The Walking Dead Episode 11.2 Recap: Beware of the Reapers

Beware the Reapers. The Walking Dead season eleven premiere continues with “Acheron: Part 2”. Maggie (Lauren Cohan) grunts as she tries to hang onto the back of the subway car. She falls to the ground as walkers surround her. Maggie unloads her gun into walkers’ skulls before scrambling underneath the carriage. She kicks at the zombies as they seemingly overtake her.

Duncan (Marcus Lewis), Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), and the remaining group drop through a panel into the subway car. They realize the door ahead is jammed shut. Alden (Callan McAuliffe) notices that Maggie is missing. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) tells them she was right behind him. A dejected Father Gabriel instructs to press on.

Meanwhile, Daryl (Norman Reedus) follows Dog through a hole in the tunnel wall. He sees the fetid remains of an underground camp. A dead body is handcuffed to a suitcase full of money. On the wall a drawn mural depicts the fall of civilization. The writing says, “Your crown for your life.”

In the Commonwealth holding pen, Yumiko (Eleanor Matsura) tells Princess (Paola Lázaro) about her brother. A frazzled Eugene (Josh McDermitt) sits down in a panic. Ezekiel (Khary Payton) is missing. He wants “to come clean”, but is shut down by Yumiko. They need to stick with their story. She walks to a white-armored guard and demands to speak to someone in charge.

In the tunnel, Daryl finds a plastic bag with food and a note written on a dollar bill from two children to their missing father. He sees a polaroid of young “Tom & Jesse”. Daryl keeps the note. Then notices another mural of the tunnel system. Dog takes off and runs into a drainage pipe.

Yumiko sits before the auditors. She uses her skill as a lawyer to determine the woman was a forensic psychologist and the man an educator. She ascertains their “currency is the US dollar”, that they are highly organized, and the auditors are part of “a bureaucracy.” She was a lawyer. She “likes rules.” Yumiko believes her brother, “a thoracic surgeon”, is here. The auditors ask again for her qualifications. The red-suited Mercer (Michael James Shaw) brings her a cup of coffee.

Outside the interrogation room, Princess asks to use the bathroom. She’s ecstatic that they have toilet paper. In the tunnel pipe, Daryl crawls forward. In the subway, the group forces open the door and advances to the next car. They hear an “SOS” knocking on the floor. A bottom panel is opened and Maggie climbs up. She smashes Negan in the face with her gun. He “left her to die.” Negan disagrees. He just didn’t help. Duncan throws him against the wall. He’s still unrepentant. He killed Alpha. Everyone would be dead without him. They look to Maggie to decide his fate. Suddenly, they hear a cry for help at the other end of the car.

Gage (Jackson Pace), one of the men who ran away, is stuck behind the door. A horde of walkers advance toward him. Alden tries to open the door, but is pulled back by Duncan. Gage screams for Maggie, but she refuses to let him in. Gage stabs himself in the heart. Then is ripped apart by walkers as the others watch in horror.

Outside the interrogation room, a frightened Eugene asks the guard about Yumiko. He’s told “no one is in there.” In the subway car, they realize the door at the other end is also jammed. They all sit in silence as Gage reanimates as a walker through the door glass. Alden defends Gage’s actions after he’s branded “a coward” by Father Gabriel.

Maggie lights a red flare. She and Hershel were starving. They found an old man on the road with a shopping cart. She knew it was a trap, but they needed food. She followed him back to his house, then killed him when he tried “to chloroform her”. Maggie locked Hershel in a room. She then killed “three deformed men.” In the attic, she found a walker woman that had her arms and legs cut off. Her “vocal cords ripped out” and was pregnant. What was inside of her wanted to come out. There were other women like this. Maggie killed them all because she needed food. She approaches Alden with a stoic face. She feels nothing telling that story. Maggie explains the civilization they had at Alexandria and the Hilltop is “rare.”

In the tunnel pipe, walkers block the gate. Daryl kills a zombie at his feet with an arrow. Then kicks the gate open. He takes a mace and smashes the other undead. Now on the subway tracks, he follows Dog’s barking. A bloodied Roy (C. Thomas Howell) stumbles towards him. Daryl takes out his knives and kills the walkers chasing Roy. He tries to bandage Roy, who admits running away and losing “the ammo bag.” He refuses help, then gives Daryl his gun and a couple of grenades.

In the subway car, Duncan realizes the door is blocked on the other side by a chair. The door behind them gives way. Walkers come pouring through. Gabriel and the others start shooting. In the tunnel, Daryl hears the gunfire and runs toward the noise. In the car, the group begins to run out of ammo. They use knives and arrows. At the other door, walkers are also coming. Maggie gives Negan her gun. They are trapped on both sides.

Daryl enters the train. He puts down his crossbow. Takes the pistol and walks through like a bad-ass shooting the walkers. Negan sees Daryl coming. He pulls the chair jamming the door and frees the others. Daryl then takes a grenade, shoves it in a walker’s mouth, then kicks it back into the car before closing the door. The walkers are blown to bloody bits.

That night at the Commonwealth pen, a terrified Eugene is dragged before the auditors. This time Mercer is asking the questions. He tells Eugene he’ll know if he’s lying. Eugene had whittled a piece of wood into a shank, then hid it in his sleeve. He dabs his forehead with Kleenex. Then launches into a shaky, sweating lie about talking to Stephanie over the radio. He pretended to be from a settlement. Eugene admits to being a virgin. He hoped Stephanie would be the girl for him.

That morning a hooded Eugen is taken to another train car. He’s stunned to see Yumiko, Princess, and Ezekiel; who was taken for medical care. No one was mistreated. Crenshaw walks in and is handed a paper. “Pursuant to section 114A of the New Articles of Perpetual Union”, they are allowed entrance into the “united townships” of “the Commonwealth.” Crenshaw turns to Ezekiel, “I went to West Point, a**hole.” A woman in glasses then enters asking for Eugene. She introduces herself as Stephanie (Margot Bingham).

The group escapes the tunnels and finally sees the night sky. Negan gives Maggie back her gun. Daryl keeps the note he found. Maggie orders a detour to “Arbor Hills”. A hidden supply depot has food and ammo. As they walk in the dark to the neighborhood. They see bodies hanging from trees that line the road. An arrow hits Roy in the chest. Another in the group is hit in the leg. They scramble into the woods. The savage Reapers have found them. The Walking Dead returns every Sunday night on AMC. The following week’s episode is available immediately after on AMC+.

Topics: The Walking Dead, Streaming