So many call backs to previous episodes and seasons inside episode 12. I loved this episode. It had a lot of action, set up a Lance and Pamela internal struggle, Maggie is losing her touch, and Mercer and Daryl are becoming the dynamic duo. I give episode 12 a four out of 5 stars. Aaron and Maggie had call backs to the previous leaders of Deanna and Georgie. Eugene was talking about his time during season 4 and 5 when he was lying about being a scientist with Rosita and Abraham during their trip to Washington DC. However, I was disappointed that no one mentioned Rick in this episode. He was their leader throughout the whole series. The casual fan won’t be bothered by this and not that it is a big deal for me either, but I thought Rick was going to get some screen time through Maggie or Aaron. I thought Maggie was going to talk about getting some of her leadership skills through Rick. An interesting thing to note was Pamela and Diana knew each other before the apocalypse through Deanna’s previous politics work.
Alexandra’s Involvement
Alexandra currently has a deal with the Commonwealth to rebuild their community for the survivors work inside the Commonwealth community. However, anyone that chooses to stay at the Commonwealth after Alexandra is rebuilt can stay. Pamela is worried that the Commonwealth is wasting their resources to fix Alexandra for no reason. Lance reassures her that the community is strong, with the survivors being an integral part of the Commonwealth already, since Daryl is being an important solider for the community. Pamela wants the other two communities (Hilltop and Oceanside) to agree to the deal that the Commonwealth has with Alexandra but Maggie has other plans…
Hilltop’s and Oceanside’s Involvement
Oceanside lives! I don’t know the last time that we saw Oceanside but we definitely should put out a search warrant for Luke. Last thing we know about him was he went to Oceanside with Jules but we haven’t seen them since. Oceanside and Hilltop has this agreement where Maggie and Hilltop protects Oceanside and Oceanside sides with them with every agreement they have with other communities. Since Maggie rejected Pamela’s and Lance’s deal to help them rebuild Hilltop, Oceanside had to say no as well. Pamela and Lance tried to change Maggie’s mind throughout the whole episode. Hilltop is struggling with their protection problem and many community members are losing sleep over all the walkers they have to clear out every single day. However, Maggie is stuck in her ways and she says no again at the end of the episode. Several Hilltop members are outraged by this decision because they obviously need help so they end up going back to the Commonwealth with Pamela and Lance. The most notible person to leave Maggie’s side was Dianne. She has been by her side for the whole way since Dianne has been on the show. Maggie is losing her touch and making many people lose faith in her. Some important things to note during the Hilltop exchange was that Daryl and Maggie still have a great relationship so I’m excited to see how the Commonwealth and Hilltop lose their relationship and prompts Daryl to go back to Hilltop with Commonwealth soldiers. Another thing to note is that Mercer and Daryl are growing a friendship by Mercer just telling Daryl to go with the flow and fall inline when the Commonwealth is watching. Mercer is obviously bothered by the leadership of the Commonwealth or how they do things and I believe that Daryl is going to help Mercer with his problems down the road. The last important thing to note is that Pamela knows that Lance is only trying to the deals with the three communities is to benefit him. Lance wants to be the one to lead the communities for the Commonwealth. Pamela sees right through this and The Walking Dead is definitely setting up a Lance vs. Pamela civil war to end off the season 11 B finale…
Eugene and Max
This was a small part of the episode but still had its creditability. Max and Eugene started off on the wrong foot in the beginning of the episode because he walked out on Max during the fire scene. After Eugene had a talk with Rosita about the past, he found the revelation of confronting Max and making up. They made up through his novel that he is writing. I think that Max and Eugene are going to be a reason why Lance ultimately goes down during the back end of season 11. If history shows itself, Max is going to die. Everyone that Eugene grows close to (excluding Rosita), ends up dying. Eugene is the most important character to monitor down the stretch because he is the most important Alexandrian character inside the Commonwealth.