The Walking Dead review, “Acheron: Part 1”

After a decade on our screens, it’s hard to believe that The Walking Dead is finally coming to an end, but here we are. The 24-episode eleventh and final season is officially here. But if you thought the show would phone in its final stretch, you would be very wrong. Instead, the series is embarking on one of the biggest storylines from the comic, while also introducing an entirely new group of terrifying villains.

It all kicks off in the season premiere, “Acheron,” which gets its name from the river in Greek Mythology, also known as the “river of woe,” “river of pain,” and “the river of lost souls.” That sounds pretty ominous, right? It’s also worth noting that this is the first of a two-parter episode, with the second titled “Acheron: Part II.”

Given this is the last-ever season premiere, you’d expect AMC to pull out all the stops to make it as epic as possible. Did it live up to expectations? Let’s dive into the good and the bad of The Walking Dead‘s final season premiere.

Here’s your customary caution that there are SPOILERS below!

The Walking Dead season 11: What is “Acheron” about?

This episode picks up right after the season 10 finale. We don’t have to worry about massive time jumps as we have in previous seasons. It follows two plots: Alexandria’s struggle for food, and our introduction to the Commonwealth.

In Alexandria, food and supplies are dwindling. Even after a supply run, it’s evident that much more is needed. Maggie (Lauren Cohan) proposes that they travel to her old base in the hope of salvaging some supplies.

We also follow Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Ezekiel (Khary Payton), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) and Princess (Paola Lazaro) as they learn more about the Commonwealth — including how hostile it is.

The beauty of silence

The opening minutes of this episode play out in absolute silence as our group from Alexandria carries out a mission to infiltrate a zombie-filled warehouse in search of food. The walkers appear to be asleep (or resting, or something like that), which I thought was a nice, different approach. I loved how suspenseful this scene was; it really helped the horror shine through. It was satisfying to see our group working together, each in their specific roles: Daryl (Norman Reedus) fires from the rooftop, Carol (Melissa McBride) organizes from the ground, and Rosita (Christian Serratos), Magna (Nadia Hilker), and Kelly (Angel Theory) gather the supplies.

Even when things inevitably go wrong and the zombies begin to attack — all because of a drop of blood — I still found it exciting. Our group is filled with seasoned survivors. They know each other well, and seeing them fight together was extremely entertaining, especially given the variation in each character’s choice of weapon, be it Carol’s gun, Daryl’s crossbow, or Kelly’s slingshot.

This was definitely one of my favorite openings in a while. I always like it when the writers try new, inventive ways to tell the story, and the silence worked superbly.

The tension rises

I particularly liked Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) role in the premiere. Despite only being back in the show for a few episodes, she’s already calling the shots. It’s her idea to travel to her old base to gather additional supplies to aid Alexandria — once a leader, always a leader. She figures that the Reapers left some supplies behind after leaving.

We don’t know much about these Reapers, although Maggie says one interesting — and ominous — thing about them: “They come at night, and by the time you see them you’re already dead.”

In order to avoid that, Maggie decides to lead the group to her old base through a series of dark tunnels. I assume this is where the title “Acheron” comes from, except we’re dealing with tunnels of woe rather than a river.

Whether her idea was good is an entirely different question; Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) certainly isn’t a supporter. And yet he joins her alongside Daryl, Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), Alden (Callan McAuliffe), Frost (Glenn Stanton), Duncan (Marcus Lewis) and a couple of others. Dog is there, too.

Ever since Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) killed Glenn in the season seven premiere, Maggie has sought revenge against Negan. She’s had myriad opportunities to take it throughout the show, but it isn’t until this episode that it feels like things are finally reaching a boiling point. It’s no longer just hostile glances at each other from the distance like it was in the additional season 10 episodes.

Negan is very much opposed to Maggie’s tactics, and he makes his opinion heard. Their constant bickering is actually really fun to watch. The tension almost feels tangible. And when walkers attack and Negan’s complaints are proven justified, true colors are revealed. MAJOR SPOILER: While under attack, everyone hides on top of a train. But when Maggie attempts to escape, Negan refuses to help, leaving her to get killed by the walkers.

While I loved the tension between Maggie and Negan, I couldn’t help but feel the supporting characters were pretty underused. There were a lot of new faces in this group and most of them seemed not much more than bystanders. Hopefully we’ll learn more about them as things unfold.

Questions in the Commonwealth

In the other storyline, we pick up exactly where the season 10 episode “Splinter” left off, with Eugene, Ezekiel, Yumiko, and Princess being held captive by the Commonwealth military.

In “Splinter,” we mainly followed Princess as we delved into her mind, and hear the peculiar questions the Commonwealth soldiers ask. In this episode, things don’t progress as quickly as I would’ve liked. Our survivors are still in “Processing,” waiting around to actually enter the community.

They continue to get asked those ridiculous questions that appear to have no importance whatsoever. This time, however, we get our first look at Mercer (Michael James Shaw), the de-facto leader of the Commonwealth military. Just like his popular comic book counterpart, Mercer wears his signature red armor. He’s pretty dour and gruff, even when questioned by Ezekiel. We haven’t seen much of him yet, bet Shaw seems perfectly cast.

For me, the most exciting part of this plot was the moment comic fans have all been waiting for: the reveal of the Wall of the Lost. For reference, in the comics, there is a huge wall of photographs of the lost family and friends of Commonwealth residents. They hang photos on there in the hope that they can one day reunite. On the page, Michonne finds her long-lost daughter Elodie. However, in the show (MAJOR SPOILER) it turns out to be Yumiko who finds someone she knows on the wall.

Verdict: Two massive talking points!

For the most part, I didn’t feel like “Acheron” moved the plot forward all that much. That said, it all comes down to two huge moments that will likely have lasting effects throughout the season:

• Maggie and Negan’s heated confrontation reaches a boiling point
• The Wall of the Lost

Those two moments were enough to get me excited for what’s to come. Overall, this episode falls somewhere in the middle of the pack in regard to the 10 other Walking Dead season premieres. It’s a solid start to what promises to be an epic final season.

Grade: B

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