The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 2 Scene Fans Thought Made No Sense
Contains spoilers for "The Walking Dead" Season 11, Episode 2: "Acheron: Part II"
The thrilling Season 11 debut of "The Walking Dead" continued this week with "Acheron: Part II." The title refers to a real-life river in Greece once suspected to connect to the underworld (via Britannica). Accordingly, the first two episodes of the new-look final season of "The Walking Dead' see the primary group of survivors navigating a subway tunnel. While it may not resemble the titular river of Greek legend in a literal sense, it's similarly linked to death due to the presence of bloodthirsty walkers (the word the series uses in lieu of "zombie") throughout.
In fact, Gage (Jackson Pace), one member of the group traversing the tunnel, dies during an attempt to flee from the walkers when he ends up trapped in a train car with a group of them at his back. He asks Maggie (Lauren Cohan) on the other side of his train car's door to let him into the next car, allowing him to escape from his pursuers. However, she refuses, unwilling to risk the lives of the rest of her group.
While Gage marks the first major death of "The Walking Dead" Season 11, some fans have expressed outright confusion at seeing another character survive what seemed like a gruesome injury in the same episode.
Just a flesh wound
Onetime Hilltop Colony guard Roy (C. Thomas Howell) is among the group that traverses the subway tunnel over the course of the first two episodes of Season 11. In "Acheron: Part II," subsequent to Roy and Gage's desertion in Episode 1 — a decision that ultimately leads to Gage's death — Daryl (Norman Reedus) happens upon an injured and incapacitated Roy. He leaves Daryl with a gun, a grenade, and what sound like his last words: "Tell my kids I didn't die a coward."
In a discussion thread for "Acheron: Part II," one Reddit user shared their surprise at the fact that Roy's moment with Daryl was not his last, which was confirmed upon Roy's reappearance in the second episode's climactic moments. "I thought Roy died when he gave the grenade to Daryl, was shocked to see him still alive when he was shot in the eye lol." The latter half of the post refers to the fact that upon his reappearance, Roy is promptly shot in the eye with an arrow. Their comment has been upvoted more than 275 times, suggesting many other viewers felt the same way.
User NomNomVerse, for example, shared that they interpreted Roy's encounter with Daryl as him being "already bitten and on the way to turning."
User wickedsickuser agreed, writing, "if he wasn't bitten I don't know where all those injuries came from."
While Roy's continued presence may have surprised many viewers, the fact that confirmation of his survival led to an arrow to the face is yet another example of the ongoing brutality of the post-apocalyptic world of "The Walking Dead." No one is safe — this season, especially.