Walking Dead Discovers the Most Obnoxious Man within the Zombie Apocalypse

The Walking Dead’s eleventh and remaining season didn’t get off to an important begin on AMC—those first few episodes had been middling, terrible, and confounding. But since then the present has picked up with the origin story of the Reapers, explored the bizarre and more and more sinister normality of the Commonwealth, and produced a slasher flick the place the slashers had been animal fanatics with extraordinarily poor judgment. But the season’s greatest plot—Maggie (Lauren Cohen) and Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) dysfunctional mission to return to Meridian and retrieve its meals shops—has been a drag. And but, in tonight’s episode, nothing dragged in any respect.

It could be a mislead say “everything’s coming together” as a result of the one two storylines which can be connecting are Maggie, Negan, and the Reapers, and the previous duo enact a intelligent plan to take out the latter. But that’s nonetheless an especially welcome improvement by itself, and the Commonwealth stays so mysterious and weird that it’s nonetheless fascinating frankly. But what “Promises Broken” does so nicely is bounce quickly between all these storylines with out ever dropping momentum. Given how a lot is occurring, that’s an especially spectacular feat (particularly since that’s hardly ever The Walking Dead’s sturdy swimsuit), so let’s simply go proper into the recap.

What did Maggie and Negan do?

“Promises Broken” begins with Maggie and Negan having the identical argument they’ve had for the reason that season started. Having heard Daryl’s artlessly dropped information concerning the Reapers’ weapons and lookouts, Negan needs to depart. Maggie, however, is set to press on to Meridian it doesn’t matter what as a result of Alexandria wants meals so badly. I instantly sighed, till Negan out of the blue requested Maggie for a promise—if he goes together with what he’s sure is a suicide run, they’re even. Maggie swears the 2 of them won’t ever be even, however realizing she wants all of the manpower she will get in opposition to the Reapers, she shakes his hand. It appears loopy that Maggie would ever forgive Negan for killing her husband Glenn, however this isn’t what she’s doing right here. What Negan needs is to cease needing to consistently look over his shoulder, as he says, to see if Maggie is about to homicide him, and never need to consistently hear Maggie telling him that she may homicide him at any second. It’s not forgiveness Negan is after, it’s only a keep of execution.

This results in some genuinely attention-grabbing character improvement as their relationship lastly evolves. To sneak previous the Reapers’ guards, Negan teaches Maggie the way to turn out to be a Whisperer. I suppose it’s extra exact to say he makes her a masks out of a zombie’s face and teaches her the way to authentically shamble among the many useless with out them realizing they’re touring with snacks. Given how TWD solely sporadically remembers that an effective way to get zombies to disregard you is by masking your self of their guts, it’s fairly satisfying to observe Negan impart Alpha’s teachings to Maggie for a helpful function. It takes her some time to get it, and through the lesson there’s a—nicely, not a softening between the 2, however not less than the comradeship of a shared aim. Maggie acknowledges Negan helps her and Alexandria, regardless if he’s nonetheless hiding a monster inside him.

The two take a break and have the sincere heart-to-heart I’ve been ready for them to have all season. Negan reaches out first, telling Maggie that he is aware of what it’s prefer to be the chief of a bunch and unable to guard them, referring after all to his time with the Saviors and Maggie’s lack of ability to save lots of Meridian. When Maggie brusquely reminds him of all of the hurt the Saviors inflicted, Negan admits it, however that’s not the purpose. Whatever their ethical compass, his folks had been attacked and killed, folks he was supposed to guard, individuals who had family members to whom Negan needed to clarify his failure. He talked about this considerably through the Savior struggle, nevertheless it was misplaced amidst all his swagger and bravado. There wasn’t something near the sense of loss that Negan exudes right here. His remorse is palpable. Maggie is warily stunned, particularly when Negan says that if he had been standing in entrance of Rick, Maggie, Glenn, Abraham, and the others throughout his brutal introduction to the sequence, the most notorious second in TWD historical past, “If I could do it all over again—” I used to be so excited to lastly get the proof of Negan’s development, that Maggie would lastly perceive that Negan had grown, that I paused my screener proper there to ensure I received the road of dialogue down verbatim. He wouldn’t have killed Glenn! He regrets it! This will lastly be over! I rejoiced. Then, I unpaused the screener, and instantly heard Negan say the remainder of his sentence:

“—I’d have killed every single one of you.” My jaw dropped. So did Maggie’s. When she incredulously and justifiably asks, “Why would you say that?” he replies that it’s the reality, and the one manner they’re going to efficiently work collectively is that if they’re completely sincere with one another. Her response: “Why would you say that to me?”

At first, I believed The Walking Dead had one other character make a bananas resolution to forcibly prolong drama and battle, however after just a little house, I get it. What Negan says pertains to his remorse over his lack of ability to guard his Saviors. Even in the event that they had been murdering bullies, they had been his murdering bullies, and he was answerable for them. If Negan had killed Rick and all of the others at their first, notorious face-to-face, lots of his folks would nonetheless be alive. It’s an unbelievably merciless factor to confess to Maggie, and it’s a horrible concept to admit this when the 2 of them lastly began getting alongside, however it’s Negan’s reality. Luckily, this doesn’t distract Maggie’s zombie schooling, and he or she, Negan, Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), and Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari) handle to gather a fairly massive herd as they lurch their approach to Meridian.

What did Daryl and Leah do?

After numerous Reaper squads fail to search out any hint of the group Daryl (Norman Reedus) was “traveling” with, an irate Pope (Ritchie Coster) sends Leah (Lynn Collins) and Daryl to do some snooping themselves. When Daryl asks why Leah is a part of the maniacal Pope’s group, she says he’s her patron and father determine, and thus obeys him when she clearly disagrees about many issues. The duo ultimately comes throughout a person who claims to be trying to find provides for his wounded spouse and youngster. After checking in with Pope, the Reaper chief orders them to kill everybody they discover, in order that they power the person to make them his household. Turns out he’s telling the reality.

There’s a considerably tense second the place we’re unsure if Leah will kill these folks or spare them, however TWD in some way performs the scene excellent. The mother is just too injured to be moved, and her wound is probably going deadly. So Leah and Daryl, with the mother’s blessing, inform the father-son combo to run and don’t look again. When the dad and child are gone, the mother thanks Leah and Daryl, as a result of she is aware of her household would have by no means left her of their very own volition. She’s prepared for loss of life, so Leah attracts her shotgun… however can’t hearth on what’s successfully a helpless, harmless civilian. Daryl, nonetheless, can.

I might simply see somebody (me) railing about how simply certainly one of our heroes can homicide somebody on the drop of a hat, however like Negan’s confession, I get it. If there’s one worth the folks shepherded underneath Rick have discovered, it’s the significance of realizing when somebody needs to die for the precise motive (in TWD phrases). Daryl is aware of a mercy killing when he sees one, nevertheless it’s telling Leah doesn’t have the abdomen for it—one thing that doesn’t bode nicely for both of them after Pope summons them again to camp, presumably to cope with Maggie’s zombie herd.

What did Eugene and Stephanie do?

Having illegally damaged into the Commonwealth communications room, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and Stephanie (Chelle Ramos), together with Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and Princess (Paola Lazaro), have been assigned to clear zombies out of a location for attainable future improvement. Having lived within the security of the Commonwealth for therefore lengthy, Stephanie should relearn the ropes, nevertheless it’s outdated hat for the others.

If you thought probably the most obnoxious particular person within the zombie apocalypse was Negan for his brutal (actually!) honesty or Pope for being a murderous nincompoop, you’re incorrect. No, that honor goes to Sebastian, a younger man who inexplicably—and this will likely actually be the dumbest resolution anybody has ever made in TWD’s zombie apocalypse—has determined to take a date to the zombie-filled enviornment Eugene and the others are nonetheless within the means of cleansing out. He’s accompanied by troopers, which signifies his significance, nevertheless it’s a lot extra telling that he and his date are each dressed like wealthy preppies from a slobs-vs.-snobs film of the ‘80s. Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson) isn’t hoity-toity sufficient to be this child’s title, so I will probably be calling him Kingsley St. Buffingsworth from this level ahead.

It’s apparent the place that is heading the minute Kingsley walks on-screen, nevertheless it’s much more apparent when Eugene and Stephanie see Kingsley and his date smooching so exhausting they’ve failed to note six growling zombies zeroing in on them. Eugene and Steph run in to save lots of these dipshits and, after all, Kingsley St. Buffingsworth not solely doesn’t recognize having his life saved from his personal stupidity however is irate on the pair for “disrupting” his date (who I shall title Daisy Richiricherton). This man is such a cartoon of an upper-class, self-entitled twit he calls Eugene a “plebian,” for god’s sake. The two of them turn out to be so busy arguing that solely Stephanie sees one other zombie approaching the still-oblivious woman. So Steph saves Daisy however will get blood on her good sweater and Daisy screams.

Of course, Kingsley’s response is to not thank Steph for saving his date’s life however to name her a “stupid bitch,” at which level Eugene punches him straight within the face. “My god, what did you do?” Stephanie asks Eugene in a panic. Kingsley St. Buffingsworth of the Cape Cod Buffingsworths yells on the cowed General Mercer (Michael James Shaw) that Eugene attacked him, and Commonwealth goons encompass Eugene with weapons drawn. Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) seems, and asks Eugene incredulously, “Don’t you know who that is?” Gee. I ponder.

Yumiko and… primarily simply Yumiko, really

Yumiko is wearing a wise swimsuit jacket as a part of her new function offering authorized recommendation to the Commonwealth’s mysterious chief, Pamela Milton, together with town’s cupboard. While she’s haranguing her brother Tomi (Ian Anthony Dale) but once more about his refusal to out himself as a physician, he asks her to vow to let it go. Yumiko reluctantly agrees, just for him to be seized by Commonwealth troopers and dragged away. (Is it notable that Tomi, who was a thoracic surgeon earlier than the apocalypse, is dragged away proper earlier than Ezekiel, who had thyroid most cancers, sees a physician off-screen, and returns feeling like one million bucks? Impossible to know!)

Yumiko calls for solutions from the apocalypse’s smarmiest man, Hornsby, who swears he can get issues labored out in a matter of hours. When Yumiko calls for to know what he’s getting out of serving to her, he greasily admits he simply needs the chance to have the ability to presumably ask her—already somebody essential in Commonwealth due to her schooling and regulation profession—for a favor, sometime down the highway. Yumiko arrives for her assembly with Pamela, which is over earlier than it begins when Pam’s administrative assistant will get a name that the Governor’s son has simply been attacked! But by who? Eugene, duh. After breaking the regulation by attempting to contact Alexandria, attacking Kingsley sends him on to jail. An extra-smarmy Hornsby visits him to say he can in all probability save Eugene’s life and assist his mysterious neighborhood if he confesses the place it’s positioned, however Eugene holds agency… for now. Thank goodness Eugene has a superb lawyer! Assuming he’s allowed to see her, that’s.

This was a superb episode, guys! There’s a lot stuff occurring, and most of it’s thrilling! We have Maggie, Negan, Gabriel, Elijah, and some hundred zombies about to enter Meridian, whereas Daryl and a conflicted Leah are additionally on the way in which—and Alexandria’s destiny is dependent upon the result. Meanwhile, issues on the Commonwealth have managed to go from unhealthy to worse, whereas the neighborhood’s cracks behind the façade are starting to widen. Also, because of Yumiko and her unbelievable jacket, we could get the first-ever authorized drama set within the zombie apocalypse.

It looks like subsequent week’s episode goes to be a hell of a finale… for the primary third of season 11, which you’ll recall has been supersized and break up into three, eight-episode chunks, with the latter two presumably coming within the spring and fall of 2022. Hopefully, the subsequent two-thirds of the season gained’t really feel the necessity to spin its wheels fairly a lot as a few of these earlier episodes have, however so long as I get to see Eugene and Stephanie clink a glass of champagne whereas watching zombies slowly tear aside and eat Kingsley’s flesh in some unspecified time in the future subsequent 12 months, I’ll be fantastic with no matter.

Assorted Musings:

• Maggie sends Gabriel to scout out Meridian with the oddly express directions to kill a Reaper if he will get the possibility. But Gabe runs throughout that very non secular Reaper, who seemingly ceaselessly prays to God out loud, and Gabriel stays his hand. Come on, Gabe! Pick a lane!
• I discovered Yumiko’s discomfort on the easy act of taking a look at a espresso desk e book on a espresso desk whereas sitting in an workplace great. It’s clear it’s such a surreal second for her as a result of it’s pre-apocalyptically “normal.” She appears virtually scared to flip by way of the e book as if all of it may all disappear. Good stuff.
• Elijah has a small however emotional story when he discovers his lacking sister’s finest buddy has turn out to be a zombie. Later, when Maggie leads the herd, Elijah slowly realizes his zombified sister is lurching alongside him. He’s devastated however can’t react as a result of the zombies would discover and eat them, and all Maggie can do is maintain his hand. For a man in a foul, outsized zombie masks, Okea Eme-Akwari manages to do some nice performing. It’s only a nice, delicate scene, so kudos to TWD for pulling it off.
• Pope is so mad that individuals maintain killing the troopers he retains sending to combat battles for no motive! But regardless of Leah’s wavering, I believe she’ll really feel betrayed when she realizes Daryl’s persons are attacking the Reapers and flee with Pope to plot a counterattack.
• Here’s the million-dollar query: why had been Kingsley and Daisy allowed to have a date at a location the place zombies had been recognized to be lively? Why had been the Commontroopers, who had been despatched to particularly watch over the governor’s son, fully absent when the 2 had been at risk? Is this unhealthy writing, or did somebody (Hornsby) secretly scheme to get Eugene in bother to disclose the place he got here from? Time will inform! Or it gained’t!

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