‘The Walking Dead’ Retro Recap: ‘Try’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Something that we cry for often in this modern world, is change. Because we have a lot of problems at our feet, the kind that aren’t going away and it often appears as though, no one is doing anything about them. Sure, people talk about them and talk about how important it is to solve them and change, but little is done. Which adds to our frustrations and leaves us wondering, what is that will institute change at last. The sustainable and fundamental kind that really allows for us to find peace and strength and awareness for the new challenges that lie ahead and well, those questions and those concerns are all top of mind today, because they serve as the centerpiece themes of the final two episodes in season five of the AMC series, The Walking Dead.
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For both of these tales look at the right and the wrong way to handle bringing change to our world and it just so happens that ‘Try’ is a story that looks at the wrong way of handling that. For when we catch up with everyone in Alexandria, it is a community that is deeply rattled. For Aiden is dead, Nicholas swears up and down that he did everything right and that Rick’s group did everything and everyone wrong in this instance, and that… leads to more of the same from this world. Wherein paranoia and blame rule the day since Deanna holds to that lie as she mourns, and she even holds to the old ways when Rick approaches her about a grand problem in this community. Specifically, Pete. Since Rick does discuss with her, how Pete is beating Jessie and their family senseless and that something must be done about that.

But instead of exiling him or letting Rick handle a problem that she was already aware of, she simply cites patience and peace and the old ways and that frustrates Rick to no end. For he knows the danger of letting that kind of man thrive in a world without rules and in a place where inaction and the apathy of the past rule the day, leaving him to simmer while other frustrating problems from the old world persist. After all, Nicholas took Glenn’s supremely important and inspiring words the wrong way, and rather than own up to his own mistake, he instead set the stage for an ugly fight between the two of them. One that will likely involve bullets because he cannot let go of his immature machismo and desire to be viewed as a beacon of trust in this community. 

Which brings us to the central theme, how then do we enact change and what is the wrong way to go about that? For now, the community was a powder keg with two opposing sides flickering and ready to blow and well… Rick screwed the pooch. For he decided that the only way to handle ignorance here was to handle it with confrontation and violence, and that led to an epic and scary fight between he and Pete. One that ended with Rick as the bloody and angry victor, with his weapon pointed at anyone that came near as he vented his frustrations about change and the lack thereof in this community and well… while his words rang true, no one heard him. They just heard a crazy man screaming and yelling and waving a gun. Prompting Michonne to knock him out and that allows for us to learn that just hootin’ and hollerin’ about stuff that makes us angry and needs to be fixed or beating the hell out of people to enact change… does nothing.

Which is a quality lesson to send our way, one that was impactful courtesy of the nuances present in this quality and dynamic tale. One that also ramped the tension up and reminded us of how we are our own worst enemy in this world, and also… wow that fight was epic. And it also helped to remind us of the polarizing worlds these two groups came from and how hard it is to get back to the rules when you’ve been away from them for so long. Plus, the Wolves mystery only grew here thanks to what Daryl and Aaron found in the wild and well… that’s it. That is all there is to say about this particular tale and that means the time has come to turn our attention to the season five finale and its grand analysis of how we can in fact, bring about change… if we take the time to go about that the right way. Until next time.

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