‘The Walking Dead’ Season 11, Episode 13 Review: Contrived And Convoluted

I was expecting more from the episode of The Walking Dead. I heard that it was the best episode in a long time.

I don't agree with it, but I don't hate to say it. I don't agree very much. This was a convoluted mess of absurd coincidences, laughable contrivances and a pointless plotline that makes the Commonwealth very bad people.

For no reason at all.

• Read my review of last week’s god-awful episode here.

The basic premise is that Hornsby is working on a project that he doesn't want his boss to know about. He enlisted the help of a retired spec ops guy with a very specific set of skills, and told him to bring Gabriel along for the ride. They want to find the guns and stomp a small community that they suspect of stealing them. They told Gabriel that it was a diplomatic mission. I guess they will get inside since they seem like genuine people. It feels like a poor choice, but it is a deception tactic.

The first stupid thing about the episode is this. It is a huge risk to bring Gabriel and Aaron on such a dangerous mission. They are newcomers. They're from a new community that the two towns want to absorb into the Commonwealth, and they've worked hard to build trust with them. You just lie to their faces and turn them into enemies? Maybe they have been killed?

It is so stupid. I am still shocked that the writer's room thought this was a good idea, that someone as devious as Hornsby would make such a mistake.

It gets worse! We can think that these men are bigger pushovers than they really are.

In any case, Gabriel, New Guy and others join Carlson and approach this new community. The soldiers are on the mission. The group lives in an apartment. The four of them will be taken to their leader.

He is a man who is so paranoid that he pulls a gun on them when he decides they are up to no good.

He's very much a Walking Dead Community Leader, and things look dire for our heroes, until he talks them down and says they'll never come back. Ian lowers his weapon. He took his eyes off Carlson.

Carlson shot Ian in the shoulder when he grabbed the gun. Carlson wasn't interested in welcoming these guys into the Commonwealth.

Time-Jumping The Shark

All of this is told out of order. We don't know if Carlson was sent by Hornsby to get the guns back and put the hurt on these people. I understand why that is a useful way to tell the story. We were surprised when Carlson turned out to be much more dangerous and brutal than we had thought.

The problem is that the events that comprise this story are so implausible and ridiculous that any attempt at a nonlinear story just comes off as a way to disguise the poor plot.

Carlson suddenly goes all death machine, but why do this in front of two newcomers to the Commonwealth? Why work so hard to convince them that this is a good place?

There are too many jumps. Carlson, Gabriel, Ian, and a few Commonwealth soldiers are back in the room with Carlson, after a short time in the past. Carlson pistol-whips Ian whenever he gives him an answer he doesn't want. Gabriel tried to get Carlson to stop, but it didn't work out so well. Ian is killed by Carlson and almost killed by SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA.

Then we go back to where he met up with the other people. At the beginning of the episode, at Alexandria, a guy shows up on a horse and dies, and then he gives them a map of where to go. You only need three people to stop a slaughter, so these three head out. That is when we get the first glimpse.

When we were talking with them, they mentioned that the guy they found had asked them for help, and that he didn't have a map.

We go back 12 hours to find out. This is the sixth or seventh jump at this point, and it brings us to our next wild coincidence.

When the bullets start flying, a new guy freaks out. I'm not sure why they brought someone on this mission who would freak out when the mission started, but they brought two outsiders from Alexandria and one kid so green and out of the loop that he runs and ends up warning total strangers about his own people. For reasons. The New Guy shows up at Alexandria, bleeding out, to get help.

Who gives New Guy the map,entrusting that he will find a place he's never been and be able to convince strangers to help him?

That's right, Negan of course! The compound where the Commonwealth sent Gabriel and Aaron on a false-flag mission is where Negan is. He stumbled upon New Guy and sent him off with a map for help despite not knowing him, and New Guy made it. Convenient coincidences keep dropping, one after the other.

What are the chances that he splits off from his wife and goes to this particular community where he is welcomed by Ian?

I am not sure if I follow the geography, the timelines or any of the other things. It's so convenient. Three episodes ago, Negan left, but now here he is, saving the day in a sideways mission that just so happens to involve two of his long-time countrymen.

Give me a break. It's not Eugene crying and blubbering, but in some ways it's worse. It comes across as goofy, poorly written and contrived, even though it is trying very hard to be serious television.

Carlson starts throwing people off the roof. The best way to find your guns is to throw people to their deaths. Some of the survivors, including Gabriel and Negan, hid below the carnage, listening to the screams and splats. It is all very grim and overshadowed by the silliness of the plot.

Don't worry, dear readers, the Strong Female Character who doesn't mess around and surely will save the day is here now, and she is namedMaggie. It was boring.

I don't know what show we're watching, but it doesn't feel like The Walking Dead to me.

If I were a Commonwealth official trying to save a secret operation without my boss knowing, I wouldn't send two people I barely trust and a kid with no specific military training to carry it out.

Hornsby tells Carlson that they always fall in line. Really? They always do. Do you send newcomers from other communities on black ops missions? A stupid line.

How does New Guy get to Alexandria after being shot in the back by a Commonwealth soldier? This seems very unlikely even with a map. Less than a day later, after getting away, he runs into her on the exact road she was traveling down. The stuff from the show, ugh. It was just terrible writing.

Carlson and Ian were both fun, off-the-wall characters but they were saddled with a convoluted story that was too confusing.

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