Spoilers The Walking Dead: the 11th and final season

The Walking Dead
Season 11 - Episode 8 - "For Blood"- Mid-season finale

Daryl & The Reapers vs. Team Maggie: Maggie's group lead the walker horde to the field surrounding the Reaper compound, but are temporarily set back by a series of landmines--its shrapnel causing minor woulds to Negan and Elijah; Daryl kills his cigarette buddy in order to unlock the food shed, but raises the suspicion of Pope when he retrieves his crossbow.

Moving cigarette buddy's body aside, Maggie and Father Gabriel manage to move close to one side of the compound, where Gabriel works his way to the second story of a building, quickly creating a sniper's nest. Maggie drives a truck through the compound gates, and with it, the army of walkers that waste no time overwhelming the Reapers.

Pope is unhinged, ordering the firing of a mounted, custom RPG launcher at the courtyard where his men are engaged with the walkers. Claiming God is directing his actions, he yells at the questioning Leah, saying she cannot question God, or question him (note the order--he's the last word). As one of his men lights the RPG housing's fuse, Daryl grabs his knives, ready to stop the launch, but Pope--now proving he never trusted Daryl, pulls his own knives, but is stabbed in the throat by Leah, who then steps on the dying Pope's head, bracing it as she prevents his reanimation.

In the courtyard, a Reaper attacks and nearly kills Maggie, until she's saved by Father Gabriel's sniper skills, allowing her to escape.

Daryl admits that he's a part of the "enemies," explaining who they are in his life; Leah appears exhausted in her disappointment with Daryl, but does not act against him...until she radios Carver, telling him Daryl killed Pope. Completely betrayed, Daryl now knows Leah cares about family...her family and is just as merciless as Pope. Daryl escapes down a ladder just as the hotheaded Carver arrives, bitching about how he always wanted to kill Daryl. Leah promises to kill every enemy in the compound (SEE NOTES)

Maggie and Negan cannot understand why the Reapers seem to be retreating..until they see the RPG mount, just as Leah gives the order to fire on the crowd.

Alexandria: Battling a savage rainstorm, torrential floods and an army of walkers, the Alexandrians are forced to split into groups; Carol will repair one of the walls, with Connie surprising Magna by volunteering to go with her (SEE NOTES). Kelly is not about to let her sister out of her sight again, so she joins Carol's party, while Magna partners with Aaron to extinguish a fire in the tower. While the teams head out, the house is battered by rain, flying debris and walkers. When one of the doors is close to being torn down, Rosita arms herself and goes outside to cut down as many walkers as possible (SEE NOTES).


Judith: The episodes plays with the idea of Judith's seemingly fearless attitude, and how she now admits she's been afraid on several occasions. Although she gets some comfort from Virgil mentioning Michonne and the child having a part of her mother in her, eventually, she is shaken (again) by the horde of walkers who break into the house. Discovering Gracie in the basement, she also sees the basement is rapidly flooding from the broken windows; racing upstairs, Judith's path to the staircase is blocked by a horde of walkers, as she retreats to, and locks the basement. With walkers pounding on the basement door and the flood waters rising to dangerous levels, Judith and Gracie seem doomed (SEE NOTES)...


NOTES:
Judith and Gracie's situation might be the most classically 1930s cliffhanger-ish ending in The Walking Dead franchise's history, even above Fear the Walking Dead's recent nuclear assault season finale.
While I said Judith and Gracie seem doomed, yeah, it's highly unlikely Judith will be killed off, as she has taken Carl's place as the "future" of that world. On the other hand Gracie....who knows. Perhaps Aaron's nightmares were all about Gracie after all...

Rosita was given her own setpiece "Rick in "No Way Out" moment; if you recall, in season six's "No Way Out," Rick was so enraged at being powerless to help Carl (who had been shot in the eye by Ron Anderson), that he was in a mass-slaughter frame of mind, leaving Denise's house to take on every walker in sight. Rosita was not motivated by tragedy / powerlessness, but she too left the house to kill off numerous walkers. Once again, in a season that's been building up Rosita in ways not seen in a few seasons, one gets the impression that something terrible is headed her way...or Gabriel's. As always, I hope both survive, but this is the final season of a series that's never been shy about killing off a large number of main characters, so the chance of that couple walking off into TV history are thin...

Leah promising kill everyone at the compound could be the way Father Gabriel might meet his end; we must remember that he spared the life of Mancea (the Reapers' pastor of a kind), and now that he's behind Reaper walls, he might confront Mancea--or fail in hoping to appeal to the man's faith--only to be killed by the man, or even Leah, since she's so single-minded with her vengeful behavior.

Magna seemed upset that Connie wanted to help Carol, since she (Magna) had blamed Carol for Connie's fate in Alpha's cave. Now that Connie is back, Magna seems to act as if Carol sort of "got off scott free" and no longer has to face condemnation for a trap she led others into. I wonder if there will be a confrontation between the two...

Well, that's it until 11B begins February 20. The Walking Dead's final season is rich with "what's going to happen" characterization, and plots are moving quicker than normal, no doubt due to the storylines needing to line up with the Rick movies. There's no dip in overall story quality, only one hint after another of something significant happening in the next episode.

Easily one of the best fantasy series of 2021.

GRADE: A+.

 

Nice review. This episode hit all the right notes for me and the quality of the final season has really impressed me. I love that the writers have introduced non-comic elements into the story, and what a cliffhanger to end on.

 

Definitely a good mid-season finale. Both storylines were tense and exciting and the episode had me fearing for both Gabriel and Rosita. And what about Lydia? She was holding the door alone and the next thing we see is a busted door and walkers in the house...

I didn't expect Leah betraying Daryl, but I didn't see any other way out for Daryl either. Either he had to come clean to Leah or sneak away silently and join up with Maggie again. And the former was really the only option for him.

Judith's storyline is definitely a promising one. I like how she's being given something to hold on to by Virgil's words about Michonne, and the responsibility she feels for Gracie. She's a Grimes, that's for sure.

 

Nope. I just couldn't get past episode 2. Which sucks to a degree, as I really want to know more about the CRM, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters to get there. C'est la vie...

 

Then you're in luck because everything we've learned so far is usually found in the recap section of the episodes. FWIW, the second season shows a moderate improvement.

 

Not sure I agree. The CRM kind of seem like cartoon villains for now. And the acting continues to be unusually awful on that show.

 

I did say moderate. Honestly, though, the World Beyond seems to be set in a different universe than the other shows entirely. The CRM storyline is something I find hard to believe Kirkland even agreed to.

 

I am looking forward to the 2nd half of the Final Season.

 

Second third.

 

CRM is much more realistic than Pope, who is almost literally a mustache twirling villain. Also more realistic than the Cloud Atlas garbage people. TWD has had some goofy villains for a long a time.

 

I was referring to the research being conducted by the CRM--Kirkman said previously that they went too far back in Season 1 in trying to rationalize the walkers. Also, the idea that entire cities of tens of thousands of people thriving runs contrary to everything we've seen before.

 

From what I understand, Kirkman does not have the last word on how the series are produced (hence his complaints about items such as various character arcs that were never in the comic, etc.). He may run away from the rationality, but there's no way people would just settle for a nightmare world of cannibalistic corpses and never work day and night trying to find a cure.

TWDs "TS-19" was one of the best episodes in the franchise's history, as it had the characters (primarily Rick) actually thinking the way a real person would in trying to find a cure, instead of throwing his hands up and accepting horror. Logic would dictate that innumerable groups and/or agencies would be actively trying to end the walker plague (not just CDC-level organizations), so it certainly makes sense for any surviving body (e.g. large, still-functioning communities or military offshoots) would invest resources into some sort of research.

 

The Walking Dead
Season 11 - Episode 9 - "No Other Way"- Mid-season premiere

The Reapers vs. Daryl &Team Maggie: Leah, Carver and the few surviving Reapers hunt Maggie's group, who barely avoided the worst of the RPG attacks (SEE NOTES). On his way to the roof, Father Gabriel runs into Mancea sitting in his makeshift church. Initially, Mancea holds out his knife, telling Gabriel that he will not continue his mission, then plays on Gabriel's recent challenges of his faith (through hearing God) with this exchange:

Gabriel: "You hear him??"
Mancea: "I do."
Gabriel: "And he tells you to defend these people?"
Mancea: "His hand guides by every step--"
Gabriel: "These are monsters, who slaughtered entire towns without provocation! Massacred CHILDREN--and you PRAY for them?!? How could God speak to you?!?"
Mancea: "My role is not to question.I listen and serve."
Gabriel: "Just following orders, huh? Where have I heard that before?"

Despite Mancea's attempt to sell his actions as the will of God, Gabriel counters:

Gabriel: "God wouldn't allow you to murder my friends--and neither will I"

Mancea prods, and suspects, then questions whether Gabriel hears God anymore or not. Gabriel presses his own beliefs--that his flock is worth saving, but Mancea continues, trying to distract Gabriel from his mission by saying God is asking Gabriel to hear him again. He makes an offer for the two to bring an end to the conflict--that no one is beyond saving (no matter what anyone has done), and for a moment, Gabriel seems as if he's convinced, until he hears a gunshot, which drives him to run his machete though Mancea.

Elsewhere, Carver chases Maggie down a hall, but was being drawn into a trap to face Maggie, Elijah and Negan. The trained Carver largely gets the upper hand in a rather nasty fight, until Elijah disarms Carver long enough for Negan to hurl sand (from a fire bucket) into his eyes, followed by a blow to his head with a metal bell. Maggie is a second away from killing Carver until Daryl arrives, only sparing Carver as a bargaining chip.

Outside, Daryl--using a bound Carver as leverage--attempts to force Leah and two surviving Reapers to stand down and head north, but her last sniper fires a warning shot, which will turn to a kill shot if Maggie's group does not surrender. Daryl releases the arrogant Carver, which drives Elijah wild with anger (he blames Carver for the murder of his sister), but he's injured and powerless to mount any sort of attack. Just as Leah gives the sniper the order to shoot, it is Carver who is shot in the leg--by Gabriel (obviously, he killed the sniper).
Even as the odds have dramatically shifted in favor of Maggie's group, Leah still bets her trio will be able to kill at least a couple of Maggie's people. She agrees to save what's left of her people, allowing Daryl to do the same...which does not sit well with Elijah, who asks Maggie to avenge all who were murdered by the Reapers. Sharing Elijah's rage, Maggie shoots Leah's companions, and wounds Leah in the shoulder, mush to Daryl's outrage. Maggie kills Carver, while Daryl searches for Leah. Following her blood trail, he calls out, regretting they did not have a second chance, and orders her to leave. Returning to the others, Daryl is visibly angry with Maggie.

Alexandria: The Alexandrians are still fighting off walker hordes, the rain, and a fire. In the central house's basement, Judith and Gracie try to use a shovel to secure the door from the walkers, but the weight of the creatures proves too much for the makeshift barrier, and in comes one walker after another. Judith leads Gracie to stand on top of a table as the flood waters continue to rise; as expected, Judith uses her sword to kill a couple of walkers--before the weapon slips from her hand (SEE NOTES), sinking into the flood waters, leaving the children no other choice other than to kick the walkers away. Aaron arrives at the broken basement window, and as he directs the girls toward the window, he drops into the basement, fighting off the creatures, and nearly losing his life (nearly drowning and walker teeth), but manages to lift the girls to safety.

Maggie and Negan: Maggie returns to the church where the severely wounded Alden had taken shelter. Maggie sees that the front doors were open, and as she enters, she has to fight off a reanimated Reaper. Her fears are confirmed as she discovers Alden--now a walker--crawls toward her. After the heartbroken Maggie kills Alden, she buries him in the church courtyard..but hears Negan standing nearby. Negan explains that no matter what Maggie has said during their struggles together, he cannot trust that one day, she will attempt to kill him. In that moment, he grips a metal pipe, as if readying himself to attack her, has no intention of harming her, instead, he announces his departure from the group.

Daryl and Father Gabriel: After Gabriel disagreed with Mancea's notion that all--even those who killed the innocent--were worthy of being saved, he chats with the seemingly agnostic Daryl about the idea of still having faith in God...

Maggie's party returns to Alexandria with the food-filled wagon. Of course, Judith and R.J. race to hug their uncle Daryl, and Daryl himself is overjoyed to learn Connie is alive. Lydia is crestfallen to learn Negan--her longtime supporter--has parted ways with the Alexandrians. It is mot long before a group pf Commonwealth soldiers arrive--with Eugene and Hornsby. Hornsby goes though the PR motions about ways the Commonwealth can help rebuild Alexandria, or perhaps the group would want to explore another option...

SIX MONTHS LATER...

Maggie stands on one of the lookout walkways; behind her, Alexandria still seems to be in ruins (IOW, the help to rebuild as promised by Hornsby did not happen). Outside of the gates a squad of Commonwealth soldiers stand ready; Maggie addresses the leader (in a blood-splattered suit of armor), saying "It did not need to come to this." The bloodied soldier removes his mask, revealing Daryl, who replies, "Yes....it did."

NOTES:
As noted in the mid-season finale review, the series played with the idea of Judith's fearlessness, as if the attitude would lead to her death. It turns out that she is quite acquainted with fear, which was registered on her face as she (and Gracie) were trapped on the table. One would hope the lesson (not allowing experience lead one to being reckless) sticks with her for the remainder of the series).

Leah's story--wounded and "in the wild"--cannot end there. One would imagine she will show up after the time jump, either to confront Maggie, join Maggie, or perhaps she finds her way to the Commonwealth. The same thought could apply to Negan.

RPG's fired into, then destroying walkers. 11 seasons in, and the writers have not run out of inventive ways to kill walkers.

Finally, the series has another time jump (at least a flash forward, as the next episode is still set in "current time") to Daryl being a Commonwealth soldier involved in a conflict with Maggie. With so few episodes left, how this happens and if all is as it was teased in anyone's guess, but the mid-season premiere certainly maintained the strength of the past two seasons.

GRADE: A.

 

It's not "midseason" but rather "part 2" I think.

But the show's started up again already?

 

Indeed, this season will be 24 episodes total, split into three 8 episode parts. But honestly, calling the premieres and finales of each part "midseason" is just a matter of convenience for me.

The premiere of Part 2 airs tonight on AMC though has already been available on AMC+ since last Sunday.

 

Well, holy shit, this was certainly an ass-kicking episode. We've got it all, from explosive conclusion to the Reapers storyline, though with the possibility that Leah could at least return, to Alexandria on its last legs with the Commonwealth showing up to render aid at the last moment.

We see Maggie continue to slide darker and darker, and I liked how they always had Negan standing off to the side sort of recognizing the changed within Maggie as the episode progresses. He's undoubtedly seeing in her what he went through in the time following Lucille's death to his eventual rise in power among the Saviors, capped off with that chat he has with Maggie by Alden's grave about how he knows it's only a matter of time before she does inevitably kill him.

And then that ending. Wow. Maggie and her loyalists fortifying themselves at Hilltop in resistance to the Commonwealth, with the Commonwealth soldiers arriving at Hilltop being lead by Darryl. Not only is this a damn interesting direction to take the story, it also sends a very clear message the Commonwealth storyline in the show is going to be very different from how it was in the comics. Can't wait to see this develop further.

 

That ending was the most interesting thing to happen this season.

I've been enjoying the Commonwealth story a lot more Reaper one, aside from anything between Maggie and Negen. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes, for the first time in a long time.

 

Good episode, even if I could see what Maggie was gonna do a mile away.

Guessing we'll hopefully see Leah and Negan again soon? Leah might drift off into the sunset but can't imagine Negan won't be back.

The ending was quite something though!

 

Talking Dead confirmed we will see Negan again. I'd say it's a good bet we'll be running into Leah again as well.

 

Yeah, the Reaper plot wasn't that interesting, aside from the Leah & Daryl aspect. But I can't WAIT to see what happens when the group goes to the Commonwealth. I was surprised to see Daryl become a Storm Trooper; that doesn't seem to be his style--unless he was forced to do it to protect someone.

Can't wait to see more!