WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 1, “Acheron: Part 1,” which aired Sunday on AMC.
The long-anticipated eleventh and final season of AMC’s The Walking Dead is here. After the Whisperer War devastated Alexandria, the group sets off in search of much-needed supplies. Their mission leads them to an old military base where a horde of walkers lies dormant for reasons unknown. The group lowers into the base and carefully navigates the sleeping-like walkers. Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Magna (Nadia Hilker) and Kelly (Angel Theory) locate crates of freeze-dried food in a back room.
They take the food, and Jerry (Cooper Andrews), flanked by Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Alden (Callan McAuliffe), uses a pulley to lift the supplies and the protagonists out of the base. It’s all accomplished in pain-staking silence. As Daryl catches a bag of supplies to prevent it from hitting the ground, a drop of blood falls from his arm onto a walker’s face. It awakens the walker, who in turn awaken his zombie friends next to him. As the audience screams, “Way to go, Daryl,” the group frantically holds off the walkers as they continue pulling up the supplies. When completed, they load up the protagonists one by one.
Carol’s the last member in the base, and in true Carol fashion, she fails to follow protocol. Spotting another supply crate across the room, Carol charges across the walker-filled base as Daryl provides cover from above. She loads up her backpack with a few more packages of food before making her way back to the pulley system and getting hoisted to safety in the nick of time.
When the group returns to Alexandria, Maggie reunites with some old faces from the Meridian, her former settlement. While the moment is a happy one, good vibes are damped by Gabriel’s (Seth Gilliam) announcement that there still isn’t enough food. As such, Maggie devises a new, albeit risky, plan: she wants to return to Meridian to reclaim the supplies the Reapers took. The protagonists reluctantly agree. So a group, including Maggie, Daryl and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), march off. A nasty storm pushes them into an old subway tunnel. Despite Negan being designated as the Washington, D.C. guide, nobody listens to him. He wants to hunker down and wait out the storm, but Maggie insists they push onward through the tunnels.
Meanwhile, the episode transitions to Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Ezekiel (Khary Payton), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) and Princess (Paola Lázaro) getting grilled by the Commonwealth separately. The questions range from their past occupation to how many bowel movements they have a day. Eventually, Ezekiel snaps at Mercer, the heavily armored man in orange, before erupting into a coughing fit. Later, the quartet discusses their predicament in their cell, with some casting doubts and Eugene believing the Commonwealth can eventually help Alexandria.
This prompts Princess to ask the couple locked up next to them how long they’d been there. While they struggle to come up with a number, they eventually land on nine months due to the constant “reprocessing.” However, their conversation is interrupted when a Commonwealth guard comes in and drags the man away for more reprocessing.
Back in the tunnels, it becomes apparent that Maggie made the wrong choice. Negan points out a water line, which suggests that the tunnel frequently floods. Then, they stumble upon a mass graveyard of walkers wrapped in plastic. Negan worries it could be a sign of something ominous still going on, but Maggie seems to think the people were killed during “the fall.” Negan verbally lashes out at Maggie when she encourages them to “pay attention.” He points out the dangers of being in the tunnel and accuses Maggie of taking them on a death march. As such, Negan proclaims that he’s turning back, and two other group members decide to join him.
While the remaining group is more than happy to see Negan go, Maggie maintains that they need Negan because “he knows the city.” However, Negan isn’t convinced. He accuses Maggie of plotting to kill him away from Alexandria. Although Gabriel says he’s paranoid, Negan responds, “But I’m right.” To make matters worse, Negan ends his closing argument with an insult to Glenn, Maggie’s late husband, who he killed. The comment prompts Maggie to pull a gun, confirming that killing Negan is always on her mind. However, she claims she won’t do it unless he keeps pushing her.
Back at the Commonwealth, Princess reveals her staggering amount of knowledge about the guards. Despite being concealed by armor, she seems to know when guards are flirting, when they take breaks and what their general schedule looks like. The group decides they can use this information to their benefit and manage to get their hands on two sets of Commonwealth armor. Yumiko and Eugene then pose as guards taking Princess and Ezekiel to reprocess. They make it to a back room, where they find a door to freedom. However, a wall containing a collage of pictures labeled “Flagged for Expedited Assessment and Admittance to the Commonwealth” distracts Princess. There, she points out a picture of Yumiko’s brother.
In the tunnels, the group realizes the two men planning to retreat with Negan stuck out on their own and took the supplies with them. Before they can act, a horde of walkers emerges from the tunnel, pushing the group against a train. With no way around it, the group decides they need to climb on top of it. As the group ascends onto the train car, Dog runs off, and Daryl follows, despite Maggie’s protest. The last one up the train car, Maggie struggles to climb, and a walker snags her ankle. Negan peers over the edge, and Maggie screams for his help. He studies her a moment before disappearing back into the darkness, leaving Maggie to falls and quite the cliffhanger of an ending.
Season 11 of The Walking Dead drops new episodes each Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/CT. However, AMC+ subscribers can catch the episodes several days early.
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