The Walking Dead returns for the final eight episodes. In “Lockdown,” Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) pulls out all the stops to find Daryl (Norman Reedus), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), and the gang before they can warn anyone about his true nature.
Previously on The Walking Dead …
Hornsby hired Leah (Lynn Collins) to track down and kill Maggie, Daryl, Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), and Aaron (Ross Marquand). Maggie was her true target though. She almost succeeded until Daryl killed his ex-girlfriend, saving Maggie. Hornsby was nearby but Daryl and Maggie escaped. Now he’s hot on their trail and out for blood.
The others at the Commonwealth are dealing with issues of their own. Connie (Lauren Ridloff) ran a story about the Milton family corruption. Sebastian Milton (Teo Rapp-Olsson) was forcing people into deadly situations for his personal gain. Connie has help from Kelly (Angel Theory), Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Max (Margot Bingham), Magna (Nadia Hilker) and Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) helping her. They need to find out what happened to the people on the list. And how much does Pamela Milton (Laila Robins) really know?
At the end of The Walking Dead episode 16, Hornsby took over Alexandria and Hilltop, displaying the Commonwealth flag. Then he made his way to Oceanside and took everyone hostage. He lined them up and flipped a coin to determine their fate.
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THE HUNT
Hornsby and his soldiers are tracking down Daryl, Maggie, Aaron, and Gabriel. Daryl takes the group to an abandoned town, but Hornsby is right behind them. They run into Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan) and Annie (Medina Senghore), who couldn’t just do nothing. The group is worried about the people in the Commonwealth. Hornsby probably already radioed the community. If he didn’t, they need to get a message to their people to warn them. But Hornsby would have put up checkpoints and his people all know Daryl’s group. But they don’t know Negan and Annie.
Negan volunteers to go. Daryl comes up with a plan to help him get out of town. Two patrol soldiers are blocked by a group of walkers. While the walkers take out one of the soldiers, Negan takes out the other. He passes the gun and walkie to Daryl and jumps into the patrol car. It doesn’t take long for Hornsby to realize what Daryl is up to. He tries to chase down and kill Negan, but Daryl cuts them off, allowing Negan to get away.
Hornsby hasn’t been able to contact the Commonwealth about Daryl. He tried once and got an answer but the signal was too bad to send a complete message. He sends a soldier outside of the town to get a better signal. After a few minutes, the soldier gets a signal. When he’s about to send Hornsby’s message, Maggie attacks him.
DETOUR

Daryl and Maggie run into soldiers and take a detour. They hide until the soldiers pass by. Maggie takes the opportunity to thank Daryl for saving her. She apologizes because she knows that Leah meant something to him. He says Glenn would want him to look after her and she never has to apologize for anything.
Gabriel, Aaron and Annie catch up with them. They decide to try and get behind Hornsby and attack his soldiers. They can’t find a way around them, so Annie suggests they go through the sewer tunnels. When they get down there, Daryl changes the plan. Instead of getting behind the soldiers, they decide to draw the soldiers into the sewer.
REVOLUTION
Things are tense at the Commonwealth as well. Connie’s anonymous story has the people revolting against the Miltons. The story was about Sebastian, but Pamela is feeling the pressure. She tries to convince everyone that Sebastian is not a monster. It doesn’t help that Sebastian is hiding. The people protest outside of the Governor’s office. She’s so bothered by the protest that she enacts the B4 team, but insists things are done her way.
Ezekiel, Rosita, Magna, Kelly and Connie join the protests and all feel that something big is about to happen. They wonder if they should prepare to leave, but Rosita says they should wait for the others to return. Rosita bumps into Mercer (Michael James Shaw) who wonders why she’s not in her uniform. Rosita says the protest is not her problem. Mercer is summoned to processing where a surprise guest waits for him.
When Mercer gets there, Negan is waiting for him. At first Negan says his friend April told him to ask for Mercer. And that he ran into some trouble with a suit. Mercer sends the guard away and Negan is able to speak freely. Negan says it was Daryl who sent him. Hornsby attacked them, but they are dealing with it. But they have people inside of the commonwealth to protect. Mercer says they can’t let him in because they have rules. Negan points out that Mercer is the only one following the rules.
THE QUIET GAME

Carol (Melissa McBride) is watching Judith (Cailey Fleming), RJ (Antony Azor), and Gracie (Anabelle Holloway) when she notices Shira aka Bad Stephanie (Chelle Ramos) and Roman Calhoun (Michael Tourek) heading toward their building. She calmly tells the kids to move. They have to play the quiet game.
Roman and Shira have a key to the apartment and let themselves in. Roman reveals that Hornsby’s radio message came through, but he only heard the name Dixon. He sees a photo of Daryl, Judith and RJ on the refrigerator and takes it. They decide to go to the school to look for the kids.
Jerry (Cooper Andrews) spots Negan in town and approaches him. Negan says he’s there to save them and asks for Carol. Carol and the kids are packing up when Jerry and Negan arrive. Negan tells her everything about what happened with Hornsby. He thinks Hornsby will try to use RJ and Judith to draw out Daryl. Carol asks Jerry to take the kids and send a message to the others to get ready to move. She needs Negan to help her get the insurance they need to get out.
Pamela finally leaves her office only to be confronted by April’s parents. Yumiko () stands up for Pamela telling the crowd that they will investigate the claims in the story. She promises to update everyone on what they find. After the crowd disperses, Pamela asks Yumiko if Connie would know who wrote the article. Yumiko says she would be surprised if Connie knew. Pamela then enacts the B4 team, telling them to do things her way.
LOCKDOWN
Later Yumiko meets with Magna to warn her about Pamela’s suspicions about Connie. They both know that Connie won’t back down, but she at least knows when to leave. Yumiko hopes they have a strong exit plan when they leave. She doesn’t want to leave because of Tomi (Ian Anthony Dale). Magna says they won’t leave either of them behind. For now they just have to be on guard and wait for the other shoe to drop. The alarms go off and the Commonwealth is put on lockdown. Yumiko says that could be the other shoe.
A representative from Pamela’s office explains that there is a ‘swarm’ of walkers approaching the Commonwealth. Jerry has the kids and they are being followed by Shira and Roman. A group of Jerry’s friends gather to block their path as Jerry and the kids get away. Roman is hot on their trail when Jerry leads the kids up a fire escape.
Carol tells Negan that they are looking for the blueprints to the building where Sebastian was last seen. While they look, Negan tells her about Annie and the baby. It’s clear that he’s worried, so Carol tells him that everything will be okay. They find the blueprints and head to the building.
Sebastian is hiding in a secret room. He tries to grab a gun when Carol and Negan enter the room. Negan stops him and Sebastian pulls the “do you know who I am” card. Sebastian should be more worried about who Negan is. Carol tells Sebastian that they are taking him to his mom. Sebastian doesn’t think his Mom cares and refuses to leave.. Negan says that Carol is a magician. If she’s offering to help him, he should take her up on it.
People are still in the town square, quietly protesting. Things get loud when the Commonwealth soldiers show up. The protestors won’t budget until Sebastian is delivered to them. At the same time, Carol and Negan are smuggling Sebastian out of the station. A passerby sees them and yells to the crowd. Negan tries to stop him but he gets hit and detained by a Commonwealth soldier. The protesters get loud, but eventually they hear walkers growling outside of the walls. The soldiers throw tear gas canisters at the crowd, forcing them to flee. Connie, Kelly, and Magna are among the people who were gassed.
STAND-OFF

The next day, Rosita joins Mercer’s team to clear out the walkers. Rosita questions how the walkers got past the perimeter. It all comes down to someone not doing their job. She’s not surprised. Mercer says that’s why he needs people like Rosita on his team. Rosita says she’s happy to help with the walkers, but the town politics is not her style. Mercer understands. He says if she ever feels like she needs to leave, he will help her. One of the jeeps flips over. Mercer and Rosita drive to the jeep to help the soldiers. They are able to save one, but the other is torn apart by the walkers. There are too many walkers, so Mercer and Rosita have to leave.
Yumiko confronts Pamela about the tear gas from the night before. Pamela doesn’t feel bad for using force to keep her people safe. Yumiko then asks how much Pamela knew about Sebastian’s bad behavior. Pamela makes excuses for him, saying his father and grandfather were the same way. They eventually grew out of it and became prominent leaders. Sebastian may be acting out, but he’s not a murderer.
Sebastian and Carol show up. Pamela hugs her son and then slaps him. She says he humiliated her by putting them in this situation. Sebastian says the story is not true, but Pamela will need more than his word to clear his name. That’s where Carol comes in. She tells Pamela that she needs help dealing with Hornsby. Pamela doesn’t see the connection, so Carol connects the dots for her. She says if Sebastian didn’t do the things he’s accused of, somebody had to.
Back in the town, a handful of Commonwealth soldiers make their way into the sewer. They are stopped by a walker trapped in a wire. Aaron and Annie come out of hiding to attack the soldiers. Hornsby jumps out with more soldiers to stop them. Maggie and Gabriel jump out as Daryl grabs Hornsby. More soldiers jump out and they are at a standstill, but Daryl has the upper hand though as he holds a knife at Hornsby’s throat.
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