The Walking Dead Wages the Battle of Meridian With a Bang, a Stab, and a Betrayal

Sometimes, not usually, The Walking Dead will get it precisely proper. Tonight’s episode—the ultimate of the primary eight-episode chunk of season 11—lastly pitted Maggie (Lauren Cohen) and her herd towards the Reapers at Meridian, with an incognito Daryl (Norman Reedus) caught within the center. There had been rants. Action. Silliness. Death. Murder. Betrayal. A bit extra silliness. A twist I didn’t see coming. And not one however two cliffhangers, though a type of cliffs is considerably shorter than the opposite.

I didn’t count on “For Blood” to be as satisfying because it was, primarily as a result of I strive to not get my hopes up an excessive amount of with AMC’s The Walking Dead today. But apart from the large fumbles of the primary two episodes, this primary third of this closing season has been stable. Tonight’s battle for Meridian got here at precisely the precise time, not so quick that there are not any stakes in addition to a trophy within the type of meals provides, however not so gradual as to really feel padded out. Plus, Maggie, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari), and their giant herd of zombies versus the outmanned however well-armed Reapers looks like a good combat that both aspect may win.

It’s so well-structured that the primary little bit of the episode’s silliness doesn’t detract from it within the slightest. It seems that for no matter motive, the Reapers had gotten their fingers on what appear to be a number of million mines, they usually’re all positioned immediately in entrance of the zombie herd. Daryl’s excessive concern that his pals may explode at any second retains issues tense, even because the episoode overindulges itself by exhibiting zombie after zombie after zombie explode. The second little bit of silliness is Pope (Ritchie Coster), who has misplaced his thoughts to a level that actually makes you surprise why anybody would have ever adopted the maniac for a day, not to mention years. Remember, that is the man who freaks out anytime one among his troopers will get killed, though he’s the one who places them in peril, whether or not by sending them into battle for no motive or by setting them on fireplace himself. This time Pope sends a man to attempt to lead the herd away… however primarily as bait to test and see if his nice adversary Maggie is on the market.

Leah (Lynn Collins) is justifiably appalled Pope would throw their comrade’s life away to only verify a hunch. Her day solely going to will get worse, however first, extra silliness: Someone on the Reapers has managed to construct a Multiple Rocket Launcher, chock stuffed with…properly, they appear much more bottle rockets than missiles. It’s all very ludicrous, however presumably, the gadget will take out quite a lot of the zombie horde, together with Negan and Elijah, who’re nonetheless milling round on the market. Meanwhile, Daryl spies Maggie and Gabriel sneaking round Meridian’s partitions. He kills a Reaper, lets them in, and returns to Leah, the place he confesses every little thing—the individuals attacking are his individuals, they’re good individuals, he lied to her as a result of she was working with an authorized lunatic, and he asks her to hitch him, and go away the licensed lunatic behind.

Maggie tells Gabe the place to discover a hidden rifle, then she hotwires a truck and makes use of it to knock down Meridian’s entrance gate, permitting all of the unexploded zombies entry to the colony. Pope arrives on the rocket launcher, and orders it fired in the midst of the courtyard at his hated enemy, Maggie. The downside, as Leah factors out, is that there are a lot of, many Reapers preventing within the courtyard who will probably be killed as properly. As Pope begins screaming about how his God speaks by means of him and his will is God’s will and yadda, yadda Leah stabs him by means of the throat. Sorry, God! It’s the proper time for Pope to die—he lastly turned too ridiculous for even The Walking Dead and exited proper earlier than he wore out his homicidal, imbecilic welcome. But his dying additionally units up that twist I discussed earlier than, as Leah stares Daryl straight within the eye, she grabs her walkie-talkie and tells the Reapers that Daryl killed Pope. Daryl needed to guard his individuals, however so does Leah. She needed to shield them from Pope, and now she wants to guard them from the individuals attacking them.

Daryl runs off to assist Maggie with the all-out brawl within the courtyard, solely to listen to Leah give the Reapers orders to fall again. But Maggie and the others haven’t received. Leah simply needed to ensure her comrades had been gone when she fires 80 rockets into the courtyard, proper at Maggie and Daryl’s heads. (They positive sound like bottle rockets, for the report.) Leah’s heel flip is nice stuff, and if she decides that Maggie et al. have to die to guard her individuals (nonetheless a bizarre choice, simply go away) I like the concept of the Reapers being led by somebody who isn’t banana-pants, who actually cares for her troopers, and who has an immense quantity of emotional baggage with Daryl. They’ll primarily be a completely new foe, and hopefully they’ll cease carrying these silly masks, too.

While the episode might need ended with a bang (or a number of of them), this nonetheless looks like a small stakes story, which is a wierd selection for the present’s closing season. But it’s working, and I’m grateful for it. I’ll take a great, centered, small stakes Walking Dead story over a bloated, supercilious one any day of the week. But I’m additionally positive if we simply hang around with the Pack for the ultimate 16 episodes and check out to determine the place their pants went.

Assorted Musings:

• Oh, yeah, Alexandria. A large storm is wreaking havoc, having in some way began a hearth regardless of the rain and blown off chunks of the unexpectedly reassembled wall, permitting zombies to get into city. Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Lydia (Cassady McClincy) are tasked with holding down the home the place Judith, Gracie, and the opposite children are. Rosita will get a very badass second the place she steps exterior and simply beats the hell out of a crap-ton of zombies.
• The second cliffhanger is that when zombies lastly break into the home, Judith and Gracie get trapped within the basement, with solely a skinny barrel-bolt lock holding the door in place. I’m not significantly nervous.
• In case you missed it, The Walking Dead season 11 continues on February 20, 2022. See you there.
• “Don’t worry. I ain’t gonna lick ya.”

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