Late to the Party: A Review of Episode #15 of The Walking Dead Season 5

"Try"

directed by Michael Satrazemis
written by Angela Kang

It seems silly to write a review of the penultimate episode of Season 5 of The Walking Dead, considering that the season finale is almost a week old now, but considering that unfortunate circumstances conspired to prevent me from sitting down to write a review, and considering I've reviewed just about every episode since the season resumed earlier this year, it would be a shame not to give my two cents, even if everyone already knows what happened. Arguably, given that there's no longer any risk of spoiling anything, perhaps it's the best time to write a review.

Quite a bit happens: In "Try" a lot of things are revealed, and at least one major plot thread comes to a head as Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) upon learning that Alexandria's resident surgeon Pete (Corey Brill) has been beating his wife Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge), with whom Rick just happens to be infatuated, decides to punish him. This does not sit well with Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) who mourns the death of her son Aiden (Daniel Bonjour). Meanwhile Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) in their recruitment sorties, come across a victim of a grisly murder; a woman tied to a tree who has only just been consumed by walkers. She has the letter "w" carved into her forehead. Carl (Chandler Riggs) finally finds out why Enid (Katelyn Nacon) sneaks out of Alexandria on her own, and gets to know her a bit better.

Having the Rick/Jessie/Pete storyline come to a head was an interesting call on the part of the show runners especially in the lead up to the climax, and while to my mind they failed to effectively follow through on this twist with "Conquer" (which I will review in short order), they succeeded in showing just how fragile Rick's mind really is as a result of all he has endured, and how a combination of rage, frustration with a system he does not agree with, and just plain old libido can reduce him from his group's hardened leader into an incoherent, blubbering mess.

Andrew Lincoln is in really top form here. What grates on the viewer as well as on Rick is knowing that he's right, and yet no one will believe him because he basically looks like a raving lunatic waving a gun around at the end of the episode. The cards are pretty much stacked against Rick as the episode ends, and this is, quite honestly a fitting set up for what should have been an epic climax.

8.5/10