Last week’s episode of The Walking Dead took a little side mission to concentrate on Connie (Lauren Ridloff) and Virgil’s (Kevin Carroll) surprise return. Unfortunately, viewers don’t get to find out more about Connie’s tearful reunion with her sister, Kelly (Angel Theory), and all the juicy Michonne (Danai Gurira) goss.
However, there is still plenty else to check in on in Episode 7.
We get to check in with the Commonwealth and see Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) nearly spill the beans to Leah (Lynn Collins). Along with that, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) have to get along, and Eugene punches the most annoying new dude in the face.
So, let’s break that all down.
It sucks to be Eugene in the Commonwealth
At the Commonwealth, Eugene is paying off his debt by clearing walkers. Alongside him are Stephanie (Chelle Ramos), Princess (Paola Lazaro), and Ezekiel (Khary Payton).
Now, in our world, paying off debt means a monetary exchange. However, in the world of The Walking Dead, that means killing walkers that are encroaching on potentially prime real estate.
It all goes according to schedule too, until Eugene and Stephanie take on another location. Here they find a guy making out with his girlfriend.
This seems like no big deal, but then walkers turn up, and that’s not exactly conducive to romance. Luckily, Eugene and Stephanie are there to save the day though. Right?
Um, no.
Instead, the guy is a major douche of the King Joffrey variety and starts in about how they killed his buzz.
Then, another walker turns up and Stephanie has to kill it, getting blood on the girlfriend in the process. Needless to say, this pisses off King Douche and Eugene responds by punching him.
Unfortunately, this guy turns out to be the son of the Commonwealth’s leader.
This means jail time for Eugene — unless, of course, he gives up the location of Alexandria.
He doesn’t do it, but I give him one night in the slammer before he breaks.
Ezekiel gets sick
Ezekiel is helping out as best he can with the walker situation, but he gets sick, real sick. Princess totally ignores him when he refuses help, though, and calls on the guards.
He then gets taken away, only to return some time later. This time he is feeling great and has lollipops for everyone because the treatment worked and now he’s all for taking on a new assignment.
Yumiko just can’t get ahead
While Eugene’s group mostly has to pay off their debt, Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) is not among them. Instead, she spends her time ragging on her brother, Tomi (Ian Anthony Dale), for not ‘fessing up to the Commonwealth that he is a doctor and trying to get a job.
In the middle of her conversation with Tomi, he gets hauled off by Commonwealth guards for… reasons.
As to be expected, Yumiko is furious and books an appointment with Commonwealth leader Pamela Milton (Laila Robins).
Everything is going according to schedule — but then Eugene goes and punches Pamela’s son, Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson), and that all goes down the crapper.
Daryl and Leah have some alone time
Daryl is still pretending to be Team Reaper, and he and Leah are sent out to patrol. This gives him some time to catch up with his ex and have a little heart-to-heart.
Leah is as tough as nails, though, and sees Pope (Ritchie Caster) as a father figure, so Daryl is really pushing sh*t uphill with this one.
They come across a random dude who drops his backstory immediately — and rightly so because Leah is pointing a gun at him.
It turns out his wife is badly injured and he just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He takes Leah and Daryl to his hideout, and, sure enough, his wife is injured — mortally so. Leah has been instructed to kill them all but, after seeing the woman, a chink in her armor is revealed, and she tells the father and son to make a run for it. Daryl then has to put down the woman after Leah can’t do it.
She agrees to tell Pope that Daryl killed them all. You know, for brownie points.
Maggie and Negan bond /jk
Maggie wants the Reapers all dead with such a passion that I will eat my hat if she isn’t hiding something. Negan just wants to go home.
Maggie won’t have any of that, though, and when he realizes this, Negan devises a plan.
A Whisperer-type plan to break into Meridian where the Reapers are now camped out.
But, first, he needs to teach Maggie how to wear a walker-skin mask and act like the undead in order to gather a giant herd.
In the process, they actually kind of bond.
No, just kidding.
I mean, they do for a moment, but then Negan is so bluntly honest about how if he could go back in time, he would kill everyone in order to save his group rather than just a select few, that it all goes wrong again between him and Maggie.
They stick it out, though, because Maggie seems to hate the Reapers even more than she hates Negan.
Gathering a decent-sized horde, Episode 7 ends on a rather heart-breaking moment.
Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari) has previously been looking for his sister. He actually finds her in the latest episode of The Walking Dead, but, unfortunately, she’s one of the walkers in their herd.
As to how this Whisperers knock-off plan goes remains to be seen and viewers will have to tune in on Sunday night in order to find out more.
Season 11 of The Walking Dead is currently airing every Sunday night at 9/8c on AMC.