Last year’s gripping part-season finale For Blood ensured that the eleventh and final season of The Walking Dead paused on a series of well-earned cliffhangers. The second segment opener No Other Way returns to the undead fray in convincing style, with a mix of storylines that are both exhilarating and emotionally resonant. Resisting the obvious temptation to wrap up those multiple situational crises in short order, Corey Reed’s taut script allows the painful consequences of those life-and-death choices to play out across the episode.
Events kick-off with a series of thrilling and well-staged fight sequences, unfolding across different locations, that combine in an explosion of human bloodletting and zombie pulverizing. Director Jon Amiel frames the action scenes in ways that heighten their heart-pounding nature. The determination of the zombie horde that has breached the walls of Alexandria to eviscerate the remaining members of the community underpins some effective set-pieces. One of the highlights is an extended set-to in a flooded basement that (despite the undersold extrication of the last man standing) delivers some innovative visual terrors, above and below the waterline.
Elsewhere, the brutal hand-to-hand combat between the remaining Reapers and the survivors of Maggie’s group is presented with the kind of up-close, visceral quality that emphasises the pain and the physical trauma inflicted. There’s little about the depiction of any of this violence that feels sanitised or perfunctory, and that’s a tonal decision that bodes well for the show’s endgame.
This is an episode replete with strong character moments. Maggie’s focus on punishing those who have attacked her group is put into stark relief, even as she overrules Daryl’s fragile peace deal with the remaining Reapers. Gabriel dispenses with concerns about his faltering faith with brutal results. Daryl takes on the role of negotiator, while Aaron steps into the role of leadership with increased assurance. The dynamic between Negan and Maggie that has simmered since her return in Home, Sweet Home reaches an unexpected turning point here.
There’s some strong emotional texture to developments too. Maggie’s insistence on honouring the commitment she made to the injured Alden back in Hunted ends in agonized regret and guilt. Daryl reaches a conflicted settling of accounts with Leah. There’s a poignancy too to the depleted group’s return to Alexandria, as so few of those who left the settlement back in Acheron Part 1 to retrieve the supplies stolen by the Reapers make it back home. It’s a sense of absence reinforced by a series of quiet but joyous reunions.
As the episode closes, in the wrecked environs of Alexandria, scriptwriter Reed rips away any suggestion that the survivors might enjoy a moment of respite. The arrival of Eugene in the company of Lance Hornsby and a contingent of Commonwealth soldiers confirms the long-anticipated intersection of the season’s main parallel narratives. What’s an already enticing prospect is made even more intriguing by the timeshift that immediately follows: a jump-forward that reveals two long-term allies in unexpected opposition.
This switch in perspective provides a sharp counterpoint to the showdown with The Reapers from which the Alexandrians have just emerged victorious, albeit at great cost. This latest new start for The Walking Dead impresses on every front.
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:
Season 11, Episode 1, ACHERON: PART I
Season 11, Episode 2, ACHERON: PART II
Season 11, Episode 4, RENDITION
Season 11, Episode 5, OUT OF THE ASHES
Season 11, Episode 6, ON THE INSIDE
