'The Walking Dead' Season 10, Episode 19 Spoilers: An Encounter With Mays
The Walking Dead season 10, episode 19 airs this Sunday, but we've already got a wide assortment of plot SPOILERS thanks to a recap from the spoiler experts at We Are The Walking Dead Fans. Want to know what happens when Gabriel and Aaron have an encounter with another previously unseen character? Then you've come to the right place.
The episode opens with Aaron and Gabriel out on a supply run, as the pair encounters a series of sad scenes with arranged clusters of bodies where families have presumably succumbed to the apocalypse. We learn that Alexandria is essentially out of food, and, using a map provided by Maggie, the pair sets off on a journey to find stashes of rations.
During his search Gabriel finds a bottle of whiskey, which he says is worth $2,000, and then proceeds to instruct Aaron on how it should be consumed. As the duo grows increasingly intoxicated, they play cards and have a deep discussion about the nature of mankind. In a dark twist, Gabriel reaches the conclusion that evil has won and is not "the exception to the rule."
Following this somber moment the search carries on, and it reaches its breaking point when Gabriel falls into a pool of mud and loses his map. Just as Gabriel suggests they should move forward towards a water tower ahead, rain stars to fall, obscuring their backward tracks. Knowing forward is the only way, they visit an unmarked location.
The spot has some toys that Gabriel and Aaron collect for Coco and Gracie, but it's also the hideout of a man named Mays, expertly portrayed by Terminator 2's Robert Patrick. After a predictably odd introduction that ends with our heroes being tied up, Mays confides in the pair and tells them he used to travel with his brother and his family until he was forced to "handle it" when his brother stole his food and charged at him with a knife. This leads to an actual game of Russian Roulette, with Mays hoping to break Aaron and Gabriel of their strong spirit. Mays predictably fails, however, as Aaron opts to point the gun at himself instead of Gabriel even when he knows there's a bullet inside.
Impressed, Mays cuts both men loose. Immediately after he lets them go, however, Gabriel bashes Mays to death with Aaron's prosthetic arm. He says the now-deceased man wasn't fit for Alexandria because he killed his family. In the attic, Gabriel finds a chained-up man presumed to be Mays' brother, surrounded by the bodies of his dead wife and child. When Gabriel sets the man free he grabs the priest's gun and immediately points it at himself. Despite Gabriel's pleas that he and his friends can help, the stranger shoots himself. Ultimately, the episode ends with Aaron and Gabriel deciding to check for supplies at the aforementioned water tower.
Just like the previous two episodes, episode 19 of The Walking Dead features a substory that may not have any direct impact in the near future. After all, given that all residents of Mays' hideout have seemingly perished, there's little threat they can pose to Alexandria in the weeks to come. A prevailing assumption, however, is that all these individual encounters, including Leah last week and Mays this week, may be the show's way of introducing viewers to key members of the Reapers. Both new arrivals seem to have a militant attitude, which lines up well with what's been learned about the Reapers thus far. Given that none of these stories seem at all tied to the stormtroopers Eugene met in October, they must have a more obscure narrative purpose.
The Walking Dead continues on AMC March 14.
What are your thoughts on Mays? Was he connected to the Reapers? Tell us in the comments section!
