Recap / The Walking Dead S11E24 "Rest in Peace"

Season 11, Episode 24

The time has come for a final battle in the Commonwealth to determine what will be the ultimate fate of the walking dead.

Daryl rushes inside a hospital, cradling the wounded Judith who desperately cries that she can't die since Michonne is away finding the still-alive Rick. Daryl, wounded himself, ultimately collapses. Judith sees variant walkers starting to break in, and is able to barricade the door before collapsing next to Daryl.

Outside, chaos reigns. The group is desperately fighting the swarms surrounding them and trying to find a way out. Jules is suddenly bitten on the arm, and Luke begins trying to guide her to safety to amputate her arm. However, he's suddenly bodied by a variant walker who then chomps down on his leg, causing him to lose his grip on Jules. Luke can only watch in horror as Jules is pulled away and devoured by the horde. His best friends, Connie, Magna, Yumiko, and Kelly, quickly rescue him and join most of the group in retreating to the hospital. Daryl wakes up to find Carol standing over him and Judith, and the pair finally talk to Judith, who comes clean about Rick's survival and Michonne's mission. They are interrupted by the others trying to save Luke, but shock, blood loss, and the death of Jules causes their efforts to fail. Luke says goodbye to his best friends before he expires.

Little respite follows as the variants begin leading the charge inside, forcing the group to flee. Meanwhile, Rosita, Gabriel, and Eugene head for where the Commonwealth was keeping the Coalition's babies, and are able to rescue Coco and another baby from a walker. The trio begin heading for a rendezvous point, but they are followed by the dead at every turn, including several variants. The trio shimmy up a pipe to hide in an apartment building, but Rosita, carrying Coco, falls back into the horde... but regains her bearings and fights her way out, rejoining Eugene and Gabriel in safety.

Meanwhile, Princess and Max retrieve Mercer from prison. Additionally, the walker-disguised Aaron and Lydia rejoin the main group after leaving the horde. Everyone hunkers down to decide what to do next, as Tomi treats the wounded. The Coalition eventually agrees to stand by Mercer's side as he confronts Pamela in a final showdown. However, Eugene notices Rosita spending extra time with Coco, and awkwardly asks if she's looking forward to next summer. Rosita gives him a teary smile that says she won't be joining them next summer, and reveals to a heartbroken Eugene that she was scratched on her back by the horde. Rosita orders Eugene to keep it quiet until the battle is won, the fate of all of them more important than any one of them, but she reciprocates when he tells her he loves her as his best friend.

Maggie notices Negan is missing and finds him climbing the building with a sniper rifle. Negan protests that he intends to assassinate Pamela, knowing Maggie wanted to do it, as he wants Maggie to stay alive and not be the target of revenge for the assassination of the governor. Maggie asks why, and Negan finally, candidly tells Maggie that he finally experienced a taste of what he did to Maggie the terrible night he sadistically killed Glenn in front of her... and that he's sorry for it and everything else. Maggie is shocked, and after a moment, invites him to join her in scoping out Pamela.

Hundreds of lower class Commonwealth citizens are at the gates to the wealthy estates, begging for sanctuary. Pamela coldly watches as her soldiers shoot any civilians who try to climb over the walls. Finally, Mercer and the Coalition arrive to demand she stand down or be killed. Gabriel goes to unlock the gate, only stopping when one of Vickers's men puts a gun to his head. When Pamela protests that the approaching dead will kill them all if she lets in the civilians, Daryl refutes her by saying she made the Commonwealth like the old world before the Fall, and this whole mess is her fault as a result. Daryl says they only have one enemy - they are not the walking dead. This convinces Vickers and her men to finally turn on Pamela, deposing her on the spot and putting her under arrest.

As the group secures the perimeter, Pamela slips away and sees the reanimated Lance among the horde. Eager to end it all, Pamela tries to feed herself to him until she's stopped by Judith. Maggie destroys Lance's head, ensuring she will face justice for her crimes. Gabriel lets the civilians in, and they are joined by Jerry and Elijah who have caught up to them. The Coalition and the Commonwealth's combined might lures the horde to the estates where they set up a gas explosion that wipes out the horde and the estates with them.

The next day, the Coalition's members celebrate their victory with a feast and a toast to the fallen Luke and Jules. Negan doesn't join the festivities, knowing he's not quite welcome. Maggie comes outside to speak to him, and tells him that she will never forgive him for the horrible, sadistic way he killed Glenn. But, she acknowledges that he has truly changed and is trying to do better, and that his actions have earned him a place in the Coalition alongside Annie if they wish to stay. Negan is heartbroken to know he will never fully make amends for his past atrocities, but accepts Maggie's decision for what it is. He shares a courteous nod with Daryl. Meanwhile, during the party, Magna and Yumiko finally rekindle their relationship, but Judith notices something wrong with her Tia Rosita, who whispers what has happened to her ex-lover Gabriel.

Sometime later, a weak, frail Rosita is guided to a warm, soft bed by a teary Carol and Maggie, who kiss and hug her goodbye as she goes to lay down next to Judith as Daryl watches. Gabriel enters and gives Rosita her last rites, and the opportunity to say one last goodbye to her baby daughter Coco before taking her away for the last time. Gabriel promises they'll see each other again some day. Finally, Eugene arrives to be with Rosita in her final moments, thanking her for making him into the man he is today. Rosita smiles and says she's glad it was him in the end, before she finally dies, happy to know her family will be safe after she's gone. Eugene is left crying, knowing what he must do now.

One year passes. Eugene pays tribute to a memorial that honors Rosita, as well as Luke, Jules, and many others, before embracing Max, his wife, and their newborn daughter, Rosie. Nearby, Governor Ezekiel gives a speech honoring the new era of the Commonwealth alongside his Lieutenant Governor Mercer, watched by Director of Operations Carol. Judith receives back the watch that she gave Negan in a letter, who tells her he's doing okay. Hilltop and Alexandria have been rebuilt as equal members of the Commonwealth, with Gabriel now raising Coco alone, and Maggie telling Daryl she's interested in sending scouts out to the wider world again.

Daryl bids goodbye to Judith and RJ, telling them that if he finds their parents on his journey, he'll bring them home. The children are left in the care of Carol and Ezekiel, safe in the new Commonwealth as Daryl drives away.

Somewhere, and sometime away, Rick Grimes writes a letter to his wife, Michonne, who also writes her own letter to Judith and RJ. Rick writes about all the fallen family he's lost and how he will never give up, and Michonne says the same. They both remember their motto, "we're the ones who live". Michonne charges towards a vast horde, while Rick is forced to surrender to a CRM helicopter, but is undeterred by his recapture.

Back home, Judith tells RJ once again, "we're the ones who live."

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• An Arm and a Leg: The group tries to do this to save Luke’s life, but without adequate medical personnel and resources, he dies of blood loss and shock.
• And the Adventure Continues: Though peace has been brought to the Coalition - and the Commonwealth with it - walkers are still a threat in the world. Maggie turns her eyes towards building for the future again, and Daryl sets out on a journey into the wider world, wherein he promises Judith that if he finds Rick and Michonne, he will bring them home.
• Arc Words:
  • “The walking dead” returns for the Grand Finale of the show, as Daryl finally draws a line between the living and the dead to prove Pamela wrong.
  • “We’re the ones who live”, returning from the Season 7 finale.
• Babies Ever After: By the epilogue, Eugene and Max have had a daughter named Rosie. Yumiko may or may not also be expecting after getting back together with Magna; see the Trivia page for more on that.
• Back for the Dead: Luke and Jules both perish after having only returned a few episodes prior.
• Back for the Finale:
  • In a meta example, several long dead characters reappear in the episode’s commercial breaks.
    • Rodney from Season 9 makes a reappearance in the DoorDash commercial during the episode’s first TV break.
    • Milton from Season 3 follows suit in an AutoDesk commercial in the second break.
    • Gareth returns in a Ring commercial.
    • Andrea Harrison returns in the final commercials in a set resembling The Governor’s office from Season 3.
  • In a more serious example, the final scene has Rick and Michonne return at last for the first time since Season 9's "What Comes After" and Season 10's "What We Become", respectively.
  • Numerous other actors return to record the line “we’re the ones who live”, some of them whose characters have been long dead like Steven Yeun and Michael Cudlitz, and some who left the series for other installments of the franchise like Lennie James.
• Big Damn Kiss:
  • Princess leaps into Mercer's arms after they break him out of jail.
  • Magna and Yumiko rekindle their romance with a kiss.
• Bittersweet Ending: The survivors will never be able to regain all their lost friends and family, the last casualties being Luke, Jules, and Rosita. Walkers, including the variants, remain a threat, and Rick and Michonne are still missing. But the Coalition and the Commonwealth are now joined together in peace with Ezekiel and Mercer leading the latter after Pamela’s downfall. Alexandria and Hilltop have been rebuilt and are flourishing again. Most of the cast are now living safer, more peaceful lives again. And Rick and Michonne are both fighting tooth and nail to reunite and find their way home.
• Book Ends:
  • The episode contains heavy visual and thematic references to the Season 1 finale "TS-19" sequence where Shane tried to evacuate Rick from a hospital that was falling to the dead, this time with Daryl trying to get the injured Judith (who is Shane's biological daughter) to safety.
  • Gabriel is the one who opens the gates to save the Commonwealth citizens, bringing him full circle from when he left his flock to die at the start of the Fall.
  • Rosita was introduced alongside Abraham and Eugene, and she dies next to Eugene, the last survivor from their trio.
  • Magna's group was introduced in "What Comes After" having just come off losing one of their only male members, Bernie. This episode sees them lose their last remaining male member, Luke. Coincidentally, Luke was also the second member of their group to be seen on-screen, like how he's their second member to perish.
  • The pilot episode ended with Rick surviving after an encounter with a mysterious helicopter. The series finale ends with him in another encounter with a CRM helicopter.
  • Greg Nicotero played the first walker Daryl killed in Season 1's "Tell it to the Frogs". He returns as the last walker Daryl encounters on his ride out of the city in the finale.
  • Andrew Lincoln, Lennie James, Chandler Riggs, and Steven Yeun all participate in one way or another in both the pilot and final episode of the series. Lincoln returns as Rick Grimes, Riggs has a background cameo as an extra at Hilltop, and Yeun and James return to record “we’re the ones who live”.
  • Rick gets the first and last walker kill of the series.
• The Bus Came Back: Mei is seen as a citizen at the gates of the estates, and Lance also returns as a walker at the gates of the estates. Dog also returns after having been abducted by Pamela’s special forces.
• The Cameo:
  • Chandler Riggs makes a background cameo playing a man working the crops at Hilltop.
  • Greg Nicotero makes a final cameo as a walker that Daryl zooms by in one of the final scenes.
  • Rick and Michonne’s appearances in the ending.
• Character Death:
  • Jules is eaten by the walker horde and Luke is bitten on the leg trying to save her. He later dies of shock and blood loss.
  • Rosita is bitten on the shoulder by a walker while saving Coco. She eventually succumbs to the infection and is put down by Eugene.
• Cliffhanger Copout: The last episode ended with Jerry and Elijah's fates unknown, the former especially looked like he was being set up for a Heroic Sacrifice. They turn up just fine at the gates of the Estates after the key conflict of Pamela's sacking is resolved.
• Continuity Nod: Let's just say that if this was your first episode of the series, tough luck.
  • Daryl tries to rescue the unresponsive Judith from the hospital that’s under siege from walkers, just like her biological father Shane tried to do for her adopted father Rick back in the Season 1 finale “TS-19”‘s flashbacks.
  • A variant walker begins trying to break into the hospital using a rock to break the glass door, just like how variants tried in the first episodes of the series. This time, the variant is successful.
  • Judith finally tells Daryl and Carol of Michonne’s quest to find Rick that she left for in Season 10’s “What We Become”. She previously expressed fear Daryl would leave her if he knew in “The Tower”.
  • Negan finally does the unthinkable and directly apologizes to Maggie for killing Glenn in Season 7’s “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”. Rick's daydream of a dinner with the family gathered around the table also finally comes to fruition at the Commonwealth, though unfortunately without Rick himself.
  • Eugene gives Rosita a platonic kiss on the forehead, recalling how he gave her a platonic kiss on the cheek in Season 10’s “Morning Star” when she convinced him to pursue his interest in “Stephanie”. Ironically, Max is asleep next to them.
  • Daryl calls Judith “lil asskicker”, the name he gave her back when she was just born in Season 3.
  • Daryl says “we ain’t the walking dead”. In Season 5’s “Them”, wherein Rick delivered the Title Drop for the series “we are the walking dead”, Daryl refused to accept it, saying “we ain’t”. Here, he makes good on his retort.
  • As he dies, Luke motions to his jacket pocket and Connie takes out a harmonica. In Season 9's "Stradivarius", Luke was distressed over losing one of his instruments and Connie jokingly called it a fetish.
  • Maggie and Negan’s conversation follows on from their last heart from heart in “Promises Broken” where they discussed Glenn’s murder.
  • Yumiko and Magna get back together after breaking up back in Season 10’s “Walk With Us”.
  • Daryl and Carol giving Pamela a life sentence for her crimes is reminiscent of the scene where Rick and Michonne did the same to Negan at the end of Season 8's "Wrath".
  • Connie got Pamela's uncle kicked out of Congress after exposing his corruption to the public, as first related in "New Haunts". Pamela suffers the same fate, being forced out of power when she coldly allows her people to be sacrificed to save herself.
  • Negan gives Judith back the watch that she lent him when he decided to escape Alexandria in Season 9’s “Adaptation”.
  • Daryl and Carol have a conversation where they sit together on a log and Carol tells Daryl he’s her best friend, recalling their conversation in the Season 10 premiere “Lines We Cross”. Carol teased Daryl for calling her his best friend at the time.
  • The boat that Rick throws his bag of possessions onto is the same one that Michonne first found evidence of his survival of back in “What We Become”.
  • The final scene has a massive montage of scenes from throughout the series, and finally, the words between Rick and Michonne that Judith mentioned are confirmed to be “we’re the ones who live”, first heard in the Season 7 finale.
• Dead Guy Junior: Eugene and Max have a daughter named “Rosie” in the epilogue.
• The Determinator: Despite being critically wounded in the shoulder, once she sees Daryl’s been knocked out and the horde is approaching, Judith gets up to try to close the doors and buy them some time.
• Despair Event Horizon: Losing control of the Commonwealth causes Pamela to nearly feed herself to Lance, but Maggie takes the choice away from her.
• Devoured by the Horde: Jules suffers this fate and has the dubious honor of being the final victim of said fate in the series.
• Disney Villain Death: Narrowly averted for Rosita, who falls from the pipe into the waiting horde, but manages to fight her way out.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Everyone who survives.
  • The Coalition and Commonwealth have joined together to form one massive, multi-state alliance. Ezekiel takes Pamela's job as Governor of the Commonwealth, giving him a second Kingdom to rule over, and appoints Mercer as the Lieutenant Governor and Carol as the Director of Operations.
  • Eugene and Max marry and have a daughter who they name after Rosita.
  • Mercer and Princess, and Lydia and Elijah, are all still together and living at the Commonwealth while Magna and Yumiko rekindle their romance.
  • Aaron, Gabriel, and Jerry are happy and thriving at Alexandria with their children, as is Maggie at Hilltop.
  • Though Negan's whereabouts are unknown, he's presumably content with Annie and now has a child of his own.
  • Judith and RJ are living at the Commonwealth with Carol.
  • Downplayed in Daryl's case — while happy for his friends and family, he'll never rest knowing Rick and Michonne are still out there and embarks on a quest alone to bring them home.
• Face Death with Dignity: Rosita maintains her composure hours after being scratched, content to soak up all her remaining time left with her daughter. It’s telling that when Eugene learns of her condition, she bluntly tells him to get his shit together through her tears.
• Fate Worse than Death: Negan attests that imprisonment is worse than death for someone like Pamela, as he would know. Pamela is last seen fuming after Carol tips her off that the estates, her bastion of power and wealth, were destroyed in the battle with the horde.
• Grand Finale: The final episode of The Walking Dead. The franchise will continue on through the various spin-offs in The Walking Dead television universe, some of which are still ongoing like Fear the Walking Dead or are forthcoming such as The Walking Dead: Dead City.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Luke and Jules perish, but it was during the battle with the horde in the group's attempt to clear a path to get to the hospital and save their loved ones, meaning they still died for a noble cause.
  • Negan intends to be the one who kills Pamela to spare Maggie from the inevitable backlash and target on her back.
• History Repeats: Rosita's last day is pretty similar to Bob Stookey's. Both are bitten on the shoulder but instead of telling everyone right away, decide to spend their last hours enjoying the company of their family and gazing fondly upon a future they know they won't be a part of. Both are given last rites by Gabriel and die peacefully after saying a final goodbye to their friends.
• Hope Spot: Rosita seems to be alright after falling into the horde and climbing to safety. It's only later when Eugene begins talking about the summer is it revealed that she was bitten on the shoulder and won't live to experience that future.
• I Hate Past Me: Negan’s sorrowful tears when Maggie reminds him of how he not only killed Glenn horribly, but openly mocked him like a childish bully as he suffered and writhed in agony, makes it clear he completely hates his past self and totally understands Maggie’s decision.
• Improbable Infant Survival: This is likely the only reason Rosita even survives falling into the horde, as she is carrying Coco with her. The other babies in the nursery also survive the ordeal.
• Internal Reveal: Judith finally tells Daryl of Michonne’s mission to find Rick, though he doesn’t believe her at first due to thinking she’s just out of it.
• Kill the Cutie: Jules was a pretty, friendly woman and Luke's adoring girlfriend; Luke himself was a friendly, loving guy who just wanted to preserve music and culture. Both die horrible deaths in the opening of the episode.
• Lack of Empathy: Pamela has any Commonwealth resident who tries to climb the fence into the estates shot on sight.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Daryl tells Carol he wishes she was coming with him, alluding to how Melissa McBride was unable to participate in Season 1 of the forthcoming spin-off.
• Mama Bear: Rosita makes predictably short work of the walkers threatening Coco’s life. Later, she escapes from certain immediate death by fighting her way out of a horde that was about to set upon her and Coco.
• Missing Mom: With Rosita's death, Coco is left without a mother.
• The Mourning After: Maggie tells Negan she will never again love someone like she loved Glenn.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The title of the episode is taken from the final volume of the comic series.
  • Daryl delivers Rick’s famous reverse Title Drop, in his own way - “We ain’t the walking dead”.
  • Rosita’s fatal scratch is revealed similarly to how Andrea’s scratch in the comics was, and Eugene is also the one she first reveals it to. She also chooses to die in a bed with her most dear loved one, in this case Coco. The other characters also come by to say their goodbyes.
  • Much of Maggie’s heart to heart with Negan, telling him how her memories of Glenn are scarred by his murder of him, is lifted from their confrontation in issue #174, which had already been adapted for “What Comes After” in Season 9.
  • Rosita and Luke were among the casualties of Alpha's mass decapitation in the comics but were Spared by the Adaptation in the show. They both meet their fates here in the series finale.
  • Pamela being sentenced to life imprisonment and being forced to watch her community flourish without her is pretty much the fate her son Sebastion received in the comics after murdering Rick.
• Once a Season: Showrunner Angela Kang continues her tradition of having a character/characters return after a long absence just to be killed off. She did it in Season 9 with Frankie, in Season 10 with Beatrice, and in the final season with Roy and Marco and now Luke and Jules.
• Papa Wolf: Rick is finally revealed to have been fighting for years to try to get back to his family, surprising no one.
• Promotion to Parent: Downplayed. Gabriel already considered Coco his daughter, even after he and Rosita broke up offscreen, but now he is left as her sole parent after Rosita's death and Eugene starting a family of his own with Max.
• Reformed, but Rejected:
  • Played With. After Negan sincerely apologizes to her and tries to take one for her by being the one to assassinate Pamela, Maggie finally tells Negan that he is welcome to stay with the community and that she wants to try to let go of her hate for him. But his cruel murder of Glenn still weighs heavily on her every time she looks at him, and she tells him that she will likely never forgive him on a personal level and some days won’t be able to look at him or work with him.
  • Subverted. Daryl actually gives Negan a respectful nod when he sees him outside the house where his friends are having dinner, presumably having buried most of if not all of his hatchet with him.
• The Reveal: Rick is finally revealed to have been a captive prisoner of the CRM who has been actively trying to escape.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Luke and Jules are killed off in the first five minutes of the episode.
• Sacrificial Lion: Rosita has been around since Season 4 and gives her life protecting her daughter from the walker herd.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Carol shuts up Pamela’s ranting about how there will be hard choices as leaders by saying it wasn’t easy to spare her.
• Time Skip: The episode's epilogue jumps ahead one year.
• Title Drop: Daryl says “we ain’t the walking dead”.
• Together in Death: Alluded to when Gabriel takes Coco away from Rosita and bids his final farewell to her, assuring Rosita that they'll see her again some day.
• To Absent Friends: During the group dinner at the end, Yumiko gives a toast to the fallen Luke.
• The Unreveal: What was the mysterious "Designation Two" Pamela arranged for Connie to be sent to a few episodes ago? It's implied to have something to do with the CRM, but nothing is confirmed one way or the other.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension:
  • Despite the Ship Tease, Daryl and Connie do not end up together.
  • Carol and Ezekiel also don't appear to have rekindled their romance, though Carol living at the Commonwealth as Ezekiel's Director of Operations does raise the chances of them becoming a couple later down the line.
• Wham Shot: Rosita reveals that she received an untreatable scratch.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Much like in the comics, several characters remain missing by the end of the episode, or their fates are not shown by the end.
  • Virgil was last seen in “For Blood” taking refuge upstairs and never returned.
  • Scott was last mentioned in “No Other Way”, but never returned on-screen. Another minor Alexandrian, Barbara, was also never seen again.
  • Heath ultimately never reappeared again after his abduction by the Scavengers and the CRM in Season 7’s “Swear”.
  • Georgie was last mentioned in “The Lucky Ones” in past tense, but was never explicitly stated to be a resident of Meridian who was murdered by the Reapers, leaving her fate ambiguous.
  • Oceanside is only mentioned by Eugene in his conversation with Rosita, and is not shown in the epilogue. It was last mentioned as having been enslaved by Lance’s forces and presumably Pamela’s thereafter, so it’s left to the viewer to assume they are back to normal as well.
  • Annie isn’t seen in this episode, nor is her and Negan’s child seen or mentioned in the epilogue, but Negan’s letter being optimistic in tone suggests they’re presumably okay. It'll likely be followed up on in the forthcoming Maggie/Negan spin-off.
  • Shira was last seen in “A New Deal”, but while her cohort Roman Calhoun turned up dead the following episode, Shira herself never returned nor were her whereabouts mentioned.
  • In-Universe, Morgan never returned after leaving Virginia after the Savior War, leaving his fate unknown to the Coalition, though viewers know he’s alive and well by the end of Season 7 of Fear the Walking Dead. Sherry also never returned to Virginia by the end of this series, having also become a regular on Fear (Dwight was explicitly exiled by Daryl so nobody is wondering where he went). Jadis/Anne also disappeared from the Coalition at the same time as Rick, though viewers can also refer to another installment of the franchise, The Walking Dead: World Beyond for answers on her whereabouts.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Finally defied by the epilogue, which reveals that the Coalition has rebuilt Alexandria and Hilltop which are finally back on their feet after the Whisperer War. The trope is invoked by Carol who delivers a Shut Up, Hannibal! to Pamela and taunts her that her home and bastion for the elite was destroyed.
• You Are in Command Now: Mercer takes control of the situation to repel the horde. A year later, Ezekiel is Governor with Mercer as lieutenant governor.
• You Are Not Alone: The group rallies around Mercer, determined to help him in the last stand against Pamela.
• Zombie Infectee:
  • Jules gets a bite on her arm, and Luke springs into action to save her. While he does get a few steps in, he gets knocked down by what is implied to be a variant walker and is bitten on the leg himself. Jules is separated from him and eaten by the horde, while Luke eventually dies of blood loss and shock from the amputation his group gives him.
  • Rosita is bitten on her shoulder while escaping the horde with Coco and lasts about a day before dying.