Here we are, at the Season 11B finale of The Walking Dead. After this, only eight episodes remain.
Already, AMC has introduced us to the apparent utopia of the Commonwealth and, just as quickly, peeled back the layers to reveal a rotten onion called Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) at its core.
Last week, Lance was still in a spot of bother since someone stole his weapons. However, once he discovered the culprit was Leah (Lynn Collins), there was nothing else he wanted to do more than to hire her to take down Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan).
So, did that happen in the midseason finale? Let’s take a look at just how Lance’s day went in Episode 16.
Maggie knows things are going to get bad
It comes as no surprise that Maggie has a counterplan against Lance, who she has already worked out is intent on taking Hilltop one way or another.
This means that everyone still at Hilltop has to hide in one of the old Whisperer holes. Little Hershel (Kien Michael Spiller) is not at all impressed with this plan and even less so when Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is also in the hole with him.
However, after Maggie and Negan have a pre-spinoff bonding moment, everything is sorted, and the big guys — AKA Maggie and three others (one of who is wearing a red shirt, so no surprises there when he dies) — go back to blow up Hilltop while Leah’s group is inside.
Because, yes, Leah took that job Lance offered her last week in The Walking Dead. How could she not since it would mean taking out Maggie?
Leah is on a mission
While Lance is all p**sy that Leah took out some of his Commonwealth guards, she gives zero f**ks because she doesn’t care one little bit about Lance’s stupid job. Instead, her only mission is to take out Maggie in retaliation for the Reapers that she killed earlier in the season.
Added into this mess is a swarm of locusts for no other reason than to signify just how crappy everything is right now. Honestly, there is no reason for the blow-ins other for characters to point at them and go, “Ooh, it’s a sign.”
So, Leah tracks down Maggie, and a b***h fight ensues. Things get hairy for a moment, and it looks like Leah might kill Maggie, but since AMC has already announced a spinoff series for Maggie, viewers don’t have to sweat the details here.
Then, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) swings in and one-shot kills Leah, and that’s the end of that.
Daryl seems to have taken a leaf out of Father Gabriel’s (Seth Gilliam) book of “No S**ts Given” and doesn’t even take a moment to mourn the loss of his ex-girlfriend.
I mean, it doesn’t help that the Commonwealth guards are still hot on their tails or that Daryl has only just narrowly avoided being taken out by Lance’s men. But, still, a pause over her body would have been nice.
Lance has a bad day but also ends up ‘winning’
Even though Lance is being thwarted at every step, he still gets some wins in Episode 16 of The Walking Dead.
Namely, thanks to Maggie blowing up Hilltop, it’s now his. Yay for small victories, I suppose.
Lance lays the Commonwealth flag out as if he has just conquered England.
He also does the same at Alexandria, which also is devoid of people, thanks to Maggie. Still, that’s another win for Lance, yeah?
Finally, he takes over Oceanside. This time he really does have to take it over, and the episode ends with Lance flipping a coin, presumably deciding the fate of the members of the Oceanside community.
As to their fate? Well, the episode ends before we find out what happens here, and viewers will have to tune in when The Walking Dead returns to find out more.
Meanwhile, back at the Commonwealth
While all of this is going on, back at the Commonwealth, people are starting to cause trouble from the inside out.
Max (Margot Bingham) has sided fully with Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and his group and manages to track down some files belonging to Pamela Milton (Laila Robins).
Unfortunately, there isn’t really enough to blow the case wide open when it comes to the shady underside of the Commonwealth.
However, Connie (Lauren Ridloff) does manage to get enough to publish what appears to be a resistance newspaper emblazoned with the headline, “Pamela Milton Is Lying to You.”
Needless to say, Pamela is p**sed when she sees it, and here’s hoping her son, Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson), doesn’t remember seeing Max with a file in his mother’s office, or Max might be in even worse trouble.
However, fans will have to wait for the final eight episodes of The Walking Dead to premiere to find out more.
The remainder of Season 11 of The Walking Dead will air later in 2022.