The Walking Dead – A New Deal

By: Kelly Kearney

Last week Negan warned Carol about Lance hunting Daryl and friends, and this week, she cuts a deal with Pamela Milton to save them and inadvertently saves the Milton family’s reputations. Carol figured out Pamela needs a patsy to blame for Sebastian’s crimes and who better than her eagerly scheming second in command, Lance. With the missing residents blamed on him, Pamela’s plummeting popularity with the locals could gain a much-needed boost. As of now, mutiny is on the menu for the Commonwealth’s powers that be, and throwing Lance to its angry citizens seems like a win for everyone. Daryl, who is ready to slice Hornsby’s throat and call it a day, isn’t pleased with his bestie, but he has bigger problems on his hands; mainly, a stubborn Judith who goes missing after she learns they’re leaving the Commonwealth to return to Alexandria. “A New Deal” is an hour full of planning, plotting, and parenting fails, that ends in the demise of one the more loathsome characters our favorites have encountered and that shocking twist is sure to make fans smile.

CAROL THE PRAGMATIST AND DARYL THE HOT-HEAD

We begin with another flashback and voice over from Judith (Cailey Fleming), highlighting the changes in Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) since the world fell. A motorcycle punk who was untrusting towards anyone who wasn’t his brother, Merle. Over time, the redneck archer’s heart and mind opened thanks to his chosen brother, Rick, who gave him the respect he never got before the world fell. As the screen flashes through clips of the characters we’ve loved and lost, Judith mentions how difficult trust can be in a world where people die at any time. But is death the end or does immortality exist in the memories of loved ones and the lessons they’ve taught others along the way? In Judith and R.J. There is a piece of Rick Grimes and there’s also a piece of Sophia in Daryl and Carol. In this truth is where we find Daryl now, down in the sewers where we last saw him holding a knife to Lance Hornsby’s (Josh Hamilton) throat. Did Rick’s lessons on mercy in the face of vengeance sink in, or has Daryl forgotten Rick’s dreams of a new and better world? It would seem as though he has, if only for a moment, because he ignores an incoming Mercer’s (Michael James Shaw) orders to put the knife down and tells the big guy he’ll have to kill him first. Pamela (Laila Robins) also tries to talk sense into Daryl but he has no intention of letting the man who threatened their kids go. He presses the blade tighter to Lance’s skin until Carol (Melissa McBride) shows up and talks him down,and for her effort he barks out a “what did you do?” accusation which stings. She did what she always does; protects the people she loves–even if one of them is tossing an attitude her way. Finally, Daryl listens and drops the knife…right through Lance’s hand and then rips it out and drops the bloody thing at the governor’s feet and says very matter of factly “he’ll live.” Of course he’ll live because villains like Lance are like cockroaches– hard to kill and crawling out of every corner of this post-apocalyptic world.

Topside and safe from Hornsby’s crosshairs,  Daryl and the group listen as Carol explains the deal she made to save their lives. With the Miltons losing support–and ultimately their power over their people, Carol offered Pamela an easy PR fix by blaming Lance for all the crimes her son Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson) committed. If they agree to look the other way while Pamela sacrifices Lance to the Commonwealth’s angry masses, then the Governor gets her reputation back and they all get the food and supplies they need to fix Alexandria. Sure, it does nothing to help the oppressed people living a lie inside The Commonwealth, but this is a clean slate deal where they get to decide where they want to live–back home in Alexandria or in the cushy ice-cream filled dreams of The Commonwealth. Daryl, who is still having some sort of silent hissy fit that’s been brewing since their cabin fight in Season 10 (can we please wrap this up soon?) is glaring at Carol like he can’t get over the fact she made this decision for them. She makes it clear that the choice of where they live is still thiers to make. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Annie appreciate that since they foresee problems with their group the minute they learn they made a deal with the people who killed their friends and loved ones. Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) choice comes a bit easier– she has Herschel to think about and votes to keep everyone together; Team Family can’t be beaten. Daryl mumbles  “fine” and sulks off as Carol watches his entire reaction with pain and confusion in her eyes. Why can’t these two find their mojo again? They’ve been operating on the same wavelength for over a decade and it’s a real shame they can’t seem to find their way back to that shared frequency. The constant tension between them feels like it’s about to boil over into some sort of climax that we can only hope happens before Daryl dons a beret and heads to Paris, because whether or not you’re a shipper or just a general audience fan, these two OGs have long been the heart of this show. Work it out guys, the clock is ticking!

NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR FINDING YOUR HAPPINESS

Speaking of ticking clocks, if a handcuffed Lance doesn’t stop complaining about the ant hill Mercer dumped him on, the orange armored enforcer is going to cut the whiner’s time on earth very short. It also probably doesn’t help that Lance can’t stop reminding Mercer that he has no real power to do anything to him now that Pamela needs him alive to make Sebastian look good. His bragging catches the Governor’s attention and the two have a very heated and sexually charged moment where she belittles the bound man who seems to get off on his boss’ seething disappointment. She even laughs in his face when he threatens her with attacks from the people he’s built alliances with. She makes sure he understands how little his relationships matter now that he’s heading to trial and subsequent exile. As much as these two loathe each other they sure do love grappling over power–not to mention Lance getting an extra helping of those mommy mentor-issues he craves. Pamela never misses an opportunity to hold his kinks over his head.

From the steps of City Hall later on that day, Pamela announces the capture of Lance Hornsby who she claims was the actual person behind the town’s missing loved ones. She makes it a point to thank their new friends from Alexandria for helping to drag this criminal to justice and ends her speech by promising the community that Lance will go to trial and pay for what he’s done. In the meantime, a Founder’s Day celebration is just what the town needs to remind them of what makes The Commonwealth great, and as you can imagine, Pamela thinks that greatness is entirety thanks to the Miltons. Outside of a few skeptics in the crowd almost everyone applauds her speech and the news about Lance’s capture. We see Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and Max (Margot Bingham) in the crowd of spectators wondering what they could still do to stop Pamela and these new lies she’s pedaling as truth and justice. Eugene wonders if maybe it’s time to cut their losses and build a life together in Alexandria. “Maybe someday,” Max says, but for now she has unfinished business with Sebastian. Speaking of Sebastian, he isn’t interested in replacing his mother as the leader of the Commonwealth and no matter how many times she ridicules his choices and guilts him with family legacies, he’s just not that into it, which  makes working on his Founder’s Day speech all the more tedious.

With the festivities about to kick off, some of our favorites are packing up to leave before the others follow. Aaron (Ross Marquand), Jerry (Cooper Andrews), and Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari) plan to spread the news about the deal Carol struck–with first stopping by Oceanside and then making their way back to Alexandria. Lydia (Cassady McClincy), who has confusing feelings for Elijah is going too and says her goodbyes to Carol with an apology for possibly finding romance with a new boy. She doesn’t want Carol to think she’s forgotten Henry but Carol hugs her and says “take happiness where you can get it and never apologize for it.” Great advice and from the way ses smiling at Daryl hugging Lydia, she might consider taking it for herself. Daryl thanks Lydia for saving Carol on that cliff but now they’re all family, and that’s what families do. As the wagons pull away,  Daryl polishes Rick’s gun and hands it to Judith, but Little Asskicker doesn’t want it. She says taking that gun back would be a sign that everything will go back to the way they were; “things should be better.” Judith sees leaving as abandoning their new friends at The Commonwealth to fight back against the terrible Milton leadership. SHe wants to stay and thinks that’s what her parents would do and Daryl has had enough of her questioning his parenting choice. He snaps at her and tells her to stop because everything he has done is to keep her and her brother safe, and that’s what her parents would want.

FINDING A PURPOSE

After she says her goodbyes to Lydia, Carol is forced to sy them again when she runs into Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) setting up his petting zoo for the festival. She assumes her ex is coming back to Alexandria with the rest of them but he’s not, he sees his second chance at The Commonwealth. “Helping people with another Kingdom before it falls apart,” he admits because ever since the King’s Kingdom fell, Ezekiel has been searching for a purpose. He found it in the secret clinic he’s set up and knows helping people who need it is where his future lies.

Speaking of medical care, Annie (Medina Senghore) and Negan get their first sonogram of their baby and are told she is at a slight risk for complications so it’s a good thing the COmmonwealth doctors can monitor her. Too bad Annie has no intentions of staying, regardless of what her husband thinks is best. He might not want to lose another wife and child but their people are relying on them to return and lead the group.

After his fight with Judith, Daryl packs his bags and grabs the winged vest she made for him and the old Daryl Dixon is back and ready to roll. Too bad Judith is missing and R.J. (Antony Azor)–who acts as her accomplice, won’t snitch on her hiding spot. Fed up with this whole parenting a pre-teen thing, he goes to Carol to help him find her. The two talk about parenting and even Sophia. Carol has faith that he will make the right choice for them, parenting is always a learning experience and now he knows what it’s like to father a Grimes kid. He should be used to stubborn women by now but Judith will always test him.

PANIC IN THE TOWN SQUARE

Knowing she has to do something to stop the Miltons from hurting more people, Max ropes Eugene into bribing prisoner Hornsby to spill the tea about Sebastian and his mother. Lance declines because Pamela is the only reason he’s alive but he does warn him and  Max that If they go after them they won’t survive. They can “choose to play nice, or burn the whole place to the ground.”

After we briefly catch up with Father Gabe (Seth Gilliam) practicing his last sermon before heading back to Alexandria, we see Judith breaking into his rektory while hiding from her uncle. It’s a good thing she is out of sight for the moment too, because outside we see Roman (Michael Tourek) and Shira (Chelle Ramos) executing Founder’s Day workers who were hoping to win the raffle that could’ve gained them entry into the Commonwealth. Why would they shoot these people? We find out why after Daryl tracks Judith down at church and the two have a heart-to-heart. Both apologize for their earlier fight, with Judith admitting she ran away because she needed to be alone and cool off. As a kid who grew up in a chaotic household, Daryl gets that, and the two agree to put their argument behind them and concentrate on rebuilding the place her parents called home.

Inside City Hall a plot to take down the Miltons is hatched as Max watches Pamela ridicule her son’s speech for Founder’s Day. Witnessing the whole toxic exchange she realizes the best way to manipulate Sebastian is to sympathize with his pain while also fluffing his ego with a big helping of feminine charm. She pours him a drink and listens while he complains about his mother and the citizens he looks down upon. With a tape recorder tucked out of sight, Max manages to get Sebastian to admit to his crimes while also admitting the entire community is a fantasy they feed people while simultaneously brutalizing those same people to hold on to that Milton power and greed. He calls the entire system a rigged game; from the town’s lottery winners to the people he roped into sacrificing their lives for that mansion safe; everything is planned for Milton’s success. Max gets everything on tape and hands it over to Eugenewho is running the sound board for the opening ceremony. After a short “Battle for the Ages” that looks like your average pro-wrestling match–the perfect example of the Commonwealth’s facade, Pamela introduces her son who takes the stage in the town’s square for his speech where he ditches what his mother writes and tries to honestly connect with the crowd. He looks over to Max like she’s going to be proud of him and then asks the people to honor his grandfather’s words by opening their hearts and finding forgiveness for his misdeeds. He motions for the audio of his grandfather but instead Eugene plays the tape of his offensive meltdown. The crowd can’t believe it and as everyone starts to realize they’ve once again been lied to by their leaders, Sebastian figures out he was set up. The crowd starts to throw things and that’s when everything devolves into chaos. The workers that were executed reaminate and attack the angry townspeople and everyone starts running and trampling each other. Walkers rip apart whomever they can grab but Sebastian has one goal in mind and that’s destroying Max. He chases her through the panicked crowd and at the same time, her brother Mercer sees the dead inside the walls and tells Pamela she is on her own; it’s his job to protect the people–especially his sister from that awful son of her’s. The same heroics can be said for Daryl and Judith–who takes her father’s gun and uses it when Eugene stops Sebastian from feeding MAx to a walker and instead winds up with a zombie ripping out his neck! Sebastian screams for help but nobody in the crowd steps up to offer a hand until Judith shoots the walker while everyone else watches Sebastian bleed out.  He dies to the sound of his own voice on the loudspeaker ridiculing the very people he begged to help him. A fitting end to a character who didn’t deserve the privilege he held over people’s heads. Somewhere, comic book Rick Grimes is cheering.