Season 11 episode 10 “New Haunts” was not good but it was not bad either. It had its ups but definitely dragged on in some places. Compared to episode 9, this episode was a huge let down, but I overall enjoyed it. The ending scene and the Daryl vs. Sebastian storyline kept me invested throughout this episode. The episode skips a whole month of the group getting to The Commonwealth. It picks up with them living there for 30 days. You learn that various of our characters have been assigned jobs (read the last paragraph for more details) and have been working for some time now. We learn that Maggie and Lydia stayed behind inside Hilltop and chose not to go with the group. The Commonwealth celebrated Halloween for their town and it was like when we were kids. It had a haunted house and a costume party. It made the kids in The Walking Dead universe actually feel like kids. I give “New Haunts” a three out of five stars. One of the main reasons that I am giving it this high of a score is what Judith said to Daryl in the middle of the episode. Judith mentioned Michonne… Daryl took Judith and RJ under his wing and they are all living together inside The Commonwealth. They were debating on staying there even when Alexandra is done rebuilding. Judith told Daryl “She wants to stay somewhere that her mom can find her easily.” Like with Rick Grimes, this opens the door for Michonne to return in the season finale of season 11. However, this is very unlikely, but we will see her in the Rick Grimes movies.
Daryl and Rosita were put to the test of proving themselves to Mercer why they should be the next Commonwealth soldier. During Mercer’s test, Daryl and Rosita were split into two different teams. Rosita ‘s team ultimately won but there is something brewing with Daryl and his teammate. Daryl’s teammate is Pamela’s nephew, Sebastian. Daryl and Sebastian have been butting heads throughout this episode. They failed the team challenge because they didn’t work together well enough. Also during Mercer’s other challenge, they failed again because Daryl shot a walker with a crossbow to help Sebastian, but Mercer believed that Sebastian was able to kill it himself. An important thing to note during the second challenge is that inside Mercer’s bag of weapons that they were able to choose from was Judith’s katana. They even had Daryl’s knives and what I assume was Daryl’s crossbow. Daryl or Rosita didn’t say anything about it and I thought it was strange because they should have picked up on it. How did they get Judith’s katana in the first place? The last time we saw it was at the bottom of the flooded basement in episode 9, unless she got it back in the time skip and had to give it up before they entered The Commonwealth. If this is the case, The Commonwealth also will have Rick’s python. Rick will end up getting that back but the golden question is how…
My prediction was correct about Tomi turning into a doctor/surgeon to ultimately help Ezekiel beat his cancer. Ezekiel knows deep down that he is going to die but still puts on a brave face for his friends. He knows this by giving Shiva’s collar and chain to one of Jerry’s kids and a box that Henry gave him to Carol. Carol also knows that Ezekiel has little time left in the world. Carol does what Carol does by snooping around inside the hospital’s medical records to see what is really wrong with Ezekiel. Carol stops by Lance’s office to help persuade him to get Ezekiel at the top of the list to get his surgery so he can have a better chance of beating his cancer. Carol helps her case by giving him wine for The Commonwealth party for the “higher class”. Carol even visits Ezekiel to make sure that he is okay. AMC is trying to bate us by them setting up another romance between the two but I don’t see it. Ezekiel and Carol are going to be like the Daryl and Carol, just really great friends with more history in the way. I personally believe that Ezekiel will survive this cancer and it is only a matter of time before we see him get the surgery.
The Commonwealth party for the “high class” did not go to plan. A waiter went awol and kept Pamela’s assistant, “Max” (the real Stephanie), as a hostage. We learn that the waiter was not supposed to be there because he was the solider that Princess beat up inside the train car in season 10. He believes that The Commonwealth is not what it seems and only cares for the upper class. It is not equality for all, just for the people inside Pamela’s inner circle. He escapes but Daryl tracks him down and arrests him. However, Daryl doesn’t take the credit with the arrest and gives him to Sebastian to bask in the glory. At the end of the episode we learn that Daryl and Rosita get hired to become Commonwealth soldiers. Rosita was doing rounds outside the walls and raided a house (I assume it was the waiters house) and found out that someone is plotting against The Commonwealth. Everything is not as pretty as it seems inside The Commonwealth. If we learned anything throughout this series that everyone is hiding something. Terminus, Kingdom, Hilltop, Prison… The list can go on but Daryl was right that The Commonwealth is not as good as it seems and they are hiding a big secret, something Daryl told Carol at the beginning of the episode.
After episode 10 we know more of the survivors jobs inside The Commonwealth. Here are the confirmed jobs that our characters have…
Eugene: Teacher
Ezekiel: Zoo Keeper
Princess: Music Store Clerk
Yumiko: Government Worker
Daryl: Commonwealth Soldier
Rosita: Commonwealth Soldier
Carol: Baker
Gabriel: Bible Studies
Connie: Newspaper Reporter
Kelly: Newspaper Reporter (Connie’s translator)
Magma: Waitress