WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 3, “Hunted,” which aired Sunday on AMC.
The Walking Dead has had some crazy villains over the years. The Governor was callous, Negan was an egomaniac and Alpha was a sadist. They all commanded a large group of loyal followers and each posed a huge threat to The Walking Dead heroes in their respective times. However, the newest villains – the Reapers – have looked like they are going to be on the next level, and “Hunted” proves that point without a doubt.
Maggie and her group finally escaped the terrors of the subway tunnel at the end of “Acheron Part 2.” Unfortunately, though, they have the ultimate “out of the frying pan and into the fire” situation because the Reapers ambush their depleted and struggling group. The opening moments of “Hunted” pick up with the ambush and show just how skilled the Reapers really are, so here’s what happens to everyone in the episode.
When the Reapers attack, everyone tries to flee, but few are successful. Roy and Cole are killed in the initial skirmish, while Daryl and Elijah are taken captive, and by the next morning, everyone else is still scattered and running for their lives.
The first person fans see is Maggie, and someone is hunting her. She knows that, so she goes inside of an old mall to hide and sets up glass bottles as a noise trap. Unfortunately, the Reapers seem to work smarter and not harder. Rather than setting off her noise trap and fighting her straight up, her assailant finds another entrance and tries to sneak up on her. Fans see him coming in the glow of Maggie’s lighter as she looks down stories-worth of stairs. Maggie’s reactions are good and she throws the Reaper down the stairs, but he survives and can be heard climbing back up.
Maggie doesn’t wait for him and goes further inside where she finds Alden. They see each other, and immediately, a Reaper tackles each of them. Maggie is able to fight off the Reaper on top of her long enough to stab him in the head with a broken, glass bottle. Then Negan shows up out of nowhere to bash his head in with a crowbar. Then Maggie turns her attention to Alden who is struggling and wounded badly. She throws a knife at the Reaper and hits him. However, the Reaper immediately takes a grenade and pulls the pin.
When Maggie and Negan regain their senses, both Reapers are gone – the one that Maggie threw a knife into and the one that Negan brained. That goes to show how tough and well-trained these guys really are. To take a glass bottle to the head, be stabbed, hit with a crowbar and fall multiple stories down the stairs is a lot. However, it seems like all of that was just in a day’s work for these Reapers.
The only minor success story at the moment is Gabriel. Like everyone, he was separated from his friends, and he was wounded. When fans first see him in “Hunted,” he has a screwdriver in his hand and is mumbling scripture. Later in the episode, he tracks down a dying member of the Reapers and kills him. That is the only Reaper casualty in the episode.
By the end of the episode, Agatha and Duncan are also dead, and Alden is a “dead man walking” after his wounds. So, that means in three episodes, Maggie’s group has lost five members (maybe six depending on what happens to Alden), and the Reapers have lost one. Maybe Episode 4 “Rendition,” will show how the Reapers are so well trained and what makes them so ruthless. The trailer for the next episode teases a kind of religious cult vibe, so who Pope – the Reapers’ leader — is and what his motivations are should be important going forward.
To see more of Maggie’s fight against the Reapers, 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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