Why The Walking Dead Season 11 Episode 9 Has Fans Divided Over Maggie
Maggie Rhee (Lauren Cohen) has had a rough go of it on AMC's brutal "The Walking Dead" TV series. A young woman at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, she lost her entire family not long after being introduced onto the show. Although she began a new one with Glenn (Steven Yeun), he famously met a violent end at the hands of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). All of this loss has caused Maggie to become even more fiercely protective of her loved ones. And it has also meant that she's developed a bit of a ruthless streak, especially during the series' current, final season.
Season 11 has seen Maggie leading the charge against a group of militaristic survivors known as the Reapers. While the Season 11A finale ended on a shot that made it look like the Reapers, led by Daryl's (Norman Reedus) one-time girlfriend Leah (Lynn Collins), had gotten the upper hand on Maggie's group, the Season 11B premiere saw the tides turn back in Maggie's favor. After surviving Leah's rocket attack and clobbering the Reapers into submission, Maggie's group decides to grant the remaining members mercy. That is until Maggie changes her mind and shoots the survivors in the back as they walk away, with only Leah escaping Maggie's wrath.
Although Maggie's Reaper massacre is the culmination of a long and brutal conflict in which the Reapers were the primary aggressor, not every "Walking Dead" fan agreed with her actions. Here is what they had to say.
Fans are divided over Maggie's handling of the Reapers
Taking to several different threads on Twitter, fans have had quite the response to this most recent episode. When the official account for the "Walking Dead" aftershow "Talking Dead" posed the question of whether Maggie made the right call to exterminate the Reapers the way she did, the response from fans was divided. On one hand was @AaronJConroy, who responded, "Yes, it was the right choice. Never give your enemies a chance. Its like a decade and a half I the apocalypse, if someone is firing rockets or bullets at you put them down." However, @LightInMyPocket disagreed, arguing, "Absolutely not. Maggie made an agreement and shot them in the back. Maggie needs saving."
While there were people who felt strongly either way, many seemed to believe that she did the right thing by eliminating the Reapers, but that her ruthlessness and single-mindedness are beginning to make her feel a bit like her own worst enemy. Twitter user @Mitten1011 wrote that they believed Maggie made the right decision, but added, "I have to say though, I think we all just watched Maggie turn into Negan." Meanwhile, @dawglee, broke things down more thoroughly, writing, "What's interesting is that she is still holding a grudge against Neegan for his 'killings' yet she is now doing the same thing. She's playing judge and jury and that's a dangerous game and you can cross a line easily." And in a separate Twitter thread about the scene, @BelieveInNegan posed a question of their own: "Difference between this and what Negan did to Abe and Glenn, is?"
It seems though that fans of "The Walking Dead" believe that Maggie did what she needed to do, but fear for her continuing down a path that appears awfully similar to Negan's savage history.