punches flew. bullets flew. Heck, even cicadas were flying en masse in The Walking Dead season 11B finale. And by the time Acts of God reached the calm before the series’ next – and final – storm, we’d lost a minor protagonist and a major antagonist, the creepy Lance had lost his patience, and two deadly enemies had called a truce. Read on, and we’ll run through all the highlights.
“You’ve got big balls, Maggie Rhee” | At the beginning of the episode, Maggie, Hershel, Elijah, and Marco (remember him?) left Hilltop, knowing that Lance and his soldiers would be back to escort the boy to his sitter: Negan of all people. “He doesn’t exactly trust me, you know,” Glenn’s killer pointed out. “But I’ll start,” replied the widow. Negan had saved Hershel from the apartment complex’s soldiers; she would not forget that – ever. A new understanding dawned between the longtime enemies, and Negan reassured her, “I’ve got you, and I’ve got your boy.” Elsewhere, Daryl, Aaron, and Gabriel looked for an opportunity to take out the cops they were using to pretend the remaining ones to look for residents of the apartment. When the time finally came, Gabriel was shot and Aaron too. But since they were regulars on the series, their wounds were only fleshly in nature, allowing them and Daryl to dispatch the rest of the soldiers and learn Lance’s whereabouts from their doomed commander.
Returning to the Hilltop, Maggie & Co. made sure Lance’s soldiers were in for an explosive surprise as soon as they entered Barrington House. But our heroes had barely managed to elicit a “hip, hip” let alone a “hooray” when Leah fatally shot Marco. (It’s never a good omen when a D player gets lines; he might as well have worn a red shirt on Star Trek.) When Lance complained to Leah about killing three of his men, the model clerk winced armpits. “Collateral damage,” she called the dead. Meanwhile, Maggie broke up with Lydia and Elijah so they could lead all the soldiers away. Soon Maggie and Leah faced each other. Shots were fired and Leah was hit – but again not bad enough to stop her. She knocked Maggie unconscious and then tied her up instead of killing her. The next morning, Maggie theorized that Leah thought letting the killer hurt her “family” the way she had would ease the pain, etc. etc. But Maggie was really just killing time while she broke up . Once free, she and Leah engaged in a brutal brawl, one Maggie would almost lose if Daryl hadn’t shown up at just the right moment to put a bullet in his ex’s head.
“I HAVE A WHOLE NETWORK READY AND READY TO RIDE AT DAWN” | At that moment, Lance and his soldiers arrived at the crime scene. As always, shots rang out – a bullet even grazed Lance’s face, further pissing him off. “Now,” he snorted, “let’s take everything.” As if that hadn’t always been his plan? Back in the Commonwealth, Eugene, who appeared to have spent the night with Max, reconfirmed that she was still behind the risky plan to steal files from Pamela’s office. And although he was scared, Max stayed on board. She wasn’t even stopped by Sebastian, who would have known she was up to something if he hadn’t been so self-absorbed. That evening, Eugene and Max met up with Connie, Kelly, Magna, and Ezekiel, who reported that he had backup ready. But the list of names and enigmatic codes wasn’t enough for Connie to tell; You had to crack the code first. In the meantime, she would just write about Sebastian’s mugging. Surely that would make the people of the Commonwealth realize that their governor didn’t have their best interests at heart. (Sweet, naïve Connie.) As the episode drew to a close, Max returned the stolen file to her closet just in time for a pissed off Pamela to show up and a (Resistance?) newspaper with the headline, “Pamela Milton is lying to you.” At the same time, soldiers hung Commonwealth flags on the gates of Alexandria and the remains of Hilltop, and Lance tossed a coin, seemingly to decide the fate of Oceanside residents.
So what do you think of the season 11B finale? Maggie and Leah’s fight? Maggie and Negan’s truce? Rate the episode below, then hit the comments.