Season 11, Episode 11
- Eugene goes on the hunt for the missing Stephanie while Connie investigates the story on Tyler Davis.
Eugene wakes up to find Stephanie reading his manuscript next to him in bed, and Stephanie says it's great and that she's proud of him. As Stephanie gets dressed to get ready for work, Eugene gives her a key to his apartment and tells her that he loves her. Stephanie pauses, but tells him she loves him too. They agree to meet for ice cream later. Eugene later tells Princess what happened and expresses some nervousness about things, but Princess assures him that when a woman tells a man she loves him, they've got nothing to worry about. Reassured, Eugene goes and takes a seat at a table in the town square, ready for his date...
But by dusk, Eugene is still at his seat at a table in the town square, having been stood up by his date.
Eugene goes to her apartment where a man is leaving, and slips into the building behind him. Eugene goes to Stehpanie's room to check on her, and gets no answer at her door. Unbeknownst to him, Stephanie is hastily packing her belongings into a suitcase...
Connie and Kelly are with the former's boss at the newspaper. Connie wants to publish the truth about the hostage situation from Tyler Davis, but her boss and editor of the paper refuses, insisting that they must publish what information was given to them by Pamela's press release. Connie and Kelly go to speak to Tyler at the hospital, but are turned away by a soldier as well as Mercer, who closes the door on them. Later, the pair take part in a ride-along with some of Mercer's forces. After Mercer saves some of his men from walkers, Connie asks him about Tyler's whereabouts, having ascertained that Max is his sister. Mercer is unresponsive.
After learning that Stephanie called in sick to work, Eugene goes to Rosita for help, and she leads a wellness check at Stephanie's apartment that turns out to be in vain. After a missing person report is filed, Eugene begins to collect as much data as possible to look for her. When Princess checks on him, Eugene reveals he has staked out the man he ran into leaving Stephanie's building, Roman Calhoun, and determined he has a window to break into his apartment to search for evidence on Stephanie's whereabouts. Reluctantly, Princess agrees to go with him.
Outside the Commonwealth, Carol rides with Lance to a poppy farm run by a man named Moto, who provides the plants needed to produce opium for the Commonwealth's medical facilities. Moto claims that his farmers want a raise in exchange for their crops, but Carol is able to piece together that Moto is embezzling Lance's pay to his workers. Lance has Moto arrested and thanks Carol.
Eugene and Princess successfully break into Roman's apartment and find he has a stash of weapons prohibited from Commonwealth citizens. They try to escape, but a neighbor has reported their break-in, and soon the pair are thrown in a jail cell. Lance later arrives and backs up Roman's earlier claim that he was a plumber, and says that Roman agreed to drop all charges against the pair if Eugene signs a legal waiver barring him from harassing him again. Eugene tells Princess that Stephanie must be caught up in a conspiracy that runs deeper than he imagined, but Princess finally loses her patience and tells him that Stephanie must have dumped him and fled, as painful as it is to say.
Meanwhile, Mercer goes to check on Tyler in his room, but finds out from a nurse that he was moved to an unknown location by someone with the authority to do so without his knowledge. Connie laments having to write a piece of borderline propaganda about the military until someone slips a list of names into her apartment, one of them being Tyler.
Undeterred by Princess's warnings, Eugene goes to the warehouse he staked out and finds Roman again, but this time, he is knocked to the floor by Stephanie, who coldly looks him over before Lance arrives and takes over. Eugene realizes that Stephanie was planted by Lance to weed out the location of the Coalition and laments having been fooled, and vows to expose Lance for his deception.
To his surprise, Lance is nonchalant about it - because what good would it really do? After all, Eugene and his friends lied constantly during their screening. Sure, Stephanie - or rather, Shira, as Lance reveals is her real name - lied to him, but they had a right to assess a potential threat to the Commonwealth. Yes, Eugene got his heart broken, but the Coalition was on the verge of starvation before the Commonwealth arrived. Now, the Coalition will be rebuilt, and its' residents can live safe lives in the Commonwealth for as long as they like. The Commonwealth gained a lot of productive citizens in the process. Eugene was outplayed, Lance got what he needed and wanted... and Shira hates Iron Maiden, but enjoyed his novel.
Devastated, Eugene burns his manuscript in an alley later. However, he hears a familiar voice behind him identifying as "Blue Weevil". Shocked, Eugene turns around to see Max, who introduces herself as the real "Stephanie".
- Bad Boss: Moto pockets the money Lance gives as raise and beats his people if they step out of line.
- Brutal Honesty:
- After narrowly getting out of jail, Princess breaks it down to Eugene that Stephanie must have dumped him and ran for it.
- At the end, Lance reminds Eugene that Alexandria was going to starve until they found the Commonwealth.
- The Cake Is a Lie: Princess shows up at Eugene's with what she claims is a tray of lasagna to try to talk him through things. When she gets inside, Eugene takes the tray and finds it empty, and when he asks, Princess admits she was lying just to get through the door so Eugene could hear her out.
- Call-Back: Lance points out that in “Acheron”, the group lied about not being part of a large community.
- Continuity Nod: Lance says that Shira hates Iron Maiden, recalling how Eugene and Stephanie sang it together in Season 10’s “Morning Star”.
- Death Glare: Mercer has a frightening one when Connie first starts snooping for info on Tyler.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Eugene got drunk off his ass in despair at Stephanie’s disappearance.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Lance lied to Eugene about Stephanie, but he points out that the communities were about to collapse and starve without the Commonwealth, who will not force the Alexandrians to stay if they don’t want to, so ultimately, things turned out alright for everyone else.
- Lampshade Hanging: Eugene says his story is intentionally vague at first, and will be clarified in later chapters. The series is known to indulge in this trope, whether it’s How We Got Here or most infamously in Scott Gimple’s seasons such as Season 8 (which built up the mystery of Rick bleeding out under a tree during its run).
- One-Steve Limit: Averted with Roman, who shares a name with a Savior who nearly killed Carol at the end of Season 6.
- Pet the Dog: According to Lance, Shira did like Eugene's idea for a Science Fiction Novel.
- Relationship Upgrade: Eugene and Stephanie have become an item… or so it initially appears.
- The Reveal: The woman Eugene was introduced to as Stephanie is actually someone named Shira, who was introduced to him as a ploy to get information about the communities by Lance. Furthermore, “Max” is unveiled as the actual Stephanie that Eugene spoke to on the radio and is revealed to be Mercer's sister.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Stephanie is seen packing her things to make a hasty exit after missing her ice cream date with Eugene.
- Shipper on Deck: Princess is all for Eugene’s blossoming relationship and tells him not to worry since she told him she loves him. Rosita also does what she can to help find Stephanie.
- Something Only They Would Say: The actual Stephanie introduces herself by addressing Eugene as “taterbug” and calling herself “Blue Weevil”.
- Spanner in the Works: Eugene and Princess nearly escape Roman’s apartment building until they are caught thanks to an old lady who decided to report their intrusion.
- Spotting the Thread:
- Eugene recognizes that Roman isn’t a plumber based on how he wasn’t carrying any tools as he left the apartment.
- Lance mentions that the Commonwealth auditors noticed that Eugene’s group lied a lot during their interview process, namely how they claimed to only be a group of four whereas they later found an entire community.
- Tempting Fate: Princess tells Eugene not to worry since Stephanie told him she loves him, only for her to pack up and disappear.
- There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: According to Lance, there are the people just there for a paycheck, and the actual believers in the organization.
- Trash the Set: Mercer punches a dent into a wall upon learning Tyler was moved without his authorization.
