Recap / The Walking Dead S11E10 "New Haunts"

Season 11, Episode 10

Daryl and Carol notice signs of unrest in the Commonwealth on Halloween.

Daryl, Judith, and R.J. are exploring a scary, storm-battered house that is infested with walkers stuck behind walls. When they come to a hallway, they are suddenly confronted by a walker, causing poor R.J. to hide with his uncle and sister. Daryl then reaches out to the walker and gently asks him to let up... and the walker stops in place, agrees and fist bumps Daryl on his way out. The walker was merely an actor in a haunted house attraction set up in the Commonwealth's town square, where Halloween is underway.

A month has passed since the Commonwealth arrived at Alexandria, and many of the Coalition's residents now live peaceful, comfortable lives in the Commonwealth, while others stayed behind to oversee reconstruction. A girl named Mei introduces herself to Judith and shows her around, expressing respect for Judith having lived her whole life outside the Commonwealth. Daryl and Carol see Governor Pamela Milton award a young girl the winner of a costume contest, and Carol recalls seeing her before the Fall. Kelly and Connie arrive, reminding the group how Connie's investigative reporting got Pamela's uncle kicked out of politics due to a scandal. Daryl fondly interacts with Connie, and Carol playfully encourages him to ask her to dance as he watches her leave. Daryl leaves, and Carol notices Ezekiel's condition worsening after he plays with Jerry and Nabila's kids. She sneaks into the hospital to investigate Ezekiel's medical record and is caught by Tomi, now back as a surgeon, and confesses she wanted to check his status for cancer treatment. Tomi regretfully tells Carol that though he hasn't been informed, Ezekiel is too far down the list of people waiting for his life to be saved.

Daryl and Rosita exit their crappy apartments, a temporary living arrangement while they undergo basic training for the Commonwealth military. Rosita notes how weird it is to have to have to worry about bills and jobs again after everything they've been through since the Fall. They report for training with Mercer and several other recruits, and Mercer pairs everybody off so they can perform training exercises in dead-infested houses. While Rosita successfully completes her exercise and helps her partner Green fend off the walkers, Daryl lets his partner Jake squirm for too long, and is chastised by Mercer for being too independent.

Mercer, Daryl, and Rosita go into the woods to meet Sebastian for "advanced" training, but Sebastian performs poorly against the walkers. When Daryl kills one to save his life, Sebastian ungratefully screams at him that he had it under control. The affair doesn't go unnoticed by Pamela, who gives an annoyed look at her son as she passes. Mercer is as tolerant of Sebastian's bile as ever, but implores Daryl that sometimes you have to set up other people to succeed to make things work.

Carol overhears Max rejecting some wine Lance picked out for the upcoming Halloween ball, and goes on a mission to find a suitable replacement. When she presents her findings to Lance, he's impressed and asks if she has a favor in mind. Carol asks for Ezekiel to get bumped up the list, and Lance says he'll wait to see what Pamela thinks of the wine first before making any promises, but he again expresses respect for Carol's actions.

In town, Mei buys Judith a Motorhead vinyl record from Princess's record store upon learning she doesn't have an allowance, due to Daryl living on pennies until he gets his first paycheck from the military. Once she and R.J. get home, the latter vehemently asks Daryl if they can live at the Commonwealth permanently, having no desire to return to the dangers of Alexandria even when it's rebuilt. Judith says she agrees as long as Michonne is able to find her.

At the masquerade ball, Yumiko and Tomi are attending as honored guests due to their important jobs in society, while Magna is working as a waitress. Lance arrives and receives what he thinks is a celebrity's welcome, but the crowd is actually cheering for Mercer, to his disappointment. Mercer is uncomfortable with all the love despite having more than earned it, but notices Princess in the crowd and asks her to be his date on the spot. Once inside, Princess hangs out with Yumiko and they notice a waiter is Tyler Davis, the soldier who Princess fought during their previous incarceration. Lance speaks to Pamela about the wine, but Pamela is dismissive of it and asks to discuss the Alexandria reconstruction at a later point. Connie also interviews Pamela for the paper, asking what her father would think of the class divide, but Pamela evades the question and introduces her to a lottery winner.

Pamela makes remarks unveiling a painting of her father, but is interrupted by Tyler who loudly protests the injustices in the Commonwealth. He takes Max as his hostage and damages the portrait, lamenting how he lost his income and everything he had because of a single mistake in the military and lambastes Pamela for not caring about her citizens. However, when he realizes Max is just as much of a victim as he is, he apologizes and flees. Daryl goes after Tyler while Mercer attends to Max, and finds Tyler in the haunted house and convinces him to peacefully surrender. Sebastian arrives, and Daryl decides to let Sebastian take credit for his capture. Though Sebastian is regarded as a hero by the ball guests, Pamela, Mercer, and Lance are clearly unconvinced that he captured Tyler by himself. As Tyler is taken away, he protests that there are more like him, and Pamela is disturbed and asks Lance if there are indeed more.

Yumiko and Max give out hush money to prevent news of the hostage crisis leaking out, while Mercer asks Rosita to ask Magna about Tyler. Magna is hostile to Rosita, however, due to resenting her lower class job. Lance meets with Carol and tells her he'd like another favor from her before more seriously considering her request. Carol later goes to Ezekiel's apartment where he gives her a box of Henry's keepsakes, and the two enjoy a peaceful evening on his couch together.

Daryl spends his first paycheck on his kids, getting them new clothes and food, and listens to the Motorhead vinyl with them before they start their days. Later, he, Rosita, and other troopers investigate Tyler's apartment and find it filled with rebellious propaganda against the Commonwealth.

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• Action Survivor: Sebastian manages to kill a walker, but it’s clear he’s still woefully incompetent.
• Anti-Villain: Tyler is just desperate after being demoted from the military and now being unable to support his sister and her family. He apologizes to Max for taking her hostage and eventually peacefully surrenders to Daryl.
• Call-Back:
  • Tomi is now working as a doctor due to being forcibly reassigned when Yumiko loudly insisted he become a doctor again back in “Promises Broken”.
• The Cameo: Khary Payton’s daughter cameos in the Cold Open as Celeste, a child dressed as Mercer.
• Casanova Wannabe: Sebastian shamelessly flirts with Rosita, who is less than amused.
• Celebrity Survivor: Pamela is revealed to have been the niece of a Congressman who Connie got kicked out of office.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Jerry dresses as a tiger for Halloween as a tribute to the long-dead actual tiger Shiva, who perished in Season 8’s “Some Guy”, after which she remained a symbol and mascot to the Kingdom.
  • Ezekiel is also revealed to have kept her chain, which Jerry rescued from Hilltop during the battle of Sesson 10’s “Morning Star” and “Walk With Us”.
  • Carol is baking cookies again, after she became infamous for it when she also joined Alexandria in Season 5. She is also Obfuscating Stupidity again with her classic “Suzy Homemaker” act, albeit not quite as hopeless a survivor as she originally pretended to be.
  • Jerry has been reunited with Ezekiel after their farewell back in Season 10’s “Look at the Flowers”.
  • Connie has become a reporter working for the Commonwealth’s newspaper. Back in her introduction in Season 9’s “Who Are You Now?”, she mentioned she was a journalist whose work took down a prominent politician (which is explained here).
  • The soldier who Princess beat up in Season 10’s “Splinter”, Tyler Davis, is now a butler who indeed suffered demotion from the military for letting Princess get the jump on him.
• Foreshadowing: The song Daryl and Judith listen to at the end of the episode is "Eat the Rich" by Motorhead. This happens quite literally in "A New Deal" when Royal Brat Sebastian Milton ends up devoured by a walker.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Lance is jealous of the people’s love for Mercer.
• Innocently Insensitive: Mei means well being friendly to Judith, but she assumes Judith isn’t afraid of anything anymore after having grown up outside the Commonwealth.
• Living Legend: Mercer is well loved by the Commonwealth’s populace, to the point children dress up as him for Halloween.
• Mythology Gag: The haunted house attraction uses real walkers. In the Grand Finale of the comics, an adult Hershel had a traveling walker attraction he used for cheap thrills in a world where the undead were largely no longer a threat.
• Named by the Adaptation: Ezekiel’s last name is revealed to be “Sutton” as seen when Carol finds his file. His comic counterpart was only ever known by his first name.
• Next Sunday A.D.: Carol comes across an order form for Vincenti’s Fine Wines dated September 11, 2010. This places the series as currently taking place in roughly 2021 given the Time Skip’s that have taken place.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Max points out to Tyler that she is another low class citizen just like him, which makes him relent and sincerely apologize for taking her hostage.
• Oh, Crap!: Pamela is shaken when Tyler insists that the Commonwealth’s people live in unrest like him.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. Ezekiel’s last name is revealed to be Sutton, over a season after the last of Hilltop’s Sutton family, Earl, died.
• Pet the Dog: Daryl decides to let Sebastian take the credit for Tyler’s capture, but Mercer sees through it, and Pamela is implied to have as well.
• Red Herring: The opening of the episode features a haunted house with walkers, not looking out of place from any other scene in the series. However, Daryl asks the last walker to stop, and he agrees, revealing himself as a friend of Daryl’s.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Our characters who attend the masquerade ball look particularly good considering they haven’t dressed this nice since before the fall.
• Shipper on Deck: Carol notices how Daryl looks longingly at Connie and suggests he ask her to dance.
• Ship Tease:
  • Daryl is happy to see Connie, gently touches her shoulder, and watches as she walks away.
  • Ezekiel is ready to give his relationship with Carol a second try at the Commonwealth. For her part, she seems a lot more receptive to the idea than before, and even snuggles up next to him on the couch.
  • Princess once again compliments Mercer and the two of them share a date to the masquerade ball.
• Spotting the Thread: Mercer immediately knows that Sebastian didn’t capture Tyler by himself. Pamela also seems suspicious of it, but she publicly praises her son for it.
• Stepford Smiler: Ezekiel knows his chances still aren’t great, but as he puts it, he’s still finding reasons to smile.
• Time Skip: At the start of the episode, the Alexandrians have reached their first month in the Commonwealth.
• Took a Level in Badass: Sebastian is trying to do this with “advanced military training”, but he doesn’t seem cut out to be anything but an Action Survivor at best.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Sebastian is incredulous that Daryl saved him from a walker he clearly had no chance of killing. He later screams at Mercer just for making sure Max is okay.
• We Have Become Complacent: Or rather, We Have Remained Complacent. The Commonwealth actually uses real walkers in a haunted house attraction, even if they’re almost completely behind sealed glass and walls.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Mercer chastises Daryl for leaving his partner to fend for himself while he went for the goal walker; and to Mercer’s credit, the man was on the verge of being bitten.
  • Daryl asks why they have to assist in Sebastian’s training considering it’s clearly just some way to try to soothe the brat’s ego.
  • Magna doesn’t appreciate Rosita questioning her about Tyler on Mercer’s orders, and doesn’t like that she joined their military.