The Walking Dead S11 E5: "Out of the Ashes" Review

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 5: "Out of the Ashes" Review

[WARNING: Major spoilers for The Walking Dead seasons 1-10, spoilers for season 11.]

The new Walking Dead never ceases to amaze me with just how much can happen in an episode that isn't filler yet somehow feels like it all the same. Don't get me wrong, we're above and beyond the level of quality the show was at a few years ago, but it still has a long road ahead of it if it's ever to reach the heights of its most popular seasons. This episode was especially telling, with much of the focus being on a side-plot that has little to no bearing on what should be a grand finale these last episodes should be building toward. Nonetheless, here we are, with plenty of things that are just waiting to happen, yet the show instead taking the opportunity to meander when it really doesn't have to.

Despite the formal introduction of the Commonwealth in this episode--which we'll get to a little later--the big focus appears to be on more struggles in Alexandria as things start to fall apart. More specifically, the episode focuses on Aaron who, after helping to repair part of an ever-crumbling Alexandrian wall, decides to take Carol and a couple characters we haven't seen since Season 10 down to the ruins of Hilltop to see if there are any blacksmithing supplies they can use to repair Alexandria's foundations. While there, they run into a former Whisperer who is herding a group of walkers near Hilltop's ruined entrance, but insists he's simply there trying to survive. Much of the episode focuses on Aaron inner hatred of the Whisperers for...some reason...and how he wants the survivor to confess the Whisperers are coming after them again when that simply isn't the case.

I'm not sure how to express how much I didn't care about this side-plot. Much like Negan's conflict with Maggie--which is highlighted this episode in a few uneventful bickering sessions throughout--there's really nothing here that made me feel anything for what was transpiring. Of course Aaron is mad about the Whisperers and what they did to Alexandria. Everyone is. But he of all characters should know not all of them are bad people, given his past friendship with Gamma which he himself initiated in the previous season. It seems very out of place to have Aaron be the one leading the charge against the Whisperers when characters like Rosita exist who have more of a reason to hold a grudge against all of them, even ones that are saying they just want to survive. It felt out of place and out of nowhere, especially since it's been a while since we've seen Aaron get any focus outside of him and Gabe's episode where they drank and killed some guy.

Though going back to Rosita, she also appears in this episode with a bit of a stronger role. A stronger role that seems strangely misplaced. A side-plot to this episode focused on Judith, Gracie, and a few of the other kids as they're bullied by a bunch of teenagers for seemingly no reason. We get a scene where Judith goes over to the teens, who are taunting a walker (played by Jeffery Dean Morgan's son, which was a nice little cameo; good for the kid, he seemed excited about it). She tells them to stop, but ends up getting shoved to the ground. After which she learns that the teens have broken a wooden paneling with her and Carl's handprints on it--Carl being her late brother. This leads to a short wrap-up conversation with, of all characters, Rosita, who Judith appears to know from "around." I say this because neither of these two have ever interacted with one another since the time skip back in Season 9, which means we've never even seen that the two of them know one another. It's kind of weird to see Rosita playing the mother figure to Judith, especially when she has her own baby to take care of that seems to be mysteriously MIA.

This is what really gets me about The Walking Dead and the decisions it makes with its ever-expanding cast of characters. It feels like, sometimes, the writers are unsure as to where a character is in their development and how they would react to some of the events transpiring around them. When I take a look at Aaron getting angry at the Whisperers and going to unreasonable ends to torture them, and when I see Rosita having a heart-to-heart with Judith, all I can think is: These roles should have been reversed. Not only does Rosita harbor more of a reason not to trust Whisperers because of Siddiq's death at the hands of one feigning innocence while acting as a spy in Alexandria, but Aaron has much more experience raising Gracie, meaning it would make sense for him to be the parental figure looking after Judith. It's very strange to see what feels like a role reversal in this episode.

Now, I don't mean to put on the tinfoil hat here, but sometimes it felt like Aaron wasn't meant to be the character going crazy over the Whisperers this episode either. At least not at the outset. Otherwise there would have been more emphasis on him using his metal mace hand to at least thwack someone to the ground. But he doesn't, instead arming himself with a knife in his free hand. It was a rather strange decision not to utilize his coolest, most useful weapon, especially given how hard-grasped he is in the thralls of his rage. It makes me wonder if there really had been some level of role-reversal going on in the writing room, and if, for some reason, they decided to switch Rosita out for Aaron. I'm not saying this is the case, of course. I'm merely speculating. But this episode does feel like things were supposed to happen with different characters, not the ones who were in the roles we witnessed.

Barring all of that, though, is the most interesting part of the episode: the Commonwealth's introduction. Eugene, Ezekiel, Princess, and Yumiko have found themselves in orientation. After a short analog video introducing the group to the Commonwealth, orientation seemingly ends, but with a small twist: The group are not considered permanent residents of the Commonwealth, having been given jobs and places to live. Princess and (strangely) Ezekiel seem the most unbothered by this, while Eugene and Yumiko aren't too happy about being stifled and unable to communicate with Alexandria. While Eugene tries to hatch a plan to get his star-crossed "lover" Stephanie to get him into a radio tower for outside contact, Yumiko searches for her brother, all the while receiving seemingly special treatment from some higher members of the community, though for a reason yet to be explained.

What interested me the most about the Commonwealth was the way it was set up. It hints at some kind of Orwellian society that watches its citizen's ever move, but does so with the promise of relative freedom so long as the rules are followed. And freedom there is, for the Commonwealth is a rebuilding of American society right down to an economic system. One character from the community even admits, "sometimes I forget what's happening outside the walls." Despite the Stormtrooper aesthetic of the community's guards, the tough processing required to get in, and a government with strict rules for its citizens, the Commonwealth appears a paradise compared to every other community The Walking Dead has shown us thus far. And it's clear from some of the rules we see that they have no intention of being evil; they're literally just a society trying to protect its citizens. I think it's cool to see and I want to know more about it as the show progresses.

My biggest issue with these parts of the episode come in the form of potential. As not to spoil too much, I'll give an example in the way of Eugene and Stephanie's interactions after meeting one another. While it's nice that Eugene finally met his radio girl, there isn't much in the way of an emotional reunion as talk rather quickly shifts to how Eugene can radio back to Alexandria that he's safe. There's more emotion in the way Eugene looks at and licks his ice cream cone than the stiff interaction he has with Stephanie. For the most part this comes down to explanatory dialogue which lacks what should be the audience's first impression of characterization for Stephanie. I'm sure we'll get a little bit more of this somewhere down the line. We've gotten a bit more subtle character for the red-clad guard Mercer in his scenes this episode. But first impressions are important, and this episode squandered the potential of expanding on Eugene and Stephanie's relationship in a meaningful way now that they've met each other face-to-face.

I enjoy a lot of what The Walking Dead is setting up in this final season, and I'm sure things are going to be big come the third part. But it still feels like the show is meandering as if it doesn't know what to do with itself when, now more than ever, things should be happening. This should feel like a final season, when in reality it just doesn't. Nothing about what's happened in the last five episodes have even hinted at this being the end of the road. To some extent it isn't, with a new spin-off already confirmed for after this season is over. Still, though, I do hope the main series ends with some sense of closure instead of building up a larger world for the sake of the shared universe they've been creating. A hint or two of that larger world would be fine; I just hope the show doesn't end as if it's an advertisement for the larger world being built here.

Even so, this episode had its ups and downs, with the most exciting attributes being how things will play out between Alexandria and the Commonwealth. Again, I'm quite sure that a group convergence is in order, likely in Part 2 or 3 of this season given the pacing. How it will play out, though, is anyone's guess. Hopefully this much setup will be worth the events that transpire come the end of this season.

***

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