"Try" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the sixty-sixth episode of the series overall. It premiered on March 22, 2015. It was written by Angela Kang and directed by Michael Satrazemis.
Plot[]
The group realizes that sheltered life might not be possible as life within the walls starts to mimic life outside. Will these setbacks break Rick?
Synopsis[]
Deanna, Reg and Spencer mourn the loss of Aiden while listening to his metal music mix in their living room. Carol drops off a casserole and condolence note at Deanna's front door. Deanna leaves the casserole on the step and burns the note.
Sasha, in the guard tower, shoots at a walker knocking on the wall.
Daryl and Aaron are outside the wall. Aaron mentions there are more walkers here than normal. Daryl points off at a faint light in the distance, indicating that is why there are more walkers wandering in that direction.
Afterwards, Deanna watches a video recording of her interview with Nicholas as he recounts Aiden's death. Nicholas accuses Glenn of causing the warehouse explosion by distracting Aiden, and adds that he himself was almost left to die by Glenn's group. In the video, Spencer is heard asking what Deanna was doing. She says she needs to record the video now, she will need it for later. Deanna forbids him and Glenn from leaving the community. Nicholas says, "These people are not like us; I know you see it too." Deanna disagrees, telling Nicholas that he doesn't know what she sees.
Meanwhile, Glenn recounts his truthful version of events to Rick, who seethes over the fact that no one in the community knows how to survive. Glenn insists they can be taught. "We've got to make this work," he says.
Carol meets with Rick and revisits her proposal to kill Pete. She says Sam once found Jessie on the floor bleeding after Pete had knocked her unconscious. Carol adds that if walkers hadn't killed her husband Ed, she would not be standing here. "Yeah, you would," Rick counters.
Rick walks to the lake and stares out at the water, gripping his stolen revolver and trying to contain himself. Pete sees Rick and asks if he's okay. Rick warns him to just "Keep walking". Pete complies.
The next morning, Rosita tells Michonne that Sasha spent the night in the guard tower and hasn't returned. As they search for Sasha in the woods, they realize it's the first time they've been outside the walls since they arrived at Alexandria. Michonne says she feels like she's been "asleep".
Rick approaches the graveyard and tells Deanna about Pete and is shocked to learn that Deanna had been protecting Pete because his medical skills are an asset, despite his explosive temper being a danger to others. Rick suggests they separate Jessie and Pete— and if Pete doesn't cooperate, they kill him. "We don't kill people, this is civilization," Deanna says. Rick presses, but Deanna shuts him down: "I wouldn't kill you," she says. "I'd just send you away."
Michonne and Rosita find dead walkers in the woods, all killed by shots to the back of the head. "She's hunting them," Michonne realizes.
Carl secretly follows Enid into the woods. "You're very loud," she finally says, calling him out. They playfully run through the trees and stop short when they spot a walker. Enid takes a timer out of her backpack and chucks it at the walker. The buzzer goes off, luring the walker away. Enid smiles before running off again.
Glenn finds Nicholas cleaning up Tara's blood from the back of the van. He berates him for letting four people, and recently Noah, die during his supply runs. "You're just a coward," Glenn says. "People like you are supposed to be dead." He forbids Nicholas from leaving the community by himself or with anyone else. "That's how you're going to survive," he says. "Are you threatening me?" Nicholas asks. "No," Glenn replies, "I'm saving you."
Back in the woods, Carl asks Enid about her past, but she says that she doesn't believe it matters. He disagrees, but before she could answer, they hear a herd of walkers approach. They hide in a hollow tree trunk and wait for the walkers to go past. One of them has a 'W' on its forehead. "It's their world, we're just living in it," she whispers. Carl briefly touches her hand as they lock eyes, getting inches away from each other but Carl backs away. Smiling, she notes he's also afraid of her.
Ignoring Glenn's instructions, Nicholas sneaks into the woods and digs something up from a hiding spot: the gun that Rick had stashed prior to entering Alexandria.
Elsewhere in the woods, Michonne and Rosita find Sasha slaughtering a large cluster of walkers. Michonne and Rosita join Sasha's side and kill the walkers together. Afterwards, Sasha screams at them to leave her alone. She then breaks down and admits her guilt over having once told Noah he wouldn't survive.
In the woods on their recruiting mission, Daryl and Aaron spot a campfire in the distance. They follow the trail and come across a pile of hacked limbs. "This just happened", Daryl notes. Nearby, they find a woman's naked and disemboweled body tied to a tree, a "W" carved into her forehead. "This just happened?" Aaron asks, and Daryl grimly confirms it. She awakens as a zombie and Daryl disposes of her with a stab to the head.
Rick finds Jessie in her garage and tells her that he knows about Pete. "I can take care of myself," she says and goes into the house, closing the garage door in the process. Rick then tries to leave the situation in Jessie's hands, but after noticing how little the people in the town would care if he told them the truth about Pete, he enters Jessie's living room through the front door and insists she let him protect her and her kids from Pete or she will end up dead. "If you don't fight, you die," he says. "And I don't want you to die. I can help you." Jessie wonders if Rick would do the same for anyone else and he admits he wouldn't. Jessie whispers "yes" just as Pete enters the living room.
Pete demands that Rick leave, but Rick refuses and instead orders Pete to leave with him. Pete explodes with anger and takes a swing at Rick. The two begin brawling, eventually crashing through the front window and out into the street, where Jessie follows to try and separate them.
Meanwhile, in the guard tower, Sasha watches as walkers approach the wall. She's distracted by noises coming from inside Alexandria. She then watches as all of the community began running to the center to locate the source of the commotion.
The community- including Reg and Spencer- gathers around Rick and Pete as they pummel and try to choke each other. Sam hides behind Carol. Pete punches Jessie as she tries to intervene. Rick then punches him and flips him over, pushing Carl off when he tries to stop him. Rick then chokeholds Pete. Deanna orders them to stop. "Or what?" Rick yells - brandishing his gun as Tobin, Nicholas, and Glenn are about to intervene - "You're gonna kick me out?"
Sasha snipes at the walkers. Two have 'W's carved on their foreheads.
In front of Jessie's house, a bloodied and hysterical Rick insists that the community's ignorance of the real world is going to get people killed and that they need to control who lives there and who doesn't. Coldly, Deanna replies that it has never been clearer to her than it was now. Rick sarcastically asks if she's referring to him and adds that her way is going to get people killed and has already gotten people killed. "I'm not going to stand by and just let it happen," he vows. "If you don't fight, you die", he adds. He begins to establish himself as against anyone who disagrees with him, but before he can continue, Michonne suddenly strikes Rick in the head from behind, knocking him unconscious. She takes his weapon and looks at Deanna.
Other Cast[]
Co-Stars[]
- Corey Brill as Pete Anderson
- Steve Coulter as Reg Monroe
- Major Dodson as Sam Anderson
- Katelyn Nacon as Enid
- Michael Traynor as Nicholas
Uncredited[]
- Charlotte & Clara Ward as Judith Grimes
- Stacy Payne as Stacy
- Helen Jackson as Natalie Miller
- Curtis Jackson as Bob Miller
- Emerick Martin as Alexandria Resident
- Elizabeth Houston as Alexandria Resident
- Seth Manuel as Alexandria Resident
- AV Ford as Alexandria Resident
- Deborah Douglas English as Alexandria Resident
- Anne McBrayer Childress as Alexandria Resident
- Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Bob Stookey (Flashback)
- Moses J. Moseley as Mike (Flashback, Zombified)
- Theshay West as Terry (Flashback, Zombified)
Deaths[]
- None
Trivia[]
- The title of the episode, "Try", refers to how different characters are trying to make it work in Alexandria:
- Deanna is trying to convince herself that Rick can be trusted.
- Glenn is trying to convince Rick that they need to make it work in Alexandria in order for them to survive.
- Rick is trying to help Jessie with the abusive behavior Pete has shown toward her.
- Carl is trying to live as a normal kid like he would've if the outbreak had never happened, and after what he had been through since the first days of the outbreak.
- Michonne and Rosita are trying to convince Sasha that they can be who they were before the outbreak again.
- Rick’s fight and ensuing words to Pete mirror Shane’s beatdown and words to Ed in ‘Tell It to the Frogs’. Both feature one person in a fit of rage beating an abuser nearly to death because of their treatment of women, and each of the lines said by both Shane and Rick are similar. Saying that they’ll kill the abuser if they lay their hand on anybody again.
- There are flashbacks to the episodes "Beside the Dying Fire", "Isolation", "Indifference", and "After".
- The song playing in the teaser and on Aiden's metal mix is "Somewhat Damaged" by Nine Inch Nails.
- This episode marks Sonequa Martin-Green's 25th appearance on the TV Series.
- A promotional image released for this episode featured Rick and Deanna talking in front of the Alexandria cemetery. The wooden plank tombstones reveal the names of Alexandrians killed prior to Rick's groups's arrival to the safe-zone: Carter Dilley, Jeremy Freeborn, Alvin Jerry, Annabel Culver, Brian Struzan, Kim Myso, Jessica Molla, Elizabeth Brownley, and Lucy Wong.
- Four of the graves belong to four supply runners who died while on runs with Aiden and Nicholas. One of these supply runners was later confirmed to be Will.
- This is the first episode of the entire series to be rated TV-MA-V.
- Several easter eggs were confirmed during the Talking Dead segment of "Remember". 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.
Comic Parallels[]
- Rick confronting Deanna about Pete's abuse towards Jessie is adapted from Issue 75.
- Michonne having flashbacks on the woods of using her sword in the past is adapted from a similar scene in Issue 72, where she has flashbacks while hanging the sword in her house instead.
- Rick speaking with Jessie about Pete's abusive behavior is adapted from Issue 75.
- Rick confronting and fighting Pete in the street is adapted from Issue 75.
- Rick pointing his stolen gun at the crowd and giving a speech to Deanna about how her leadership will cause the downfall of Alexandria is adapted from Issue 75.
- Michonne knocking Rick out to stop him is adapted from Issue 75.
Episode Highlights[]
TBA
Goofs/Errors[]
- When Sasha, Michonne, and Rosita are out in the woods after killing the walkers, Sasha breaks down, and you can see lights from the camera crew flashing in her eyes.
- Glenn, Tobin, and Nicholas were trying to stop Rick from strangling Pete, but after he points his gun, Glenn is missing. Though he moves to his left, since you can see a shoe in the right side of the screen.
- Rick and Pete keep transitioning from having a bloody face to scars in each shot during their fight.
References[]
- ↑ "Try" Receives 13.76 Million Viewers - Zap2it (Mar 24, 2015)