Acheron: Part I

"Acheron: Part I"
The Walking Dead episode
Daryl travels through the underground subway system en route to Meridian.
Episode no.	Season 11 Episode 1
Directed by	Kevin Dowling
Written by	Angela Kang Jim Barnes
Original air date	August 22, 2021 (2021-08-22)
Running time	45 minutes
Guest appearances
Angel Theory as Kelly C. Thomas Howell as Roy Jackson Pace as Gage Glenn Stanton as Frost Okea Eme-Akwari as Elijah Laurie Fortier as Agatha James Devoti as Cole Antony Azor as R.J. Grimes Kien Michael Spiller as Hershel Rhee Carrie Genzel as Clark Marcus Lewis as Duncan Matthew Cornwell as Evans Mariana Novak as Female Trooper Brandon O'Dell as Refugee Man Mala Bhattacharya as Refugee Woman Joshua Haire as Squirrelly Man
Episode chronology
← Previous "Here's Negan" Next → "Acheron: Part II"
The Walking Dead (season 11)
List of episodes

"Acheron: Part I" is the first episode of the eleventh season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead. The first of a two-part season premiere, the episode was written by showrunner Angela Kang and Jim Barnes, and directed by Kevin Dowling.^[1] "Acheron: Part I" was released on the streaming platform AMC+ on August 15, 2021, before airing on AMC on August 22, 2021.^[2][3] The second part aired on AMC one week later.^[4]

In the episode, Daryl (Norman Reedus) leads a mission team to scavenge the military base he discovered. Back at Alexandria, the safe-zone experiences a food shortage. Maggie (Lauren Cohan) tells her story about her old community, prompting a new mission for survival that only Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) can lead. Once on the road, a violent storm erupts forcing the group to descend underground into a subway station where tensions quickly escalate between Maggie and Negan. Meanwhile, Eugene (Josh McDermitt) and his group are relocated to an undisclosed location and go through "level one assessment" by the Commonwealth's paramilitary police.

"Acheron: Part I" also features the debut of Mercer, portrayed by Michael James Shaw, a prominent character from the graphic novels of the same name.^[5][6][7]

The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, though many felt that splitting the episode into two parts was unnecessary.

Plot[]

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At night, Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) lead a group from Alexandria to an abandoned military base where they scavenge MREs left behind; an army of camo-clad walkers litters the ground. On the ground of the base, Carol (Melissa McBride) and Rosita (Christian Serratos) help Maggie load the MREs into backpacks, which Daryl lifts through the ceiling with a pulley system. However, a pulley snaps and Daryl cuts his arm catching a backpack before it can fall, but a drop of his blood lands on a walker, rousing it; the noise wakes every walker in the room. As the group on the ground fights them off, Daryl lifts them up to safety through the ceiling.

Back at Alexandria, Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) reveals that they only have enough food left to last them a week. Maggie suggests they refill their supplies by taking back her former camp, Meridian, which was previously overthrown by a group that killed most of her people. She leads a team, among them Daryl, Gabriel, Alden (Callan McAuliffe) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), to Meridian, where they pass through Washington, D.C. Eventually, they take shelter in a subway station when caught in a thunderstorm; they continue on their way underground. Negan, most familiar with D.C., says that the tunnel has been flooded before, but Daryl dismisses him. The group soon come across a pile of bodies, all wrapped in plastic; Daryl kills one when it reanimates. They notice the walkers made no noise, since their throats had been slit; Maggie orders the group to kill the rest of the walkers carefully. However, a large walker attacks Gage (Jackson Pace), a teenager who struggles to kill the walker by himself, but is rescued by Negan, who kills the walker and then refuses to take the group any further through the tunnel, saying it's too dangerous; Gage agrees.

Recalcitrant, Negan says that the rest can carry on if they want to, but that he won't go with them. However, Maggie insists that they need Negan to continue guiding them. Negan then theorizes that the only reason he was included in the group was so that Maggie could lead him to his death, away from Alexandria and make it look like an accident. He refuses to go along with this and tells Maggie to kill him now instead, in front of everyone. When he then mentions and insults Glenn, Daryl immediately punches him to the ground. Pointing a gun at Negan, Maggie tells Negan that killing him is always on her mind and isn't sure how long her self-restraint will last.

Elsewhere, Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Ezekiel (Khary Payton), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), and Princess (Paola Lázaro) are transported into a compound guarded by paramilitary troopers. There, the group is separated and interrogated for hours by two Commonwealth auditors: Clark (Carrie Genzel) and Evans (Matthew Cornwell). The two are fixated on what the group's lives were like before "the fall"; Mercer (Michael James Shaw), a resident of the Commonwealth who serves as the General of the Commonwealth Army, is present and attends the interviews. During Ezekiel's interrogation, he lashes out at Mercer; the military officer remains calm. Reunited at the detainment center, the group decides they need to escape. Princess, who has a gifted memory, reveals that two of the guards regularly disappear for a half hour to have sex, where they have to take off their armor. During this window, Eugene and Yumiko steal the trooper uniforms, and escort Ezekiel and Princess down a hallway toward the exit. When asked by another trooper where they're going, Yumiko replies "reprocessing", which satisfies the trooper. On the way out of the outpost, the group passes a wall papered with photos of missing people called the "Wall of the Lost". Princess recognizes Yumiko in one of the photos, with a note from Yumiko's long-lost brother, Tomi, asking if anyone has seen her. Yumiko then realizes that her brother is looking for her and possibly at the Commonwealth; she decides to stay to seek answers.

Back underground, the group realizes that Gage and Roy (C. Thomas Howell) secretly fled, and took all of their supplies. A herd of walkers then appears further down the tunnel and ambushes the group, who start killing the walkers. Overwhelmed, the group looks for an escape route and finds a ladder attached to a subway car. Amidst the chaos, Daryl runs after a fleeing Dog as the rest of the group climbs the ladder to safety. Maggie is the last one to ascend the ladder, but her leg is grabbed by a walker. She cries out to Negan for help, but he abandons her; Maggie loses her grip and falls.

Production[]

In March 2020, it was announced that pre-production of the final season had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[8] Filming for the episode began on February 9, 2021.^[9] As with previous seasons, the episode was filmed on location in the state of Georgia.^[9] Seth Gilliam revealed on Talking Dead that the subway set took "a month or two" to put together. Many of the photos of missing people included on the Commonwealth's "Wall of the Lost" were submitted by cast and crew members, including David Boyd, who directed thirteen previous episodes of the series, including "Diverged" the previous season.^[10]

The episode's title, "Acheron", refers to one of the rivers in Greek mythology that is said to flow through the underworld. The "Acheron" is also sometimes called the river of pain or woe.^[11] It is also a real river in Greece.^[12]

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

The episode received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode has an approval rating of 92% with an average score of 7 out of 10, based on 13 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "Maggie and Negan's longstanding feud takes center stage in 'Acheron: Part One,' a solid premiere that kickstarts The Walking Dead's final season with some bite."^[13]

Ron Hogan of Den of Geek gave the episode 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing that "there are a lot of positives", but added that "after the heights of the previous season's COVID episodes, there's a slight let-down".^[1] He also praised the performance of Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Negan's redemption arc, but criticized the character direction Maggie was heading in. Writing for Forbes, Erik Kain, reviewing both "Acheron: Part I" and "Acheron: Part II" together, called it "a strong season premiere", but felt that it would have been better if the two episodes aired together instead of a week apart.^[14]

Matt Fowler of IGN gave the episode a 5 out of 10, writing: "During a final stretch when things need to heat up, the show feels like it's cooling down. That doesn't mean exciting things aren't waiting in the wings, but the various parts of this particular episode did not make for a promising premiere."^[15] Writing for Filmspeak, Zach Marsh rated the episode as a C+, writing that the episode "aside from feeling very much like half an episode, with the needle of its story not advancing very far forward and a cliffhanger ending, also feels like a significant step down from some of the highs 'The Walking Dead' reached with recent entries".^[16]

Ratings[]

The episode was seen by 2.22 million viewers in the United States on its original air date.^[17] It marked a 0.1 increase in ratings from the previous episode, becoming the first season premiere in the series' history to have ratings below four points.^[18]

References[]

External links[]

• "Acheron: Part I" at AMC
• "Acheron: Part I" at IMDb