The Walking Dead – The Lucky Ones review S11 EP 12
There’s clearly some shadiness with Lance Hornsby. The big question is how shady is he and how much does his actions affect The Commonwealth’s status as a valuable ally.
At this point, the Commonwealth needs something significant to happen. Not because the arc has been boring or slow. That something specifically needs to be tangible enough to explain why an alliance is a bad idea.
The Commonwealth is a thriving metropolis compared to the smaller communities of Hilltop, Oceanside and the shambles of Alexandria. It feels like Maggie and those leery of a partnership have secret script access to warn them of a team-up. On the surface, Commonwealth isn’t coming up like some awful corporation ready to shutter these mom and pop communities.
So far, Commonwealth has been a model ally providing food, resources and weapons in good faith. And frankly, besides some capable fighters like Daryl and Rosita and a super secret agent in Carol, there’s not much the communities have to offer Commonwealth.
This is the biggest weakness of this arc and it was highlighted this week when Pamela Milton Comes to Alexandria. Hornsby is eager to show off the communities and their potential. He’s brought a full dog and pony show with Pamela, Mercer and the storm trooper tribute band and Daryl.
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Maggie is leery and Hornsby doesn’t even need them to kill a stranger named Negan. Granted, Maggie takes some reasonable offense to Pamela living a better life than the average Commonwealth citizen simply because she’s the leader, but Commonwealth isn’t enforcing its class system on the other communities.
Hornsby’s pitch to have the communities serve as port cities with different specialties and attractions doesn’t actually sound terrible. Aaron is on board. The always cautious and suspicious Daryl is, but Maggie can’t get past her concerns. Maybe the episode needed more of Maggie voicing legitimate concerns beyond a vague “there’s always a cost.” Right now, it’s hard to find the strings.
Eugene finally learned the truth about “Stephanie” thanks to Max, the woman he was really talking to over the radio. This revelation shocks Eugene and he wants little to do with Max initially, but eventually he comes around. I’m curious about the next step for Eugene and Max as the vital part of this subplot seems to be done now.
Ezekiel learns he got bumped to the front of the line and that Carol has no poker face when she tries to act surprised by the news. I was worried Ezekiel was going to take the super ridiculous moral high ground and asked to be put back in the queue without cutting the line.
Thankfully, Carol talked him out of that move and the former king is off to get the tumor removed. This was a good thing as there was no need to complicate that subplot at all.
While Maggie rejects the deal, Hornsby still promises he can get Alexandria and Oceanside to sign up. The fact that Diane and two redshirts decided to leave Alexandria to go to the Commonwealth suggests he might not be off. Pamela isn’t so sure about wasting the resources and questions Hornsby’s ambition. Wanting to run these outskirt communities doesn’t seem overly ambitious, but sure.
In the one potential warning sign moment, Hornsby goes into the woods for a little walker target practice. The dude is a killer shot. Aaron checks in on the deal with Pamela and Hornsby slips in to smiling used car salesman mode. He’s not exactly lying, but Hornsby does oversell Pamela’s level of investment in the other communities. We’ll see the actual fallout of all this later.
This was an eventful enough episode that wrapped two subplots while not providing enough concerns as to why the communities don’t all hop into bed with the Commonwealth. That’s gonna need to be a priority over the next few weeks otherwise Maggie and company are gonna come off as stubborn for no reason.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Photo Credit: AMC
Pick up The Walking Dead Vol: 31 – The Rotten Core trade paperback for the comic take on The Commonwealth on Amazon.
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