Above all else, Family is most important on The Walking Dead. In “Outpost 22,” Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa McBride) make plans to find their friends as a few of the lucky one make plans to escape.
Here is what we know about the whereabouts of Team Family. Eugene (Josh McDermitt) is in jail for murder. Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) is still in the Commonwealth, ready to defend Eugene. Daryl and Carol were able to escape and are looking for everyone else. Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) led them to a railroad track and then they killed him. Aaron (Ross Marquand), Jerry (Cooper Andrews), Lydia (Cassady McClincy), and Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari) are on their way to Oceanside. And everyone else was taken by the Commonwealth soldiers, under the orders of Pamela Milton (Laila Robins)
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No one knows more about survival than Maggie (Lauren Cohan). For her entire journey, Maggie always had a lot to lose and has lost so much. With her son Hershel’s (Kien Michael Spiller) life on the line, the stakes are even higher.
HARD LABOR
Maggie wakes up in the back of a truck with two other hooded individuals and a sleeping Commonwealth soldier. She gets out of her bonds easily and wakes up the other two. Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) wakes first and helps Maggie to wake up Rosita (Christian Serratos). They quietly jump out of the moving truck. Maggie is the last, but the soldier wakes up and grabs her before she can get out. There is a struggle that ends with the driver being shot and the truck crashes into a tree. The first thing Maggie does is try to take a gun. She can get it loose from the soldier and has to run as more Commonwealth soldiers arrive.
The next morning, Rosita wakes up to a Commonwealth soldier-walker approaching her. Gabriel is nearby and pushes the walker away before he can get to Rosita. They easily kill the soldier-walker and take his equipment, including the radio. They hear someone at an outpost tell the convoy that their expected truck hasn’t arrived. And there is no sign of the escapees. Another soldier says they found a set of boot tracks and thinks they are closing in on the escapees.
Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) wakes up on the bus with the rest of Team Family. The bus is stopped, but no one knows where. Annie (Medina Senghore) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) know there was a crash. Since there is no sign of Maggie, Rosita and Gabriel, their only hope is that they escaped.
The Warden (Michael Weaver) comes aboard and tells our friends that they are prisoners. Their fate is to do hard labor in preparation for the future. The children are safe and he promises they will all see each other, if everyone plays by the rules. The Warden picks a few of the survivors to work at a different location. The last person he picks is Annie. Negan is extremely worried, but keeps his cool. He promises her that he will get all three of them out of there. For now, his group will be clearing the railroad tracks.
BETWEEN A ROCK AND HARD PLACE
Maggie is alone when she sees a child walker coming toward her. She remembers the Commonwealth soldiers pulling Hershel from her when they took her. Maggie picks up a rock to kill the walker, but she can’t do it. She walks away and the child walker follows her.
Rosita is anxious to get Coco back, but she doesn’t have much of a plan. Gabriel tries to stop her to formulate one, but Rosita is in a hurry. Two walkers come out of nowhere. Gabriel kills one and the other grabs Rosita. She falls to the ground and Gabriel kills the second walker. Rosita says her arm is dislocated and asks Gabriel to help her reset it. Afterward, he tells her to slow down and take a breath. As they wait, they hear a train and decide to head towards it.
Daryl and Carol are staking out the train station. A train arrives with new vehicles for the Commonwealth. Their plan is to follow the train to see where it leads. Another vehicle arrives and Connie (Lauren Ridloff) is in there. Carol turns on the radio and they hear the guards say that Connie is designation two. Daryl says they can’t rescue Connie without risking the kids. Carol suggests they continue as planned. Follow the train and bust out the others. They drive fast to keep up and eventually have to drive away from the train. Carol says they can get ahead of it and wait.
They get to a barnyard near the tracks where there is also a junction. They have to wait for the train to get there to do anything. Daryl can’t wait though. He wants to help Connie. Carol understands his concern for Connie. She reminds him of when Connie was lost in the cave. Kelly (Angel Theory) said they can’t help her if they’re dead. She says she will do things Daryl’s way, but if they go get Connie alone, they could make a lot of mistakes. Daryl agrees to wait.
MAKE THINGS RIGHT
Maggie is walking along the tracks and hears a vehicle approaching. She hides in a ditch and a soldier (Greg Perrow) on a motorcycle stops near her. He radios in that the crossing is clear. That’s when the child walker shows up. The soldier stands and waits for the walker to get closer before he raises his gun. Maggie finds a sharp object in the leaves and runs out to stab the soldier. She is able to grab his gun and knock him out. The child walker grabs her, forcing Maggie to fight it off. She has no choice but to kill the child walker and it’s devastating for her. That’s when Carol and Daryl drive up.
Carol consoles Maggie, who is beyond worried about Hershel. She says the Commonwealth is like the old world. And in that world, they would have never spoken to each other. The fall made them family. Pamela had to come at them while they were separated and that says that she’s scared of them. As she should be. They’re not alone anymore and they are going to make it right. Gabriel and Rosita walk up and reunite with the gang.
Daryl took the soldier to the barn. He asks where the train is going and what is designation two. The soldier won’t talk, so Daryl tries to empathize with him. When the soldier still refuses to talk, Daryl turns mean. He says they took his kids and he wants them back. He threatens violence.
The others join Daryl and Gabriel recognizes the soldier. The soldier and Gabriel start talking about God’s forgiveness. The soldier is dying. Gabriel says fear makes them do things that brings shame. But it can also push them into the light. He says people will remember the last things you do and ask the soldier how he wants to be remembered. The soldier says they punish exile with hard labor. They are on railway duty. They have to follow the train to find them. And he doesn’t know much about designation two. Those people are taken somewhere far away and never seen again. The soldier asks Gabriel to sit and pray with him as he dies.
THE JUNCTION
Afterward, the group discusses their next move. They need to save their people to get their kids back, but risk losing Connie for good. If they save Connie first, they risk the soldiers warning the Governor and never seeing their people again. Carol says she thinks there is a way to do both.
At the railyard, Kelly counts the guards. There are only three in the area. She wants to make a run for it, but Ezekiel stops her. Which is good because three people do make a run for it. And they are shot by hidden soldiers in the woods.
The train approaches the junction. They have to stop to change the direction of the tracks, but the lever is stuck. The conductor (Bryan McClure) tries to radio Outpost 22, but the radio is messed up. Maggie goes into the front of the train to tie up the conductor. Daryl and Carol sneak around the train to find Connie. There are three soldiers in the back. Two of them leave to take care of approaching walkers.
Rosita and Gabriel find Soldier #2. They take her weapons and radio. The Soldier #1 tries to help with the lever and realizes that it’s jammed. He radios the others to get back to the train. Soldier #3 spots Daryl, so Daryl has to kill him. The gunshots cause Soldier #1 and #4 to run to the back of the train and start shooting at Daryl and Carol. Daryl tries to get into the back of the train car but bullets are flying from both sides. Maggie kills soldier #4, clearing a path to the back of the car for Daryl.
IMPOSSIBLE ODDS
A fifth soldier emerges from behind the train, with Connie at gunpoint. He tells Daryl to drop his weapons and asks if they took out the antenna. Daryl says they did and the soldier wants to know if they cut the wire. Connie throws her hand up, disarming Soldier #5 and elbows him in the stomach. He slaps her, making her fall to the ground. Daryl checks on Connie first before running after the soldier. After killing Soldier #1, Carol runs to help Connie
Soldier #5 runs through the train car and Daryl follows. The soldier jumps on a motorcycle and takes off. Carol tries shooting at him, but he’s too far. Daryl jumps on the other motorcycle to chase him down. Daryl catches up pretty quick, but the soldier rides off into the woods. He crashes his bike making it easy for Daryl to catch him. The soldier tries to run under a down tree branch. Daryl does this super cool stunt, sliding the motorcycle under the branch as he slides off. The motorcycle hits the soldier, making him fall to the ground. Daryl takes his knife and kills the soldier.
Maggie and Carol take the conductor to the barn and sit him next to the dead soldier. He says his family lives in a nearby outpost. If the Warden finds out he helped them, they will end up prisoners too. Rosita says they took their children, trying to appeal to his softer side. The conductor says there’s a map in the engine room that can help them.
Daryl returns, happy to see Connie. Their happy reunion is short-lived. The conductor was able to get a knife. He says his family will die if he helps them. Carol tries to bargain with him, saying they can injure him enough to make it look like he barely got away. He’s afraid of what they will do to him if they find out he lied. He apologizes and stabs himself in the throat.
OUTPOST 22
It’s lunchtime at the railyard. Negan takes the opportunity to talk to Ezekiel. Ezekiel has done his best to stay away from Negan. Negan realizes he deserves to be there because of all the crap he’s done. But the others don’t deserve it, especially Annie. He says they need to put their differences aside and work together.
Negan says the Warden is using fear as a weapon. They need to instill hope in the group so they can all get out. Ezekiel says the Commonwealth thrives on separating people. In order to give everyone hope, there has to be a spark to wake them up. Ezekiel doesn’t know how to do that in their current situation. Negan says he can get the spark, but that means he won’t be leaving with them. Ezekiel asks what that means, but they are interrupted by soldiers. Negan asks if he’s with him and Ezekiel says he is … for now.
Connie asks if Daryl knows where the others are. She’s concerned about Kelly. They don’t know anything right now. Rosita suggests that they get the radio working again. And everyone leaves to pitch in.
Later that night, the warden loads everyone on the bus. At the same time, Rosita radios Outpost 22, posing as Soldier #2. She says she’s lost and needs directions to the outpost. The Outpost radios back to give her directions. The Outpost radio operator tells Rosita that a group of exiles are headed to the outpost. And the funny thing is, they used to live there.
The bus drives to Outpost 22. Ezekiel and Negan are watching where they’re going and recognize the guard tower. They are going to Alexandria.
The Outpost operator gives Rosita shoot to kill instructions if she sees any of the exiles. After Rosita hangs up, Daryl tells Connie that their people are in Alexandria. Maggie says Pamela has underestimated them since day one. They are going to get their kids, take back their home and make it right. And Pamela is never going to see it coming.
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The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC. You can watch the entire season 11 on AMC+.
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