Family

The armor of the troopers has the worst writing. Why are they even wearing that if it doesn't safe you from walkers at all? Plus, the herd entered the Commonwealth way too fast. The army must've had enough time to clear the walkers. But other than that... I loved this episode. Our group is so badass in this! I'm a bit nervous for the finale though. They didn't finish the Commonwealth arc in this penultimate episode, which I hoped for. So let's see what they bring to the table next week.

Btw, I really love Eugene as a character ever since season 9. Josh portrays him so well! "Family" was another great episode for him!

What an episode! I must admit, this one genuinely reminded me of what the series is all about, as it took me back to the good old days when the show first came out. There's elements of family (like the title suggests), strength, unity, grief, closure all they way to greed and selfishness that are being utilized in a proper way and actually play a significant role within the story. Meaning there's a lot of emotions going on all at once, just before the big finale. It's the exact same formula we grew up on since the very beginning and witnessed again when the show reached its peak.

As far as the writing goes, they did an incredible job and proved to have found the spark that was missing these last couple of seasons, which I'm extremely happy about. The dialogues are top-notch, making you feel very intrigued and invested in the story, unlike the previous episodes of the season. And the drama, especially during those last three minutes of the episode, will go down as one of the most intense moments of the show, (right on par with the ending of season 6). The atmosphere has been set, and judging from the trailer, we're looking forward to an action packed and 'final' finale of the show after 12 amazing years. Very impatient to see what happens, prepared for the final ride, and here's hoping that it doesn't disappoint...

You know those episodes that constantly has you on the edge?.. when you never quite know what is going to happen, and instead you just expect that anything can happen at any moment? Yeah well.. that one of those episodes we got right here!

This one brought me back to the times in Walking Dead where tou were on the edge for the whole episode and you felt like something bad was about to happen! When the faith of the characters were uncertain!

This episode was tense, full of suspense and ultimately became an emotional experience that almost had me in tears! Dangers lurked at every turn!

While this final season was dragging a bit towards the end, I really did enjoy this episode!

This episode was amazing! It really reminded me of the older TWD days with the way I was nervous the entire episode. The acting, music, and writing was some of the best of the entire show, and I can't wait to see how they wrap this up!

One of the best parts of this season has been the parallels to the earlier seasons. If you look closely, tons of scenes parallel older TWD scenes and it's so well done! It does a great job of subtly emphasizing the character arcs that have come full circle since the previous seasons of the show. Negan, Judith, and Lydia stand out with their parallels in this episode.

The premise of episode 11.23 titled "Family": Mercer secretly brings Eugene to Max and Yumiko. He is said to be hiding in an apartment until further action has been clarified. Meanwhile, a group led by Maggie, Negan and Daryl take the train to take down Pamela for good. They bring the missing people back to the Commonwealth. There, an angry crowd is already protest in front of Pamela's office and demanding. Magali Lozano & Erik Mountain & Kevin Deiboldt penned the script for 11.23 and they brought the writing back to how it should be, the dialogue felt natural and overall well written, excellent even. The episode uses the big budget wisely, making it brilliant both technically and the acting and so on, the camera work are brilliant and visually a great episode, an overall impressive production. There's so many shots in this episode that are brilliantly shot, such a stunning looking episode, it felt like The Walking Dead again.

Sharat Raju directed "Family" and being a recurring director for both TWD and Fear, he knows the actors and universe quite well so the visual storytelling is all great. Raju's vision and direction were truly amazing, bringing his skills and experience to a show that currently needs it. His work on the episode are surely one of the highlights. The cinematography and the other departments, especially the makeup and special effects departments, were as always top notch. The attention to detail and all the shots in the nature, they nailed it on the camera side of things. 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. I also found the effects to be fantastic in this episode, practical effects always makes it so more real, and The Walking Dead is known for their practical effects and they didn't let us down for this episode. 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.

The Commonwealth arc have had its ups and downs but I'll have to admit, I really liked this episode. I thought it was great. But I still don't agree it's the right direction for the show, it could have focused on something bigger like they've been building towards. This is the penultimate episode of the final season of the entire show, it doesn't feel like it, there is much more unpredictability but also much more tension and suspension in the episode. It doesn't feel big enough. I've written how the Commonwealth have evolved into a military-state, leaning more and more into fascism. It's brilliant really, believable too. I think Pamela Milton is a great character but underused and could have been used better if Angela Kang would have went a different direction with being bigger. The universe of The Walking Dead is now big with CRM but haven't been used at all, I think that was a bad choice from Angela Kang but especially Scott Gimple who surely calls all the shots.

Episode 11.23 has most if not the whole cast in it, it feels like an old episode of The Walking Dead. I think this was one of the better episodes of Part C, it offered us some superb drama, character interactions that keeps you engaged, and a well shot action sequence but also multiple zombie scenes for everyone who likes zombies. I just love the scenes with Ezekiel and Negan, those two actors and characters together in a scene, makes for some fine drama and terrific performances. The scene with Aaron and Lydia was also extremely well written, brilliantly acted by the two. The passion in Ross Marquand's performance is visible and I think his performance in this season have been one of the better ones. Some other performances who I think deserve some praise are Laila Robins who completely nailed her performance as Pamela Milton, what might be her best performance in the season. But let's talk about "Family" and what that episode title mean for the episode, a lot if not everything, but mostly of the Grimes family and how Judith want their legacy to remain and make her deceased brother proud, a character who shouldn't have died. Cailey Fleming have been great as Judith Grimes and continues in that direction in this episode, I'm glad she got more screen time, finally. Norman Reedus and Cailey Fleming have such perfect chemistry and you really notice how their relationship are on and off screen, it's wonderful really. I'm looking forward to the series finale, I wish, I hope that they won't fail the show. We deserve a great ending, we deserve an unsafe episode of The Walking Dead with risk and tension, an episode with the audience on the edge of their seats, an episode worth talking about like Andrew Lincoln's last episode "What Comes After". But we need a finale that's grandios, the penultimate was far from grandios. But for season 11, "Family" is incredible and engaging from start to finish, one of the season's best episodes.