The Walking Dead season 11, episode 24 recap: Rest in Peace

The Walking Dead has officially come to an end. The 11-season AMC series concluded with season 11 episode 24 titled, “Rest in Peace.”

As Daryl tries to seek aid for Judith, the group separates as walkers continue to invade The Commonwealth placing innocent civilians at risk. Did the series finale meet the expectations of devoted and passionate fans?

Let’s find out!

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 24 recap – Chaos

The episode begins where it last left off, as Daryl desperately tries to seek help at the hospital for Judith. However, his cries do nothing as Commonwealth soldiers rough him up in their escape.

Judith, barely conscious, scrambles to block the glass hospital doors as walkers emerge before passing out next to Daryl. Little do they know, the rest of the group is stuck fending off the walkers.

In the process, Jules dies, and Luke gets bit. The rest of the group manages to make it to the hospital where Judith rests and Daryl refuses help from Carol.

In the same room, Magna, Yumiko, Kelly and Connie amputated Luke’s bitten limbs in an attempt to save him. However, he doesn’t make it.

The heartbreaking scene causes Daryl to take action, beginning a blood transfusion for Judith. But the group hardly has time to rest as the hospital is breeched by walkers.

In a mad scramble the group barely escapes. Meanwhile, Rosita, Gabriel and Eugene finally find where Coco and the other babies are located.

Being the fierce mama bear she is, Rosita kills the walkers and rescues her baby girl. But leaving becomes near impossible.

The trio force their way into the walker horde and proceed to climb a pipe up the side of a building to an open window. In the process Rosita falls but manages to get back up, climb the ambulance truck and leap to the pipe.

She makes it inside, with Coco safe against her chest. Elsewhere, Max and Princess rescue Mercer and together they round up Commonwealth soldiers loyal to him.

Luck continues to be on their side as Aaron and Lydia managed to blend in with the walkers and reunite with the group. Although Jerry and Elijah are still missing.

At this point Negan offers again that he and Maggie deal with Governor Pamela Milton without involving the group, but she still won’t listen. They find out that Pamela is hiding at The Estates with Commonwealth soldiers loyal to her.

The gates are locked, as Commonwealth townsfolk beg to be brought in. Negan attempts to sneak away with a sniper rifle to take care of Pamela himself, but Maggie catches him.

Always assuming the worst of him, Maggie flips out. Negan, the changed man no one seems to notice he’s become, explains that he will do it to spare her what happens after.

He knows she needs to go home to her son. Maggie, however, refuses to let him do it on his own and the two wait.

Unbeknownst to them, Mercer and the rest of the group arrive to arrest Pamela. As Gabriel attempts to open the locked gates, all guns are drawn.

Daryl takes the moment to make a valid point that Pamela’s actions are the opposite of what she always wanted to do. The rest of the Commonwealth soldiers agree.

The gates are opened, the people enter, just as walkers approach. In the group, Elijah and Jerry reunite with everyone.

However, Pamela cannot handle being defeated, as she is blinded by her own ambition to see any wrongdoing. She recognizes one of the walkers at the closed gate to be Lance.

She nearly allows him to bite her when Maggie kills him with the sniper.

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 24 recap – Celebration

Now that everyone is together, they need to think of a plan to kill the walker horde. Together they gather oil and speakers.

By blasting loud music, they lure the walkers towards the barrels of oil. Once the record on the record player stops, the spark is lit, and the entire area blows up.

All of the walkers die in the explosion. You’d think all their problems are over but unfortunately it is revealed in an almost poetic way that Rosita got bit.

She refuses to tell anyone at first, with Eugene being the first to know then Gabriel. Eugene and Rosita have a very extensive history on the series as she was with him and Abraham on their journey to Washington, D.C.

This was before Eugene confesses that he’s been lying about knowing how to end the apocalypse. What’s equally sad is that he always loved her, but she never returned the affection.

Regardless, they remained close friends. She enjoys watching her friends, whom she considers her family having a large meal together before finally telling Gabriel about her walker bite.

Outside, Negan and Maggie finally have the conversation that they should have had all season long. He apologizes for killing Glenn.

Maggie recognizes Negan is a changed man, even if she can’t forgive him. She will also allow him and Annie to live in Alexandria in peace if they’d like to.

Negan doesn’t partake in the big, family gathering and leaves with a reassuring nod from Daryl at the window. Rosita’s death is beautifully done as she is brought to a bed to spend time with her daughter one last time.

After Carol, Maggie, and Gabriel leave with Coco in tow, Eugene stays with Rosita as she passes away.

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 24 recap – The End

A year has passed, and a lot has changed. The Commonwealth is thriving thanks to Ezekiel taking leadership with Mercer by his side.

There is a beautiful memorial with all the names of those lost that day, including Rosita’s. After Eugene visits her grave, he, Max and their daughter Rosy, leave to join the community.

In the process Lydia and Elijah seem to be together as she passes around gifts to other characters. We see that Alexandria is thriving well within the walls and protection of The Commonwealth.

Daryl arrives from apparently a trip to greet Connie with a bright smile as he always has done when he’s around her. However, it seems he’ll be leaving again.

To where? The show does not say.

This isn’t anything new as Daryl, as much as he’s grown accustomed to having a large family of people he loves and cares about, he’s always thrived being a lone wolf. It seems Carol has taken Lance’s old job and looks forward to all the work she can do.

This also means she won’t be traveling with Daryl even though he’d like her to. Their bond remains as strong as ever but in the end she stays behind.

The last time we even hear of Negan is the gift he gives Judith. He returns her compass, telling her how it helped guide him and how it will now guide her.

We do not see or know what happened to him, Annie or their child. Maggie and Hershel continue to live well with big ideas for the future.

All in all, it seems like life goes back to how it once was, probably for the better. As for Pamela, she will rot in jail for the rest of her days.

The series finale concludes as we see both Rick and Michonne writing letters. Both seem to be searching for each other while thinking about all those they lost along the way.

In Rick’s case, we see him just as he tosses a letter in a bottle into the water while tossing his backpack onto the boat that Michonne later meets Virgil on. In that backpack was several items that proved to her he was still alive.

However, it seems Rick has been trying to escape the CRM since his rescue. He’s dirty, desperate and becomes terrified when the helicopter spots him.

Is that New York we see in the background? Might be.

The ending gives us hope that Rick and Michonne will find each other again.

The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 24 review

For a series finale I was thoroughly impressed. True, not every question is answered but the story wrapped up to a satisfying conclusion.

I’m assuming we’ll know what happened to Negan, Annie and their child when Dead City airs next year. Just as we’ll probably find out where Daryl is going when his spinoff airs next year as well.

However, we never get any answers as to what happened to Oceanside. We don’t know what Rick’s actual involvement is with the CRM either.

Nor did we see Virgil again for that matter. It would have been nice to get a little more insight into the status of several relationships.

Did Mercer and Princess marry or at least plan to? What of Lydia and Elijah?

They seemed happy but are they officially together? I’m relieved that there was a conclusion at all, fearing there would be a cliffhanger.

I’m over the moon that we got to see Michonne and Rick, as the show really cannot conclude without the king and queen of the apocalypse. It does leave room for what will surely be exciting spinoffs.

Overall, I am thankful for AMC and The Walking Dead. The show has been a major part of mine and many others lives.

No matter the questionable decisions, wasted character deaths or even odd plot choices, the series was groundbreaking, different and transformed television forever. I am glad to have witnessed and been a part of such a long running show that carried so much weight, just so that other television shows could have a chance.

To everyone who has been involved for all 11 seasons, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I cannot wait to see how the stories will progress in next year’s spinoffs.

What did you think of the final episode of The Walking Dead? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.