S11.E18: A New Deal

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 10.09.2022

Quote

Carol makes a deal with Pamela to wipe the slate clean on behalf of her friends. Aaron, Jerry, Lydia and Elijah get on the road to Oceanside to fill them in on a plan as the Commonwealth celebrates Founders Day.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Damn, that otherwise dull episode really picked up at the end! 

[OoohMaggie]

Well at least they didn’t have HHH doing a guest appearance, it’s just so frustrating that a handful of Walkers can cause so much mayhem and carnage this far into the apocalypse. General Mercer should be hanging his head in shame, not only over the complete lack of Civil Defence preparedness, ie  the general population haven’t even been trained to just walk away calmly from a Walker and avoid getting eaten, yet also his soldiers seem completely incapable of dealing with the most minor of threats. Admittedly the episode needed livening up but that’s the best they could come up with?
Obviously the odious Son wasn’t the most popular individual, yet everybody just stood around whilst the limp wristed buffoon had his neck ripped open 🙄. 
I’m trying to chill a little on the last ever episodes but they’re not making things easy 😔

Edited October 9, 2022 by OoohMaggie

[theredhead77]

I'm here on my island of me loving the crap out of this. Shit is going down and I'm here for it. 

[Iguessnot]

That was kind of funny. Just a few walkers coming from one direction, and it was absolute bedlam. Like they all spent hours running in circles instead of running away. Not even a stampede or blockage. They just wouldn't leave the area.

[KeithJ]

I agree with everyone's posts.  There were what, six maybe seven walkers, and for them to do that much damage while the Commonwealth people just ran around like chickens with their heads cut off was pretty stupid.

[Lambie]

Agreed, the attack scene was ridiculous. "Stephanie" had the jump on running away from Douchebag, Jr because he was still in the wrestling ring and yet he caught up to her in all the melee and threw her to the walker. And his attack was in sloooooow motion. Not only did he have forever to push the walker off, roll out from under it, and run, he sat up and waiting for the walker to pretty much jump on his back to bite him. I'm going to just go with it and assume because they were newly turned and previously had healthy, strong bodies that these walkers were more "fit" but I've never seen a walker straddle someone and bite them. I know it's been a decade (?) that the Commonwealth folk have been out in the wild but they would have had to survive 2+ years before that so none of them thought to kick one in the head or stab them with an ice cream cone when they were clutching their pearls and running for cover? 

I liked the interactions with Darryl and Judith. She really is a good little actress, the best kid one we've had on the show for sure. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

"Stephanie" had the jump on running away from Douchebag, Jr because he was still in the wrestling ring

Um, yeah - about that. The Commonweath has WrestleMania now? 

The absurdity of the zombie stampede aside, this wasn't the worst episode, although that's a pretty low bar at this point. My main problem is that the story right now is about the Commonweath, and I don't really care about the Commonweath. We're getting all these scenes between Pamela and Hornsby, or between Hornsby and Mercer, or between Stephanie and Sebastian, and these are all new characters I don't care about. The show hasn't done anything to make me care about them either. 

I also think it's a little too precious to make Judith the narrator of the story because whenever I see or hear her, I'm instantly reminded that "Oh yeah, Michonne just up and left her and RJ." I've never been able to get past that. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too but the only way that ever makes a lick of sense is if a.) Michonne died or b.) she took her kids with her. So Judith is a constant reminder to me how bad the writing is and how much we're just supposed to hand-wave on this show.

[Boofish]

16 hours ago, theredhead77 said:

I'm here on my island of me loving the crap out of this. Shit is going down and I'm here for it. 

Send the boat back for me because same. 

It's not that farfetched that the people of the Commonwealth can't handle a few slow walkers. I believe they said that place was established from jump. I have seen slower less fresh walkers take out people from the original Alexandria and Hilltop.  Woodbury Army (not the citizens), The Saviors, CDB, Oceanside, The Whisperers - those were the communities with actual survival skills.  The people of the commonwealth are mad that they are living exactly how some of them was living before - if you were poor, you had less access to things unfortunately including healthcare. The apocalypse for dang on sure would not make the world an even playing field if anything, people with nothing to offer would probably be the first ones to go. It's not right but if faced with the world outside those walls or not being invited to a fancy party - me personally would just go back to my apartment and mind my own business - that is also a survival skill. I know its part of the story but I wish the people of Alexandria, Hilltop etc had just chosen to leave. Those people were just fine.

[rmontro]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Um, yeah - about that. The Commonweath has WrestleMania now? 

I thought it was kind of thought provoking.  That the wrestling business would survive the apocalypse, and why not?  It has a long history of being a form of entertainment that people would go see.  And that some people would still want to become pro wrestlers, and maybe let some people forget their troubles for a few minutes.  

Only nine replies so far?  This show seems to be going out with a whimper.  

[Boofish]

40 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I thought it was kind of thought provoking.  That the wrestling business would survive the apocalypse, and why not?  It has a long history of being a form of entertainment that people would go see.  And that some people would still want to become pro wrestlers, and maybe let some people forget their troubles for a few minutes.  

Only nine replies so far?  This show seems to be going out with a whimper.  

They played a different sport in the comics. On AMC+ Inside the Episode they explained they switched to wrestling because the scenes were filmed during COVID.

[iMonrey]

Quote

They played a different sport in the comics. On AMC+ Inside the Episode they explained they switched to wrestling because the scenes were filmed during COVID.

? Which sport would be less Covid-friendly?

[AEJ79]

Ok, I'm drawing a blank - who were the 2 gunmen who shot the Commonwealth workers? And why did they shoot them?

[Iguessnot]

4 hours ago, AEJ79 said:

Ok, I'm drawing a blank - who were the 2 gunmen who shot the Commonwealth workers? And why did they shoot them?

The woman shooter pretended to be Stephanie, Eugene's radio friend, when he arrived at Commonwealth. She bedded him then gave up the ruse. The dude seems to be a well-connected thug who's always handling things in the Commonwealth.

[Mr. Sparkle]

2 minutes ago, Iguessnot said:

The woman shooter pretended to be Stephanie, Eugene's radio friend, when he arrived at Commonwealth. She bedded him then gave up the ruse. The dude seems to be a well-connected thug who's always handling things in the Commonwealth.

Was that fake Stephanie? I didn't even realize. The dude looks like old HHH. 

As to why they shot them, I know they shot them on Hornsby's orders to mess up Founder's Day, but what was the ultimate goal? 

[Iguessnot]

Yep, that's the fake Stephanie. She's also the one who visited Carol's apartment looking for the crew.

[rmontro]

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

? Which sport would be less Covid-friendly?

It must be tennis (lol, Novak Djokovic joke).

[erikaelvis]

On 10/10/2022 at 2:27 PM, iMonrey said:

Um, yeah - about that. The Commonweath has WrestleMania now? 

The absurdity of the zombie stampede aside, this wasn't the worst episode, although that's a pretty low bar at this point. My main problem is that the story right now is about the Commonweath, and I don't really care about the Commonweath. We're getting all these scenes between Pamela and Hornsby, or between Hornsby and Mercer, or between Stephanie and Sebastian, and these are all new characters I don't care about. The show hasn't done anything to make me care about them either. 

I also think it's a little too precious to make Judith the narrator of the story because whenever I see or hear her, I'm instantly reminded that "Oh yeah, Michonne just up and left her and RJ." I've never been able to get past that. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too but the only way that ever makes a lick of sense is if a.) Michonne died or b.) she took her kids with her. So Judith is a constant reminder to me how bad the writing is and how much we're just supposed to hand-wave on this show.

I always have the same thought when I see these kids.  There is NO acceptable reason to leave your kids behind to go after a man.  If a mother did that now CPS would be called and her kids taken from her for abandonment, MUCH LESS during a freakin zombie apocalypse! MIchonne is supposed to be, as their mother, their protector.  There is nothing the writers can do to redeem her in my eyes.  She is literal trash for leaving these babies behind to go look for a man that may or may not be alive.  They should have killed her character off or had her kidnapped or something.  Sorry rant over.

[Boofish]

23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

? Which sport would be less Covid-friendly?

Spoiler

Football

[Boofish]

This is the part I don't understand about Not Stephanie.  When they were granted asylum inside the Commonwealth, they went and got Not Stephanie for Eugene. She pretended for weeks to be Stephanie yet no one said "Hey aren't you Margaret from the movie theatre" or anything. I mean is her real name Stephanie. Eugene admitted he was communicating with her via radio so why was Mercer not concerned with security etc. when he found out. The really botched that part of the story IMO.  

[AEJ79]

15 hours ago, WatcherUatl10 said:

"There are rotters inside the walls!" The PREMISE of the Walking Dead is that there are ALWAYS potential rotters inside any room. So long as people are not immortal, the random heart attack or accident, or fall can cause death, and that death results in a "rotter" or a "walker". That's why none of the 'return to normalcy" ever works for me, because there would never BE, unless a cure were found.

Exactly! So The Commonwealth has never had anyone die in the last 10 years? They all acted like they never saw a walker before. No old people passing away in their sleep, cancer, heart attack, etc?

[OoohMaggie]

16 hours ago, WatcherUatl10 said:

That's why none of the 'return to normalcy" ever works for me, because there would never BE, unless a cure were found.

Obviously the risk of a person dying will always be there, how to deal with that situation should, along with how to deal with a Walker encountered whilst going for a walk in the woods, should be taught to every individual within the community. 
The chaos just witnessed makes a mockery of just how these people have survived for so long, plus the complete lack of training from those in charge. 
Normally sensible people being caught and eaten by shuffling idiots has long been a major problem with the show, it seems that they’re finally trying to address that issue, let’s see what they can come up with.

20 hours ago, Superclam said:

Was that fake Stephanie? I didn't even realize. The dude looks like old HHH. 

That also passed me by completely, I was wondering who he reminded me of 🙄

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, AEJ79 said:

Exactly! So The Commonwealth has never had anyone die in the last 10 years? They all acted like they never saw a walker before. No old people passing away in their sleep, cancer, heart attack, etc?

Perhaps there’s some kind of Soylent Green situation going on behind-the-scenes which the show has not yet exposed….  😉

[heisenberg]

9 hours ago, AEJ79 said:

No old people passing away in their sleep, cancer, heart attack, etc?

[heisenberg]

I like the story so far even if the execution on screen is poorly made.  it's going somewhere.  

[SharonH58]

Is there any place this group has arrived that they haven't screwed up?   I think the prison is the only one and all those inmates died.   Commonwealth is a boring place and there is no logical reason they have survived as long as they have.   

[heisenberg]

On 10/13/2022 at 10:41 AM, SharonH58 said:

Is there any place this group has arrived that they haven't screwed up?

Nope. 

Same for Fear the Walking Dead.

You see them you die, oftenly by the most stupid ways.

😆

[gutbuster]

Re-watching before the new episode tonight. I just wanted to comment on how much I enjoy that Daryl added personal touches to his room, which includes a snakeskin on a slab of wood.