That is another 8 episodes in the book and the last mid-season finale ever (for the main show at least). All the slander that I gave Angela Kang last week was made up for this week but episode 16 did had some flaws. Episode 16 was highlighted by the battle between Lance, Leah, and the rest of the Commonwealth soldiers versus Maggie, Daryl, Aaron, and Gabriel. I’ll highlight this battle in the next paragraphs but I will get this out of the way, Aaron didn’t die and I was wrong. Maybe it is saved for episode 17 but there was a shocking death that I didn’t think that we would get till later on in season 11C. But the other storyline from “Acts of God” was exposing the story about Pamela and the rest of the Milton’s. This was successful because Connie published the story about Sebastian’s mission to steal the money from the house at the end of the episode. Connie and Kelly recruited Eugene, Magma, Max, and Ezekiel to keep exposing the truth about the Milton’s. I expect the full story to come out in 11C and degrading Pamela’s power more and more. As a result, I expect Mercer to gain more power inside the community. A strong mid-season finale and more storylines that will bleed into season 11C gives this episode a strong 4 out of 5 stars.
Daryl, Aaron, and Gabriel vs. The Commonwealth
Daryl, Aaron, and Gabriel were going back to Lance and the rest of the community with a bunch of the Commonwealth soldiers. They can’t go back because of what happened in episode 15 and threatening Lance so they have to rebel against the rest of the soldiers. They do this successfully and kill all of the soldiers. Gabriel got stabbed in the leg and Aaron got shot in the shoulder and I thought this was going to be the final scene of Aaron but we did not get that. They start a full on rebellion against the Commonwealth and search for Lance. We did get an indication that Daryl knew that Leah was alive from a spider looking trap in her camp. At the end of the episode, we got a Daryl and Leah reunion but it was short lived.
Maggie vs. The Commonwealth
Maggie had some unfinished business with Lance and company and called upon Elijah and Lydia for help. Hershel wanted to come too but obviously Maggie does not want him to go so she left him with Negan and Annie. I thought that Negan was going to join Maggie but she wanted him to protect Hershel. Hershel is getting a lot of screen time lately so you know what that means. He might be a lock to die in season 11C. Leah finally joined the Commonwealth military to hunt down Maggie and company but she wanted to do it her way. She got a lot of Commonwealth soldiers killed but ended up finding Leah in the woods. They got into a shooting match and Maggie ended up shooting Leah, but Leah ended up knocking out Maggie and held her hostage. Maggie was tied up in an abandoned house and held against her will. Leah wanted to kill Maggie but Maggie convinced her that revenge doesn’t make it better. This proves that Maggie might be coming around on Negan but time will tell on that. Maggie ended up escaping and they brawled until Daryl saved the day and shot Leah right in the head. I didn’t expect this at all and was in complete shock. I thought that Daryl was going to spare Leah again because of their history but maybe he thought that Maggie was in complete danger of dying at the hands of Leah so he had to do what he had to do. I thought they were going to get some dialogue of why she joined the Commonwealth or what she was up to during the 7 episodes that she was gone or even revealed to Daryl that she was the one that stole the Commonwealth guns. I loved this episode and am so excited for what season 11 C brings. The episode ended on Lance and company completely taking over all three communities for the Commonwealth so I am intrigued on where Daryl, Aaron, Gabriel, Maggie, Negan, and company go to now since they don’t have a place to call home. Maybe they will hold up in Daryl’s old house that Leah was held up in during season 10, but more details to come from that in my next Walking Dead article.