The Walking Dead Ep. 515, Try

The Walking Dead, Season 5, Episode 15: Try

TV rating

TV-MA

ZPAA rating

Teens and up

Offensive content

A mild amount of zombie kills; bad attitudes; human-on-human violence including an extended fistfight with bloody faces and threats of eye-gouging; bad language; a suspenseful cliffhanger ending.

Synopsis & Review

"If you don't fight, you die" is a line said by Rick several times in this episode. It's an idea that has kept him going since he woke up in that hospital way back in episode one. Making it requires effort. He thinks the Alexandria people are not making enough effort which makes them weak and vulnerable. They can't handle an abusive spouse because they want the benefits he provides. They have at best semi-competent runners collecting resources, which led to the fiasco in last episode where multiple people have been killed. They aren't living in the real world, he thinks. He's ready to take over--the Ricktatorship that was threatened three seasons ago but never really happened after the end of season two.

A lot of people are having trouble dealing with the real world. Sasha is off shooting as many walkers as she can; Carl's new girlfriend sneaks out and taunts walkers to feel more alive; Carol makes a gesture of Machiavellian kindness that is apparently received as such. Rick's assuredness is a result of too much Carol (the bad angel on his shoulder encouraging him to take over) and not enough Daryl (the good angel on his other shoulder who wants to fit in and make things work--but he's off recruiting new people for Alexandria, so Glenn has to be a poor substitute). Rick does want to fight but since he's not out among the walkers he's gonna fight the Alexandrians.

The problem is the deeper issue of what a person should fight for--his own good or the good of everyone around them. Rick seems to be mistaking the second for the first in an admittedly complicated situation. He's going too far in the wrong direction...can he be pulled back in time?