"No Other Way" is the ninth episode and second-part premiere of the eleventh season of AMC's The Walking Dead. It is the one-hundred and sixty-second episode of the series overall. It premiered on February 20, 2022. It was written by Corey Reed and directed by Jon Amiel.
Plot
Daryl, Maggie, Gabriel, Negan, and Elijah battle the Reapers for food. Aaron and the Alexandrians must survive a storm.
Synopsis
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At Meridian, Leah fires the hwacha at walkers as they flood into the compound. A Reaper attacks Maggie, but she fights him off and he gets hit by an arrow.
Maggie hides in a building and meets up with Negan and Elijah, who was injured by shrapnel. She brings them to the infirmary, where they hide in a secret room. Carver looks for them and receives a radio order from Leah to kill everyone he finds.
Back in Alexandria, Rosita and Lydia fight walkers on the staircase of Aaron's house. Dianne joins them and reports that Judith and Gracie are missing.
Judith and Gracie try to escape the cellar, which is quickly flooding with water. Walkers break through the door into the cellar.
Aaron and Jerry regroup with others after unsuccessfully trying to put out the fire at the windmill. Magna and Connie leave to secure the perimeter breaches, while the others work on extinguishing the fire. Aaron hears Gracie's emergency whistle and races off to find her.
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A Reaper takes aim at Gabriel from a window. Daryl attacks him and, after a fierce battle, stabs the Reaper and strangles him to death. He hides just as Leah enters the room and discovers her comrade's body. Daryl quietly escapes the room.
Gracie blows the whistle as the cellar fills with water. A walker attacks Judith and Gracie. Aaron breaks the cellar window, jumps inside and starts slaying walkers. He hoists the girls to safety through the window. More walkers enter the cellar.
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Gabriel encounters Mancea and draws his machete. Mancea predicts that Gabriel will not kill him, since he did not kill him at the graveyard. Gabriel is surprised to learn that Mancea had known of his presence at the graveyard. Mancea asks if Gabriel listens to God anymore and urges Gabriel to renew his faith, and that everyone can be saved. Gabriel hears a noise behind the door. He stabs Mancea in the gut and tells him that he disagrees.
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Carver chases Maggie down a hall, where she finds the doors all locked. Negan and Elijah ambush him. Carver overpowers all three of them, injures Elijah and knocks Maggie to the ground. Negan distracts Carver with dust and smacks him with a heavy bell. Maggie gets ready to deal a fatal blow to Carver. Daryl intervenes and insists they use Carver as leverage, despite Elijah's vow to avenge his sister. Daryl radios Leah and proposes they talk.
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After hearing Gracie's whistle, Rosita sends Lydia to investigate while she and Dianne fight the walkers invading the house.
Aaron hangs from the pipes on the cellar's ceiling to stay out of the walkers' reach. Lydia finds him and runs off to get rope.
Lydia rigs the rope so that Aaron can shimmy out of the cellar. They go to help extinguish the fire at the windmill.
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Daryl, Maggie, Negan, and Elijah meet with Leah and the remaining Reapers. Daryl offers to release Carver if the Reapers leave Meridian, but vows to kill them if they return. Leah rejects his offer and reveals that a sniper will gun them down if they don't release Carver. Daryl reluctantly lets Carver go. Gabriel shoots Carver in the leg and informs Leah via walkie that he killed her sniper. Leah accepts Daryl's terms and starts to leave with two Reapers. After Elijah tells her their people need to be avenged, Maggie shoots the remaining Reapers from behind and kills them. She then comes back and stabs Carver in the chest with Elijah's kama. Leah flees, injured.
Daryl tracks down Leah, but lets her escape.
Maggie's group loads supplies onto a wagon. Maggie heads back to the church where they left Alden.
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Maggie enters the church. She finds an undead Reaper and discovers that Alden has turned. She weeps as she stabs him in the head.
Maggie buries Alden in the woods. Negan joins her and guesses she had always planned to kill the Reapers, despite Daryl's attempt at negotiations. Worried she will do the same to him, he decides to part with the group.
Maggie joins Daryl, Gabriel, and Elijah by a campfire. She reports that Alden is dead, and that Negan left.
Daryl's group returns to Alexandria. Jerry is saddened to see their numbers greatly diminished.
Maggie's group distributes supplies at Alexandria and reunites with everyone. Daryl embraces Connie. Lydia is visibly upset upon learning that Negan left. Gabriel informs Aaron that Alden is dead and that many other people perished.
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A caravan of Commonwealth troopers approaches Alexandria's gate. Residents ready their weapons defensively. Eugene jumps out and tells Alexandria's residents that the troopers have come to help.
Commonwealth troopers unload supplies at Alexandria. Eugene introduces Hornsby to the community. Hornsby shares his admiration for what they've built and offers to provide labor and materials to help them rebuild. He also offers another option for those who are interested.
Flash forward to six months later. Maggie and Elijah stand on the guard post at Hilltop. Hornsby waits outside the gates with a group of Commonwealth soldiers. One of the soldiers approaches Maggie and demands she open the gate. Maggie says it doesn't have to be this way. The soldier removes his helmet, revealing himself as Daryl. "Yeah, it does," he says.
Other Cast
Co-Stars
- Mandi Christine Kerr as Barbara
- Anabelle Holloway as Gracie
- Antony Azor as R.J. Grimes
- Kien Michael Spiller as Hershel Rhee
- Ethan McDowell as Ira Washington
- Zac Zedalis as Boone
- Lex Lauletta as Austin
Uncredited
- Seven as Dog
- Matt Bushell as Trooper Romano
- Lucas Hammond as Trooper McHugh
- Nathan W. Collins as Trooper Phillips
- John Prozny as Trooper Sorensen
- Gonzalo Menendez as Commonwealth Soldier
- Noah and Preston Wilbourn as Adam Sutton
- Gloria DeWeese as Kim
- John Prozny as Jenson
- Prop as Agatha
- Unknown as Montanio
- Unknown as Socorro Espinosa
- Jimmy McAfee as Alexandria Resident
- Laura L. Anderson Weber as Alexandria Resident
- Michelle Morano as Alexandria Resident
- Brandon Pagel as Hilltop Resident
- Dana Lee Rampy as Hilltop Refugee
- Ed Force as Hilltop Refugee
- Kinney M. Lee as Hilltop Resident
- Lance Kilmer as Hilltop Resident
- Laura Kelly as Hilltop Resident
- Meredith "Duffy" Hale as Hilltop Refugee
- Rachel Hernandez as Oceanside Volunteer
- Ian Kincaid as Meridian Refugee
- Michael Cosmas Ananicz as Warden
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Deaths
- Josephine (Zombified, Off-Screen)
- Fisher
- Ms. Adams (Confirmed Fate)
- Leo (Confirmed Fate)
- Austin
- Mancea
- Jenson
- Boone
- Ira Washington
- Brandon Carver
- Frost (Zombified, Off-Screen)
- Montanio (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Zombified)
- Alden (Alive, Confirmed Fate; Zombified)
- 3 unnamed Reapers (Off-Screen)
- Many unnamed Meridian residents (Zombified, Off-Screen)
Trivia
- First appearance of Romano.
- First appearance of McHugh.
- First appearance of Phillips.
- Last appearance of Fisher.
- Last appearance of Austin.
- Last appearance of Mancea.
- Last appearance of Jenson.
- Last appearance of Boone.
- Last appearance of Ira Washington.
- Last appearance of Brandon Carver.
- Last appearance of Alden. (Zombified)
- As of Alden's death, Negan, Gracie, and Eugene are the only remaining Saviors.
- Of these, Negan and Gracie are the only original Saviors still alive.
- As of Alden's death, Negan, Gracie, and Eugene are the only remaining Saviors.
- Last appearance of Barbara. (Alive)
- Last appearance of the Reapers.
- Only appearance of Montanio. (Zombified)
- The title of the episode, "No Other Way", refers to Maggie's killing of the remaining Reapers, as well as to the exchange between Maggie and Daryl over Hilltop after the six month time jump.
- This episode was made available for streaming to subscribers of AMC Premiere on February 13, 2022.
- The original plot summary for the episode was as follows: Hellfire rains down on those at Meridian as every fight with the Reapers proves to be a brutal battle. At home in Alexandria, the violent rainstorm rages on as walkers continue to pour in, threatening everyone's safety, including Judith and Gracie.[1]
- On Talking Dead, Lauren Cohan reveals that she did her own stunts for the episode.
- Also on the show, Angela Kang explains that the Reapers had been hunting Maggie's group, and the Reaper that Maggie put down and Alden had fought to the death and killed each other.
- In a Tweet, it was clarified that the Reaper had slit Alden's throat.[2]
- Also on the show, Angela Kang explains that the Reapers had been hunting Maggie's group, and the Reaper that Maggie put down and Alden had fought to the death and killed each other.
- Rosita drops an f-bomb in this episode, in the scene where she and Lydia are fighting off walkers on the staircase. During filming, Cassady McClincy accidentally hit Christian Serratos in the shoulder, causing her to yell out the word "fuck" in pain.[3]
Comic Parallels
- Negan leaving the survivors is adapted from Issue 174.
- The Commonwealth Army arriving at Alexandria is adapted from Issue 180.
Episode Highlights
- The name of Elijah's sister is revealed to be Josephine.
- It is further revealed that Carver was the one who killed her.
- Elijah's words to Maggie before she kills Boone, Washington and Carver are him reminding Maggie of her promise at Teresa's graveside in "Promises Broken".
Goofs/Errors
- After Maggie shoots at the Reapers, Daryl walks past Maggie to go after Leah. In the next shot, as Maggie walks over to kill Carver, Daryl is nowhere to be seen.
- When Maggie is about to shoot Carver, the weapons dropped by Boone are missing. In the next shot, Boone's knife appears next to Carver for him to grab.
- When the Commonwealth soldiers arrive at Alexandria, the shot of Daryl from behind shows no backpack on him. In the next shot, he is wearing a backpack.