The Walking Dead: 'Try' Recap and Review

Caution: SPOILERS ahead!

The penultimate episode of the fifth season of The Walking Dead took a break from killing off any more characters, but there’s still some major trouble brewing in Alexandria. With Deanna and the native Alexandrians mourning the loss of her son, Aiden, and Rick’s group dealing with both the loss of Noah and the revelation that Jessie and Sam are being abused, everything predictably came to a head. It seems that there was bad news for everybody in this episode, and from the looks of things, all hell is going to break loose in the upcoming season finale.

In honor of Aiden, Deanna popped one of his mix CD’s into a player to jam to one of his favorite songs. Understandably, they weren’t able to let the entire song play, as Nine Inch Nails isn’t exactly the most soothing of song choices. Carol offered a casserole for the family as a form of sending condolences, but it didn’t seem to be well received after Deanna simply let it lie on the porch. After interviewing her other son, Nicholas, who lied through his teeth and blamed Aiden’s death on Glenn and the others, Deanna really seemed to be taking to heart Father Gabriel’s suggestions that letting this group in was a big mistake.

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Tensions continued to mount in the show’s newest love triangle between Rick, Jessie and Pete. Carol reveals to Rick a story of how Sam came across his mother unconscious due to Pete’s violence, and you can clearly see Rick fighting the urge to rip Pete’s head off on the spot when the two next saw one another. It doesn’t help matters when Deanna reveals that she knows all about the abuse, but lets it continue due to Pete being the town surgeon. Wow, that sure sounds a lot like Grady Memorial’s Dawn Lerner, doesn’t it? What’s with all the women leaders on The Walking Dead allowing this kind of behavior?

Meanwhile, Carl may be another character who is finally finding love after getting caught stalking Enid in the woods. The two realize that they are afraid of each other, but it may not be for the usual reasons. They wind up face-to-face in a tree opening while hiding from walkers, and the two all but started making out. Carl’s a teenager now and life is short, so that’s great for him to somehow find someone his own age that can give him a little bit of happiness in this dark time.

Rosita tells Michonne her concerns about Sasha, who apparently spent the night in the watchtower. Michonne and Rosita later find Sasha in the woods on a walker-slaughtering mission, and they aid her in dispatching all of them. Sasha is becoming more and more unstable, and the reason for this particular freak-out was due to her guilt over previously telling Noah he wasn’t going to survive. The guilt is understandable, but if Sasha wants to survive herself, she’s going to have to get her act together.

Elsewhere in the forest, Daryl and Aaron come across a gruesome scene upon investigating a campsite. They discover a freshly hacked body along with a gutted woman tied to a tree. It’s beyond creepy when they notice the big W on the dead lady’s forehead, similar to many other walkers we’ve seen in the area. Who the hell is doing this? Is this a gang of raiders called “The Wolves,” as some fans are theorizing? Or is there a serial killer in our midst?

Finally, after getting permission from Jessie, Rick confronts Pete about his actions. Pete doesn’t take kindly to Rick’s suggestion to leave, and moments later, a brutal fistfight breaks out between the two men. One of the longest running human on human fights we’ve seen thus far, the duo end up crashing through a window and taking their brawl to the streets where everyone can see. I couldn’t help but wonder why Pete was such a good fighter, more than able to hold his own against the seasoned Rick Grimes, who is a mass murderer by this point. After all, he’s only a surgeon, and the only fighting experience of his that we know about is against his own wife.

Rick completely loses his mind after the two are separated, and terrifies everybody when he pulls his gun and starts pointing it and people. Those who have been with Rick for their troublesome times outside the walls can understand where he’s coming from, and his speech about how Alexandria’s ignorance of the way the world now isn’t safe certainly makes sense. However, Michonne gracefully knocks Rick out with a rock in a scene straight from the comics before things get even more out of hand.

All in all, it was a great episode, but it’s overall purpose seemed to be setting up a killer season finale. Graciously, AMC is going to present a 90 minute episode, which is excellent news considering all of the different storylines going on in Alexandria. The extra time will give more characters time to develop further, but between the mysterious “W” murders and the falling-out between Rick’s group and Alexandria, I’m sure that we’re going to see some losses by the end of the show.

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The Walking Dead: ‘Try’ Recap and Review

By Jeremy Dick | Mar 24, 2015