You can throw my episode 5 predictions and preview article out of the windows. I haven’t been that wrong in all of my life. Negan didn’t show Maggie the Whisperer “trick” and it was not a short trip at Hilltop, but the Commonwealth looks badass! We learned a huge development about a character that we lost in season 9. Old threats also came back in this episode too. I thought there were some still roaming around but I didn’t think we would actually see them. Now that I think of it, that is probably why Lydia came along to Hilltop. We even got a Rick and Carl reference in the middle of the episode, which surely tugged at some heart strings of Walking Dead fans. I give “Out of the Ashes” a 7 out of 10 because of the storyline with the Whisperers, the Commonwealth, and the powerful scene between Judith and Rosita.
It seemed to look like that Aaron went off the deep end in this episode. He had a dream of all of the past villains of this show in it, which was really cool to see. It had the Wolves from season 6, Saviors from season 7 and 8, Whisperers from season 9, and Reapers from this season. I liked the Saviors iconic whistle in the background of the dream. Now realizing that Alexandra is in trouble because some walkers got into the walls, from the collapsed wall, Aaron, Carol, Jerry, and Lydia went to Hilltop to see if there was anything they could use that was not burned from the Whisperers. When they got there they found some weapons, tools, and some food they could bring back, but also saw a lot of walkers that were past community members. They also saw a familiar foe in the Whisperers being back in Hilltop. Aaron and company asked him multiple times who he was and what he was doing but it was unsuccessful. When they brought him to the holding cell in the basement they saw more Whisperers. Outraged, Aaron wanted to kill them all, but most of them escaped, leaving Aaron with a stab wound in the stomach. Although he was okay, Aaron wanted revenge on one of them, so he strung one up and tortured him with a Walker until he got answers. Aaron made the walker bite his hand until Carol killed the walker, because she has seen enough. Carol told Aaron that he didn’t want to go down her path, of what she did after Henry to Alpha, because it is a dark path that you can’t comeback from. Realizing his mistake, Aaron told the Whisperer to cut off his own hand to prevent infection and let him go. However, there is a positive to letting them go. He revealed an important piece of information about the missing character, Connie. We haven’t seen Connie since the season 9 mid season premiere when she was trapped in the cave. Magna got out but Connie was not that lucky. The Whisperer told Aaron and company that he saw another girl come out of the cave and told her where she was. This is setting up episode 6 because we see her appear in the trailer for “On the Inside”.
The Commonwealth is the best location we have seen in the history of the show. The background, the music, and all of the people seem surreal in a zombie apocalypse. They even have bakery goods and full functioning ice cream truck. It seems like you could only imagine this at this stage of the apocalypse. The gang have all got assigned jobs to do based on what they did before the fall. Eugene is a teacher, Princess is a retail clerk, Ezekiel is animal control, and Yumiko is a lawyer (although nothing is stated on her assignment papers). Yumiko wants to see what her brother has been up to all these years. Obviously, shocked when he sees her, they catch up on the outside of the bakery, her brothers profession. You learn that her brother was a surgeon before the fall but he doesn’t want anyone to know about that because he is happy baking. While Yumiko is with her brother, the other three get into trouble. Eugene notices a radio tower that they have and wants to use it to communicate back to Alexandra, like he did while Stephanie was at the Commonwealth. Stephanie agrees to help them by bringing them to the train station where the radio station is. Eugene is able to talk to Rosita and Judith at Alexandra for a few moments before the connection is interrupted. Soon after, they are caught by Mercer and arrested for trespassing. At the end, they are let go, but at least Rosita knows that Eugene and company are okay. Rosita did tell them that they won the Whisperer war, that Alpha and Beta are dead, but Alexandra is running out of food and is in rough shape. Eugene in episode 7 will find a way to communicate with them further to see what they can do to help Alexandra before the tri-season finale in episode 8.
Like I said before, Negan did not show Maggie the Whisperer trick, although I do think they will use that in episode 7 or 8. I am still dying on the hill too that either Maggie or Negan are going to save one of them from death in episode 8 and that is how Maggie “forgives” Negan. Negan does have reflexes like a cat, dodging Maggie’s throwing knife to a walker behind him. Negan still didn’t believe that anyone was going to show up at the outpost before the Meridian so he wanted to go back with the supplies back to Alexandra, but Gabriel and Elijah showed up. Maggie told Elijah that Cole, Agatha, and Duncan are dead and they are still waiting for Daryl and Frost to show up. With Negan’s reluctance, they all decide to wait for them. We know that Daryl and Frost were captured by the Reapers in episode 4 but they do not know that. We also know that Leah confronts Maggie and the others at the house so I am guessing that Leah tells them that Daryl and Frost are in the Meridian and they have to go get them in episode 7 and 8.
The most powerful scene we got in this episode was between Rosita and Judith. You don’t see them get a lot, or any screen time together. During this episode Judith was getting bullied for being different and her parents leaving her. She even saw the hand print that she made with Carl before he died broken. Visibly upset, Rosita came to comfort her. She explained to her that Carl, Rick, and Michonne would be so proud of her of who she is today. Rosita explained to her past to Judith saying she didn’t have a family growing up either. It was all of the better because it made her learn to survive on her own, like Judith is doing today. I thought this was the best scene in the episode because I didn’t think Rosita would be the one comforting her. I know that Rosita was the only main character in Alexandra, since Aaron and company was at Hilltop, Eugene and company are at the Commonwealth, and the others are dealing with the Reapers. It pulled some hardcore fans heart strings due to the fact that we heard Rick and Carl mentioned and that Rosita remembered her and Carl make that seven plus years ago.
