Walking Dead S05E12 Recap: Remember

Aaron has brought them to what could be paradise, or hell. Woodbury and Terminus offered the same safe hope, but turned to utter nightmares. As the group walks up to the gate, they're jumpy and on edge. Daryl even shoots a possum as the gate opens, claiming he's brought dinner. It must be a shock for both parties. The people of this safe zone have no clue what they just let walk into their doors. The gate ominously closes behind them. They're asked to turn over their weapons, if they wish to stay they must release their guns. Rick points out that if they wanted to use them, they would have already done so. Aaron tells Rick that he should speak with Deanna first, before he heads to his interview Sasha takes out a walker sniper style. Good thing they're there.

Rick paces the clean office looking like a caged animal, as a motherly Deanna Monroe introduces herself. She wishes to film their interview. The place is all too clean, unapocalyptic. Rick and his group have been out there since the beginning he tells her, and they didn't know eachother before. Deanna tells him that she was a congress person before hand, and asks what he was. He doesn't want to open up. Deanna discusses the area they're in. It was a self-contained community built and sold before the apocalypse. They were stopped on their way back to Ohio, before they were stopped. They stayed because of the ready supplies, and her husband and sons helped construct the wall that surrounds them. They've been behind the walls since the apocalypse started. Rick and his group is the first they've considered bringing in. Rick tells her that she should have nevered opened her gates. People do what they need to to survive. Deanna wonders if he is telling her that she shouldn't welcome his group in. Aaron doesn't know Rick well, doesn't know what he's had to do to survive. He's killed countless people, all to ensure that his family would survive. Deanna likes the sound of being in his family. She's done bad things too, killed people via exile. She wants to keep this place safe, give the people on this side of the wall the ability to raise their children in peace. She reads people well, always has, and she likes Rick. Rick has every reason to be skeptical, but if he's in charge, now is the time to decide. Rick confesses that he was a sheriff, and Deanna can see that.

The group disarms. Their guns are still theirs, they will just need to be stored while they're inside. Rick is shown two house. Both of the houses are his. Aaron gives him his opinion on the houses. He too knows that the group is still unsure, and Deanna has asked that they be given space to settle in. Aaron tells Rick if he needs anything he's just a few houses down.

Rick and Carl enter one of the houses slowly, looking over everything. They have running water, and Rick takes advantage of it, taking a long hot shower. In front of the mirror, the wild man scruff we've all come to know and love is cut away, and shaved away and utter gone. I was not expecting the loss of that beard so soon. It's like losing a beloved character! A fresh faced Rick emerges from the bathroom at a knock on the door. Jessie brings by a basket full of goodies, and offers to give him a haircut. Rick points out that she doesn't even know him, but she smiles, she can take care of herself.

Jessie takes a pair of scissors to Rick's mane, and he's the smooth sexy Rick of season 1. He's not completely okay with the turn of events. Water, shaving, hair cuts. It's all too normal.

Daryl is in Deanna's office for his own interview. He's pacing worse than Rick did in the office as Deanna asks if he wants to be there. The boy and the baby deserve a roof he figures.

On the porch of the house Daryl skins his possum. He's not exactly house trained anymore it seems, and still has not showered. Carl wants to look over the other house, and Rick tells him to be quick about it.

Carol accompanies him. They look over the clean interior, still unbelieving that the group is giving away mansions. Carol is ready to get back, but Carl lingers.

Outside, Rick and Daryl canvas the area between the two houses. They look clean, they're next to each other, but Rick still wants the group to stay together for the night.

A noise draws Carl upstairs. Knife drawn he heads up but finds nothing more than baseball cards and comics.

That night, hunkered down in the living room of one of the houses, everyone keeps watch. Michonne is gleeful about being able to brush her teeth again. She notices Rick's bald face. She's never seen him clean shaven, and its different, good different. She has a good feeling about the place, and Rick hopes that she's right. Deanna knocks at the door. She's surprised about what was underneath all that hair. She's surprised to see everyone in the same house, in the same room. She never said that they couldn't stay together Rick points out. She's still surprised by how close this group of strangers became, how they're really a close family. Everyone in the group except Rick, Michonne, Sasha and Daryl have been assigned jobs. She has a job in mind for Rick and Michonne, she just hasn't told them yet. She's circling one for Sasha, but Daryl remains a conundrum, but she'll figure it out soon. She leaves the group to get some sleep.

Sleep evades Rick, and he heads to the kitchen to arm himself with a knife.

Michonne sits down for her interview. If the place is what Deanna claims, then its exactly what she and the others have been looking for. She thinks that they're ready for this. Deanna wonders if all of them are, but Michonne is sure.

Deanna told the group to explore their surroundings, and Rick tells Daryl they should, but Daryl isn't ready to. He's holed up on the porch. Laurie and Rick use to drive around neighborhoods like this one before, and think one day they would live in one, and now they are. Rick trails Carl and Judith, but they slip out of sight, and he panics. He crashes into a sculpture, knocking it over and Jessie is there. She thinks that she knows where they went. She takes Rick to an elderly couple, who use to have many children and grandchildren before the apocalypse. The group hasn't seen a baby in awhile, so Judith is going to be a star attraction. Jessie asks if Carl can come over and meet her son, Ron.

Ron takes Carl around telling him about the place. There's school at different times depending on age. He introduces Carl to Mikey and Enid. She too was on the outside, and came recently. They used what's now Carl's house to hang out in. He hands over the comic. It's Enid's. She snatches it with little eye contact. The kids play video games, read comics, and sometimes play pool at Mikey's. All sounds a little too normal. Carl doesn't know what to say. Ron offers to just hang out. It took Enid a long time to adjust too. Carl dives right in, wanting to play video games.

In Carl's interview, Judith sits on his lap. He confesses that this is the sort of place that his mother would have liked. Deanna is sorry for his loss. Carl experienced more than just her loss, he confesses that he killed her, he had to.

Ricks asks Carl how his meeting with Ron went. He likes the place, and the people, but he's worried that they're going to get weak too, he doesn't want them to get weak.

At night, Rick watches as everyone else sleeps. Michonne awakens. She still doesn't have a job. Rick asks if she wants one, and she does. He wants one so that his family can stay too, but if they want to stay, and be apart of this community so bad, why are they both awake. Rick goes out for a walk.

On his walk, Rick runs into Jessie's husband, awake and sitting on the porch. Although he says “Welcome to Alexandria” his tone is plenty ominous. Rick returns home, but he still can't sleep.

Carol's interview is a big fat lie, lie LIE! She speaks about how she was nothing more than a homemaker, which she was back when we saw her in season 1. She claims that she misses her husband Ed, you know the demeaning abusive piece of crap that died in Season 1 when Carol was the meek den mother she's claiming to be. Deanna asks her if she has a job in mind, and Carol asks if they have something like junior league.

Daryl tends to his weapon when Carol steps out in her cardigan, seriously, a freaking cardigan. She's off to make casseroles. Yes, our bad ass Carol, who survived out on her own is off to make Casseroles for the elderly. She asks Daryl if he's showered yet, and you can almost see the stink on him, so no, he has not showered yet. She tells him to do everyone a favor, and take a shower, or she'll hose him down in his sleep.

Glenn's interview is up next. He's determined to make things work. He's worried that the group was almost out there too long.

Rick heads outside of the gates.

Carl sits in his room. He notices Enid walking towards the gate. She's trying to not be noticed, but he watches her as she heads to fence, and goes up and over it.

In town, Glenn, Tara and Noah are greeted by Aiden, and Nicolas, who they met when they first entered on gate duty. Aiden is Deanna's son, and in charge of supply runs. Glenn has some experience in that work. Alexandria has a very stocked pantry, and he's taking the trio out for a dry run. Nicolas gives each of them a single handgun and they set out. Glenn doesn't look very enthusiastic about his weaponry.

Carl trail Enid into the woods. The girl takes off, and Carl loses her trail.

Rick walks about a bit, and comes across a walker. He raises his gun to it, but it poses no threat, so he leaves it. He heads back to the place where he stashed the gun in the blender, but its gone, and Rick is not pleased at all. The walker has brought a few friends. Rick takes off his man purse, and pulls out his knife. Carl finds Rick right before he goes all Rick-a-nator. The pair take out the walkers with ease. One sneak walker grabs Rick's pant cuff, but Carl is there to pick off the walker closing in. Rick picks up a bar to take out the sneak walker, but Carl wants the last kill, and Rick lets him have it.

Aiden goes over their supply run protocol. Multiple groups set out, if any get in trouble they use their flares, and the other groups close in to assist. Tara, Noah and Glenn have been recruited to the group because they lost four recently, but they have one of the walkers responsible. They head to where the walker should be strung up, but he's gone of course. Nicholas whistles, trying to call the thing back, and one comes. Aiden and Nicholas try to work to tie the thing back up, because that's obviously logical, but the thing is all rotting flesh, and they can't get it back in its ropes. Tara steps in to try to help, and gets a handful of dead skin. Glenn and Tara both stab it in the skull, taking it down, and Aiden throws a tantrum because they killed his favorite toy. Glenn is upset because their antics almost got Tara killed, but Aiden pointed out that he told them to stay back. They return to camp. Aiden thinks that they need new gigs, they're obviously not ready for runs. Glenn is sure they have that backwards. Aiden points out that they have a way of doing things. He wants his orders obeyed no questions asked. If they do that, then they're as screwed as his last team. The people in town gather near listening in. Aiden dares Glenn to say it again as he gives him a shove. Noah and Tara try to diffuse the situation with the douchebag, but he shoves Glenn again. Glenn tells him that no one is impressed, and tells him to back away. Deanna comes to see what the issue is. Aiden doesn't understand why she let them in. Glenn points out that unlike him, they actually know what they're doing on the outside. Aiden throws a punch at Glenn, which he ducks, and Aiden a good one. Nicholas jumps into the fray, but Daryl takes him down before he can. Rick grabs Daryl, and Michonne tells Aiden to stand down unless he wants to be on his butt again. Deanna makes an announcement for all to hear, as Enid sneaks through the open front gate. Rick and his people are a part of the group now, and they are equals. She makes sure all of them understand, including her bone headed son. She tells everyone to turn in their weapons, and tells her son and his stupid friend to head to her office. She had a job for Rick, she wants him to be her constable. That's what he was, what he is. She wants Michonne as the law as well. Rick accepts, but Daryl isn't so happy. He takes his bow and goes off. Deanna thanks Glenn for knocking her son on his ass.

A grizzle Rick tells the interview camera that she should keep her gates closed. Because its all about survival at any cost. People out there are always looking for an angle, looking to play on your weakness. People measure others by what they can take, what they can use to live.

Sheriff Rick is back, and uniformed. He heads through his house, with everyone gathered in the living room, out to the porch. He asks Daryl if they're good. Daryl asks if he's a cop again. Cardigan Carol joins them as Rick admits that he's trying things on for size. He thinks that they can settle into their houses. Carol is worried that if they start to settle in they'll get soft. It's the same thing that Carl was worried about. Rick refuses to get weak. It's not in them anymore. They'll make it work. If the people of Alexandria can't make it, then they'll take the place. That perks Daryl right up.