The Reapers Full Story Arc Explained | The Walking Dead Universe

[@MalachiFranks]

You didn’t mention that Maggie shot them from behind because she was influenced by Negan’s “mistake” when he said “if I could do it again I would have killed everyone of you” referring to him letting the group go and it resulting in the Saviors being defeated

[@je2409]

I completely forgot about this arc tbh. In my mind the show jumps from the whisperer war straight to the commonwealth arc. The fact that this group got TV time from 11A and 11B and leaving the commonwealth arc in just 11C is absolutely criminal

[@gateauxq4604]

It was so aimless and pointless.

[@sk.1069]

My daughter & I ABSOLUTELY loved that scene when sniper Gabriel was on the roof & simply saying "Call me Gabriel"! Oh my goodness me & my daughter both literally jumped up & was just like that was so amazing!!! I tell you Gabriel came a long way from when he first came on the show. We didn't like him then, but now Gabriel is one of our most favorite characters in the show!

[@Swell-Films]

I 100% agree. He’s one of the few characters that actually has their arc come full circle in the series finale with him letting the commonwealth citizens in from the herd

[@kingdevin_]

The Reapers had plenty of potential but it was sadly rushed and I think that’s why it failed so far. Plus like you said, Pope wasn’t even truly used to his fullest. Out of all the reapers, Carver was by far the best in my eyes because of his 1v3 and still almost won. Overall, I enjoyed your take on this group and looking forward to the next video

[@Swell-Films]

Thank you so much! Yes Carver was definitely the best of the group, wish they gave him more of a story given how skilled in combat he was.

[@Exzactz]

Had potential but was rushed can describe most of twd😅 Storylines either dragged on or flew by 😂

[@JohnnyCage-td5ud]

​@@Exzactzshut up

[@ImpossibleMusic69]

It wouldn’t need to be so rushed if it wasn’t for Maggie’s real life actor trying to shoehorn herself in for more money before. Her having to be re-introduced just convoluted everything

[@seankehoe8658]

valid points. good critique

[@lisawaters9216]

I wish Leah knew it was Daryl who put her down, I always hated her lol

[@alexandertodorov6373]

I think that the reapers deserved more screen time and backstory, but they were pretty cool.

[@andysauro1500]

Reapers would have been a successful character arc if it were them terrorizing the Commonwealth at the end. Especially if the surviving Reapers took the horde trick and used it against The Commonwealth.

[@Swell-Films]

That would be a badass additional to the commonwealth arc

[@andysauro1500]

@Swell-Films the Lance/Pamela vs crew arc was terrible and felt forced. Poorly scripted and acted as well. Imagine the issue being the Commonwealth unprepared for psychopaths like the Reapers, and the power struggle with the new crew being far more competent despite just arriving. Could have even ended with Daryl being required to save Sebastian from Leah and shooting her to save his bratty ass, winning over Pamela and taking their place as leaders of the Commonwealth.

[@MerleReaper303]

​@andysauro1500 Yeah, that all would have been a lot more enjoyable to see! The Reapers, despite being a relatively small group, are the most skilled, most experienced and deadliest fighters in the whole series, which allows them to take on and even defeat groups much larger than themselves, as shown when they invaded the heavily populated Meridian and killed most of the people there, while a handful, including Maggie, barely got away alive. Thus, the Reapers could show their full potential by attacking the Commonwealth, which has at least 50,000 people, the majority of which are ordinary survivors with limited combat experience, while those with proper combat experience (Commonwealth soldiers) are still not as hardcore as the Reapers are. The Reapers' military training is even more advanced than the Commonwealth soldiers' military training. However, the Commonwealth has the advantage in numbers and firearms, unless the Reapers manage to get hold of the Commonwealth's firearms, which would then make the Reapers even more dangerous and harder to defeat. Over the course of Season 11, the Reapers, including their leader Pope, mercilessly kill many main characters and supporting characters (whilst the Reapers lose one or two of their own people every few episodes) and by the end of the season, the remaining Reapers: Pope, Carver, Leah, and even Mancea the priest, very nearly win and even manage to kill one very important and popular character, before they are all put down by the heroes for good. Now that would have been way better and more suspenseful than what we got! Am I right?!

[@andysauro1500]

@MerleReaper303 it could have even been that Pope was the "final kill " of the reapers, and the ones that survived seek revenge on our cast. They served in Iraq if I recall and likely learned many guerilla tactics. How terrifying would it be for them to utilize the same walker herd strategy and send it on the Commonwealth? Then our heroes would think they know how to deal with it, but turns out the reapers planted explosives on the walkers? They could have used these characters so much better in an ultimate terrifying climax, but settled on such a mundane and contrived Commonwealth arc. It's a shame really.

[@MerleReaper303]

​@andysauro1500 Totally agree with you there! That is definitely what should have happened! They can even have every one of the Reapers have at least one grenade on them, so if any of them get mortally wounded or are about to get overwhelmed and killed by one or more enemies, they will use their grenade as an absolute last resort to take their enemies down with them, just like that first Reaper in Season 10 did. That would make all of the Reapers even more terrifyingly dangerous and the heroes will have to make sure that they kill their Reaper enemies immediately, or else they are at high risk of getting blown to bits along with the Reapers. Also, maybe the Reapers could have been revealed as part of the Civic Republic Military, or used to be part of them, but decided to go their own way. Either way, that would have given the Reapers even more depth and importance to the story.

[@willyjakkz]

Maggie (when she convinced Alexandria for help): "And now I've got the best fighters from Meridian..." Carver: "Hold my beer..."

[@Thomas-El856]

Sincerely thank you from a huge walking dead fan who fell off before the negan arc finished. And caught up again before dead city last year. Thank you man these videos dig into this show the way I use to dive into the lore with my friends. Definitely have a new supporter

[@Swell-Films]

Hey thanks so much mate I really appreciate that!

[@Thomas-El856]

Much love brother and much success.

[@zbigniewstonoga802]

What was really lame about Reapers, unless I've missed something: They had no motive. They had supplies. They could protect each other. Why would anyone that managed to survive for so long decide to kill random people just because.

[@diegoprodriguez]

I feel like the Reapers really did have some potential, but unfortunately they clearly didn’t have the time to stretch that conflict to what it needed to be and get the ball running on the final arc, the Commonwealth. In an alternate universe, where we got more seasons, probably could’ve been a nice lead in, going from these scary guys with hooks to the white armor of the Commonwealth

[@bonkripper77]

Would recommend going way back to season 5 and looking at the grady memorial hospital cops

[@Swell-Films]

It’s definitely on the list!

[@irregular1430]

I think the point of the torture is to put Daryl in a situation he's uncomfortable with, and put him through trauma, rather than make us question his loyalty.

[@xxkitlzxx777]

How do you only have 6k subs? You are an amazing story teller!

[@peachbunnys01]

THANK YOU. Them trying to get you to understand Negan through Maggie never worked for me. Negan liked what he did and did it with a smile. Maggie’s trying to make hard choices and isn’t happy about it. They were always trying to hard to try to get you to like Negan

[@TheMelancholicWriter]

The annoying thing is that the Reapers seemingly gave that one hunter all their guns. A much better storyline would’ve been to make the Reapers a mercenary group working for Lance. Tying in to the overall Commonwealth arc.

[@MerleReaper303]

Totally agree! That storyline would have been so much better than the crappy one we got, and it would have given the Reapers the recognition they deserved. Also, the series finale would have been much better if Pope, Carver, Leah and the other surviving Reapers were the final villains to be taken care of, and that they manage to kill about half of the main cast before being defeated. In my opinion, Alden (like in the original), Gabriel, Magna, Connie/Kelly, Rosita, Ezekiel, Maggie, and either Carol or Daryl should die at the hands of the Reapers, both to finally finish their character arcs and establish just how dangerous and frightening the Reapers are, so much that they manage to kill so many main characters within one episode. That would really paint them as the scariest, deadliest and most powerful villains in the whole series, even more so than the Saviors, the Commonwealth and the CRM, all of whom are much larger groups than the Reapers. 💀 FYI, I don't really care for the new spin-offs that AMC have made and I just see them as excuses for AMC to make more cash, which is bloody typical if you ask me. 😒👎

[@courtnocase]

Love you page ! I get excited to see these breakdowns ❤❤

[@lastnightslipstick]

Thank You for this, Excellent💎👌

[@JohnDoe-qq8et]

Imagine if they all stuck together, worked together and fought against the dead rather than eachother...

[@idjfdjksksksk]

sure if they they dont have phychopathic or crazy leader they following lmao

[@MichaelStark-j8e]

Then it would be the end of a show then. Zombie are not a threat to main character anymore or any humans as long as they have plot armor

[@mortem-tyrannis]

Just found this channel and watched several videos, I think I'll subscribe.

[@jiggycalzone8585]

I thought the 'disappointing' reapers was somewhat deliberate. After the saviors the only way to go with "bandit" factions to stay a credible threat without just feeling like retreading old ground would be the pseudo supernatural like the whisperers, or backed by a massive machine like the commonwealth. I thought it was underlined by how the saviors nearly broke Daryl, but he was barely phased dealing with the reapers. Also how pope killed one of his men in very similar means to how negan kills that doctor I kept thinking "what a rip off" like they were *supposed* to be posers to show how much stronger the group had become Edit: i almost forgot about using walkers as 'guards' which is definitely a savior move. Guarentee Daryl remembered that when he saw frost

[@hbsavage0387]

The issue is that a long lived group in a setting like this shouldn’t be incompetent. Also the fact they showed the Reapers initially as these hyper lethal hyper tactical cold blooded killers with a very strict code then proceeded to shit all over it shows how terrible the writing became in later seasons of TWD. It’s why I don’t care about this show is the writing just become easily predictable and they didn’t ever truly subvert any expectations in a good way.

[@MichaelStark-j8e]

​@@hbsavage0387 When a show goes on there no tension anymore. We know Rick is going to live we know Maggie and every main character is going to live. There no point in watching when all main character are above god on everything

[@wolfguywerewolfchannel2099]

Great analysis, I'm looking forward to the Commonwealth Arc video or any other Walking Dead arc you got planned.

[@Swell-Films]

Thanks for watching!

[@feezyfbabyyy]

Will we be getting a common wealth arc soon?

[@Swell-Films]

@@feezyfbabyyy I hope to start work on one soon but I have a couple lined up before then

[@judasmorningstar4442]

Love the TOP shirt. And I’ve been bingeing your videos. Great work.

[@Swell-Films]

Haha thanks mate! I’m extremely hyped for their new album

[@KarmicSpace]

Gotta remind me he turned got me crying again

[@locustgroveshawtty]

The Reaper arc is in my top 3 most fav arcs in twd most def 🔥😤

[@Swell-Films]

Can’t say I agree, but I respect it! Haha

[@BlackViod]

The similarities are there to show he did what he had to do as she did regardless of guilt or not. It means his tactics are effective.

[@GadzWolf11]

I've just discovered your page, so here I am commenting and rambling on the pirate video, but you for sure would've seen hundreds if not thousands of groups like this pop up if the outbreak happened today instead of 14 years ago. Not necessarily all just a cult of roaming butchers raiding for supplies, more likely groups of prepared citizens who would want to protect their own towns and communities early on, but many would begin roaming as time went on. Either simply for an adventure or because communities fell and it's not safe anymore. More than likely, you'd eventually get bands of mercenaries helping set up secure colonies for long-term settlements, lots of videogame type quests and such going on with a mix of "The Postman" and such mixed in for that. Probably get bands of mercenaries wearing patches and flags of their home communities and the ones they get employed with, much like military unit patches. I should've been asleep an hour and a half ago, but now we've got my brain racing. Subscribed for sure.

[@MannixMcNabb]

Thanks!!! You’re awesome at explaining this!!

[@dragonballradiant2744]

I actually really did enjoy this. It was a great re-introduction to Maggie. And, and I feel like it made the entire fan base. Want to see Daryl Dixon be reunited with Rick Grimes 😢😢😢

[@TheReal0r3n]

I loved to hear more about the reapers, I really wish we got more of them, Carver is still one of my favorites despite barely any screen time, he was strong and looked cool asf, we needed more of him and the reapers

[@slis3578]

Also I don’t know if it was a reference to the book Blood Meridian. Especially the ending at Yuma crossing where the Glanton Gang (after spending half the book slaughtering and pillaging entire villages and settlements mercilessly) settled down on a fortification and continued their downward spiral. The reapers reminded me of a less fleshed out Glanton Gang Pope was a low rent Judge Holden (with the whole preaching and the whole “War is God” mentality)

[@bunnarchist8965]

I've been going through last few seasons for the first time, never watched them since I fell off at season 7 back when it was originally airing. I enjoyed the Reapers, but i def agree that it felt a bit rushed. I enjoyed it, I liked Pope, and i enjoyed the Leah reveal, but yeah. It's definitely a bit shoved in there with the Commonwealth, but i didn't hate it. Edit: plus seeing Maggie and Negan use full on Whisperer tactics against The Reapers was pretty sick

[@jasonx5564]

I really like that background music

[@usuckudeadzombie]

@ty I think you should do a full break down of the walker virus now that more info has come out with Violet and Charlotte team and what we’ve learned from France

[@BretBeall-k5t]

It's possible Pope and His forces actually had an encounter with some Whisperers before which was how He reconized the tactic.

[@neilsdechamp]

They gave me a Hollywood undead vibe

[@user-uz8tj3ye9u]

I only remembered about them when Daryl killed that one girl from that group

[@andreatkins6676]

The idea was good but the Reaper arch needed to be way long to make us care about these people

[@Swell-Films]

100%. If they had the full season like what was originally planned, it would’ve gone a lot smoother

[@johnlittleton8117]

I'm enjoying your videos. Very well done.

[@TheLeky98]

I wouldn't be surprised if the original plan was to have it where Maggie was what started this fued between her group and the Reapers

[@enigma7310]

*The reapers had the best quality fight scenes and made the main characters including Maggie and Gabriel show how far they've grown...I hated the Commonwealth arc of the show, they could've really done something with the Reapers they had a predator type aura to them and made the show had the feel it did when they introduced the Saviors...it was really wasted potential*

[@brownieelf6171]

They looked like they were going to a formidable villian group. They ended up being weaker than Governor’s Woodbury.

[@celticdragon4966]

The Mask's kind of remind me of the game Army Of Two....Mercenaries or PMC's wearing mask's to hide their identity.

[@RyanLesnerhatesneebsgaming]

5:55 Imagine if someone had a gun in Maggie's group

[@ThomasBeneteau-p9h]

Great vid

[@mr.brooks3748]

Wish I can find that scene of Maggie hiding under the floor

[@autumn557]

I think this sums up why I never ended up watching the walking dead. I just never understood every living splitting off into factions instead of joining and killing all the walkers then continuing life on. Instead everyone because enemies and I thought that was dumb.

[@TheGman-v4e]

it's sad a bunch of trained ex soldiers getting killed by untrained hill billys

[@ryanrhoades5922]

Hillbillies are trained to shoot and trap at a very young age. Track game and survive in the wilderness. Not sure what training you think ex soldiers have they don't?

[@MerleReaper303]

And a one-eyed priest, a farmer's daughter, and a gym teacher (even though that gym teacher is highly intelligent and a brilliant strategist, which can more or less rival with the Reapers' military strategies). But overall, a highly skilled, organised and deadly group like the Reapers should not be able to be taken out by a smaller and less skilled group like Maggie's group. That logic makes no sense whatsoever! Realistically, the Reapers would have decimated them with little to no effort, but bad writing and plot armor for Maggie and her group got in the way of that, as per usual. 😒 It would have been so much better and made so much more sense if the Reapers were defeated by a much larger group or people with similar combat training to them, but also that the Reapers manage to take out a lot of people, including main characters, so that they can leave a far bigger impact to the story than they did originally. The Reapers deserve recognition, dammit! 🫡💀

[@ryanrhoades5922]

@paulsmithson303 maybe read up on how the well trained Russian army lost in Afghanistan to a bunch of untrained mountain dwellers. In real life!! US couldn't beat them and they had no weapons like us or the training

[@anthonyparillo7832]

@@ryanrhoades5922combat training, hand to hand, they were in combat overseas that gives a lot more conventional combat skills

[@mrbeaver0575]

Oh kay. Commonwealth now pls

[@gerardmcquade9102]

they were exploding arrows not rocks

[@gerardmcquade9102]

@@Swell-Films that's completely different the wikki page shows it shoots arrows when you search hwacha from the 16th century

[@Swell-Films]

@@gerardmcquade9102 ay my bad I mis-read, you’re correct.

[@pyroAdapt]

I don't think it's that much of a bad thing to have the villains be hypocrites. It shows that their facad is starting to crack and that they have a weakness.. often times our group ends up using these hypocrisies against them like using Lydia being alive to turn certain whisperers against alpha. So it might be poor writing but it could also be seen as somewhat planned and consistent.

[@Swell-Films]

That’s honestly a great take. Respect.

[@pyroAdapt]

@@Swell-Films thanks mate. I can't really make arguments on popes behalf he was pretty lazily written she to the time constraints but it makes sense logically that people that unhinged in a world like that wouldn't have a consistent set of ethics or stand on principle. They do whageve they have to in order to maintain their position.

[@syad911]

thank you so much for recapping this bullshtry in 19 minutes. i was right, i wasnt missed anything at all by not watching this arc.

[@Shishizurui]

Why is it Daryl is always ending up with badguys or they want him so bad.

[@drewwillfilms]

Why was Leah living alone when she met Daryl? If she was with the reapers on monument day, why did she leave them and then come back?

[@skwisgarskwigelf7191]

I was hoping we’d get to see Pope and Daryl or Pope and Negan go toe to toe. He was built up to be this powerful force to be reckoned with only for him to get easily killed off 🙄

[@ianhayes3980]

would it be to farfetched to say that maybe the reapers knew about the wispers would it not have been posible for them to have come aross one another at some point but for what ever reason didnt deem the other s a nessesary threat so left each other alone with some kind of agreement that they dont cross in to one anotheres terrotorys, if they knew about the wispers and their tactics then that would explain how pope was so fast to acknowledge what maggie was doing by leading the horeds, he knew what she was doing simply because he had already witnessed the same thing being done by the whispers

[@abaguetteontheinternet3109]

i thought leeyah was the woman that daryl got wasted with

[@TheFirstTEE1]

That's Beth

[@jb6725]

I really, really wish they could just retcon the whole Reaper arc and make something longer with better writing, because their storyline was so ass but they had so much potential and they looked so fucking cool 😭

[@lisaowen6103]

That Leia story line, imo unnecessary. I'm glad the Daryl romance of sorts. I wished they had a child during their time together. Not just a dog.

[@slaplapdog]

Why attack at random if they are about signing particular? Just crazy bs?

[@BackSpace101]

Whats that laptop in the background?

[@Swell-Films]

It’s a Lenovo. You can flip the screen to stand it up lol

[@caindain2179]

This is an example on how companies and CEOs can screw writers and artists over…😢

[@rithloveyou9737]

I love how whisperers is revelant until now

[@elsimain]

I personally think they stole the focus from the commonwealth, we were introduced to a community with 50k people and star wars armor, i had no interest with the reapers

[@josephfrank1276]

Wish we could turn baccc time to the good ol dayzzz

[@IsmellGoodASF]

☆☆☆☆☆@Ty swell☆☆☆☆☆ I want to say thank you. Thank you for making such great walking dead story arc videos. Ive watched everyone of them over the last couple days and they are magnificent! As someone who has been watching faithfuly since episode#1 all those years ago, and has watched the series and spin-offs in their entirety at least 4 times throughout the years, I absolutely loved these vids! This has been an entertaining trip down memory lane for sure. To re-live some of my favorite story arcs in the way you've put them together has been an entertaining viewing experience! I know its hard work but please man, keep making these for all significant story arcs in TWD universe. Id love to see you weave some arcs together between shows and tell the larger overarching story between them while filling in time jumps. I do not usually leave comments complementing the channel creator of vids like this, but in this case I absolutely had to give you your flowers. 👏 👏 WELL DONE! Youve done something really great here! I've liked your vids and subscribed to your channel. I will recomend your channel and vids. I'll also share them in the appropriate places to try and drive some views and subs your way. Thanks again man!

[@Swell-Films]

Wow those are some very kind words! I really appreciate all the support!

[@formygalaxy]

If wokeness wouldn't have plagued the show, we would have reached season 30 by now

[@TonusBalonus]

Best reaper was the guy who kept putting that annoying Negan fool on his lame ass, geesus that cheesy smiling assclown had to use another one of his cowardly tricks to put him down...never could see why so many people drool all over that lame Negan fools a$$

[@WillowyBonsai51]

DayZ be like

[@farahahmedkarim377]

This entire story arc was pretty interesting at first, but holy fucking SHIT was it poorly done

[@TheFirstTEE1]

Who the fck is Meggie?

[@camthorpe9388]

😂😂😂😂

[@matthewmartin1852]

The amount of time spent on this group was easily one of the worst parts of the final season. Nothing original about them. We've seen PTSD ridden veterans in all of the WD shows at his point. We've seen people raise a cult around themselves. Having them as the antagonists that pushed Maggie back to the survivors only hurt her character. It still baffles my mind that after already being introduced to the Commonwealth and dealing with the Whisperers for years that the writers thought this group would serve as interesting content more than two episodes. Even based on the assumption they meant to stretch this plot further, it's horrible. Outside of "Daryl fucked one of them" there is nothing engaging, or entertaining of the group. Nothing related to Georgie or the 6 years Maggie left the survivors. Maggie is picked up like nothing happened over the past few years except for this one, 1-note bad guy, killed off this one single group with nothing except for some small angst fuel for Maggie to yell at Negan before they go in and kill them all off for some food. I yearn for the old days of the theories that Georgie was really Pamela Milton building up the Commonwealth and Maggie rejoining would be bringing them into the fold

[@Franco1395]

The reaper arc was lame. It was tired storytelling and I really disliked Pope. I disliked the character, his actions, his monologues, the actors portrayal. You pretty much addressed most of my dislikes. I guess the one thing I didn’t dislike WAS their reaction to the whisper tactic. I always give combat veterans, especially in film, the trait to not get rattled and adjust quickly when violence erupts or things go sideways. Civilians panic and scatter, it’s all about the training.

[@JacquelineMcNabb-Neher]

Thank you for the explanation! You look so handsome.

[@GrimpleGromble]

TWD sucked at this point, ridiculous plot line the reapers. AND the commonwealth.

[@Ariesgvd]

I love the reapers tbh they are the most realistic survivors along w Rick Daryl and Shane

[@chickhicks6208]

Can you cover the common wealths story arc?

[@Swell-Films]

I’ll definitely be getting around to it!