“The Walking Dead” truly shocks viewers with a surprising comic diversion
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Managing Editor
The Walking Dead: “A New Deal”
Season 11, Episode 18
Airdate: 10/2/2022
Well, this show just got a whole lot less predictable.
Killing off Sebastian Milton may not seem like a big deal if you’re just a fan of the television show. It may have been enjoyable actually. Really, it’s enjoyable no matter what. Sebastian Milton is the worst kind of person who deserves the most gruesome death imaginable. He’s even more awful than Henry, who used to be the worst kid in the zombie apocalypse until he literally lost his head.
But to someone (like me) who has read the comics, it’s a surprising, gruesome twist that really ups the stakes of this Commonwealth arc. In the comics, Sebastian’s the true final villain. He kills Rick Grimes, for crying out loud. But at the end of the comic series, he’s still alive. In jail, imprisoned for life, but alive.
There’s no more Rick Grimes on this show (right now, anyway). And there’s no one of incredible importance left (that isn’t already confirmed to be safe because of an upcoming spinoff) to shoot in the dead of night like a coward. So, given circumstances outside of showrunner Angela Kang’s control, maybe it shouldn’t have been a big surprise that he gets devoured by walkers while everyone in the Commonwealth stood by and watched.
But it is. Sebastian’s death with 6 episodes left to go, in the middle of a long three part season, is a real shocker the likes of which hasn’t been seen on “Walking Dead” since 10 heads wound up on wooden pikes. And now Pamela Milton herself may be the one that takes Sebastian’s comic arc, with a few twists added to fit her character. That’s really exciting, but it still throws quite the wrench into proceedings.
Everyone from the Commonwealth really shines in “A New Deal,” which picks up right where “Lockdown” left off. Pamela, Carol, Mercer and the rest of their men arrive to arrest Lance, but not before Daryl sticks his knife through Lance’s hand out of spite and disgust.
Lance is stripped of his power, in public in front of the press, and thrown into a cell. It appears, however, he’s still pulling some strings from behind bars… his goons are still on the loose and appear to be taking direction from him. They murder some constuction workers, who turn and infect others, leading to a whole horde of walkers inside the walls.
As part of the deal Carol made with Pamela, Lance gets brought down on false charges so that Sebastian gets off scot-free for his crimes; as reciprocation, the group gets the supplies needed to rebuild their communities and can leave or stay if they choose to. Pamela’s attempt to maintain order and the status quo actually works for a short while… until after a wrestling match on the Commonwealth’s annual Founder’s Day.
Sebastian is forced by his mother to give a speech about the Commonwealth to help improve his reputation, and it’s clear that despite everything she still sees him as her eventual successor. Sebastian has little interest in any of this, but is basically punished into playing along.
But Max, and by extension, Eugene, can’t let the younger Milton’s transgressions go. Max uses her position as Pamela’s secretary to listen into Sebastian’s lackluster rehearsal, and lulls him into a false sense of security in order to get his true thoughts on the Commonwealth on a recorder. Eugene plays the tape after Sebastain’s address (in a wrestling ring, which is hilarious), and all hell breaks loose. The younger Milton gives chase while the elder deals with a mob (that Mercer leaves her at the mercy of to deal with walkers), and it’s on the streets of the city he was supposed to own that he meets his gruesome end after Eugene saves his girlfriend and pushes the kid into the grasp of a walker. Judith shoots the walker to stop it, but it’s far too late.
This development will have major ramifications for the remaining episodes, and succeeds in injecting some unpredictability into a show that’s been considerably predictable as of late. Good stuff!
SCATTERED OBSERVATIONS AND NEWS UPDATES:
– As a pro wrestling fan, it was very cool to see those final scenes. I understand the show wanted to do the football stadium scene from the comics but couldn’t due to COVID logistics, but honestly? The wrestling scene was the right call. Maybe not cinematically, but thematically. There’s nothing more on the nose for the Commonwealth than the illusion of something being real.
– It’s somewhat refreshing to finally get a community on this show that was already in the process of rebelling before our group came across it. The people of the Commonwealth have clearly been unhappy and aware of the injustices for a long time, and only now is it becoming a fire too big to put out.
– Maggie isn’t given much to do. Seems a little weird for someone who is the primary catalyst for tensions with the Commonwealth.
– The Negan/Annie scene with the ultrasound was a direct parallel to the Glenn/Maggie scene from Season 6 because the powers that be on the show really want to upset the people that still hate Negan. On purpose.
– Carol made a solid deal with Pamela, but we’ll never get to find out if the Commonwealth would have actually honored it thanks to Eugene. He had arguably his biggest moment of bravery at arguably the absolute worst time.
– Daryl had a parenting subplot this episode when Judith and him had a disagreement, and Rick got brought up. I don’t think that was an accident, and I do think we’ll see Rick in some way before this show wraps up.
– That being said, RJ Grimes is a little jerk for not telling Daryl where Judith went off to.
– I do also think it’s funny how Daryl assaulting Lance became a running gag for the last few episodes. “Shot in the face, shot in the shoulder, stabbed in the hand” is a rather violent trifecta for someone as upper class as Lance.
– The dynamic between Lance and Pamela in this episode was very good. This version of Pamela Milton is much more intriguing than her comic counterpart.
– It’s also possible those walkers were the people that the Commonwealth made disappear, which makes the place all the more sinister.
– The next episode has the variant walkers from ‘World Beyond’ making an appearance. Frank Darabont is somewhere losing his mind over it and demanding AMC pay him royalties because they stole his idea. Or something.
Lastly, here are the titles and release dates of the final episodes:
