The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 9 recap: No Other Way

The Walking Dead Season 11 is back! Episode 9 “No Other Way” was quite fitting for several reasons.

As Maggie tries to figure out a way to get the food for Alexandria while also dealing with the remaining Reapers, Gracie and Judith try to escape a flooded basement full of walkers. Does everyone survive this chaotic episode?

The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 9 – The End of The Reapers

The episode begins with Maggie, Negan, and Elijah trying to escape the onslaught of the powerful hwacha. While the three do survive and make it inside, Father Gabriel has a run-in with the Reaper priest.

Although the rather deranged Reaper priest claims he can hear God and asks Father Gabriel to join him, Father Gabriel sticks to the plan of reaching the roof. He kills him but all the while realizing he doesn’t hear God anymore.

Inside, Maggie, Negan, and Elijah struggle to fight Reaper Brandon Carver until Negan’s ingenious idea comes from using a bell as a weapon (seriously loved the creativity). Before Maggie can kill Carver, Daryl arrives asking he be spared so they can use him as a means of escape.

It’s a decision Elijah is strongly against because The Reapers killed his sister. The four meet with Leah and two other Reapers asking that in exchange for Carver they take the food and Meridian.

Leah would rather have her sniper kill the group but Father Gabriel manages to take him out first. Defenseless, Leah agrees to their terms and leaves.

However, remembering what Negan had told her episodes prior, Maggie decides to kill them anyway, wounding Leah in the process. Angered at Maggie, Daryl chases after Leah and in the end, lets her go.

As the group recovers and packs the food for Alexandria, Maggie returns to the abandoned church where she last saw Alden. Unfortunately, Alden did not survive.

As she buries his body in a rather emotional scene, Negan approaches. At first, the conversation is leading audiences to believe he will now attempt to kill Maggie before she can kill him. He instead makes the logical decision to leave.

The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 9 – Aaron to the rescue

As the storm rages on at Alexandria, Judith and Gracie find themselves trapped in the flooded basement as walkers break in! Gracie uses the whistle Aaron gave her for help while the rest of the group is trying to put out of the windmill fire, repair the walls and keep walkers from emerging the stairs in the one home the rest are hiding in.

Aaron wastes no time in rescuing his daughter and Judith, killing walkers left and right, all the while the water continues to rise. After the girls are rescued he cleverly uses the ceiling pipe to maneuver his way to the nearest window where Lydia is there to pull him out to safety.

Aaron should honestly win the Father of the Year award for his display of courage, strength, and determination in this episode!

The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 9 – Help has arrived

Maggie, Father Gabriel, Daryl, and Elijah return to Alexandria, or what’s left of it. The storm has passed and everyone shares warm embraces. Especially that of Daryl and Connie as he literally drops a basket of apples to hug her. Something Carol even notices.

If anyone is sad upon the return of the group it’s Lydia, who rightfully so, is upset that Negan left. He had become a true friend and perhaps a father figure for her as they were seen as the outcasts at Alexandria (please tell me they reunite).

The happy reunion doesn’t last long when soldiers from The Commonwealth arrive! But never fear, Eugene and the (totally untrustworthy) Lance Hornsby arrive!

The rather unimpressed survivors meet and listen to what Mr. Hornsby has to offer about The Commonwealth. The episode concludes with a time jump to six months later where Maggie is standing guard at the gate of the newly rebuilt Hilltop as Commonwealth soldiers arrive.

The hostile standoff concludes with one soldier removing his helmet to reveal Daryl under the armor!

The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 9 review

Hear me out. The episode as a whole was incredible!

The fight scenes, happy reunion, music, acting, sets, all of it incredible! What I found sad was that I’d guess, maybe an hour or two after Maggie and the survivors got back to Alexandria, The Commonwealth arrives.

This means Alden’s death, all the other survivors from Maggie’s group who died horrible, painful deaths, the literal hellscape they went through to get food from Meridian to Alexandria was wasted. If the group had waited a few more days, The Commonwealth would have arrived, and then all of their immediate problems would have been solved.

If The Reapers ever showed their faces again, they’d be facing a whole army of Commonwealth soldiers and wouldn’t survive anyway. It’s not like this suicide mission resolved the drama between Negan and Maggie because even though he helped her more than she probably expected, he still doesn’t trust her and leaves.

If Maggie and the group stayed, they still would have eaten horse meat just to get by. If they didn’t leave, they would have had better reinforcements to deal with the storm and walkers breaking into Alexandria.

It would have been a better idea to have The Commonwealth arrive at least a few days later. Then the group could have properly celebrated together, accessed the damages to Alexandria, and thus when The Commonwealth arrives, realize as a collective whole that there is no other option but to leave.

I’m sure there are reasons why the writers went this route, but I personally don’t see it, at least not yet. Maybe Negan going out on his own will play into it, but (and you didn’t hear this from me), he will supposedly be arriving at The Commonwealth eventually anyway so…

And of course, we don’t know what will happen with Leah since she does survive. Overall I enjoyed the episode and look forward to the next one as Season 11 continues!

What did you think of The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 9? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 10 airs on February 27, 2022.