The Walking Dead review: Episode 1117, “Lockdown”

After over a decade at the pinnacle of television, the end of AMC’s beloved zombie series The Walking Dead is finally upon us. But before it closes out, we’ve got eight more action-packed episodes to dive into.

At this point in the season, the classic Walking Dead formula is in full effect. Our group has been allowed into the idyllic-looking Commonwealth, spent some time there, and has found that there are some shady things going on. Now there’s a full-on rebellion against the oppressive Miltons.

Here’s your SPOILER warning!

“Lockdown” begins with a lovely prologue from Judith where she talks about her survival as we watch old, memorable scenes from the show. This definitely pulls on the heartstrings. What a journey it’s been! I hope these monologues begin each of the final eight episodes.

Prologue aside, this episode picks up where the previous episode left off, which I found quite irritating. I mean, “Acts of God” left us on a pretty huge cliffhanger: Lance Hornsby turned up outside Oceanside and flipped a coin to decide the fate of the community. Do we get a resolution? No. Instead, we go back to seeing Lance battling Daryl, Negan, Maggie, and the others. I would’ve liked to have actually seen how that coin flip turned out. If they’re not going to show us, why the cliffhanger?

Anyway, with Lance closing in on them, Daryl and Negan decide to take matters into their own hands. In order to retrieve their people — including the children, whom Lance is after — from inside the Commonwealth, Negan suggests that he infiltrate the place. Negan is the only character who is totally unknown to the Commonwealth, so he can go pretty much unnoticed.

For me, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was by far the most interesting character in the episode. But I am a steadfast Negan fan, to take that as you will. I really loved the car chase scene as Negan and Daryl work together to escape the Commonwealth army. Turns out they make a pretty formidable duo.

Lance’s role in the show has really taken me by surprise, mainly because he has changed a lot from how he is in the comics. He’s an unhinged, power-hungry jerk. All of this trouble has stemmed from his ambitions to seize our group’s communities for himself. At this point, he’s showing no mercy, employing shoot-to-kill tactics. I have to give him credit for how he gets stuck in; he doesn’t sit back and make others fight on his behalf. I think making his character an overarching, intolerable villain has worked; I love to hate him.

Inside the Commonwealth 

In the Commonwealth, riots are afoot. Everyone wants Pamela Milton to deliver them her son, Sebastian, so that he can face punishment for his crimes. Of course, his crimes became known after the newspaper article “Pamela Milton is Lying to You” was published by Connie and Kelly.

Pamela is unbelievably formal. She won’t show her face, but instead remains in her office, reading out her speech through a microphone. She’s definitely scared. It’s not long before the rioters push harder and Pamela is escorted away. I must say, the score for the Commonwealth scenes is brilliant; I hope it doesn’t go unnoticed by fans.

Elsewhere inside the Commonwealth, Carol is going full mother mode looking after Judith, R.J., and Gracie. One neat little tidbit I noticed is that R.J. is reading an Invincible comic. This is a little nod to creator Robert Kirkman, who wrote both The Walking Dead and Invincible comics.

It’s very wholesome, but of course there’s always some sort of trouble. Lance’s henchmen eventually come knocking. Seeing them search the house while Carol and the kids hide is very tense. The age-old trick of hiding in a cupboard works, because it almost always does.

It’s at this point that Negan finds himself in the center of the Commonwealth with the riots going on all around him. I love the way he looks around, fascinated by everything. Eventually, he relays the plan to Carol, and now they start working together. Their first move is to get Jerry to take the kids to safety.

I’ve always thought Jerry was one of the more underutilized characters in the show, so it was nice to see him get some action here. He’s a breath of fresh air. He has a softness to him and a good sense of humor, although he can be a total badass as well.

I never thought we’d get any deep scenes between Carol and Negan, but I was wrong. At one point, he tells her about his wife and that she carries his child. Carol doesn’t offer any congratulations, but she acknowledges Negan’s situation. She knows what it’s like to have children, after all.

Carol and Negan ultimately locate Sebastian and offer to take him away to safety. I love Negan’s patronizing dialogue with him. As tough as Sebastian thinks he is, he’s got nothing on Negan. I found it funny how he heaps praise on Carol while she’s standing right next to him. This is the first time I remember Sebastian looking really weak and broken. It was never in doubt that he’d accept their help; there was really no other option. Funnily enough, Sebastian gets spotted almost instantly as he’s escorted out by Negan and Carol, so Negan ultimately stays behind to let Carol and Sebastian escape.

Putting himself on the line is a very un-Negan thing to do. I suppose this goes to show just how far his character has developed over the seasons.

Rosita and Mercer

To make matters worse, it turns out that there’s a huge zombie herd heading towards the Commonwealth, so Mercer orders Rosita to assist with clearing it up. As a result, the Commonwealth enters lockdown mode, which breaks up the riots…slightly. But at night, residents remain outside in violation of the curfew, so the Commonwealth soldiers tear gas them. There’s no empathy towards the people they are meant to protect.

The zombie herd is something of the background plot for the episode. But who doesn’t love seeing Rosita and Mercer kill hundreds of zombies? I think this episode needed some zombie-killing action.

Daryl and Maggie

Lance is still hunting down Daryl, Maggie, Gabriel, Aaron, and the others. I liked some of the dialogue between Maggie and Daryl while they were hiding; she tells him about how difficult it was for him to kill Leah. Daryl even mentions Glenn. This scene was the best emotional beat of the episode.

In order to evade Lance and his army, they hide underground. I mean, they originally plan to hide underground, until Daryl figures that they can trap the Commonwealth army under there. It appears to work, Daryl gets a knife to Lance’s throat…but Lance seems unphased. The episode ends on this cliffhanger.

Verdict

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the biggest issue with the series so far is how the entire franchise is being treated by AMC. By that, I’m talking about the various spinoff shows that have been announced. We know for a fact that Daryl, Carol, Maggie and Negan will come out alive…unless these spinoffs are elaborate lies, which I don’t think they are; filming is already underway on Maggie and Negan’s show, Dead City. We’re talking about the final episodes here, nothing should be off the table.

Regardless, I had a lot of fun with “Lockdown.” Lance, Negan, Jerry, and Judith were my favorites. I would’ve liked to have seen more of Aaron and Gabriel, who faded into the background.

Grade: C

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