UK TV review: The Walking Dead: Season 11, Episode 5 (Out of the Ashes)
Review Overview
Nightmares
7Rocky road
7Bullies
5Neil Brazier | On 21, Sep 2021
Read on below for spoilery notes – and read our other Season 11 reviews here.
Having criticised Rendition for spending too much time with the Reapers, Out of the Ashes does the complete opposite and flitters between several storylines, spending little time in each and creating confusion. We get to investigate more at the Commonwealth as well as check in with our favourite odd couple, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), as they head to the safe house, while the main bulk of time is spent with some of the Alexandrian survivors travelling to the burnt down Hilltop in search of tools to help them rebuild, after a walker breach back home.
Getting the shortest amount of screen time are Maggie and Negan. The two end up disagreeing again on the next best plan of action – once again, Negan shows logic and reason while Maggie is leading from her heart. The struggle to trust one another may never resolve, but Maggie needs to at least accept that Negan has changed and has good ideas. The only way that is likely to happen is if he is proved right. It could be argued that the losses their group has suffered already has shown that Negan should have been listened to – and, although he did leave her to the walkers, he has saved Maggie’s life on several occasions on this trip alone. It was wise to only give this pair brief moments as their plot is already feeling repetitive, but Negan is just so watchable.
At the Commonwealth, we are shown a commercial. Electricity and home movies have already elevated this community into a strong, powerful position. The video introduces us to Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton). one of the senior officials at the Commonwealth, only answering to the communities’ founder, Pamela Milton. The survivors are handed work assignments, with Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) getting a mysterious role that (judging by the clerk’s reaction) is a powerful one. While she goes to find her brother, the others explore the Commonwealth, which has hotels, businesses and cupcakes.
A trip to the ice-cream vendor may have given away a vital clue about Eugene’s (Josh McDermitt) liaison “Stephanie” (Chelle Ramos). Eugene learned in his radio conversations a lot about her and so something as innocuous as an ice-cream order could raise suspicions. He seems to trust her for now but Eugene, usually one of the smartest in the group, may just be victim to a Commonwealth ploy. Or, does he know this and is Eugene playing the Commonwealth?
Trust issues continues when Yumiko reunites with her brother, Tomi (Ian Anthony Dale). She learns that her group should be welcome as long as they follow the rules. These rules are plastered all over the walls of the community looking like old war propaganda which is very intimidating. But if the Commonwealth has flourished into what it is by following these rules, then can our survivors really argue?
On a visit to the Hilltop, Aaron (Ross Marquand) comes very close to losing control after having nightmares about everything he has fought through. It is another look at the theme that has followed this series from day one: the blurred lines between who is good and who is bad. Aaron looks to be treading that line and it is Carol (Melissa McBride) who helps to back to the right path. Carol is hardly someone who is inherently good or evil, having been a resident in both camps for long periods of time, but she has good intentions here and they are rewarded when she gets the news she has been longing to hear.
With the communities our survivors have called home for so long failing them, the Commonwealth might have arrived at just the right moment. But with one home burnt down, the other falling, will the Commonwealth see them as worth saving? Having now passed the halfway point of the first act of this final season – and despite this episode throwing a lot of information at us – it still doesn’t feel like we’ve learned anything at all.
The Walking Dead: Season 1 to 11 is available on Disney+ UK, as part of a £7.99 monthly subscription or a £79.99 yearly subscription.
Innards and entrails (spoilers)
Alexandria has been breached, walkers are inside the walls and gorged on some of the survivors for dinner (nobody important). Realising that things are pretty bleak here, some of the group head up to Hilltop to get hold of tools that may have survived the fire. When they arrive, they find the place littered with zombies and something not quite dead. The Whisperers are alive and have taken up residence at Hilltop. Well, some of them are alive and still using the masks as a means to survive.
The episode opens with Aaron’s nightmare and we are treated to a little flashback as every major villain (and some minor ones (Mays – Robert Patrick) are here to kill Aaron. While Aaron falls at the hands of these bad guys in the dream, they are all (with the exception of the Reapers) groups that Aaron has overcome in reality. It isn’t about who plunges the knife in, but what scars each of them has left upon Aaron. This is evident when the groups capture the Whisperer at Hilltop and torture him. Aaron allows a zombie to bite the hand of the Whisperer, leaving him two choices. Tell them the truth and have the hand cut off, or become one of the dead.
Not content with fingers, Aaron almost gives the zombie a free meal but the Whisperer is saved when Carol intervenes. She gives Aaron a lecture about not wanting to go down this path and become something he isn’t. It does seem a little too soon for Carol to be making this kind of statement as she is on that path herself. But her words get through to Aaron and they let the Whisperer keep his life. As a thank-you, the Whisperer offers up some vital information: Connie is alive.
Back at Alexandria, the kids are left unsupervised and some of them begin to play with the walkers banging at the walls. Judith (Cailey Fleming) tries to get them to stop but she is pushed to the ground. Later, her wooden handprints that she made with Carl are broken and so is her precious little heart. Although you will feel anger at the Lil’ Asskicker being pushed around, this storyline feels misplaced.
These children have been subject to bullies their whole life in terms of the enemies they have had to fight, but that is outside. Inside the walls, they should have grown enough to be a family. What this story goes to remind us is that poor Judith is now an orphan. Mother and brother dead, father and adopted mother missing. Why is Judith alone? Although she has the love of most of the other survivors acting as her surrogate parents, they aren’t the same as her flesh and blood. With this being the final season of The Walking Dead, it would be a real nice ending if they could bring Judith’s dad back for a reunion.
Maggie and Negan make it to the safe house and Negan isn’t keen on the idea of hanging around. There isn’t enough food here to help Alexandria but he rightly says that they are more help to their home alive than dead. The frustration between the two escalates and Maggie lashes out at Negan. There is a moment, only a moment, where the thought will cross your mind these two may end up hooking up. It is the classic TV trope of love from hate. That must not happen here.
Negan is about to leave when Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari) walk through the door. Maggie gets her way again and Gabriel agrees that they wait for more survivors. Maggie must realise that there aren’t any others left – apart from Alden – in serious need of medical help. They would be wise to listen to Negan and get out of there.
At the Commonwealth, after being distributed their new jobs, Eugene is keen to make contact with his friends back home, just to let them know they are safe. “Stephanie” helps him to the radio and we can see just how vast this community is with their divisions, businesses and sheer number of people wandering around. Eugene makes contact with Rosita (Christian Serratos) but the line cuts out when she is trying to tell him the trouble they are in back home.
Eugene is then stopped and arrested for breaking the rules, and on his first day too. “Stephanie” then appears with Lance and, after sharing some shifty looks, Lance lets Eugene off with a warning. Perhaps this is the Commonwealth looking the other way for people who didn’t know better or does the Commonwealth have other plans for Eugene?
The Commonwealth doesn’t give many answers but looks an impressive community. Tomi tells his sister she and her friends will be safe if they follow the rules, but Yumiko wants to know why Tomi is a baker and not a doctor, like in his previous life; he could be helping the community so much more. Tomi gets defensive and asks Yumiko not to ruin this for him. He enjoys baking and is the happiest he has ever been. This does seem curious and further adds to the suspicion and mystery surrounding the Commonwealth. Maybe Tomi knows something about what happens to doctors here. Maybe he just really wanted a change of career. Either way. we still have lots of questions and the Commonwealth needs to give us answers.