Season 11, Episode 3
- The group scrambles for safety after the Reaper ambush.
Chaos reigns as the group flees into the woods under the ferocious Reaper onslaught. Most of the group sustains some form of injury, and Cole is killed as well. The chase goes into the following morning, with most of the group having been scattered by the ambush.
Maggie goes into a department store and is quickly pursued by a Reaper who lurks in the shadows and even shrugs off a fall down a staircase. She finds Alden under attack from another Reaper, but it's not until Negan intervenes that they manage to triumph over their assailant. The trio later find Agatha and Duncan, the latter of whom perishes from his wounds taken the night before. Agatha is soon caught and killed by walkers to Maggie's anguish.
Gabriel finds one of the Reapers, Nicholls, bleeding to death, and is disgusted when he asks him to pray with him as he dies. Gabriel snarls that God isn't here anymore before he executes his enemy.
At Alexandria, the search for more food continues. Magna, Carol, Rosita, and Kelly go looking for the group's horses. During their search, Rosita tells Carol she's been having dreams of Abraham trying to tell her something before getting shot in the head. The four women manage to find a trio of Alexandria's horses and reestablish their bonds, bringing them back to town. Though the community takes the success as a sign of hope, Carol is forced to kill one of the horses due to the community needing the meat.
Maggie and Negan take the injured Alden to a church where Alden insists he be left behind, knowing he cannot help them in his state. Maggie is reluctant and lashes out at Negan, but Negan gets her to realize she must make a decision. Maggie and Negan are forced to journey on together to a checkpoint on the way to Meridian, barricading Alden inside. Neither are pleased with the traveling arrangement.
- Brutal Honesty: Even after Maggie blames him for Hilltop’s destruction, Negan simply states she must still make a decision on Alden’s fate.
- Character Death: Cole is slaughtered in the opening attack from the Reapers. Duncan later dies of his injuries inflicted during the ambush, and Agatha ends up eaten by walkers.
- Continuity Nod:
- Aaron references when he and Daryl failed to save Buttons the horse back in Season 5’s “Remember”.
- Abraham is mentioned for the first time since Season 9’s “Warning Signs”.
- Judith, RJ, Hershel, and Gracie hang out together. They form a group that pays homage to Season 5’s “The Distance” in which Rick, Michonne, Glenn, and Aaron rode together in a car, as they are the children, adopted or otherwise, of those characters - and of which only Aaron is left on the show.
- Alden was left to raise Adam alone after the death of Earl in Season 10’s “Walk With Us”.
- Magna brings up how Carol caused her and Connie to be lost in the cave-in back in Season 10’s “Squeeze”.
- Negan kills a walker with a crowbar, and the shot lingers on the weapon dripping with blood, while showing Maggie’s uncomfortable reaction - a clear reminder of his actions in Season 7’s “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”.
- Curbstomp Battle: The opening has the Reapers slaughter most of the group and at least score a hit on the ones who manage to escape.
- Dwindling Party: The Wardens are picked off one-by-one throughout the episode.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: By the end of the episode, Alden begins asking Maggie to leave him behind.
- Mythology Gag: Rosita says she keeps dreaming of Abraham being shot in the head, which is how he was killed by Dwight in the comics (a death that befell Denise on the show in Season 6).
- Psychological Projection: Strongly implied to be what Maggie is doing when she tells Negan he is to blame for Hilltop’s destruction. Having already had it explained that Negan’s part in the attack was part of his assassination of Alpha, who is currently too dead to feel her wrath, she is venting her anger over the loss of her former community and home on the only living participant of the attack. What it really boils down to is that Maggie likely feels guilty over not having been there to help save or at least fight for Hilltop during the Whisperer War. Negan, for his part, seems to recognize what she’s doing as he is unfazed by her accusation and calmly changes the subject, likely recognizing she needs to vent.
- Seen It All: Hershel is not fazed by eating horse meat, having eaten it before and having been taught by his mother that on the road, you eat what you can.
- Shoot the Dog: Carol is forced to kill one of the horses to provide much-needed food for Alexandria.
- Super-Persistent Predator: The Reapers hunt Maggie well into the following morning despite her earlier claim they only attack at night.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Cole, Duncan, and Agatha have only been around for a few episodes but are killed nonetheless.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Elijah and Frost are not seen after the opening attack (the former gets a noose around his neck), but they are not listed in the In Memoriam segment on the following Talking Dead, leaving their fates currently unknown. Daryl and Dog are also not seen after the Cold Open.
- The Worf Effect: Duncan was previously portrayed as a powerhouse among the Wardens, only to quickly be mortally wounded by the Reapers to show how dangerous the latter are.
