The final season of The Walking Dead just claimed its first victim.
The season 11 premiere ended on a surprise cliffhanger as Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) elected not to rescue Maggie (Lauren Cohan) from a Walker horde. As we all expected, though, episode 2 revealed that she survived. However, in another shock twist, Maggie ended up making arguably just as dark a decision as Negan by leaving one of her group to die.
Last week, when things got tough during the survivors’ crawl through zombie-infested subway tunnels, Roy (C. Thomas Howell) and Gage (Jackson Pace) ran off with the group’s ammo and rations supplies, with “Acheron, Part 2” subsequently revealing that the pair got lost in the tunnels. Gage returns on his own and begs Maggie and the others to open the door to the train car where they’re sheltering from the Walkers.
As the undead close in on him, Gage apologizes for his cowardly actions and begs for a second chance. Alden (Callan McAuliffe) says there’s time to open the door, but not enough ammo to take out the encroaching threat. “I’m sorry,” Maggie decrees. “I can’t.” A furious Gage growls “Liar!” at her before stabbing himself in the heart repeatedly to avoid being eaten alive.
It’s a dark scene, and many are taken aback by Maggie’s “cold” decision.
Alternatively, others feel Gage didn’t deserve to be saved after he left the others in the lurch beforehand.
Then again, some still sympathize with him.
Is there any difference between Negan and Maggie?
Gabriel has some harsh words to say about Gage after his death, calling him “a shell of a man who died a coward.” This is rubbing some up the wrong way.
Maggie pulled a Lord Farquad.
“He was just a kid.”
Get ready for a cold-blooded season.
Expect Gage’s death to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to shocking deaths as The Walking Dead draws to a close. Season 11 continues next Sunday on AMC, or you can catch episode 3 on AMC Plus now.
