Episode 11.11 titled "Rogue Element" is entirely focused on the Commonwealth storyline. The premise for episode 11: Eugene looks for Stephanie after she mysteriously goes missing. Connie investigates a story on Trooper Davis. Carol helps Hornsby with a labor dispute at a drug farm. I think the editing and pacing was perfect in this episode, with some great transitions. But after the previous episode which had almost the whole cast in it, I was a little bit let down how this episode was more character focused and honestly it was the right thing to do as Eugene is the most important character of the Commonwealth arc. David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick penned the script for 11.11 and you might know him from writing Aquaman and its sequel, the overall writing is brilliant and the dialogue along with its characters are top notch, everything feels natural and simply perfect. Overseen by Angela Kang, the writing for this episode is consistent of the previous episodes in Part 2. The episode uses the big budget wisely, making it brilliant both technically and the acting and so on, the camera work are brilliant and it's visually a great episode, an overall impressive production.
TWD veteran Michael Cudlitz returns to direct 11.11 "New Haunts" and as usual he doesn't let the viewers or the show down, Cudlitz uses the experience as an actor and storyteller to make an episode worthy of your attention. There's so much things he does right with this episode, though I don't think it's the best episode he have directed but it's close to a perfect episode, the scenes with Eugene were incredible and mesmerizing. The cinematography is once again breathtaking and incredible, the way it was shot and so on, just brilliant. The sets were detailed and perfect, and so are the art and production design. Superb sound design and a musical score both gripping and dramatic. It's one of many things on the technical side of things that the show succeeds perfectly with.
As this was a direct follow-up to the previous episode which ended with our survivors and us viewers learning about the faction inside Commonwealth that wants to make a change. The best performances were Josh McDermitt as Eugene Porter in possibly one of his best performances, I also think Josh Hamilton as Lance Hornsby is another performance worth praising. Michael James Shaw's performance as Mercer wasn't incredible but the talent that man has in speaking more with his face than his words needs some praise, he's perfect as Mercer and I'm so glad they cast him. I had my doubts at first regarding Paola Lázaro as Juanita "Princess" Sanchez, though I believe her interpretation of Princess is perfect if you're comparing it to the comic book counterpart, I think her acting isn't quite on the same level as other lead actors like Josh McDermitt but she just have this likeability to her and her performance contains everything the character is memorable for, so does Làzaro need to give brilliant performances each episode? I don't think so, if she keeps nailing the character then that's enough for me.
"Rogue Element" has lots of things that fans of The Walking Dead will like, Eugene Porter gets a lot of love in this episode and for a good reason. Carol also gets a lot of attention and thus we get to see more of the world, locations around the city and Michael Cudlitz along with the cinematographer helped create some stunning looking shots, beautiful locations that they found. The episode takes its time with world building, moving the story forward immensely but also giving new characters like Mercer and Hornsby lots of screen time and developing then into more fleshed out characters which is needed. The neo-noir style of storytelling in this episode was so right and Cudlitz did it justice. Angela Kang is truly giving the Commonwealth arc a lot of depth and I'm liking it a lot, Part 2 continues to be amazing and "Rogue Element" was amazing but possibly too slow paced for some.
