The Walking Dead review, “Acheron: Part II”

Last week, season 11 of The Walking Dead got off to a fiery start with “Acheron: Part I.” Now it’s time for part II, and an answer to that huge cliffhanger!

“Acheron: Part II” has some wonderful action sequences and plenty of interesting confrontations, whether it’s in the labyrinth of tunnels or within the hostile interview rooms of the Commonwealth. This episode definitely has a “second part” feel to it. It carries on the same dark and grim tone, directly following on from the two storylines introduced in the premiere. Unfortunately, we don’t see any of what’s going on in Alexandria, but stick to our groups in the tunnels and in the Commonwealth. We’ll have to wait until next week’s episode, “Hunted,” to find out what’s going on back at home.

That’s not to say an awful lot doesn’t happen here, though. Episode 2 continues the gritty and claustrophobic feel of the premiere, with both groups trapped in confined spaces, albeit facing very different challenges.

Here’s your SPOILER warning! Now let’s get into it:

Negan, Maggie, and that cliffhanger!

In the final moments of the season premiere, our group was forced atop a wrecked train as zombies closed in on them. Everybody climbed onto its roof safely, except for Maggie (Lauren Cohan). After the episode built up tons of tension between them, Negan ultimately decided against helping Maggie reach safety and instead left her to be eaten by the horde of hungry walkers.

Thankfully, “Acheron: Part II” wastes no time in resolving this cliffhanger, although I found it pretty lackluster. Maggie somehow survives by crawling under the train and eventually makes her way aboard. Once again, she confronts Negan in front of everyone. But with Negan being who he is, he manages to talk himself out of being killed. “I have been a golden goddamn asset for every one of you,” he says, citing his importance in killing Alpha during the Whisperer war.

I don’t know which surprised me more: How Maggie was able to survive, or how Negan talked himself out of being killed. Either way, they’re both still standing.

Their troubles are far from over, though. Now our group is stuck in a small train together — with seemingly no way out — as countless walkers slowly but surely work their way in.

Meanwhile, Daryl finds himself on his own little adventure as he chases after Dog, who ran away amid the carnage. (I feel the need to mention that Dog has a super cute battle-ready uniform this season!) As Daryl makes his way through the tunnels, he sees some writing on the walls, which triggers a few emotional callbacks to earlier in the apocalypse. He also comes across Roy (C. Thomas Howell) — who is desperately injured — and tries to help him.

Even though our survivors are not trapped for that long, I could feel the cabin fever seeping in. Maggie and Negan have completely different outlooks on how to deal with the situation. Maggie can come across as a strong, self-righteous leader, while Negan likes to talk and constantly prove himself right. It’s a combustible mix.

Our first hurdle arrives when walkers break into the train. It’s Maggie who organizes everyone and tries to find a way out. But when things get hectic, Gage (Jackson Pace), who abandoned the team in the previous episode, finds trapped behind the door of a railcar while scrambling for safety. This is easily the most harrowing moment of the season so far. [MAJOR SPOILER INCOMING] Maggie refuses to assist Gage and instead leaves him to be eaten alive by walkers. This shows a significant change in Maggie’s personality. She’s a ruthless leader now. The Maggie of previous years would never have refused to help Gage. I think Gage’s death will spark some debate within the fandom. Could he have been saved?

After Gage is killed, Maggie tells a rather strange anecdote about how his death wasn’t as bad as what she’s previously seen. She talks about some of the harrowing experiences she had to endure while working with Georgie. While I thought her tale was entertaining, it felt unnecessary.

As the zombie siege reaches full throttle, we see Daryl enter the train and take down tons of undead. We get a glorious side-on shot of him taking down walkers.

I think one of the most interesting elements of this battle comes when Maggie actually offers Negan a gun to fend off walkers. Seriously. Yes, their situation is dire, but she willingly gives him a weapon merely minutes after he left her for dead. I thought her sparing his life was strange enough, so handing him a weapon seems like a massive contradiction. That said, in context, the walkers were a much bigger threat than anything else at that moment.

This story feels really contained. There are not many new faces showing up, and it’s nice to see interactions with characters who have been on the back burner for a while. I particularly liked Alden’s (Callan McAuliffe) role. His raw emotion at seeing Gage killed, coupled with Maggie’s stoic reaction, was difficult to watch.

MORE questions in the Commonwealth

If the season 10 episode “Splinter” didn’t pose enough strange questions about the Commonwealth military for you, perhaps the season 11 premiere did. But if somehow those questions still didn’t satisfy you, this episode has you more than covered. That’s right, it’s time for round three of seeing our group — Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Princess (Paola Lazaro), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), and Ezekiel (Khary Payton) — answer peculiar, nonsensical questions!

At least this episode looks to be the last of the “Processing” stage at the Commonwealth, because honestly it’s become rather tedious at this point. I’m aware that it’s meant to be grueling — at one point Yumiko goes on a rant to the interviewers. She believes that the strange questions are part of a psychological experiment. In fact, she shocks them with her knowledge of what they’re up to.

One thing that really caught my attention was how the writers are remixing Michonne’s comic book storyline and giving Yumiko some of her important plot moments. For example, Yumiko found a family member on the “Wall of the Lost,” and revealed her pre-apocalypse occupation as a lawyer. I like Yumiko, but these moments don’t carry the same weight as they would had they happened with Michonne, mainly because we don’t know her as well. Regardless, I’m excited to see how she develops this season. Clearly the writers have big plans for her.

Each of our survivors makes it through “Processing” fairly smoothly, although Ezekiel and Mercer don’t see eye-to-eye. The real problem involves Eugene. As we all know, Eugene is extremely intelligent, but he lacks a certain charm, especially under pressure. He’s highly emotional, ridiculously stressed, and decides to spill the beans about who he is and how he learned about the community. Of course, this being Eugene, his explanation is very wordy and takes an excessive amount of time.

I enjoyed Mercer’s role in this episode. Sure, he’s a brooding, serious guy, but he’s a very entertaining brooding, serious guy. Michael James Shaw plays the part perfectly.

By the end of the episode, at long last, everyone is formally introduced as members of the Commonwealth. Thus concludes the long-winded “Processing” stage of their stay. However, before we leave them, we’re introduced to Stephanie, the lady who Eugene became obsessed with after speaking to her over the radio. The wide grin on Eugene’s face when he recognizes her is very cute.

Fear the Reapers!

Finally, we go back to our group as they escape the tunnels. While it looks like they’ve escaped safe and sound, their troubles are only just beginning. Maggie decides to travel to one of Georgie’s strategically scattered supply depots. However, on their journey, they encounter a harrowing sight: there’s a road with tons of dead bodies hanged everywhere. Negan says that the group should turn around, but he’s too late. Our group is ambushed by the Reapers; Roy is killed almost instantly.

Yes, we are left on yet another cliffhanger. I can’t wait to see how our group gets out of this one!

Verdict

“Acheron: Part II” is packed with action from beginning to end. It progresses at a breakneck pace and has some great interplay between characters, particularly Maggie’s reluctance to kill Negan after all he’s done. Now that our group has a sort of preliminary admission into the Commonwealth, we can expect a lot of new introductions and a big expansion of the world.

And then there are the Reapers. This group looks absolutely terrifying. Moreover, they weren’t in the comics, therefore they are a completely new entity. I’m very excited to see how they tie into the story.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with this episode. The final season is here to prove that there’s still a lot of life left in this franchise. It left me wanting more, and that’s about the best praise I can give.

Grade: B+

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