Last week’s episode of The Walking Dead saw riots break out inside the Commonwealth as news spread like wildfire about Sebastian Milton (Teo-Rapp Olsson) thanks to Connie’s (Lauren Ridloff) secret reveal.
With Sebastian hiding out, it didn’t take long for Carol (Melissa McBride) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to track him down, and now he will be used as a negotiation tool to make sure those on the outside are protected from Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton).
On the outside, Daryl’s (Norman Reedus) group was trying to stay ahead of Hornsby’s group — which isn’t very hard since they all trained at the Storm Tropper academy. But before long, Hornsby is taken hostage.
So, let’s now take a look at what happened in Episode 18.
With the episode opening with a flashback montage of Daryl Dixon, viewers immediately assume this episode is going to be Daryl-centric.
And they’re not wrong. However, there is plenty else going on as well.
Pamela Milton arrives to rescue Hornsby
Episode 18 of The Walking Dead opens with Mercer (Michael James Shaw) asking the Commonwealth army to step down because Daryl still has Hornsby in a chokehold. Pamela Milton (Laila Robins) is there as well as Carol and Negan.
Mercer has to talk Daryl down from slitting Hornser’s throat, but he still secures his hand to the table with a knife because that’s how Daryl rolls. And, seriously, it’s Hornsby.
Even though Daryl has stabbed Hornsby, Pamela still agrees that everyone is free to go — no retaliation from Hornsby — and the group discusses their options, most notably, the fact that Pamela is only letting them go because she is going to let Hornsby take the fall for her son’s behavior and pretend like she’s not raising a little serial killer.
Honestly, though, unless they kill Hornsby, is he really going to let this slide?
Hornsby is still playing the ugly game
Like any villain from The Walking Dead, Hornsby just won’t admit defeat.
He also thinks the Commonwealth army is Team Hornsby and not Team Mercer.
It’s only when Pamela spells it all out that he realizes his return to the Commonwealth and his life of luxury might be more of an uphill battle than he first anticipated.
Pamela then puts on a public relations show for everyone in the Commonwealth, and Hornsby is put in jail to await his trial.
I’ll show you mine…
Eugene (Josh McDermitt) tries to convince Max (Margot Bingham) to come and see where he lives, suggesting she join him on the outside.
Stephanie refuses, and, at first, it seems like she might just be used to the creature comforts inside the walls, but then her gaze falls on Sebastian, and it looks like she wants to keep an eye on the little s**t.
They also try to dig up some dirt about Pamela and Sebastian from Hornsby, but he’s too smart for that.
Max isn’t perturbed, though. She devises a plan to secretly record Sebastian being a d****e, and it works right away. No surprise there.
He even drops a whammy that Pamela hand-picks the lottery winners who get to go from have-nots to haves.
Here’s who wants to stay at the Commonwealth
While everyone is packing up and getting the hell out of Dodge, Judith (Cailey Fleming) is trying to convince Daryl that they should stay. She figures everyone is still broken here and that her dad’s mission was always to try and help people.
Daryl argues that the situation is different with the Commonwealth, but she won’t hear it. Hell, she won’t even take her dad’s gun when Daryl offers it to her.
In the end, Daryl tells her to stop talking, but I can see it already in his eyes, Judith is going to get her own way.
However, by the end of the episode, it appears that Daryl has won — this round, at least.
Meanwhile, Carol has come to the realization that Ezekiel (Khary Payton) is not leaving the Commonwealth. And it’s not because he still needs meds after his cancer treatment.
Also, an issue has just been discovered regarding Annie’s (Medina Senghore) pregnancy, and it looks like she and Negan are set to stay as well, even if Annie insists they go.
None of this bodes well for Annie, considering there is a Negan and Maggie spinoff in development.
It’s Founders’ day
What’s not to love about Founders’ Day when Pamela is trying to stop everyone from looking in her own window?
There are animals, there are wrestlers. It’s all fun and games.
Even Sebastian is going to give a speech. He doesn’t want to, but his mom insists.
Except, we all know Sebastian is never going to be the leader Pamela is training him to be. Hell, even she knows it, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to push s**t uphill.
Now, back to the fun activities.
Haha, just kidding.
Shira (Chelle Ramos) and Roman Calhoun (Michael Tourek) have just killed a bunch of cleaners, so my guess is that Founders’ Day is going to spiral downhill into a walker-feeding fest.
But before we get to that, let’s see some wrestlers putting on a show and a speech from Sebastian that no one really wants to hear.
Except he goes off-script and actually manages to bluff a heartfelt speech before the playback of their forefather, Sebastian’s grandfather, plays over the loudspeaker.
And we all know what’s on that tape.
Sebastian is immediately out for blood.
So, we’re back to rioting in Episode 18 of The Walking Dead.
And that’s when the walkers turn up.
Daryl and Judith help take some out but not before Sebastian throws one at Max.
Luckily, Eugene is all over that and returns the walker to Sebastian, where he quickly becomes zombie fodder — while the crowd looks on to make sure he is well and truly dead now.
Finally, we head to Oceanside — just kidding
The Season 11B finale of The Walking Dead saw Hornsby flip a coin over the fate of Oceanside.
Then, in the Season 11C premiere, nothing was ever said about this community. Now, a team is being sent there to let everyone know they are free.
Aaron (Ross Marquand) and Jerry (Cooper Andrews) are heading this small group, and all we see is them riding off to check on the small community.
Of course, all the fun was had inside the Commonwealth this week, so now we will still have to wait it out before we find out the fate of Oceanside.
The Walking Dead airs every Sunday night at 9/8c on AMC.