The Walking Dead – No Other Way

By: Kelly Kearney

After a long-awaited break, “The Walking Dead” is finally back with Part B of its three-part final season. Picking up where we left off…the fighting at Meridian leads to a shocking turn of events ending in a heartbreaking truth for Maggie. Meanwhile, back at Alexandria, the storm rages on-knocking down the town’s walls and leaving everyone, especially Judith and Gracie, vulnerable to the hungry dead wading in the flood waters. It’s a treacherous fight to save the town, defeat their enemies, and battle the forces of mother nature, so prepare yourselves, zombie fans, because “No Other Way” slams down the throttle and never lets up.

Meridian

We open in the heat of the battle between Maggie’s (Lauren Cohan) group and what’s left of the Reapers. Leah (Lynn Collins) is now in charge and orders her gang of trained killers to ignite their weapon of mass destruction and kill everything inside the walls of Meridian. As the rockets fly through the air we see bodies of both walkers and trapped Reapers explode like bags of meat. Maggie manages to stay out of the line of fire by shoving one of Leah’s men into the path of an oncoming rocket and the explosion, while epically gruesome, gives her a chance to slip inside Meridian’s hospital. Making her way to Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and an injured Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari), Maggie can sense the Reaper, Carver (Alex Meraz), tailing her. Hurrying with medical supplies to patch up her friend’s wounded leg, the three play hide and seek with Leah’s best fighter behind a fake wall. He won’t stop hunting them, which means their best chance is to wait out the battle until morning. By then Daryl will catch up and they can execute whoever is left from Leah’s tribe while they’re off guard.

Speaking of Daryl (Norman Reedus), he has made his way to the hospital too. And, after choking out a Reaper and leaving a trail of dead friends for Leah to find, he doesn’t get to Maggie before Carver finds her. After breaking Elijah’s leg in a brutal beat down, Carver turns on Negan and Maggie with a metal pipe. He knocks Negan down and then continuously pounds on Maggie; only pausing to grab a weapon to kill her. When Negan sees this he staggers into a side room and spots a large fire alarm bell. With a handful of dirt, he blinds Carver and uppercuts him with a “well, ding, DING!” The metal bell was unforgiving and Carter goes down hard, proving once again that Negan can look past his lethal feud with Maggie to do what’s right, but the question remains – can she? Carver is still alive and Elijah begs for revenge in the name of his sister Josephine. Maggie makes the silent choice to do it for him and Negan doesn’t look surprised; she’s not one for second chances. Just as Maggie is about to drive Elijah’s sharp blade into the unconscious enemy, Daryl swoops in screaming for her to stop. Carver is valuable to Leah and he could be their best way out of this mess. Elijah can’t walk and if Daryl can trade Carver for a truce where both sides leave without losing another life, then maybe they can revisit this quest for revenge later. Reluctantly, Maggie agrees so Daryl contacts Leah for the trade and she accepts.

Alexandria

When it rains it pours and it’s pouring more than water into the open gates of Alexandria. The dead are barreling in and things are tense at the Grimes’ house as Rosita (Christian Serratos) and Lydia (Cassady McClincy) fight back hordes of zombies on the staircase while Judith (Cailey Fleming) and Gracie (Annabelle Holloway) remain trapped in the basement between walkers and dangerously rising waters. Like any child of Michonne and Rick, Judith puts in a valiant effort to keep her friend safe until she drops her sword in the water and the two are forced to stand on a work bench kicking in heads. If hungry mouths aren’t threatening enough, the water from the streets is cascading in through the basement window and it’s only a matter of time before both girls drown. They two are trapped, so when Aaron (Ross Marquand) hears the sound of his daughter’s panic whistle he bails on the barn fire he’s fighting with Carol (Melissa McBride) and Jerry (Cooper Andrews) and flies into Daddy Rescue mode. In slow motion he comes crashing through the window bashing in zombie brains and taking out any threat to the girls. With a break in the walker attack he manages to get Judith and Gracie out to safety through the open window, but more walkers and water continue to pour in and the scene doesn’t look survivable. With his survival instinct fully kicked in, Aaron wrestles walkers under the water and punches and kicks his way through chest deep waves of the dead until he’s forced to climb up the ventilation system and shimmy his way towards another window. The walkers are grabbing below and his metal mace of an arm making this escape difficult, in a span of three minutes he almost dies a handful of times. Enter an unlikely hero who saves him from certain doom. Lydia, who noticed the girls were missing, volunteered to find them and instead finds Aaron dangling over a deadly scene. Without thinking she puts their past resentments aside and pulls Aaron to safety knowing he would do the same for her. After all, they’re both Alexandrians.

Gabriel-The Angel of Death

It’s priest vs. priest when Gabe (Seth Gillium) stumbles upon the Reaper’s version of himself, Fisher (Branton Box). The two men stand face to face ready to fight with neither of the holy man willing to make the first move. Gabriel questions Fisher on what kind of God counsels him to kill the innocent and protect these monsters, but the same could be said for Gabe and his group who attacked the Reapers. They’ve all sinned and it’s a theme that’s been running through Gabe’s story since long before Rick died. Fisher tries appealing to Gabe’s faith by offering a truce, claiming he can choose life – it’s what God wants for him. Instead, he chooses death and drives his blade into the Fisher’s gut and gets into position to save his friends.

When Daryl drags Carver out to the open courtyard at knife point he calls for Leah to make the trade, reiterating his idea of nobody else needing to die. Leah seems receptive just long enough to double crosses him and order her sniper, Jenson, to get ready take them out. A warning shot lands behind Daryl’s legs to show she’s serious and truce is off the table. Elijah is furious and drags his injured body towards the man who murdered his sister, but he doesn’t have the stamina to fight. Just as Carver is about to kick the distraught brother to death, a bullet hits Carver in the leg and he goes down screaming. It’s not Jenson in the sniper’s nest, but Gabe! Backed into a corner, Leah agrees to Maggie and Daryl’s offer to leave and never return, but Carver stays as he’s their insurance policy. Reluctantly, Leah says goodbye to her friend and than leads her remaining two Reapers out of Meridian. Before they can clear the gate Elijah whispers to Maggie “for Josephine” and as the music swells and the bodies hanging from manmade posts swing in the wind, Maggie grabs her gun and shoots Leah and the other Reapers in the back. Her word means nothing, at least when it comes to taking out this threat, and Daryl is livid. He yells, “What the hell was that?” as he runs after an injured and fleeing Leah. Later, he finds her hiding behind a makeshift camp. “It didn’t have to be this way,” he say, before ordering her to disappear.

Back at Meridian Maggie continues to prove Negan right as he watches her slaughter Carver with Elijah’s weapon and it’s almost as if he’s witnessing a role reversal from the moment they met. He knows he’s never safe from her vengeance, so when Daryl returns and all the food is packed for home, he follows Maggie on her final mission to rescue Alden (Callan McAuliffe). Unfortunately, what she finds is no longer her friend but a walker and another reminder of how many died so she could make her enemies pay. She breaks down in wailing cries for sweet Alden as she ends his suffering with a blade to the brain. After giving him a proper burial, she sits crying over his grave and that’s when Negan walks out of the woods swinging a metal bar. He knows Maggie won’t stop until he’s dead, so he’s not giving her the chance to finish what he admittedly started. Reaching for her gun assuming this is the old Negan ready to hit a homerun with her skull, the moment is tense. But just when you think he might swing, Negan walks away! He’s going out on his own and far away from whatever lethal plans she has for him.

Reunions

After the rain stops, the fires are out, and the dead have all been dealt with, Carol climbs up on Alexandria’s wall and waits, like she senses him – Daryl, her other missing half. And it isn’t long before she sees him, Dog, Gabe, Maggie and a wagon of food making their way to the front gates of Alexandria. There are reunions for everyone! Gabe find Rosita and Coco, Maggie embraces her son Hershel (Kien Michael Spiller) and Judith and R.J. (Antony Azor) run to hug Uncle Daryl, as does a relieved and concerned Carol who questions if they’re the are only survivors. He confirms her fears and as he starts to pass out apples, he sees Connie (Lauren Ridloff) for the first time since the cave-in. He’s thrilled she survived and the two share a quick hug and some friendly banter. As everyone starts unpacking the food and playing catch up, Jerry spots something in the distance approaching Alexandria’s walls. It looks like an army of Stormtroopers! He screams for everyone to come quick, but their old pal Eugene (Josh McDermitt) bursts out from the group of armed troops yelling he’s there to help. Inside the walls he explains how he found this new community and then gives the floor to Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton), the Commonwealth’s very own head of the welcoming committee. Lance explains he’s impressed with Alexandria but it’s obvious they could use some help and that’s where his community comes in. He offers them fuel, supplies and food, which he unloads from trucks, promising the Commonwealth will help them rebuild Alexandria to its former glory. He adds that if anyone wants to come to Commonwealth that they’re more than welcome and, considering his clean suit, army and trucks of food, many might take him up on that offer.

Fast forward six months and we see Maggie standing on the wall of what looks like a torched but thriving Meridian. She yells down to the Commonwealth troops forming outside her gates to say, “It doesn’t have to be this way.” One of the soldiers steps forward and removes his helmet and we see it’s Daryl! He looks up to his old friend with a, “Yeah, yeah, it does.”