Don’t mess with the Reapers and expect to live to tell the tale.
The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 3 gave us our biggest look at this merciless group, and they might just shape up to be as good adversaries as The Whisperers.
That’s a lofty statement, I know, but I’m only going from the cutthroat nature of “Hunted,” which found Maggie, Negan, Alden, Gabriel, and some other survivors scrambling to evade these bad guys that want them dead.
The battle at the top of the episode was visually stunning, and the frantic nature of the scenes as they were, well, hunted, highlighted why Maggie has been trying to evade them for so long.
If you watch The Walking Dead online, you know the series likes to tip the hat to older horror movies, and the Reaper silently appearing behind Maggie was utterly terrifying.
Maggie knows a thing or two about survival, so I was grinning from ear-to-ear when she put the glass bottles on the handles of the doors to alert her that these people had opened the doors.
Then again, there seems to be so many of them that they could, quite literally, pop up anywhere. I gasped so freaking loud when Maggie was walking, and a knife flew into the shot.
If Angela Kang and her band of writers wanted to keep us on our toes, then they’re succeeding. Watching the characters try to survive away from the safety of their communities made for some great TV.
Maggie losing most of her crew was not surprising in the slightest. Some might call it karma for what she did to Gage on The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 2, but from a storytelling standpoint, her having to rely on Negan is something I never thought would happen.
This is the same man that left her for dead just a few episodes before, but it’s a shame all of these characters were deemed expendable in the name of pushing Maggie toward the man she hates the most.
Maggie’s group was cool, and there was a lot of potential with them. Maybe if this was not the final season, they would have had a bigger purpose.
Alas, I was surprised Alden didn’t get bitten in the scene from the trailer. The crafty editing ahead of the episode made it look too obvious, but at least he gets to live another day … for now.
Negan being open to ditching everyone was no surprise. In this game of survival, you can’t have people holding you back. Unfortunately, Alden was a liability, and dragging him along with them for the ride would have slowed them down.
At least Alden wasn’t too out of it to understand what had to be done. The only glimmer of hope in all of this is that Alden at least had shelter, but he could be used as a bargaining chip by the Reapers or some other group down the line.
As for Maggie and Negan, well, they still have a journey ahead of them. The big question will be whether they manage to get somewhere safe and get back to pick up the stragglers.
Love it or hate it, the two of them need each other to survive. They’re never going to be able to have a bond, but they might be able to be cordial with one another.
The drastic change in Gabriel might be a cause for concern. I know him killing the man in the bonus episodes was a shock, but him killing the Reaper here wasn’t a shock because it felt all too similar to that particular scene in the episodes with a limited cast and crew.
Gabriel is a long-serving character, and we need to get a satisfying arc for him before the series is over. There has to be a reason why he’s changed his ways, and without him shedding light on it, it seems to be a substance-less storyline.
The events at Alexandria were downright bizarre. Rosita has been given very little to work with of late, so it was random for her to start talking about a dream about Abraham.
Could it be a warning, or could it be that everyone in Alexandria is frazzled with the lack of resources and hope? They’re losing hope by the hour because of what’s happened, and who can blame them?
Poor Carol had to kill one of the horses in the name of keeping people fed. Seriously, you could tell how much that killed Carol inside, but she’s the type of character who knows what needs to be done to keep the community afloat.
While the visuals and the jump-scares were great, this was the weakest episode of The Walking Dead Season 11 so far. I appreciated the fact that the episode kicked off with a scene that would typically be rendered a dream or a vision.
There was far too much talking. It was jarring at some points because of everything going on away from Alexandria. The episode’s flow was messed up every time we went back to the doom and gloom of the soon-to-collapse community.
Hopefully, the series picks up the pace again in the coming episodes.
What are your thoughts on the Reapers?
Are you tired of them?
Do you think Gabriel is going off the deep end?
Hit the comments below.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.