The latest episode of The Walking Dead, “New Haunts,” jumps forward 30 days into the future, following our group as they try to adapt to completely new surroundings. Some take to it nicely, others struggle to settle in. It’s a huge learning curve for everyone involved, including the viewers.
“New Haunts” takes place entirely within the Commonwealth after our group migrated there while Alexandria is being repaired. Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) train for the Commonwealth military. Meanwhile, Carol (Melissa McBride) goes undercover to get Ezekiel (Khary Payton) urgent medical attention.
Before you proceed, be warned that this review contains SPOILERS.
Halloween in the Commonwealth!
We open 30 days after Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) turned up at a broken Alexandria and started rolling out invitations to join the Commonwealth. Now the migration is complete, and we see everyone together to celebrate Halloween. I had to laugh at one scene in particular where a resident scares people dressed up as a zombie. Perhaps this goes to show just how segregated the community is from the walkers that lurk outside the walls; they can literally make a joke out of it.
I enjoyed this introduction. It’s interesting to see how every character is getting on. Evidently, they all got through the grueling admissions process without any issues (that probably took up most of the 30 days the show skipped). As we know from Eugene’s group, getting into the Commonwealth can be a super stressful slog.
We even get a first glimpse at the Governor of the Commonwealth, Pamela Milton, who appears to be beloved by the entire community. Crowds form around her as she walks out to make a speech and announce lottery prizes. With that said, as the episode goes on, we quickly learn that she is not as popular as we’re initially led to believe.
Daryl and Rosita begin military training
For me, the most entertaining part of the episode came when Daryl and Rosita began their training to join the Commonwealth soldiers under the watchful eye of their leader Mercer (Michael James Shaw).
Mercer is fantastic; he’s stoic, powerful, and comes off as someone not to be messed with. As part of the training process, Mercer sorts the group into duos and challenges to clean out a house filled with zombies faster than their opposing team.
Of course, Daryl and Rosita are split into different teams and made to compete against each other. I found it really cool to see how their strategies differed. While Rosita relies on teamwork to take down the walkers, Daryl sticks to his tried-and-tested lone wolf tactics. Ultimately, Rosita and her partner beat him to the finish line. And as a result, Mercer is furious with Daryl.
I think the relationship between Daryl and Mercer is going to be very significant. They don’t see eye to eye and have hugely different ideologies on how to survive. I can’t wait to see how the show handles them.
Another nice little detail is our group’s living situation. Daryl is living with Judith and RJ. It’s really nice to see the father figure side of Daryl, which is something the show rarely dives into. At one point Daryl asks the kids if they’re willing to stay in the Commonwealth and Judith agrees, so long as Michonne (Danai Gurira) would know how to find her. Fans will love to hear Michonne get mentioned. She may have left the show in season 9, but her influence is as big as Rick’s.
Carol seeks help for Ezekiel
The other big plot is Carol’s solo quest to get Ezekiel treatment for his cancer. Until now there was no way for him to receive treatment, but the Commonwealth presents a great opportunity to get help.
The issue is that our group is new to the community. There’s already a huge list of patients who require a doctor, and unfortunately Ezekiel is at the bottom.
Carol understands that Lance holds a lot of power in the Commonwealth, so she uses him to try and twist the system to get Ezekiel treatment. How does she do this? Well, after realizing that Lance has a shortage of wine for the Commonwealth’s evening ball, she leaves the walls and fetches a crate.
It’s funny to see Lance’s reaction when Carol appears out of nowhere with some wine. On the one hand he’s angry at her blatant eavesdropping, but he’s also thankful for the help. He knows that she’s after something. When Carol politely asks him to bump up Ezekiel’s position on the waiting list, Lance acknowledges that her gesture is a good first step. Now the question is: how far is Carol willing to go to get Ezekiel treatment? Knowing Lance, he’ll get her to do some potentially dangerous things.
The Commonwealth ball
We conclude with the Commonwealth ball, which is when we finally start to see some of the bigger issues at play. In the evening, the most powerful members of the community gather together, including Pamela Milton. We see Yumiko, too, who is the only one in our group to instantly fit into this new society, as she worked as a lawyer pre-apocalypse. Mercer is also there. In fact, he’s able to take Princess inside with him as his honored guest, hinting at a potential romance. Finally, Daryl is there, but not as a guest; he’s on security duty.
A gathering like this has a completely unique feel to it. Sometimes it feels like I’m watching a different show. Pamela Milton is the center of attention. She’s constantly waited on and followed by bodyguards. She’s anything but approachable.
As Milton is making a speech to the crowd, one of the waiters, Tyler, decides to call her out for ruling over an inequitable social hierarchy. It turns out Tyler is the same person who Princess attacked during our group’s interrogation in season 10 episode, “Splinter.” He accuses her of ostracizing him and others for making simple mistakes in their jobs. He yells out cries of “Resist the Commonwealth” and “Visibility for workers” before escaping.
Daryl is there to chase him down, quickly pursued by Pamela Milton’s son Sebastian. It’s Daryl who eventually captures Tyler before handing him over to Sebastian, allowing him to take the credit. Perhaps Daryl doesn’t want to move up the ranks in the Commonwealth, at least not in its current state.
In the closing moments of the episode, Rosita comes across some anti-Commonwealth propaganda, so there may already be an uprising in motion.
Evidently, the Commonwealth is not all sunshine and rainbows. Who saw that coming? Now we are left wondering whether our group will fight for it or turn against it…or a bit of both.
Verdict
“New Haunts” feels like a much-needed total shift for The Walking Dead. We’ve never seen a community as advanced as the Commonwealth, which as a population of over 50,000 and all the luxuries of pre-apocalypse life, including shops, concerts and sporting events.
This episode captures the surreality of our group having to adapt to a radically different environment. The world-building is superb. On the surface, the Commonwealth offers a lot of benefits, but dig a little deeper and the cracks begin to show.
I do wonder how the Commonwealth deals with death. As we know, in The Walking Dead universe, everyone is infected. Therefore, once people die, they turn into walkers. Surely a community as big as this is one death away from a potentially huge zombie outbreak?
“New Haunts” sacrifices action in favor of world-building, which makes sense since we’re at the beginnings of a huge story arc. That said, a bit more action would’ve been nice. I suppose we had a glut of it in the previous episode.
Grade: B+
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