The Coalition heads back for the Commonwealth to end things with Pamela once and for all.
Apologetic Attacker: More benevolent example than most, in that Jerry apologizes to Lydia for the pain she's about to endure from him hacking off her arm to save her from her bite.
Bad Boss: Pamela scolds Mercer for supposedly losing Eugene, and ignores Vickers' pleas for the lower classes' sake.
Be Careful What You Wish For: Vickers was loyal to Pamela, but is rewarded with Pamela deciding to only protect her home and the elite’s homes, the middle and lower classes be damned.
The Bus Came Back: Dianne returns for the first time since “The Lucky Ones”.
Negan once again implores Maggie to be thorough with her extermination of their enemy, as he did in “Promises Broken” with the Reapers.
Connie remembers how Tyler went missing after the ball in “New Haunts”.
Pamela once again calls for “B-17”, which she did in “Lockdown” - now revealed to be a diversionary tactic where troopers round up a horde to threaten the Commonwealth with so they can scare disorderly crowds into dispersing.
Character Death: Tyler Davis is the first casualty in Pamela’s ambush.
The scene uses the score that was heard during Michonne’s departure from the show in Season 10’s “What We Become”.
Judith mentions how Carl wanted a peaceful future as he explained to Rick and Michonne as he died in Season 8’s “Honor”.
Judith remembers how Michonne tried to hang up her sword when the group arrived in Alexandria in Season 5, before retaking it in the season finale “Conquer”.
Judith mentions Rick’s desire for mercy after his arc in Season 8.
Judith looks at the charter that Michonne drafted in Season 9, which was later signed by the community leaders in “The Calm Before”.
Ezekiel brings back his classic catchphrase, “and yet I smile.” Bringing up his cancer has an effect on Negan, who lost Lucille to it as detailed in Season 10’s “Here’s Negan”.
The score from “Morning Star” as the Hilltop prepared for battle returns during Ezekiel and Negan’s heart-to-heart.
Judith recalls how Carl died saving Siddiq in Season 8’s “The King, the Widow, and Rick” and “Honor”.
Lydia nearly allowed a walker to bite her hand in a bout of suicidal depression in Season 9's "The Storm", but was stopped by Carol. Here, unfortunately, a walker bites her same arm through a pure accident.
Aaron reminds Lydia that he had to undergo a painful amputation in Season 9’s “The Bridge”. Jerry does it with his sword like how Michonne did Tyreese’s arm in Season 5’s “What Happened And What’s Going On”.
Jerry says “piece of cobbler”, recalling how he loved cobbler back at the Kingdom.
Daryl carrying the injured Judith in a panic is a direct reference to Rick doing the same with Carl in Season 6’s “No Way Out”, as well as the first time he was shot back in Season 2’s “Bloodletting”. Judith also calls out “daddy” while reeling from her injury just like how Carl said “Dad?” in the moments after he got shot in the eye by Ron Anderson.
Carol calls the retreat once Judith is shot while Daryl panics, like how she told Lori they had to flee the farm despite her panicked search for Carl in Season 2’s finale “Beside the Dying Fire”.
Darkest Hour: Holy hell, things are at their lowest going into the finale. Mercer has been arrested for treason. Lydia loses an arm due to a walker bite. Jerry, Elijah, and baby Coco are all still missing. Pamela gravely wounds Judith during a shootout. Finally, due to the variants, walkers are inside the walls of the Commonwealth and Pamela has chosen to leave the lower class citizens to their fates. Daryl is forced to abandon the rest of the group to the herd while trying to get Judith to a hospital.
Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted. Pamela shoots at Maggie but hits Judith instead, and is initially horrified at what she's done...but then curses the Coalition and blames them for it. And she later proves willing to condemn the children of the lower classes to death if it means protecting herself and the upper classes.
False Flag Operation: “B-17” is revealed to be a protocol where Commonwealth troopers purposely lead a horde to the Commonwealth walls to scare people into complying with lockdown orders.
Heroes' Frontier Step: Discussed by Negan himself in regards to the last episode, he was willing to sacrifice himself for the group simply because he wanted to do the right thing.
History Repeats: As in "No Way Out", a Grimes child is accidentally shot while a massive herd descends upon the community, forcing one of the group members to carry them in their arms to the infirmary.
Mass "Oh, Crap!": Just about all the main cast present react in horror upon seeing Judith has been shot. And again when they see a walker climbing for the first time.
The Mole: Vickers is loyal to Pamela and spies on Mercer for her.
Ezekiel tells Negan he shouldn’t even be here, alluding to how his comic counterpart was a victim of Alpha’s pike massacre. Negan himself can relate, since his comic counterpart was Put on a Bus after the Whisperer War and never took part in the Commonwealth arc.
Pamela shooting Judith is a twofold reference to the comics.
In the comics, Douglas Monroe (who was Gender Flipped into the show’s Deanna Monroe) accidentally shot Carl during the “No Way Out” arc. Daryl carrying Judith in a panic is a direct reference to both comic and show Rick doing the same with Carl. Additionally, comic Carl took the bullet for Rick, just like how Judith takes the shot for Maggie.
Sebastian Milton is infamous for shooting and killing Rick in the comic’s penultimate issue. Here, Pamela shoots Judith in the penultimate episode of the series.
Never My Fault: When Pamela sees she shot Judith, she screams that the Coalition made her do it.
Outside-Context Problem: The walker variants take the Commonwealth troopers completely by surprise as you might expect. Negan is also shocked to see one.
Precision F-Strike: Negan has a well-earned “what the fuck?” when he sees a walker variant climbing.
Production Foreshadowing: Negan and Maggie discuss their relationship, foreshadowing how the characters are already confirmed to be starring in their own spin-off.
Redemption Equals Death: Tyler says he wants to atone for his past as a trooper and for taking Max hostage, and he is the first to die during the ambush.
The Reveal: “B-17” is revealed to be a protocol where Commonwealth troopers purposely lead a horde to the Commonwealth walls to scare people into complying with lockdown orders. This tracks given how a horde magically showed up at the same time as the initial protests against Sebastian, and Mercer and Rosita being surprised that the horde got through so many checkpoints.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Judith is shot, EVERYONE tries to shoot Pamela, especially Maggie, Carol and Negan.
Skewed Priorities: Pamela is so capricious she has Mercer arrested even while he’s leading efforts to divert the horde. Sure enough, once he’s gone, the troopers easily fall to the horde. Mercer warns Vickers that the walker horde is more dangerous and important to deal with than Pamela's orders, but she ignores him.
The Commonwealth troopers bringing another group of walkers prevents Aaron’s group from escaping into the forest.
A walker variant sneaks into Theta’s jeep and throws a monkey wrench into the soldiers’ efforts to redirect the approaching horde. More arrive at the Commonwealth’s gates and are directly responsible for their invasion.
Spotting the Thread: Pamela recognizes that Mercer is drawing away troops from a vulnerable entryway the Coalition could use and decides it’s enough to arrest Mercer for.
Taking the Bullet: Judith is shot by Pamela after pushing Maggie out of the way.
This Cannot Be!: Pamela is dumbfounded to hear the walkers breached the walls and are endangering the community.
This Is Gonna Suck: Quite understandably, Lydia needs a moment to brace herself for the forthcoming pain of losing her arm, as do Aaron and Jerry who are preparing to get her through it.
Trademark Favorite Food: Jerry says his task will be a piece of cobbler. Back at the Kingdom, he loved cobbler so much he refused to put it down even when on business.
Villainous Breakdown: Pamela is more paranoid and bloodthirsty than ever after Eugene goes missing and demand he be shot on sight. She later is deeply shaken after shooting Judith, and then it gets worse as she is nearly speechless when she learns the horde is invading the Commonwealth. All she can do is order a retreat to her home and for her troops to protect the elites at the cost of thousands of Commonwealth citizens.
