The Walking Dead Season 11 Review - 6 Ups & 2 Downs From "Variant"

Earlier in the season, the real Stephanie who was talking to Eugene over the radio was revealed to be Max Mercer, the secretary to Pamela Milton. After discovering that the fake Stephanie was part of Lance's plan, the cowardly engineer confronted Max and the two quickly fell in love.

Losing one another in the chaos following their plan to exploit Sebastian to the people of the Commonwealth during Founders Day, Daryl and Rosita manage to save him and eventually hide in the church. Now that their plan to walk freely out of the Commonwealth's gates is jeopardised, they stay low and try to plan an effective escape for all three of them.

But Eugene is unwilling to leave the love of his life behind, which causes friction between everyone in the drama that he helped to make. Unwilling to go out there and find her to evade capture by the soldiers, his friends risk their lives to save someone who they barely know themselves.

Despite his kind demeanour, this selfish action also leads to a confrontation with Daryl that ends up going nowhere as he attempts to fight his way to help find Max. Even when he lets him through to reach the front door, Daryl knows more about Eugene's lack of bravery than he does himself which made it all the more anticlimactic.