The Lucky Ones

This was a very fun episode to watch. Seeing the communities (even Oceanside!) again is great and Pamela and Lance's banter about them is cool to see (including the nice Deana callback that adds to the world-building).

Maggie and Pamela arguing about leadership and how communities should be was such a highlight. The show has become so political that you can pause the episodes and have full-on debates about who is right. This is exactly what a Commonwealth arc should have!

The other plots weren't as strong. Ezekiel refusing to cheat the surgery list is very in character, but I'm glad he's going through with it.

Eugene bailing on Max felt weird and I just don't care too much about their relationship. Still, both actors are putting on great performances and the reunion was sweet.

But all in all, they are setting up for some great stuff. Between Lance's mysterious plan and Mercer's warning to Daryl... I can't wait to see more of the corruption of the Commonwealth.

Gov. Pamela Milton travels with Hornsby, Mercer Darryl and an entourage to Alexandria, Hilltop and Oceanside, to confirm the agreement with Alexandria and propose a deal with the other communities. Commonwealth is helping Aaron to rebuild Alexandria and expects to help the other two too. The leader of Oceanside, Rachel, tells Pamela that whatever Maggie agrees, she will concur. Therefore, Pamela talks to Maggie while walking through the woods, trying to convince her. But Maggie declines the offer, and Dianne and other Hilltop's dwellers leave Maggie and travel to live in Commonwealth. Eugene visits Max and tells that he is sorry for his rudeness.

"The Lucky Ones" is another deceptive episode of "The Walking Dead". Hornsby seems to have his personal agenda, but Pamela Milton seems to be a smart woman. The reason why Maggie does not accept her offer seems to be because absolute power corrupts, and she is no exception. Pamela sounds reasonable with her dreams to rebuild America, but Maggie never explains what she wants for her son Herschel. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Sorte" ("Lucky")

Looking back on it as a whole, in a universe where the dead have come alive, I will still say the most unrealistic thing about this show was probably the romantic pairing of Eugene and Max. As. If.

As a side note to that impossible romance, did we need 2 of the very last episodes of this series to almost exclusively be about Eugene? There are 12 episodes left, grand total, maybe some progress beyond Eugene's love life should be made.

Oh, Maggie briefly shows up, to turn down the thing we know she'll later do. Why the holdup? Why the endless dragging with this series?

It's. The. Last. Season. Wrap. This. Garbage. Up.

So this episode is slightly better than the last one, but only slightly. We see less of Eugene this time around which can only be a good thing, but the fake Stephanie storyline is extremely tedious and feels like something you'd expect to see in a soap opera. Otherwise, it's nice to have Maggie back and it seems that these days she and Carol are the only ones who have their brains switched on. Some fun little action moments with imposing characters (or at least characters that the show wants you to believe are imposing) but the rest is padding at best. With only a handful of episodes before the next season break, they really need to be doing more...

Episode 11.12 titled "The Lucky Ones" is entirely focused on the Commonwealth storyline. The premise for episode 12 reads: Aaron and Maggie meet Governor Pamela Milton as she tours Alexandria, Oceanside and Hilltop; Ezekiel finds himself lucky during a routine checkup; Eugene processes Max's story. I think the editing and pacing was perfect in this episode, with some great transitions. Vivian Tse penned the script for 11.12, the overall writing is great. 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.

Tawnia McKiernan directed 11.12 "The Lucky Ones" and the direction is really fine, I loved some of the shots and there are so many great scenes in this episode. If you have read the graphic novel you'll or not, this episode is for everyone. But how Tawnia and the cinematographer shoots the nature in this episode, stunning is all, extremely beautiful shots. 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 Eugene finally learning the truth of the real Stephanie which turned out to be Max and the direction Angela Kang goes with their storyline is finally incredible, Max being the sister of Mercer was a nice twist, whilst Pamela getting the tour of Alexandria, Oceanside and Hilltop. Having almost the entire cast in the episode was a nice sight, and everyone has something important to do which Part 2 have really nailed. The best performances were Josh Hamilton as Lance Hornsby, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene and Laila Robins as Pamela Milton. But the thing with this episode isn't how mind blowing and epic it was, there are lots of scenes when people are only talking and conversing, which in my opinion is needed in an episode like this. There's still plenty of zombie killing and it looks fantastic. I wouldn't say this was a slow paced episode, I honestly wish it was longer than 45 minutes as it felt a bit rushed but that's my opinion, it was at a fine length.

"The Lucky Ones" has lots of things that fans of The Walking Dead will like. 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 "The Lucky Ones" brings the anticipated issue from the graphic novel to the screen and I think it's better because of how well thought and personal they have made it in regards of a big universe like a tiny bit of dialogue Pamela Milton has with Daryl in how she knew Deanna Monroe. Things like that made me happy. I think the dialogue was some of the season's best, with each bit of dialogue being meaningful, it's also huge thanks to the actors who deliver the lines, simply brilliant from a writing point of view. "The Lucky Ones" are an nostalgic trip for old and new fans, with its dialogue and character interactions that will easily make you smile and feel for the characters. This episode did the material justice to me as it gave us plenty of character development, story building and our characters getting closer to where they were in the flashforward we saw.