In “The Walking Dead” recap, Pamela Milton pays Maggie a visit at Hilltop, Eugene meets Max and Ezekiel gets the help he needs…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
There’s no such thing as unconditional help, especially in a zombie apocalypse.
The latest episode of “The Walking Dead” proves that as Governor Pamela Milton arrives at the three communities — Alexandria, Hilltop and Oceanside — to find out if these places are not only worth saving but if the people there will pledge loyalty to The Commonwealth.
Things have been awfully bad at all three locations, especially after a long, drawn out battle against Alpha and The Whisperers, but it’s still not easy to accept a helping hand even if it appears on the surface that The Commonwealth could be the only way the communities survive.
When Pamela Milton arrives at the Hilltop and meets her counterpart in Maggie Rhee, she soon realizes that convincing these people to hand over control won’t be as easy as it seems.
Meanwhile on the heels of last week’s episode where Eugene’s entire world came crumbling down around him after realizing that “Stephanie” was nothing more than an imposter planted in his bed by Lance Hornsby in order to get information about Alexandria and the other communities, he’s now forced to reconcile with the fallout from those choices as well as meeting the real woman he spent all those months talking to over the long range radio.
And finally, Ezekiel has been slowing fading away ever since he discovered a large tumor growing on his neck but now he might have a saving grace — the real question then becomes if he’s willing to accept the gift that’s been given to him.
With that said, let’s get to our full recap from the latest episode of “The Walking Dead” titled “The Lucky Ones”…
Will The Real Stephanie Please Stand Up?
The episode begins with Max — the real person behind the microphone who spoke to Eugene for months — revealing how she first got in contact with him and then her surprise when he suddenly showed up inside The Commonwealth.
Max explains that she found a discarded long range radio in the trash and decided to fix it up herself to see if she could get it working. Once she did, Max made the call out where she eventually connected with Eugene and that’s when their relationship first began.
Out of precaution, Max used her mother’s handle on the radio thus the name Stephanie but she really did plan on meeting Eugene at the railyard. Unfortunately, her brother Mercer got wind of what she was doing because someone caught a part of one of her transmissions and that alerted Lance Hornsby to the situation.
Mercer told Max to lay low so she wouldn’t get into trouble but then Hornsby took it upon himself to launch the operation to bring in Eugene and his people while also creating a fake Stephanie to ensure he had everything necessary to make these people trust him. When Max showed up to grab some ice cream one day, she was stunned to see Eugene standing right there before her but she was even more surprised to see him talking with a stranger calling herself Stephanie.
Max realized that there was a lot more going on with this situation than she understood but she knew Hornsby had to be at the center of it. Sadly by that point it was too late to do much of anything about it without identifying herself as the person who had been talking to Eugene for months.
So she laid low until Max decided it was time to finally reveal herself but Eugene was understandably angry that he had been so badly manipulated. He gave information away about his friends and the communities where they live just to appease Hornsby, who had been lying to him this entire time.
Eugene didn’t want to hear anything else and he essentially tells Max that he doesn’t want anything more to do with her.
The next day, Eugene is still trying to reconcile with his actions and he happens to sit down for a conversation with Rosita. He remembers how they first met and the lies he told to gain protection from Abraham under the false story that he was a scientist who could solve the zombie apocalypse.
Eugene never meant to hurt anybody — he was just trying to find his way in this terrifying new world.
He stops short of telling Rosita about what really happened with Max and the way Hornsby had lied to him because he’s not even sure anybody would believe him. Instead, he tells Rosita that Stephanie dumped him and he’s still reeling from a broken heart.
Later that day, Eugene arrives at Max’s apartment with some raspberry ice cream — the same kind they talked about over the radio — while apologizing for brushing her off so rudely. Eugene explains how much he was hurt and detailing how he fell for the fake Stephanie largely because he’s so used to being rejected that he was just overjoyed that somebody seemed to care for him so much.
That made him blind to the fact that this woman wasn’t the “Stephanie” he spent all those months talking to over the radio.
He also tells Max that he let this false Stephanie read the novel he had started writing before burning the pages after realizing that she nothing more than a decoy there to gain his trust. Thankfully, Eugene committed much of the novel to memory because Max would still like to hear the story.
Not a Lesser Man
Eugene and Jerry are at The Commonwealth hospital for what is supposed to be a routine checkup until the attending nurse tells them otherwise.
It seems Ezekiel is being prepped for surgery to remove the tumor that would eventually take his life.
While Jerry is ecstatic, Ezekiel is confused because he understood there was a long list to get that type of surgery and there should still be a lot of people left ahead of him. Jerry doesn’t really care much why it happened because he just wants to celebrate something going right for Ezekiel for once, especially when it’s surgery to save his life.
That night, Ezekiel welcomes Carol over to his apartment for dinner when he reveals the news to her about the surgery while suspecting that she must have something to do with it.
Carol finally confesses that Lance Hornsby owed her a favor and so she used that to help Ezekiel get scheduled for his surgery.
He gets upset because there are rightfully a lot people in need of similar procedures but they are made to wait while he’s getting special treatment. Carol counters by telling him that lesser men are often granted greater opportunities and do nothing with them but Ezekile is not a lesser man.
Considering the long suffering misery that Ezekiel has been forced to encounter over the years including the loss of his community and the death of their adopted son, maybe for once he should just take the win and accept the gift that’s been given to him. Ezekiel finally concedes to Carol’s wishes and accepts that he’ll get the surgery needed to save his life.
Everything Costs Something
On the long road between The Commonwealth and Alexandria, Governor Pamela Milton wonders if this journey is worth her time, especially considering how much it stretches out their resources across state lines. She would much rather commit her full focus to The Commonwealth but Lance Hornsby believes expansion is necessary if they are going to truly rebuilt a world that’s been taken away from them for so long.
After arriving in Alexandria, Governor Milton is met by Aaron, who is all on board for this new partnership to work because he knows otherwise that this community will never survive. He attempts to roll out the red carpet for Pamela and her team in order to curry favor.
Inside the community, Pamela reveals that she used to know Deanna Monroe — the former leader at Alexandria, who was bitten by a zombie before her own son had to put her down. As she looks over everything, Pamela hears an alert because a walker has managed to breech the walls and get inside, which requires Daryl to run outside and kill it.
Hornsby is concerned because he was trying to give Pamela the kind of demonstration that these communities were worth saving but it appears that they can’t even put up walls enough to stop the dead from just walking inside.
The next stop is Oceanside, which allows Pamela to actually dip her toes into the ocean — presumably for the first time in years — and she definitely sees promise in this place. Her offer of help is quickly rebuffed, however, when she learns that Oceanside has already pledged its loyalty to Maggie and Hilltop.
They tell Governor Milton that if Maggie joins them, they will do the same but Oceanside won’t go against the partnership that’s already been made.
On the way to Hilltop for the final stop on the community tour, Hornsby tells Aaron that Maggie needs to get on board because if Pamela doesn’t get all three places under her umbrella, she’s likely to just cut them all free. Aaron believes that’s a problem Hornsby should handle because Alexandria has already pledged their loyalty to The Commonwealth.
Before actually arriving at Hilltop, the caravan is stopped by a group of walkers and a few people fending them off. The small herd is dispatched and that’s when Maggie is revealed as the person leading the charge against them as she reunites with Daryl and then comes face to face with Pamela Milton for the first time.
After getting back to Hilltop, Pamela and her team propose a hunting trip to see what might be out there worth shooting and eating. Of course this is all a diversion to get some alone time with Maggie so she can find out if Hilltop is actually going to join them or not.
Maggie explains to Pamela why she’s hesitant to join up with The Commonwealth because she prefers to lead by example. Maggie can see that Pamela is revered among her people but she’s also living in a nicer house than everybody else with more accommodations than the actual citizens serving her in The Commonwealth.
Maggie prefers everything to be even because no one should feel all that superior in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Obviously, Pamela disagrees because she believes that she’s giving everybody at The Commonwealth something to aspire to become while also providing them with safety and security.
Back at the Hilltop, Maggie gets a hard sell from Hornsby about why this deal will work so well for her community as well as Alexandria and Oceanside. Maggie is happy to accept some supplies after Hornsby offers to give them food and fuel, which makes the people at Hilltop rather happy to receive.
Even Daryl is happy to see the generosity being granted to people he loves but that comes along with a warning from Mercer that everything isn’t quite as easy as it seems at The Commonwealth. He reminds Daryl that he’s walking around in his old clothes rather than a stormtrooper uniform because the powers-that-be knew that’s what the people at Alexandria, Hilltop and Oceanside needed to see to comfort them with his return.
As far as Hornsby, he admits that his plans to expand The Commonwealth empire is somewhat selfish but he’s also attempting to restart the world after everything was destroyed. He wonders if Maggie is missing out on the bigger picture by not accepting their help.
Hornsby asks Maggie if she can imagine a day where her son Herschel goes to school and eventually heads off to college at another nearby town where he can learn and grow on his own. Wouldn’t she like to see that happened for her son?
Before Maggie can answer, she gets pulled away by a herd that’s charging towards Hilltop after they tripped an alarm to signify their arrival.
Maggie runs outside to help stave off the attack along with Elijah and the rest of her people while Mercer and Daryl also lend a hand. When it’s clear that the zombies are too great in number to just stop with knives, axes and other bladed weapons, Mercer orders the rest of his stormtroopers to aim and fire — and the entire herd gets cut down in a matter of seconds.
There’s a stunned silence from Maggie as she sees the efficiency with which the soldiers dispatched the zombies but she’s also witnessing the entire garrison following strict orders from Mercer and by extension the orders handed down by Governor Pamela Milton.
Maggie can’t help but wonder if this relationship goes astray, what’s to stop Pamela from ordering her army to just cut down everybody at the Hilltop?
With respect, Maggie declines to make a partnership with The Commonwealth while deciding that she would rather go it alone with her people. She knows that everything costs something and what she stands to lose might be far more than she could gain from Pamela and The Commonwealth.
But Maggie’s choice comes at a cost after Diane tells her that she’s leaving to go back with Daryl and the rest of the people at The Commonwealth along with several more people from the Hilltop. Diane can’t say for certain if Pamela is completely on the level but she’s also done fighting a lost cause and suffering because of it.
Before heading home again, Pamela tells Hornsby that she knows this was all his grand plan to expand The Commonwealth empire because he wanted to serve as the leader over these new communities. Unfortunately it appears that his plans have failed because Maggie doesn’t want to be a part of their team.
Hornsby promises that this fight isn’t finished — he’s got Alexandria on board and given enough time, he’ll bring Oceanside and Hilltop around as well. Pamela gives him permission to try but reminds him that he’s still got duties to carry out at home and if that job starts to suffer, there will be serious consequences.
Realizing that he’s lost today, Hornsby heads outside with his own gun to get out some aggression as he starts mowing down zombies before he’s approached by Aaron. Of course, Aaron believes Maggie turning down The Commonwealth’s help means that Alexandria might get cut off as well but Hornsby is happy to share with him that the community will still be rebuilt.
With a wicked smirk on his face, Hornsby tells Aaron that they’re going to eventually remake the world together before taking off the head of the final zombie approaching him.
It appears that as powerful as Governor Pamela Milton might be, it’s Lance Hornsby’s ambition to rule his own kingdom that could be the biggest threat to Hilltop and the other communities.
“The Walking Dead” will return with a brand new episode next Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET on AMC
