For Blood

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"For Blood"
The Walking Dead episode
TWD-11x08-StopTheWeapon.jpg
Daryl cuts the fuse to the hwacha.
Episode no.Season 11
Episode 8
Directed bySharat Raju
Written byErik Mountain
Original air dateOctober 10, 2021 (2021-10-10)
Running time41 minutes
Episode chronology
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"Promises Broken"
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"No Other Way"
The Walking Dead (season 11)
List of episodes

"For Blood" is the eighth episode and first-part finale of the eleventh season of the post-apocalyptic horror television series The Walking Dead. The 161st episode of the series overall, the episode was directed by Sharat Raju and written by Erik Mountain. "For Blood" was released on the streaming platform AMC+ on October 3, 2021, before airing on AMC on October 10, 2021.[1]

In the episode, Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) lead a herd to Meridian and sneak in among the confusion, while the Reapers, led by Pope (Ritchie Coster) and joined by Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Leah (Lynn Collins), try to fend them off. At Alexandria, the survivors attempt to wait out a violent storm when part of the wall falls down, letting walkers into the community. The episode has received positive reviews from critics.

Plot[]

Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) lead a herd of walkers to Meridian while disguised among them in masks. When the herd arrives, the lookouts at Meridian are confused by the herd's behavior, having never seen walkers act that way before. Pope (Ritchie Coster) asks Daryl (Norman Reedus) if he's ever seen a group of walkers behave that way, and Daryl says that he has, and suggests leading them away. While Daryl is eager to do it himself, Pope instead tasks Paul with luring the walkers away. Paul starts to lead the herd away from Meridian but is ambushed on several sides by walkers, and is stabbed by Maggie, who is still hiding among them. Paul falls to the ground and is consumed, and Negan steals his radio so they can keep tabs on the Reapers' communication.

When the Reapers stop hearing back from Paul over the radio, they assume that he is dead, which Pope reveals he figured would happen. Leah (Lynn Collins), upset by how Wills was sacrificed, confronts him about it. But the Pope insists that sometimes sacrifices are necessary to protect the rest of the family. Negan and Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari) lead the herd back to Meridian's walls, which triggers landmines and explosives the Reapers had set up around the perimeter. As the bombs go off, Elijah and Gabriel suffered minor injuries, but they carry forward. Maggie and Gabriel break off to head for the inside. When they approach, Daryl kills one of the lookouts on the wall to cover for them, and directs them to where they can sneak in. Once inside, Maggie and Gabriel split up, with Gabriel climbing to the top floor of a building to defend Maggie with his rifle, and Maggie on the ground to find the supplies they're after. Maggie is spotted by Deaver while hot-wiring a truck, but Gabriel shoots him before he can kill her. Maggie rams the truck into Meridian's front gate, tucking and rolling before it crashes, allowing the herd inside the walls.

Daryl meets Leah and Ancheta on a rooftop overlooking the community. Daryl, sensing Leah's discomfort at Pope's recent decisions, invites her to abandon the Reapers and run away together. When she refuses, Daryl confesses to Leah that he is with Maggie's group, and that they were hiding among the dead to lead the horde to Meridian. Despite feeling betrayed, Leah keeps his secret from Pope when he arrives on the rooftop. Pope unveils a hwacha. When the crashed truck lets the walkers inside the walls, the Reapers on the ground struggle to fend them off. Pope orders the weapon to be fired, and Ancheta lights the fuse. Leah points out that this will also kill the Reapers on the ground, but Pope doesn't care. Daryl and Leah draw their knives and stab Pope to death, killing Ancheta before the weapon can go off, cutting the fuse in the process.

Leah had decided that Pope had to die for no longer caring for their family. However, she refuses Daryl’s invitation to join her and radios her comrades that he killed Pope. Daryl flees and joins Maggie and Negan in fighting the Reapers and walkers in the battle at the gates, only for the Reapers to pull back. Leah, having taken command of the Reapers, then orders the hwacha to be fired upon the group and their horde.

At Alexandria, the survivors shelter in one of the houses while a violent storm hits. While boarding up the windows to keep walkers and rain out, part of Alexandria's outer wall falls down, and Aaron (Ross Marquand) asks for volunteers to go fix it. Connie (Lauren Ridloff) and Kelly (Angel Theory) opt to help Aaron rebuild the wall, while Rosita (Christian Serratos) stays behind to watch over the children in the house. While practicing with her weapon by the window, Gracie makes too much noise and attracts walkers to the house. Rosita runs outside and slays several walkers to buy them time, but the walkers’ numbers begin breaking down the door. Rosita leads a retreat to the second floor of the house from which they will pick off the walkers, however, Judith discovers Gracie hiding in the basement which is now flooding. They try to join the others only to be forced back to the flooding basement by the walkers that have now entered the house.

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

The episode received positive reviews. On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, "For Blood" has a score of 82%, with an average score of 7.4 across 11 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "An early climax for The Walking Dead's final season, 'For Blood' stages a rousing confrontation against the Reaper threat – with a couple of gruesome surprises thrown into the mix."[2]

Ron Hogan for Den of Geek gave the episode 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing that: "Both stories work well, and there’s no real break in the tension between the two. Both only turn the tension up leading to the season-pausing cliffhanger."[3] Erik Kain for Forbes praised the episode's action, but criticized the lack of story progression in the season so far, writing that: "In the end, very little has actually happened this season so far despite eight of the 24 episodes being over and done".[4]

Ratings[]

The episode was seen by 1.91 million viewers in the United States on its original air date.[5] It marked an increase in ratings from the previous episode, which had 1.89 million viewers.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ "AMC and AMC+ Walking Dead release dates, let's clear up the confusion". Undead Walking. August 19, 2021. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  2. ^ "For Blood". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  3. ^ Hogan, Ron (October 10, 2021). "The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 8 Review: For Blood". Den of Geek. Retrieved December 1, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Kain, Erik (October 10, 2021). "'The Walking Dead' Season 11, Episode 8 Review: Gracie, Just Stop It". Forbes. Retrieved December 1, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Metcalf, Mitch (October 12, 2021). "ShowBuzzDaily's Sunday 10.10.2021 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  6. ^ Metcalf, Mitch (October 5, 2021). "ShowBuzzDaily's Sunday 10.3.2021 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved October 5, 2021.

External links[]

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