The Walking Dead is walking into some new territory as Team Family goes to the Commonwealth. In “New Haunts,” Team Family adjusts to life in the Commonwealth. Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Rosita (Christiaan Serratos) join the military and Carol (Melissa McBride) finds a new cause to fight for.
Last week, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) brought Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) and the Commonwealth soldiers to Alexandria. Lance offered to help them rebuild Alexandria but also invited them to move to the Commonwealth. Who accepted the invitation? We’ve seen a little bit of what life is like at the Commonwealth. Will it be a good thing or a bad thing for Team Family?
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Do you remember when Team Family arrived at Alexandria and how apprehensive they were about everything? The community was unfamiliar to them. They didn’t know how to relax and enjoy the safety of the community. And they were always on guard for anything that would harm the family. Things are different this time. There’s still a little bit of apprehension, but the fact that the Commonwealth has a military with actual weapons make it a little bit easier to adjust to the community.
30 DAYS LATER
The Commonwealth puts on a Halloween carnival for the kiddos. There’s even candy! Daryl does his best to enjoy the festivities with Judith, now Jude (Cailey Fleming) and RJ (Antony Azor). Jerry (Cooper Andrews) and his kids are having blast while dressed like tigers. The perfect tribute to Shiva. Carol has a great job working at the bakery. Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) went back to working in the petting zoo.
Connie (Lauren Ridloff) and Kelly (Angel Theory) were hired by the local newspaper and are already stirring things up. Carol is still encouraging Daryl to ask Connie on a date. There are several people we know already there. But there are a lot missing as well.
The Commonwealth governor Pamela Milton (Laila Robins) and her assistant (Margot Bingham) make their way through the carnival to hand out candy to the kids. Pamela even gives out the ward for best costume. It went to a young girl who dressed up as Mercer (Michael James Shaw). Her prize is a handful of lottery tickets. Apparently that’s a big deal.
Jude makes a new friend named Mei (Chiara Misawa). They run into Princess (Paola Lázaro) at the record store. Mei suggests that Jude buy a Motorhead album, but Jude doesn’t have any money. Mei buys the album for Jude as a gift.
SAVING A FRIEND
Carol checks in on Ezekiel. He says he’s fine, but she can see him hurting. She breaks into the hospital records to check on his condition. Tomi (Ian Anthony Dale), Yumiko’s (Eleanor Matsuura) brother, catches her. He doesn’t turn her in, but instead helps her understand what’s going on with Ezekiel. Ezekiel needs surgery, but he’s number 147 in line for that surgery. His chances aren/t very good unless he moves up in line. This makes Carol very sad.
Carol decides to find a way to help Ezekiel move up on the surgery list. She starts by watching those in charge. She sees Lance and Pamela’s assistant arguing about the lack of good wine available in the community. Lance throws the wine away. Carol takes a look at it and researches the availability of wine in the Commonwealth. This leads her to a house outside of the Commonwealth walls. She goes to the cellar and finds lots of wine and lots of walkers.
MILITARY TRAINING
Daryl and Rosita join the military. Both of them are capable fighters, but they are also used to taking matters into their own hands. Learning to work as a team is a bit difficult for Daryl. Mercer, Daryl and Rosita tag along with Sebastian Milton (Teo Rapp-Olsson) while he trains to fight walkers.
Sebastian is a brat. Mercer gives him a pick of the new weapons they collected. That collection includes Daryl’s crossbow and Jude’s katana. Mercer releases two walkers for Sebastian to fight. He does okay with the first one, but the second one is more aggressive. Daryl has to shoot it with the crossbow to save Sebastian. Sebastian gets angry with Daryl for saving him and whines to Mercer about it. He stops whining when he sees his mother watching.
Mercer says Daryl shouldn’t interfere so Sebastian can learn. He gets that Daryl is used to doing thing on his own. But that’s not how things work in the Commonwealth. They work together and set each other to win. Daryl just needs to get out of his way to learn that.
Daryl, Jude, RJ and Dog are living in a small apartment. They can hear everything around them from loud rock music to babies crying. Jude asks Daryl for an allowance. He says they can talk about it when his job starts paying. He assumes this means that the kids want to stay in the Commonwealth, even after Alexandria is fixed up. RJ definitely wants to stay. Jude says as long as their mom knows where to find them, she will stay too.
Carol delivers a case of wine to Lance Lance is impressed by her ability to get out of the community without being seen, but knows she’s about to ask for something. Carol wants Lance to move Ezekiel up on the surgery list. That’s a big favor to ask. Lance wants to make sure the wine will be a big hit before he agrees.
MASQUERADE BALL
Pamela is throwing a masquerade party that evening for those who have the more important jobs in the community. The other citizens stand outside of the doors, watching the guests arrive on the red carpet. Magna (Nadia Hilker) is working as a server for the party. She sees Yumiko. They exchange smiles, but no conversations.
The crowd cheers when Mercer arrives, making him uncomfortable. Princess is in the crowd and gets Mercer’s attention. She wants to tell him how good he looks. In return, he asks Princess to join him and she agrees. She gets a look from the doorman, but Mercer gives him a look to let her in.
The party is going smoothly. Pamela glides through the crowd in a deliberate path. Her schedule is very tight and she has little time to speak to anyone not on the approved list. Connie is on that list and she asks about the Halloween celebration. Pamela thinks traditions are important and provide comfort and structure in uncertain times. Connie also asks bout the classism on display. Not everyone was invited to the masquerade. Pamela answers like a true politician saying she is glad everyone found them. She truly appreciates everyone who contributes to the vibrant community. Pamela introduces Connie to the lottery winner. I think that’s someone from the common folk who gets to attend grand events for the more important people.
A waiter watches them closely and approaches Pamela when she moves to her next scheduled encounter. Yumiko and Princess recognize the guy. He was one of the guards who vetted them when they first arrived at the Commonwealth. Princess beat him up in the train car.
SURPRISE ATTACK
Pamela gets on stage and thanks everyone for joining her. She wants to give them a sneak peak at a painting of her father. Pamela says her father started the Commonwealth. And together they are putting the world back together, just the way it was. She thinks her father would be proud of how the Commonwealth loves and protects all of its citizen.
The former soldier, turned waiter calls BS on Pamela. He says the Commonwealth doesn’t care for all of its citizens. Pamela’s assistant tries to stop the man, whose name is Tyler (Cameron Scott Roberts). He grabs the assistant and holds a knife to her neck. Mercer, Daryl and Rosita move in closer. Tyler says he was a trooper, but he made one mistake and lost everything. He says Pamela doesn’t care about him or any of the little people. All she cares about is parties. He slashes the painting.
Pamela asks him to let her assistant, Max go. Tyler moves away from the party with Max. Mercer steps in front of him and follows. When Tyler gets to an exit, he pushes Max down and runs away. Mercer checks on Max before Sebastian interjects, yelling at Mercer to go after Tyler. Mercer pulls out a radio and tells his team to get Tyler.
HERO
Daryl spots Tyler running toward the fun house and follows him. He hears Tyler and follows him. Tyler starts crying saying he only wanted to talk to Pamela to make her understand. Now he won’t get that chance. Tyler holds the knife to his throat. Daryl yells at him to stop. Tyler says he screw up by getting beat up by a prisoner. He lost his apartment, his pay and can’t help his sister.
Daryl says not a lot of people have family anymore. It’s not fair for Tyler to take his sister away from her. Tyler gives up and lets Daryl handcuff him. on their way out, they run into Sebastian. Sebastian commends Daryl for catching Tyler. Daryl says no. Sebastian caught Tyler. He lets Sebastian take the win.
Sebastian leads Tyler through the party to his mother. The crowd claps as he walks past. His mother smiles and tells him well done. She tells the troops to remove Tyler. As Tyler walks away, he says arresting him won’t stop him. There are thousands more like him. He yells, “Resist the Commonwealth” as he is led away. Pamela asks Lance if there are really thousands more. Lance says no, but Pamela isn’t so sure.
WHAT’S NEXT?
After the party, Carol sees Yumiko is passing around a notepad that people are signing, while Max gives them an envelope of money. A trooper sees connie and Kelly standing outside and forces them back into the building. Lance comes out and says the wine was a good first step. She asks what’s next.
Mercer disperses his troops around the building to find out how Tyler got into the party. He also asks Rosita to ask her friends on the waitstaff about Tyler. Rosita asks Magna about Tyler and the things he said. Magna doesn’t know much about Tyler or what he was talking about. But she believes him. She says the Commonwealth is just like the cities from before. Rosita remembers how that was.
Ezekiel visits Carol. They share a drink and remember Henry. Ezekiel gives her a box of mementos that Henry kept. She tries to give it back, but Ezekiel insists that she have it. He says the commonwealth can be a fresh start if she wants it to be. Carol asks how he really is. Ezekiel says he’s great. He’s still finding reasons to smile.
DAY 33
Daryl puts on his uniform for the first time. Jude is also dressed up. Daryl gives her a record player and they listen to the Motorhead album. Meanwhile, Rosita goes on her first assignment. She and others are sent to check out a citizen’s apartment. The citizen is not there, but Rosita finds a secret room in the back of a closet. Inside the room are templates for the resistance. There are signs that say Resist the Commonwealth and Visibility for Workers. There is also a picture of a Commonwealth trooper. Some of those pictures have red paint on them, like someone was using them for target practice.
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News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
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