apocalypse."[4]
- The badge that Rick has when he puts on his constable uniform was specially made for him. According to Chris Hardwick, the badge had a Latin phrase that's translated as "We Will Rise Again," a phrase that the Governor used back in "Walk With Me".
- Several easter eggs were confirmed during the Talking Dead segment of this episode. The titles for the last five episodes were taken from the quote Dale said back in "Vatos". "I like what the father said to the son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said: 'I give you a mausoleum of all hope and desire which will fit your individual needs, no better than it did mine and my father before me. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it. For a moment, now and then, and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.'", a nod to all five titles.
- In "Thank You", it is confirmed that one of the supply runners that died is Will.
- Curtis Jackson and Helen Jackson are the first real life couple to portray a couple in the TV Series, in this case Bob Miller and Natalie Miller.
Comic Parallels
- Rick and the group being interviewed and assigned jobs by Deanna is adapted from Issue 70.
- The group delivering their guns to Olivia is adapted from Issue 71.
- Rick shaving his beard is adapted from Issue 70.
- Jessie cutting off Rick's hair is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 70, where Olivia cuts off his hair instead.
- Rick suggesting the group to sleep together in the same house is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 71, where Abraham makes the suggestion instead.
- Rick looking desperately for his son before Jessie helps him is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 70, where Aaron calms him down instead.
- Rick accepting his new job as the community constable is adapted from Issue 70.
- Rick telling Daryl and Carol that if Alexandria makes them weak they would take over is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 71, where Rick tells Andrea that if Alexandria tries to exile them they would take over instead.
Episode Highlights
TBA
Goofs/Errors
- Aiden and Nicholas tell Glenn, Tara, and Noah that they have been increasing their runs to 53 miles out, yet they had never encountered the Wolves, Hilltop Colony, the Kingdom or the Saviors despite their locations being within that radius. They do say that they have been traveling in a semicircle, but the odds of never finding anyone from these groups in their search area this whole time is very unlikely.
- Just before Glenn and Aiden start fighting near the town gate, as Deanna walks up behind Aiden you can see Andrew Lincoln (Rick) and Chandler Riggs' (Carl's) feet under the gate behind her, clearly waiting for their cue.