This episode had me feeling all sorts of ways. This might have been the best episode in season 11 and has the potential of being the best episode before a season finale of the series. I give season 11 episode 23 “Family” a five out of five stars. We got another Judith narrated flashback scene with the survivors picking up the weapons needed to take down Pamela. I didn’t know what AMC was going to do for the flashback scene but it fit pretty well. However, I thought this episode started off a little slow but it did not disappoint at the end. We got the full transformation of Mercer turning on Pamela Milton and the whole group fighting the Commonwealth. Aaron and company also ran into some problems going back to Alexandra from their “guts” and “Whisperer” trick while in the horde of walkers. We got two potential deaths that we have to deal with for the series finale of the show, with a lot more on the table. It will hit me soon that we are only two more weeks away from the series finale of my favorite TV show, but the future looks bright for The Walking Dead universe!
Mercer Gets Arrested for Treason
Mercer officially joined the survivors to “fuck shit up” and it can’t be at a better time. He successfully saved Eugene’s from his death but now has to round up as many Commonwealth soldiers as he can to finally overthrow Pamela Milton. Pamela has little doubts about Mercer’s loyalty but some soldiers are noticing a sudden change in his leadership. Pamela has a plan to divert the protests about Eugene’s sentencing and she wants to lockdown the community because of a walker threat. She calls Mercer and many soldiers to take on the heard but many of the soldiers get caught in the way. Mercer gets in contact with Princess about their plan to go to the Commonwealth to take down Pamela and he comes up with a plan to get them inside safely and hidden. Mercer calls for the troops to not be at Union Station so the survivors can go right in, but gets arrested for treason before he can put his plan 100% into place. Back at the Commonwealth, word gets to Pamela that walkers have infiltrated the walls and are getting inside. We even get mention and some more footage of the “variant walkers” from World Beyond of them climbing the walls and picking up objects. Pamela wants more troops to be with her at all time for protection and to leave any non estates to fend for themselves but the soldier that arrested Mercer is now second guessing her decision to do so. Pamela is now only thinking about her own survival and will do at nothing to keep her alive and to keep running the Commonwealth her way. Pamela is a guaranteed lock to die in episode 24 but who will be the one to do it and how long into the episode will we have to wait for the main villain for season 11 to die?
Judith Gets Caught in the Crosshairs
I didn’t want to begin with this but this was the most shocking moment in season 11C by a landslide. Judith gets shot by Pamela but lets get into how this happened. The survivors successfully got back into the Commonwealth’s Union Station from Mercer’s plan but things seemed off. The group noticed that it was too quiet and there were locks on the door to get out of Union Station. The Commonwealth soldiers and Pamela started to shoot at the survivors. Many non important characters died in this scene like Tyler Davis but the most important possible death was Judith’s. Judith wasn’t even supposed to go on this mission but convinced Daryl to bring her with them. However, Judith was shot by Pamela and Daryl went irate. Daryl went full Dad mode and picked up Judith to try to bring her to safety. Many soldiers were killed in this scene and Pamela seemed like she had empathy towards the group after Judith was shot. She seemed like she wasn’t aiming for her and this wasn’t apart of the plan. The group got out of Union Station and met up with Luke and Jules but Daryl needed to get help for Judith. The group ran to a part of town that was swarmed with walkers. Carol told Daryl to get to the hospital while the group stays behind and tries to deal with the various threats. A potential Judith death is in the works for the finale and AMC definitely got people talking with this one. Something I didn’t expect from a mile away. I still expect her to be safe because she is the future of The Walking Dead universe, but you never know. AMC killed Carl in season 8 so anything is possible…
Aaron and Jerry has to Stop the Virus From Spreading
If this episode wasn’t crazy enough, it seems like this moment will get lost in the fold. Aaron, Jerry, Elijah, Luke, and Jules had to use the guts and Whisperer trick to go through the heard of walkers towards Alexandra. It seemed safe enough for them to go towards the trees but didn’t see the Commonwealth soldier lead some more walkers from the trees and thus, was left in a bigger sea of walkers. They were forced to seek shelter in an abandoned trailer, but not before all hell breaks lose. Aaron, Jerry, and Lydia were separated from Elijah, Luke, and Jules because they did not make it to the trailer in time. Lydia even got her arm bit from one of the walkers while they were trying to go inside. Lydia wanted to stay and help Elijah and the others escape but Aaron and Jerry knew they had to stop the virus from spreading in Lydia before it was too late. Many cute moments were in this scene before they chopped her arm off like when Jerry told Lydia, “I’m sorry dude, this is going to really hurt” and Aaron telling Lydia “I know how this feels”. Jerry successfully chopped off her arm and saved her from not letting her turn into a walker. Lydia still wanted to save Elijah from the horde but Aaron and Jerry needed to bring Lydia to a doctor first. Jerry decided that he would go back out there to save Elijah while Aaron and Lydia go and find a doctor (I assume at the Commonwealth). This has me worried about Jerry’s survival because I can totally see him not making it out alive or sacrificing himself for Elijah. I know I said I want all nonessential personnel to not survive in the show, but having so many deaths on the table for the series finale will definitely put me on edge all throughout the finale. We will see how many people will actually die in the finale, but having no major characters die in season 11 C yet (expect two of the villains in Lance and Sebastian), a bloodbath will be in the cards for "Rest in Peace”.