Episode 11.06 titled "On the Inside" is a direct follow-up to episode 11.04 and 11.05, regarding the Reapers storyline and how the group learnt of Connie surviving. Escaping from walkers, Connie and Virgil hide in a house occupied by mysterious creatures; Pope tests Daryl's loyalty to the Reapers with a conflicting mission; Kelly leaves Alexandria in search of Connie. I think the editing and pacing was perfect, the transition between Alexandria and Commonwealth shows truly how different the two communities currently are surviving.
Greg Nicotero returns in the director chair once again and as we come to expect from the zombie veteran, his direction and overall vision is perfect, thus creating an episode that's both visually stunning and full of zombie gore plus high quality drama, but what's better in this episode is how much scarier and suspenseful it is. The cinematography is perfect, the production design is brilliant. The dialogue and overall writing is on the same level as the previous episodes, and captured well by Nicotero as I strongly believe a different director wouldn't have made it as good or far from terrifying as Nicotero did. The musical score is powerful and brings that extra suspension. The Walking Dead is upping their game on every Department for this season and I'm liking every single minute of it.
This is the return of Lauren Ridloff as Connie after her break to film The Eternals, and seriously this was a big come back as she delivers among the best if not the best performance as Connie in this horror driven episode, which was directed and edited in such a brilliant way. Kevin Carroll delivers a great performance as Virgil. The reunion between Connie and Kelly was predictable but really good and the actors did a wonderful job at reuniting. I also want to add that I found Connie and Virgil working together was very good combo. The Reaper storyline was also interesting but didn't have any notable performances, but the surprise performance was Jacob Young as Deaver, with the little screen time Ritchie Coster had as Pope I still want to add his presence with or without dialogue is felt throughout the scenes as he just has the appearance and mannerism nailed down.
"On the Inside" has lots of things that fans of The Walking Dead is going to like, new and old, the writers and Greg Nicotero gave us a more horror driven episode which the show needs from time to time, to make it unpredictable and unique. I loved it from start to finish and I'll admit, I haven't been scared like this since episode 10.10 titled "Stalker" which was also horror driven with some halloween vibes, this episode isn't inspired by the slasher genre but more psychological horror and just the great kind of horror. Overall, an incredible episode. The horror and zombie legend, Greg Nicotero can still make an impact to The Walking Dead and thus created a flawless episode.
