The soldiers are tasked with going after the guy, and Daryl finds him in the haunted house. “Resist the Commonwealth!” he cries, then he drops Max and disappears behind a curtain. She can’t answer, and things escalate from there he pulls a knife on her assistant, Max (Margot Bingham) decrying the Commonwealth and all it stands for.
“What’s my name?” he asks her as she stands on stage, stunned. He silences the room by declaring the Commonwealth corrupt, saying that he was demoted from his position as a soldier when a prisoner attacked him - and despite his attempts to get in touch with Pamela to plead his case, she never responded and it left him and his family in poverty. The gala seems lovely enough at first, but it goes sideways fast when a server starts throwing around more than hors d’oeuvres. After he goes, Mercer tells Daryl that he understands Daryl’s used to doing everything himself, but “sometimes, we have to set each other up to win.” Of course, Sebastian almost gets himself killed when he can’t properly use any weapons, and Daryl puts down the walker that almost bites the bratty buffoon. A training exercise goes wrong because Daryl’s not prioritizing his team/the greater good, and, maybe as recompense or maybe to keep a closer eye on him, Mercer ( Michael James Shaw) has Daryl assist him with training Sebastian (Teo Rapp-Olsson) in killing walkers. It doesn’t hurt that Rosita is former military either. He’s training to be a soldier, as is Rosita, but unlike Rosita, he’s not quite as good at the whole “teamwork” thing. Meanwhile, Daryl’s story this episode delves even deeper into the Commonwealth’s instability and gilded nature. Tears are shed, and it seems like they might be on the way to healing their relationship. He gives her a box of their late adopted son Henry’s (Matt Lintz) things and tells her she should have it. Later that night, Carol and Ezekiel, who is none the wiser about her new partnership with Hornsby, have an emotional chat at her apartment. When she tells him what she wants, he says that’s no small ask - but he’ll see what he can do. A trip outside the walls gains her a suitable vintage, and the haughty Hornsby is impressed by both her ability to escape the Commonwealth and retrieve the goods he needs to impress Pamela. Rather than murdering 140-odd people to get her (ex?)-husband moved up the list - which, as we all know, Carol could do - she decides to help Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) with a crucial problem: Finding a wine to serve at the night’s gala event. He won’t live to see himself reach the top.
As she finds out from Yumiko’s ( Eleanor Matsuura) MD brother Tomi (Ian Anthony Dale) after she breaks into the hospital’s records room, Zeke is in the 140s on the list. And it only gets weirder.īut before that, Carol, who has settled back into her “innocent housewife” persona, makes it her mission to get Ezekiel the lifesaving surgery he needs. We also meet the Commonwealth’s leader, Pamela Milton ( Laila Robins) here, as she chooses a costume contest winner and says they’ll earn a mysterious “lottery entry” as a prize. Daryl gets a cute scene with Connie ( Lauren Ridloff), while Carol keeps an eye on an ailing-but-in-good-spirits Ezekiel ( Khary Payton).
It’s Halloween in the Commonwealth, which provides plenty of opportunities for establishing not only the new community’s attitude toward the dead (the episode opener is Judith, Daryl and RJ walking through a haunted house that, jarringly, uses real walkers as entertainment) but also establishing some character beats that seem likely to continue through the season. Except for this time, instead of walkers in a barn or crazy cannibals, the threat is something less deadly - and more relatable. But as is the case with any apparently idyllic community in the TWD Universe, something dark slithers beneath the surface. As “New Haunts” begins, a month-long time jump has passed, and Daryl ( Norman Reedus), Carol ( Melissa McBride), Rosita ( Christian Serratos), Father Gabriel ( Seth Gilliam), Judith ( Cailey Fleming), RJ and more appear to be settling in at the Commonwealth.