WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 11, Episode 8, “For Blood,” which aired Sunday, October 10th on AMC.
Season 11 of The Walking Dead has been all about rebuilding after the Whisperer War, but nothing is ever easy. With the one enemy defeated, the Reapers quickly rose to take their place as primary antagonists. When the season began, the Reapers already had control of Meridian, so Maggie concluded that taking that place back was the only way to provide food for her people. While traveling there, her group was ambushed and separated, and Daryl was taken captive by the enemy.
Surprisingly, the Reapers didn’t try to kill him because it was actually Leah – Daryl’s love interest from 10C – that captured him. Since she knew him as a loner, she bought it when he said that he didn’t belong to Maggie’s group, and after a trial, she convinced the Pope, who was Reaper’s leader, to let him into their group. Now, in “For Blood,” Daryl finally came clean about his allegiances, and Leah’s response was surprising.
Daryl’s confession came as Maggie and what was left of her group – along with the hundreds of walkers that they herded using Whisperer tactics -- attacked Meridian. Pope was impressed with Maggie’s tactic and had ordered his soldiers to use their hwacha against the herd. When Daryl saw the weapon, he couldn’t risk his people being killed as they walked with the dead. So, he made a choice and quietly confessed everything to Leah while the Reapers readied the weapon.
She was shocked that he had lied to her for so long, and wished that she had not trusted him from the beginning. Daryl’s only explanation was that he had lied to protect his family, which he was sure that she could relate to. He tried to convince her to abandon Pope and leave with him. However, it seemed pretty clear that she had no intentions of doing so. Then Pope showed up on the scene to watch the hwacha be fired. Just then, Maggie’s secret plan was put into action, and the front gate went flying open as a truck rammed it from the inside.
Pope’s solution was to fire the hwacha inside their own courtyard, and Leah wouldn’t stand for that. The possibility of killing their own people was too great, so she and Daryl made a silent agreement. Daryl drew his knives and distracted Pope while Leah stabbed him in the neck. In that split second, it seemed like Leah had decided to join Daryl and abandon her people. However, it all came crashing down just as quickly as it started. Daryl was also convinced that Leah was on his side, but she took her radio and told the other Reapers that Daryl was the one that had killed Pope.
So, over the course of a few minutes, she was a Reaper, Daryl’s confidant, a mutineer and back to Daryl’s enemy. It was kind of odd because the last few episodes seemed to be setting up a scenario where Leah would help Daryl take down the Reapers, and while she did kill Pope, she definitely isn’t going to help take down the Reapers. Her decision all but solidifies her fate as a casualty when Season 10B premieres, but maybe that’s for the best so that Daryl and Connie can get back to being “not-quite-a-thing” when new episodes resume. Either way, Daryl’s chances with Leah are over.
To see how the battle for Meridian ends, watch The Walking Dead on AMC. Season 11B premieres on February 20th of next year and will be available to stream a week early on AMC+.