If you thought you knew the Commonwealth, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The Walking Dead continues to show us two very different sides to the Commonwealth: the fairy tale society and the pit people can fall into if they break the rules.
In “Rogue Element,” Eugene (Josh McDermitt) goes into detective mode to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Stephanie. Elsewhere, Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) enlists Carol (Melissa McBride) to assist him in settling a labor dispute at a drug farm. And Connie (Lauren Ridloff) tries to dig up the true story behind Tyler Davis (Cameron Roberts).
As always, here’s your SPOILER warning.
Detective Eugene Porter
This is a Eugene episode. It begins with him living his dream life with Stephanie. It’s clear that he’s totally fallen for her, and vice versa. This is probably the happiest we’ve seen him throughout the series. But of course, this being The Walking Dead, it’s all too good to be true.
Eugene returns home one day to find that Stephanie is nowhere to be found. Has she been taken away? Has she run away from the community altogether? While Eugene is left in the dark, the viewers briefly see Stephanie pack her bags and leave, but we don’t know why.
This prompts Eugene to play detective. Even the score had a unique noir twist to it, a neat little touch. Firstly, he calls in the guards, including Rosita (Christian Serratos), to investigate. But when they can’t find any clues, he takes matters into his own hands.
He goes about his investigation in the most Eugene way imaginable; he lays out every tiny detail and has a board against the wall where he lays out all the suspects. As always, McDermitt plays it to perfection, wringing plenty of laughs of Eugene’s situation.
After working solo for a while, he meets Princess, who offers her condolences over losing Stephanie. Eugene tells her about trying to find the person responsible, naming a plumber named Roman Calhoun (Michael Tourek) as the most likely culprit. He convinces Princess to help him break into Calhoun’s room to see if he can find any evidence. She does it, but only reluctantly, since she has a lot to lose.
At night, Princess and Eugene break into Calhoun’s room to search for any clues linking him to Stephanie’s disappearance. I really liked the dynamic between these two; I laughed out loud a few times.
They don’t find anything concrete besides a case of weapons under Calhoun’s bed. The entire mission turns out to be useless. As if things can’t get any worse, they later get caught and are sent to jail.
It’s Lance — the ever-present puppet master of the Commonwealth — who greets them in their cell. Interestingly, he lets them off with a warning but forces Eugene to sign a document guaranteeing that he acted from paranoia after Stephanie. Lance assures Eugene that Calhoun has no link to her disappearance. Incidentally, says having a case of weapons is a privilege given to trusted residents of the community.
As you might suspect, imprisoning Eugene doesn’t lessen his revolve. And so at night, he tries once more to follow Calhoun. This time, he enters Calhoun’s workspace and creeps around… until he gets caught. With Lance there to greet him, Eugene realizes that he’s been totally played. I think this is the biggest twist in the season so far.
Eugene realizes that the “Stephanie” he loved was a Commonwealth agent sent to gather all the information possible about Alexandria. It worked out, of course. Lance now has all the intel he needs. We also learn that Stephanie’s real name is Shira.
I’ve got to say, Josh McDermitt’s acting was fantastic when Eugene confronts Lance. He’s raging at Lance, who simply stands there stoic waiting to get a word in. It’s very rare that Eugene gets outwitted, so it’s interesting to see what happens when he gets a taste of his own medicine.
All is not lost for Eugene, however, since he later meets a new lady who reveals herself to be the “real” Stephanie. I can’t wait to see how this pans out.
Carol goes on a trip with Lance
Elsewhere, Carol takes a ride outside the walls of the Commonwealth with Lance. He seems to have taken a liking to her after she helped him out in the previous episode. But he knows what Carol’s endgame is: to get him to push Ezekiel higher up the list for cancer treatment.
Lance is the type of guy who knows every little thing about what goes on within the Commonwealth. He’s like the ever-present Eye of Sauron watching over the city; pretty much nothing escapes him. He has one line that all but sums up his position: “Governor Milton runs the city. But I know how it runs.”
Having read Carol’s file, Lance thinks she’s the perfect person to bring along with him to sort out a dispute with a neighboring farm. Run by a man named Moto, the farm is used to grow poppies which are used to make opium for the hospital. When they arrive, Moto demands a raise for himself and his people; otherwise they’ll let the poppies rot. It’s clever of Lance to take Carol with him because he knows that she needs the hospital as much as she does, for Ezekiel’s sake.
During their time at the farm, Carol does a bit of investigating herself. She discovers that Moto is pocketing the group’s raise and beating them to remain quiet. When Lance finds out, he deals with it pretty well. Lance promises to still give the workers their raises and takes Moto into custody. There’s no bloodshed, which for a show like this is always a win.
Connie investigates a case
Now that they’re residents of the Commonwealth, we’re seeing all of our characters in their new roles. Connie and Kelly are journalists working for the Commonwealth Tribune. We see them trying to follow up on Trooper Tyler getting imprisoned in the previous episode.
Separating fact from fiction is proving difficult for them. Mercer (Michael James Shaw) goes out of his way to tell them to stop searching for answers that will “never see the light of day.”
Of all the stories in this episode, I found Kelly and Connie’s to be the least exciting, although I imagine it’ll have a big impact on the story. Tyler is being locked away because he’s clearly a key figure in the rebellion against the Commonwealth. And as much as Connie goes digging for information, she keeps hitting dead ends. How long will it be before they learn more about Tyler’s rebellion?
I was slightly disappointed with Kelly’s (Angel Theory) part. She gets plenty of screen time, but most of it in an incidental role as Connie’s translator. I would’ve liked to see her offer a bit more to the plot.
Verdict
“Rogue Element” doesn’t have all the bells and whistles we’ve come to expect from a typical Walking Dead episode. There’s a distinct lack of walkers, although the few we do see are especially gruesome.
I found it funny how Lance shows up everywhere. And in both storylines this episode, he comes out on top. No doubt it’s going to take a lot for our group to outwit him.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that you’re watching The Walking Dead given how advanced the Commonwealth is. I mean, the characters are actually worried about money. This isn’t a bad thing per se, it’s just completely different from anything we’ve seen in the show before. A welcome change, but one that we’ll have to get used to, because the Commonwealth is here to stay.
Grade: B-
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