The Walking Dead: Season Six, Episode Eleven – Worlds Collide

First Aired February 28th, 2016.

Several people notice Paul “Jesus” (played by Tom Payne) sneak into Rick’s (played by Andrew Lincoln) house and they all confront him. Jesus claims to be from another town and regularly seeks out other communities to trade with and wants to include Alexandria.

While understandably skeptical, Rick decides to take a group and check out Jesus’s story. He also makes sure to get Carl’s (played by Chandler Riggs) blessing regarding his new romance with Michonne (played by Danai Gurira). Rick, Michonne, Daryl (played by Norman Reedus), Abraham (played by Michael Cudlitz), Glenn (played by Steven Yeun) and Maggie (played by Lauren Cohan) later head out. Along the way they spot a car crashed on the side of the road that Jesus recognizes from his community. They search a nearby building for survivors and take them into custody along with Jesus. Throughout the episode, Abraham (played by Michael Cudlitz) is shown struggling with his feelings for both Sasha (played by Sonequa Martin-Green) and Rosita (played by Christian Serratos). The idea of Glenn and Maggie bringing a baby into the world only exacerbates that. In an erratic state, he nearly kills one of Jesus’s friends before Daryl snaps him out of it. The group soon arrives at Jesus’s community which is named Hilltop.

Carl thinks of Michonne as a surrogate mother so of course he would be fine with her dating Rick, he was just thrown he saw them in post-coital afterglow. These new people have the same naiveté and helplessness that first defined the Alexandrians. It’s amazing how many people are still alive this late in the apocalypse who can’t fight. Rick and company must have attracted most of the bad guys away from these communities. So far Abraham hasn’t acted on his feelings for Sasha, but thinking about her while in bed with Rosita is still pretty messed up. Most people are able to put their emotions aside when on a mission but Abraham consistently is a wreck whenever he has problems. I’m also confused why Glenn and Maggie’s baby is throwing him off so much, does he want a baby or maybe he hates change? This man shouldn’t be allowed to be running around with guns without a psychiatric evaluation first.

Rick and his group initially receive a hostile welcome but are eventually welcomed into Hilltop after Jesus vouches for them. The community is sparsely populated and badly in need of supplies (the guards ran out of ammunition months before and their guns are just for show). They’re introduced to the Hilltop leader, Gregory (played by Xander Berkeley), and Maggie sits with him to work out a bartering arrangement. Gregory tries to make an arrangement that would benefit Hilltop over Alexandria but Maggie refuses to let him steamroll her and the meeting abruptly ends. Jesus offers to speak to Gregory when they receive word another group has made it back with bad news: one of their own was killed and another captured by Negan. One man has a message to Gregory from Negan and stabs Gregory, in the ensuing fight Rick kills the man and Jesus calms everyone before things escalate. Jesus explains that Negan and his group the Saviors attacked and terrorized their community from the start in exchange for half their supplies and no further attacks.

Gregory can play hardball all he wants but Hilltop is screwed without Alexandria. Their town looked like District 12 from The Hunger Games. But even if they had weapons these people don’t know how to fight and are scared senseless of Negan. Granted they have good reason: he beat a sixteen-year-old kid to death just to prove a point and has them stabbing each other. So far Negan has made a huge impact as an unseen character which makes the buildup to his eventual appearance very exciting. I just hope the television version holds up to the legacy the character has made in the comics. Maggie finally stepped up and took a more active role, proving she has the diplomatic skills of a born leader. Rick is a great fighter and does a good job as a protector but lacks the people skills Maggie has to relate to others. He was all “What?” to everyone’s shocked reaction to him killing that guy. It was hilarious but made it obvious Maggie should handle the group’s PR.

Daryl and Abraham recognize the name from their own encounter with Negan’s men and offer to take him out. Maggie works out a deal with Gregory that Hilltop will give them half their supplies in order to take care of Negan. They head back to Alexandria to rally everyone for a fight. Rick and the others are a little too confident they can easily kill Negan and his Saviors. True, they have dealt with their share of psychopaths, but it wasn’t easy defeating them, and each time they lost at least one person. The episode ends on an optimistic note which all but confirms when they finally confront Negan it’s going to go horribly wrong.

Quotes & Thoughts

“Confrontation’s never been something we’ve had trouble with.”

Rick is so used to killing now he could slice a guy’s neck open and continue a conversation without missing a beat; talk about desensitized to violence.

“Your world’s about to get a whole lot bigger.”

The fight against Negan better start in the next episode; I don’t want to see this dragged out until the finale.

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