The Walking Dead S11 E9: "No Other Way" Review

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 9: "No Other Way" Review

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

The Walking Dead had been having a rough start to its final season. Part 1 of this 3-part monster of a send-off felt like a rather meandering 8-episode buildup toward something bigger. Whether that "something bigger" was ever going to happen, however, was up in the air. The first part of this final season didn't really feel final, and instead just felt like standard episodes of the show, albeit with a little more filler than I was here for. But, with the release of its newest episode on Sunday, it feels like The Walking Dead is finally getting its footing back and knows exactly where it wants to take the show in its final 16 episodes. This comeback isn't without its goofier moments, but its an appreciative start to what finally feels like the end of the show. If anything, looking back, it feels like the extra Season 10 episodes and the first part of Season 11 were supposed to be the original 11th season, with Season 12 being whatever we're about to witness. But I digress; The Walking Dead finally feels like it's ending.

And what an ending it seems to be building up to. After Pope and the Wardens set up a hwacha to launch fireworks into the crowd of walkers to kill Maggie's group, Daryl and Leah turn against Pope, killing him. However, Daryl reveals that he's with Maggie's group, trying to use this as a way to stop Leah from using the hwacha. Unfortunately, she now considers him an enemy, firing into the crowd anyway. This episode picks up from Leah's decision, showcasing the aftermath as the group tries to survive the assault, all while still vying for the food the Wardens have squirreled away somewhere in their community. While Maggie and Negan take center stage for most of this episode, side characters--especially Gabriel--are also highlighted. Their mission in this episode is to end the Reaper conflict, and while there is a level of finality to what transpires here, I'm not sure if we've seen the last of them or not.

One of the greatest strengths of this episode was payoff. Despite the meandering nature of Part 1 of the season, the buildup incorporated into Maggie's mission finally came to a head in this episode. I was surprised by a number of decisions characters made here, as it felt more like early Walking Dead than it did the watered-down walk in the woods we've been treated to since the Whisperer arc ended. To see everything that happened in Maggie's portion of the episode was a breath of fresh air, made all the fresher knowing the seeds of big character decisions were planted in the previous part of the season. Everything felt like it wrapped up in an important way while also leaving the door open for a possible return to the Wardens. I know, I know, it's a bit of a spoiler to say that the Warden arc seems to be over as of this episode. But honestly, I think it's important to address because of just how meandering this plot has been: Guys, don't worry--something better seems to be on the horizon. Even so, it does seem like the Wardens could be readdressed at some point, so to call this "the end" is a bit of a moot point. You'd just have to see the episode for yourself to understand what I mean.

Though I think one of the highlights of this episode for me was Gabriel. We've watched as Gabe has gone from being a timid man of faith vomiting at the sight of a walker to a man who holds a new kind of faith: That God will protect him and his family no matter what. I think this episode especially highlighted that change. While watch him kill Dante in Season 10 after the revelation that he was a Whisperer spy felt like a major turning point, this episode felt like it firmly established Gabriel as a badass akin to Season 4-5 Carol. While for the majority of the show I've been watching just to see what Negan is going to do next, I think of Gabe as another reason to continue seeing where the series shambles off to next.

As it does appear that, despite the high level of quality on Maggie's side of the story this week, I can't say the same for Alexandria. When we last left the too-large cast of characters who live in the one community left on the show, they were fighting off both a storm and hordes of walkers that had broken through the walls. Judith and Gracie were also trapped in a basement that was continuing to fill with water, forced to barricade the door as walkers tried to get in from upstairs. This episode picks up with them still struggling to get out of the basement, a situation that at first seems hopeless but starts to pick up as the episode continues. Will they get out of the basement? Only time will tell. However, the way the actual story is told makes me chuckle when I think back to it.

There were many goofy moments in these portions of the episode, especially once Aaron learned that his daughter was essentially trapped in a flooding basement with little hope of survival. Much of the rescue mission that takes place here felt like it came out of a B-movie, specifically one of those million-dollar-budget action flicks you can find in a $5 bargain bin. I wouldn't say it was bad, however, because despite it being incredibly screwy, there was a charm to the whole thing that kept me entertained. Sure, I know that Aaron having XYZ happen near the end of the episode doesn't make any sense. But the presentation of the whole story was just so unintentionally funny that I couldn't help but be entertained by it. So even though me laughing during many of those scenes wasn't supposed to happen, I will give props to the writers for finding a way to entertain me during what otherwise would have been a rather mundane rescue mission--whether successful or not.

What really caught me off-guard this episode, however, was the ending. Not only was this the first time in a while where I felt some level of intrigue in how the series was going to go from here, but it also felt as though everything that was about to transpire would do so for a very good reason. For the sake of just how good this episode was in its last 5 minutes, I want to issue a quick spoiler warning:

BEGIN SPOILERS

At the end of the episode, after Maggie's group has returned to Alexandria with supplies, a convoy of the Stormtrooper-like Commonwealth soldiers march up to the community's gates. With them is Eugene, who is able to quell any possible conflict with his presence. Introducing the group to Lance Hornsby--who you may remember as the Commonwealth's spokesman--results in hints of an allegiance between the people of the Commonwealth and the people of Alexandria. Lance offers the survivors two options, options that he's implied are individual-based and don't need to be settled on by the whole group. Survivors are welcome to stay in Alexandria while the Commonwealth gives them supplies to help them get back on their feet. Another option is implied to be to come live at the Commonwealth, abandoning Alexandria for the safety of bigger walls and a much stronger-sized population.

I found Lance's offers here to be interesting, as the Commonwealth has thus far operated under the idea of taking survivors under their wing if they're able to prove themselves. To give the Alexandrians not only the option of staying, but of coming to the Commonwealth based on Eugene vouching for them is a little suspicious. I wouldn't say the Commonwealth are bad people, as it seems they've been able to organize in a way no other group on the main show has thus far. But it is definitely suspect that they are so willing to help Alexandria despite not truly knowing everything about the community. How this develops later on isn't up in the air, either: We're shown exactly how things are going to play out six months into the future.

In a flash-forward to six months later, Maggie can be seen atop a metal wall. While the wall looks like Alexandria's, the location begets the Hilltop, which was destroyed back in Season 10. Maggie tells a group of Commonwealth soldiers on the group below that "it doesn't have to be this way." A soldier steps forward, saying, "Yeah. It does." It isn't until he rips off his mask that the audience sees it's Daryl, decked out in a Commonwealth uniform. Out of everyone to become a soldier obeying some kind of authority, Daryl seems like the last person to think of, which makes it all the more intriguing to find out what happens over the next six months to turn him against Maggie. The level of intrigue here is something I haven't felt since the first half of Season 10, and I honestly can't wait to see how they manage to explain how things get the way they do.

My one hope is that the twist really does work. The Walking Dead is no stranger to having a twist come out of nowhere for the sake of shock value, such as Carl Grimes dying to a walker bite, or killing Henry off in Season 9 despite his story not really feeling over (and him taking the helm of a major protagonist not 10 episodes prior). I do hope that character motivations aren't muddied because of this, such as how Jesus all of a sudden didn't want to kill people back during the Savior War in Season 8 despite his call to action--asking Rick to kill the Saviors back in Season 6--being what started the war in the first place. Daryl become a Commonwealth soldier seems like such a huge stretch, so I hope they're able to explain it while keeping his character consistent--or at least having a believable change to his character, something that is done a little better than Carol's sudden shift at the end of Season 6. Perhaps having Daryl go through an arc similar to Gabriel's in terms of quality will have everything make sense by the end of all this. So finger's crossed that the writers know what they're doing and give us all the story beats we need to understand how Daryl ends up anti-Maggie and pro-Commonwealth.

END SPOILERS

Overall, this episode felt like a decent return to form for the series, though it was not without its less-than-quality moments that have been plaguing the series for some time. If everyone involved in the show's production can pull out all the stops, though, I think the final 15 episodes can be some of the best stuff The Walking Dead has had to offer in a long time. Now that everything has been centralized around Alexandria and the Commonwealth, it seems as though there will be more nuanced conflict that won't involve meandering plot threads and problems of the week anymore. If they can do this right, then The Walking Dead may really have a finale worth waiting for.

***

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