The Walking Dead – Variant review S11 E19

The Walking Dead is zooming along, maybe even at too an accelerated a pace given the various storylines that need untangling and characters that need their final arc. Then there’s the introduction of new threats like a walker variant to handle.

On the positive side, this episode mostly focused on characters that aren’t getting one of the prime 12 spin-off series once the main show ends. Sure, Daryl got some screen time burn but that’s unavoidable at this point.

Pamela has Sebastian’s body bound in preparation for his inevitable turn into a walker. This seemed to take forever though as it gave Pamela plenty of time to ruminate on her relationship with jerkwad son.

That didn’t stop Pamela from coldly asserting her authority. She not at all subtly told Mercer that Max was likely just unwell, but could be redeemed, provided he find Eugene and make him the example of what happens to people who cross The Commonwealth.

Mercer wasn’t exactly bawling over Sebastian’s death, but if it came down to Eugene or his sister, Eugene loses every time. He rounds up all of Eugene’s associates, i.e., the Riverbend, Hilltop and Alexandria “immigrants” for questioning yet the only one we’re shown is his conversation with Rosita. She’s not real pleased with Mercer’s distant approach or his implication that Eugene will eventually show up with her.

He wasn’t wrong though. As soon as Rosita leaves, she heads to the church where Daryl is hiding Eugene. It sure seems like Mercer only needed one strategy — follow Rosita — to find Eugene, but whatever. This is a scenario where the show has too large a cast.

At the church it sure would make sense for Gabriel to be here as well. And with the death of the heir to the throne and the ensuing chaos, Connie seems like another character who would be prominent right now as she continues mounting her case against the Miltons. Instead, they’re both MIA this episode.

Despite his ongoing bouts of cowardice, which makes Eugene one of the more all-time most realistic characters on a series, he insists he won’t leave without Max. Oddly, Max, a longtime citizen of the Commonwealth, can’t find a hiding place as failsafe as the church and is just wandering around the alleys until she gets caught.

Mercer tries to get Max to sign off on a prepared statement, which absolves her of any blame. She’s not signing and is disgusted that Mercer would go against their father’s teachings of always speaking the truth, no matter the cost.

Of all the various characters introduced over the last three seasons, Mercer has to be the most fascinating. He’s got a moral code and clearly conflicted over how things are at the Commonwealth, but is satisfied with things being “good enough.”

This led to a terrific exchange with Princess, who brings up her childhood and her mother’s willingness to stick around with an abusive second husband and twisted stepson on the basis of things could be worse. Princess sees the commonality with the Commonwealth and suggests things could be better. She knows Mercer isn’t one of the bad dudes. This felt significant as Mercer is slowly getting it from all sides with people he respects reminding him that principles are better than comfort.

I don’t know, his room is pretty sweet.

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Pamela visits Hornsby and she reveals she quelched his little rebellion. Getting a strong Homelander/Madelyn vibe here. Was Hornsby servicing Pamela to get ahead? No matter. Pamela has Roman’s dead body brought in. He hasn’t turned yet though. And Hornsby will continue to be of service to the family by feeding Roman to Sebastian.

This played out somewhat weird as it seemed like Pamela gave a guard the all clear to kill Sebastian when he turned and again it was vague in the sense if Pamela wanted Hornsby to kill Sebastian or simply the turning Roman.

Meanwhile, Aaron, Jerry, Elijah and Lydia spot walkers en route to Alexandria.  Their supply wagon gets stuck and Jerry’s knee got dinged up so they rest at a nearby renaissance compound Jerry dubs “Kingdom 2.0” to hide out.

That’s a real simple and basic thing, but I’d much rather have a pared down cast than 342 spin-offs. I’m not ready to say goodbye to really good B+ characters like Aaron, Jerry, Ezekiel, Rosita, Princess, Gabriel and Yumiko.

Aaron watches Lydia turn down a kiss from Elijah leading to another great heartfelt scene as he recalls turning down Eric repeatedly. Now he wishes he could just take back one of those no’s to spend another day with him. Aaron is such an awesome character and the showrunners really need to find a place for him in one of these spinoffs.

While they should be safe in this gated community, a new strand of walker has emerged — ones capable of opening doors and climbing walls. There was a spectacular reveal with Aaron going for the mask of the “Whisperer” only to realize it’s just a more advanced walker.

The setup with this small horde closing in on them was solid with an intense “how do they get out of this?” feel. It was a little disappointing the scene picked up the next morning with the crew tidying up the battleground. Sure, we’ve seen walkers vs. Rick’s crew before, but this seemed like it had the makings of a memorable battle. Maybe next time? At least Lydia took Aaron’s advice and kissed Elijah.

While still fighting his base survival instincts, Eugene says his farewells to Daryl and Rosita — he’s going to turn himself in. Once he arrives at the police station, Eugene immediately confesses to being the sole person responsible for everything. This clearly affects Mercer, who is starting to question if he really is one of the good guys to allow this to happen.

Rosita is all set to head out when she gets attacked by two dudes. These aren’t Mercer’s guys, so whose orders are they following?

Variant keeps the momentum rolling even if some key characters continue to vanish at pivotal times. This is resulting in a little clunkiness, but we’re getting a breakneck pace that’s definitely keeping things from getting boring.

Rating: 8.5 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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