[S11E2] Acheron: Part II

"Acheron: Part II" is the second episode of the eleventh season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead. The second of a two-part season premiere, the episode was written by showrunner Angela Kang and Jim Barnes, and directed by Kevin Dowling.[1] "Acheron: Part II" was released on the streaming platform AMC+ on August 22, 2021, before airing on AMC on August 29, 2021.[2] The first part aired on AMC one week earlier.[3]

[S11E2] Acheron: Part II

Ron Hogan of Den of Geek gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars, writing: "The second part of Jim Dowling's episode works well because it's so competently set up by the first half."[1] He also praised Dowling's direction, Josh McDermitt's performance, and the character development of Negan. Writing for Forbes, Erik Kain wrote that he "enjoyed the episode a lot", but again criticized the decision to split the episode into two parts. He continued by writing: "I think we viewers would appreciate just a tiny bit more quality control in the script department is all I'm saying."[9]

Yumiko is put back in the interrogation room, with the interrogators apparently being the ones in charge. Clark says she isn't sure why Yumiko is talking to them, since she had already been assessed, but the latter asserts that she was the one assessing them instead. She goes on to deduce that their community is large and organized, with a bureaucracy of which the interrogators are part. She also believes the interrogators had similar jobs before the apocalypse, guessing that Clark was a forensic psychologist and Evans an academic researcher. With their role being to assess threats to their community, Yumiko determines that the reason the interrogators asked about their past lives is because someone above them determined that was a good position from which to judge who they were in the present. She also deduces that their currency is the US dollar, as they hounded one of her companions over a $2 bill, with the reason for this being their need to strictly control the amount in circulation. Yumiko also believes the Commonwealth uses old currency as a symbol to remind people of the days before the fall. While she understands their need to determine whether she and her companions are an asset or a liability, she asserts that the Commonwealth needs to justify its existence, too. Taunting her interrogators, Yumiko hypothesizes that manual laborers are more valuable nowadays than someone who can write endless lists of questions. At the end of the day, they still need to rely on their gut instinct. She pegs the interrogators as people who follow rules, which she likes, as she was a lawyer once, and goes on to proclaim that they need her. Yumiko says that she has reason to believe her brother is alive in the Commonwealth and, thus, requests expedited processing for her and her group. With that, Mercer enters the room, and offers Yumiko a cup of coffee.

While Daryl is crawling through the pipe, the rest of the group finally manage to pry the door open and move forward to the next car. Suddenly, they hear banging beneath them, specifically signaling SOS in Morse code. When they open the trap door, Maggie climbs into the subway car, revealed to have survived. Furious, she pistol-whips Negan for his betrayal, and tells the others what happened. Negan readily admits his culpability. Alden accuses Negan of trying to kill Maggie, but the latter corrects him, explaining that he simply opted not to save her when she was in trouble. The other Wardens threaten Negan, but he remains unrepentant, noting that Maggie openly admitted to wanting him dead. With that in mind, he doesn't see why he should have risked his life for her. He goes on to point out he has been a great asset to the group. Alden reminds him that he burned Hilltop to the ground, but Negan retorts that he also killed Alpha and that, if he hadn't, every person they know would be dead. Agatha offers to kill Negan, assuring Maggie that they can get through the city without him. Before anything can happen, they hear someone yelling for help in the next train car. They find Gage trapped in the next car, unable to open the door. He explains that he and Roy got lost in the tunnels. They soon realize that that Gage neglected to close the door behind him when he entered the car, allowing walkers to pour in. Negan asks for help to pry the door open and let Gage in, but Maggie opposes this, as this would also allow walkers to get inside their car as well. In spite of this, Alden tries to help Negan open the door, but is prevented from doing so by Duncan. Gage pleads with Maggie to save him, apologizing for his mistake and promising to do better. Alden also tries pleading with Maggie, but she is adamant that they don't have the ammo to clear the walkers. Gabriel supports Maggie's decision, while she regretfully informs Gage that she can't open the door for him. Bitter, Gage names her a liar, before stabbing himself in the chest to spare himself the pain of being torn apart by walkers, which happens shortly thereafter.

Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohan) has shared another story about her and Hershel's time on the road alone in The Walking Dead season 11, episode 2, "Acheron: Part 2" - and it isn't good news for the current state of the world. Returning to the group after six years, it's obvious that Maggie has been through her fair share of struggles during their time apart. Her haunting story reveals some insight into her current state of mind and helps explain how she has become the battle-hardened character who returned to Alexandria.

After her decision to leave Gage for dead in the subway, members of their scavenging group - particularly Alden - begin to question the ruthlessness of her choices. That's when Maggie treats the group to an eerie story. While on the road, Maggie and Hershel encountered an elderly man who offered them food in exchange for help. Maggie's instincts told her something about the man was off, and they served her well, as she discovered the man had chloroform in his pocket to subdue her with. Taking care of him, Maggie secured Hershel before she dispatched the rest of the men without compassion. When it comes down to survival for her and her son and the lives of strangers, Maggie will do what it takes to survive. But as she explored the house, she discovered those men are anything but victims.

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Daryl, in a lot of ways, is in this very atmospheric part of the story, but it's all important to kind of remind us of stakes and what's out there in the world, and we liked this idea of showing this mural.

And you see people who are in crowns that are being torn apart, not by zombies, but by other humans, and so we were trying to tell the story of what happened in these subway tunnels, and the backstory of it is that there was this massive class struggle that happened.

And so, when he gives it back, maybe there is at least this tiny, tiny bit of trust that has passed back and forth between them, and that's going to just be part of the shifting sands that they're on as they're going through this mission together.

Gage, one of the younger members of the group who had previously deserted them last episode with their stash of ammo and food, bangs on the door from the next car over. He screams at them to let him in as walkers slowly approach from the rear of the car. Alden moves to open the door, but Maggie signals one of her men to stop him. She says they don't have the ammo to clear the walkers. If they open that door, they could all die. Gage calls Maggie a liar and they all are forced to watch as he stabs himself to death before the walkers rip him apart.

Eugene is brought into a room where he's interrogated one last time. He weaves together a tale for them that's part truth, part fiction, harkening back to his early days of lying to Rosita and Abraham. It's a story about meeting Stephanie over the radio and how he's still a virgin (which it seems is true). It works and Eugene joins the others to receive their official welcome into the Commonwealth. Then, who should walk in but Stephanie? Hopefully, she wasn't listening in when Eugene was confessing how he hoped to lose his V card to her. 041b061a72