Episode 11.15 titled "Trust" has finally caught up with the six-month time jump teased at the end of episode "No Other Way." Which saw Daryl in Commonwealth amour, several soldiers and Lance Hornsby at the gates of Hilltop. There's two sub-plots involving the Commonwealth, Ezekiel and what he have been up to but also the investigation Rosita and Eugene are doing on the Miltons. The sub-plots are important to the bigger picture and what is to come, but could easily be seen as filler, but I promise that it's there for a reason. I think the editing and pacing was perfect in this episode, with some great transitions. Kevin Deiboldt penned the script for 11.15, and he have grown to be among the better writers as he wrote three episodes for season 10 and the season 11 horror episode "On the Inside," and I really hope he's here to stay as the writing is spectacular in this penultimate episode for S11B, the overall writing was brilliant and the dialogue felt right. Overseen by Angela Kang, the writing for this episode is consistent of the previous episodes in Part 2. Though I liked the writing, I think Ezekiel's part in the episode could have been handled better as now it felt like an afterthought, still enjoyed the scenes though. 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.
This was Lily Mariye's Walking Dead directorial debut, but she directed two episodes of the World Beyond spinoff series. So she is familiar with the Universe and I think she did a great job with directing a TWD episode. She directed 11.15 "Trust" and there are so many great scenes in this episode and there's not one single bad performance throughout the entire episode. The cinematography is once again breathtaking and incredible, just right for the show, the way it was shot and so on, simply 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.
"Trust" has lots of things that fans of The Walking Dead will like. With the previous episodes having covered the 6 months that led to the time jump, we finally get down to the cliffhangers we waited patiently for, and it was an incredible episode. The best performances were Josh Hamilton as Lance Hornsby and that's mostly it for truly brilliant performances, there were mostly plot development in the episode and not material for the actors to truly shine. Though I also liked Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene and Michael James Shaw as Michael Mercer in the episode. Honorable mention goes to Khary Payton as Ezekiel for still doing an amazing job with the character. Only one episode remains of S11B and the tension is there, so is the suspension and drama. In previous seasons, the "soap opera" and romantic writing was mostly lacking but it's handled so much better in this season, especially this episode. The writers and especially Angela Kang are truly building onto something special, something memorable, I anticipate 11.16 to be phenomenal. Build up is needed and the show have been doing a great job with it. This was a great episode but it didn't top the other two episodes for me, but still a great episode.
