WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 2, “Acheron: Part 2,” which aired Sunday on AMC.
After the walker attack at the end of “Acheron: Part 1,” everyone in Maggie’s group is trapped in a subway train car. Then, within minutes of “Acheron: Part 2’s” opening, Maggie joins them — proving the cliffhanger pointless. What happens in that train car offers a picture of what’s coming this season. Surrounded by the dead with no way out, there’s an argument, someone dies, and someone comes to the rescue. Here’s what happens and how Daryl gets his Luke Skywalker moment.
When Maggie comes through the trap door, the argument happens after she tells everyone how Negan didn’t help her. Long story short, Maggie’s followers want to kill him, but they hear screaming from the next train car. Gage, who has been missing for a while, is in the next car, and walkers are bearing down on him because he didn’t shut the door behind him.
That mistake — combined with running off in the first place — costs Gage his life. Maggie makes a utilitarian, business decision and lets him die because they don’t have the ammo to clear all of the walkers. It is a practical decision, but it’s still a brutal move that shows Maggie’s current state of mind.
Gage, though, is intent on finding some kind of revenge. So, he kills himself, joins the herd and becomes part of the reason that Maggie is trapped. However, Maggie’s decision ends up being for naught because the herd, led by Gage, soon breaks through the train car door.
The group uses what little ammo they have, then all of their arrows. Then, they use their hand weapons, but it doesn’t look good for them because the walkers just keep coming. Part of the group wants to go out the other side of the train car, but a fallen seat blocks the door. That’s when Daryl, who has been off rescuing Dog, makes his heroic, Luke Skywalker-esque entrance.
Just like in The Mandalorian, when Luke came in and killed all of the Dark Troopers to save Din Djarin and company, Daryl takes a single pistol and his knives and proceeds to effortlessly carve his way through a dark train car full of walkers. Then, he removes the seat blocking the door and gets everyone to safety. Once everyone is out of the car, he shoves a grenade into a walker’s mouth, pushes it back inside and takes cover as it blows up the remaining walkers. Without Daryl’s heroics, everyone might not have made it out alive. Hopefully, this won’t be the last time that he saves the day this season.
To see Daryl’s heroics, tune into Season 11 of The Walking Dead. The series airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and is available to stream early on AMC+.
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