The Walking Dead review: Episode 1121, “Outpost 22”

“Outpost 22” has all the qualities of a classic Walking Dead episode: the teamwork, the unlikely partnerships, the suspense, the combat, and the tear-jerking moments. This is an episode worthy of the final season that sets up the climactic battle to come.

Beware, there are SPOILERS below!

Rather than balancing multiple subplots, this episode focuses on an ensemble of characters all focused on one mission. The whole episode kinda revolves around the Commonwealth train, which in a funny way makes it feel like a western.

In the previous episode, “What’s Been Lost,” we saw several members of the group – including Negan, Annie, Kelly, and Ezekiel – get captured and taken away from their homes. We learn that they have been sent to what is essentially a prison camp, where they are put to hard labor. This is the darker, grittier side of the Commonwealth. When they arrive at the camp, the leader tells them to drop their names (he doesn’t even say his own name) and that their only focus will be on work. He has no empathy and doesn’t hesitate in making harsh decisions, such as separating Negan from his pregnant wife.

I like how they’re getting characters together that have never shared much screen time until now. I particularly enjoyed seeing Negan and Ezekiel plot their escape from the prison camp together. Those two have never really interacted before, so it was nice to watch. Ezekiel definitely still has his hostility toward Negan, bringing back memories of the all-out-war.

Anyway, the episode opens with Maggie, Gabriel, and Rosita. They are all trapped together, but thanks to Maggie, they sneak out of the truck they’ve been confined in. While Gabriel and Rosita escape without issue, Maggie gets caught by a soldier and they fight, ultimately leading to a car crash. Maggie is always so much fun to watch in combat situations!

Once out and relatively unscathed, Maggie is determined to find her son, Hershel, and the rest of the children that the Commonwealth has taken away. Out on her own, she walks along the train tracks, which feels like a callback to classic Walking Dead scenes. She runs into a child zombie and we get some pretty harrowing flashbacks of her being split from Hershel — and she cannot do anything about it. The zombie child is obviously meant to be symbolic of Hershel; she won’t kill it, until she is forced to.

Having been split up from her, Rosita and Gabriel try to find Maggie and the rest of the group. I like the dynamic between those two. There’s a lot of history between them and it shows. At one point, she dislocates her shoulder and Gabriel pops it back into place.

Carol and Daryl

Elsewhere, out of the view of the Commonwealth military, Carol and Daryl hold back and watch the train to see where it’s going. In the distance, they spot Connie, and Daryl begins to panic about what they’re going to do with her. Rather haphazardly, he decides that he wants to go right in and save her, but Carol knocks some sense into him. Of course, from experiences like the cave in season ten, people fighting alone never tends to work out well.

Eventually, the scattered group starts to come together again. Daryl and Carol run into Maggie, who relays what’s happened regarding to the children to them. And then, to complete the lineup, Gabriel and Rosita also join them.

Their first point of call is to interrogate a Commonwealth soldier to learn where the train is headed. I was delighted with many of the character interactions in this episode. Everyone gets a chance to shine. I particularly enjoyed it when Daryl tortures the Commonwealth soldier for answers, to no avail. But then Gabriel steps in with a significantly more compassionate approach, and the soldier confesses. It’s a lovely, touching moment. And it goes to show that compassion can be a much more powerful tool than brute force; a quality that in many ways defines Gabriel’s character. With that said, however, he does contradict things he’s said earlier on in the series. For instance, when fleeing a Reaper attack, he literally says, “God isn’t here anymore,” before killing one of them.

The train battle

Now that some of the group is back together, they can hatch a team plan to attack the train and get Connie back. I really loved this battle. There’s so much going on: Maggie takes on the guy driving the train, while Daryl and Carol start shooting.

Eventually, they do save Connie, and it has to be Daryl. I really love seeing these two together. Their interactions never fail to make me smile. Whether we’ll see their relationship evolve in the last episodes, I don’t know. It’s a plot point that’s been discussed for way too long at this point.

Plus, Daryl has a really cool motorcycle chase with a Commonwealth soldier. Norman was totally in his element! I feel like they included this to appease Reedus and finally give him a totally badass sequence on his bike. I’m not complaining.

Now onto one of the much darker scenes in this episode. Once the battle is over, the train driver is still alive and the group attempt to get information out of him. Turns out, he’s just as scared of the Commonwealth as they are. He says that he will not reveal anything for fear the Commonwealth will hurt his family, so he takes a knife and kills himself. Brutal. This scene really took me by surprise.

There’s one big twist at the end. Turns out, Outpost 22 is actually Alexandria. That’s where the kids are being kept and where the imprisoned group are held. So for our group to get everyone back, they will need to break into their long-standing home. If this isn’t a great way to end the series, I don’t know what is. And I like that our original heroes, such as Carol, Daryl, and Maggie, will all be present in the battle to come.

This episode captured everything that’s great about The Walking Dead. I’m super excited for the next instalment.

Episode Grade: A

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