With the Commonwealth in uproar following the walker attack and the death of the repellant Sebastian, Daryl and his compatriots rally to protect Eugene from Pamela Milton’s wrath and to locate the wanted Max. En route to Oceanside, Aaron and his party find their supposedly secure overnight defences overwhelmed by the undead: a breach that should be impossible.
Variant tracks these parallel storylines through an effective mix of tense action sequences and equally tense character interactions. Laila Robins has established the character of the Commonwealth leader with a commendable level of restraint. Recent episodes have allowed her to show the more unhinged aspects of Pamela’s character. The way that she orders the corpse of her beloved son to be handled in Variant is an indication of the lengths to which she is prepared to go. There are clear echoes of the ruthlessness of The Governor, and the viciousness of the Reapers’ head honcho Pope, but Pamela retains the public veneer of reasonableness that disguises her villainy. Away from prying eyes, her treatment of the disloyal Hornsby is an indication of her real mettle, now she’s learnt of his culpability for the walker incursion that killed her son.
Josh McDermitt has been consistently fantastic in the role of Eugene, ever since his first appearance way back in season four’s “Inmates”. The episode’s opening flashback montage is a candid reminder of the way in which Eugene’s nature has evolved, as he’s learnt bravery and resourcefulness in the defence of his friends. Once more a fugitive, Eugene rebuffs the attempts of his allies to take him to safety because he cannot countenance abandoning Max to her fate at Pamela’s hands. Eugene’s combination of distress, anxiety and intense loyalty is brilliantly played by McDermitt, especially in those scenes where it clashes with Daryl’s and Rosita’s exasperated concern. The complex relationship between Rosita and Mercer is stress-tested through a well-crafted interrogation scene, in which her defiance accelerates his fast-eroding sense of loyalty to the Milton regime.
The sequences following Aaron’s group’s journey are a reminder of how large The Walking Dead‘s ensemble remains at this point in the show’s final season. There are a lot of characters for the show’s screenwriters to support, and this road trip provides an opportunity for Jerry, Aaron, and above all, Lydia to secure some overdue screen time. Those scenes explore both the tenderness and the tension in their relationships. But the most powerful exchanges are found elsewhere: in the confrontation between Pamela and Hornsby; the standoff between Eugene and Daryl; and the difficult dance between Princess and Mercer.
A revelation about a change in the capabilities of some walkers is a drop-dead moment in the show’s mythology. It’s a bold creative move in what’s the closing phase of the show. But director Karen Gaviola handles matters extremely effectively: revealing this game-changing discovery through some well-judged visuals (which are extraordinarily effective, precisely because of their simplicity). It feels right that Aaron should first blame The Whisperers, but then be left unsure as to what they have just experienced. That same sense of uncertainty about what the immediate future might hold is also reinforced when Eugene makes a selfless decision in the hope that his actions might exonerate Max.
Variant impresses, not just as a result of the rich character work in Vivian Tse’s script, but because of the way it deepens the jeopardy facing those in the Commonwealth, while reinvigorating the threat posed by the swarms of the increasingly desiccated undead.
New episodes of THE WALKING DEAD – SEASON 11 premiere Mondays in the UK on DISNEY+/STAR
Read our previous reviews of THE WALKING DEAD below:
