Is now found.

The episode begins with Carol picking up some baked goods from a shop when Ezekiel arrives. Though the two said their goodbyes, Ezekiel’s giving Carol some extra medical supplies. Carol left Ezekiel some sesame bagels, but when she gets no response, she turns and sees that Ezekiel is gone. In enter two men who I think are the same two that abducted Rosita last time. Carol, however, holds them off long enough to flee.

Carol is a better fighter than Rosita. Confirmed.

As Carol hides from both the men and Commonwealth soldiers, she finds a wagon with empty boxes, a motorcycle, and blood on the ground right next to a warehouse.

Inside, Daryl is in the middle of a struggle. One man inside is already dead, but another is choking the life out of Mr. Dixon, who can’t reach a nearby blade. The dead man begins to reanimate.

Carol enters and hits the man with a board, distracting him long enough for the walker to bite him. Daryl makes quick work of them both before telling Daryl that the Commonwealth has taken the kids. Hell, they took everyone.

Pamela speaks with some acquaintances about how she’s dealing with the newcomers. She’s suspended all migrant entry into the city until further notice. One of the visitors gives Pamela her condolences about Sebastian. To lose a child is unthinkable. Worse than death. But Pamela knows that Sebastian will always be with her. I bet.

Yumiko storms in and demands to know what’s happened to her friends. Pamela responds that Yumiko’s friends have been removed from the Commonwealth. Their rebellion in defiance of the law has left Pamela no choice. Pamela does care about the law. It’s why she hired Yumiko, as she wants to see justice prevailed. How does abducting Yumiko’s friends accomplish that?

Pamela wants to assure the citizens that Eugene’s trial will remain impartial and justice will be served, no matter which side someone falls on. Who better to bring that impartial justice than Eugene Porter’s friend? So yes, Pamela wants Yumiko to prosecute Eugene on behalf of the Commonwealth. If Pamela refuses, she won’t see her friends again. Not to mention Yumiko’s actions could impact Tomi as well.

Then Pamela starts to prepare for a press conference announcing Yumiko’s intention to prosecute Eugene. I question how you can have a press conference in the apocalypse when there are no news stations, maybe one newspaper, and no camera crews, but whatever. Yumiko storms off.

Daryl tells Carol how he got jumped. The Commonwealth even took Dog. Okay, that’s just a step too far. Daryl wants to find Mercer, even though there’s the possibility that he turns them in. Carol considers Lance Hornsby, given that he knows all the dark shit going on in the Commonwealth. She knows just where to find him.

Yumiko arrives at the clinic and informs Tomi that her friends have been taken on Pamela’s orders, not to mention that she’s being ordered to prosecute Eugene. Tomi correctly guesses that he was threatened as well, but he’s not worried about that. He knows that Pamela expects Yumiko to fold. Tomi suggests that the best way for Yumiko to protect herself and her friends is giving Pamela what she wants.

That means sacrificing Eugene, but does Yumiko have much of a choice? Tomi says that sunlight is the best disinfectant, but Pamela is still standing. There isn’t justice waiting around the corner. It’s not acceptance, but survival. It’s what Yumiko’s friends would want for her, and what she wants for them.

As Yumiko leaves her brother, she spots Connie, who is hiding in one of the rooms. Connie explains that she stabbed someone in the leg and when he let go of her, she ran. Connie turned back to help Kelly, but she was already gone. Yumiko acknowledges that if Connie hadn’t run, she’d be in the same situation. Connie knew the man would need medical attention, so she came here.

Miraculous that she somehow didn’t get spotted, am I right?

Anyway, turns out the guy that Connie stabbed is being patched up in the room next door. Connie plans to follow the guy when he’s released, and she’s not asking Yumiko for permission, either. However, Yumiko points out that nobody’s looking for her, so she’ll do it. Connie warns Yumiko that if she’s caught, others will know that they spoke.

Which, they aren’t literally speaking, but semantics. They can’t risk seeing each other again, but Connie has faith in Yumiko.

Carol and Daryl head to the cells and swipe the key off of a Commonwealth guard. They eventually find Lance’s cell and are surprised to find a walker Sebastian with him, on the ground, with blood everywhere. Daryl puts Sebastian down while Lance cradles his coin and mutters “There’s always a way” to himself.

Daryl demands Lance tell him where the others are, but his bad cop routine doesn’t get results. So Carol goes for also bad cop and tells Lance that they can’t leave him alive. Either he tells them where the others are, or they kill him. Lance offers to show them instead. He knows they don’t trust him, but he knows a way out of the city.

However, Daryl notices that Lance has a radiofrequency monitor around his ankle. Lance explains that it set an alarm off if he leaves this place. The only plausible option would be cutting off Lance’s foot, so are they going to carry him? The plan is to run, but Lance needs to do something first.

As soon as the three flee, Commonwealth guards open fire. Lance and Carol exit while Daryl stays behind to provide cover fire.

Yumiko follows the man that Connie stabbed, but she notices that people are eyeing her. She soon runs right into the man, but walks past him to avoid giving away that she’s tailing him.

Pamela now has a new assistant, Kathleen, played by Katie Causey, who is helping her with the optics for tonight’s press conference. She wants to regain the public’s trust by explaining that she’s moving forward in an open, transparent way. Also, the Commonwealth army should be there, but in the background to present a peaceful return to law and order. She doesn’t want the Commonwealth to feel like a police state.

Then Pamela gets a phone call. There are actual telephones in the Commonwealth. Is the first time we’ve seen a phone since the prison? Anyway, Pamela learns that Lance has escaped.

She heads to the cell and finds no sign of Lance, but does find her now definitely dead son. Nestled in between Sebastian’s brain matter is Lance’s coin. That’s one place to leave your calling card, for sure.

On the outskirts, Lance and Carol make the long way to their destination. Lance says that Carol was right to leave Daryl behind since he, like everyone else, just slowed her down. He notes that Carol thinks 10 steps ahead of everyone else. Who else could’ve done what she just did? Instead of just taking the compliment, Carol draws her gun on Lance, having had enough of the mind games.

In Lance’s defense, he was just locked in a cell and forced to feed Sebastian, so he might not be at 100 percent. He goes as far as daring Carol to kill him, but they’re interrupted when a squadron of Commonwealth soldiers arrive to check the area. Luckily, Lance knows how to lose them.

Yumiko informs Eugene that the others are gone. She doesn’t think she has a choice but to do what Pamela’s asked, and Eugene has long accepted his fate. He understands and now must lay in the bed he’s made.

Plus, Pamela could always go back on her promise to let their friends free. Pamela might have all the leverage, but Eugene is holding out hope that they can do something. He couldn’t live with the possibility that their friends are gone.

He tells Yumiko to return the faith that their friends have always had in them. Trust that no matter how bleak things look, this is not the end. It may not mean much coming from Eugene, but it’s still something.

As night falls, Lance leads Carol to the site of a repair project back in the early days of the Commonwealth. After a series of cave-ins, it was considered too unstable. Lance maintains that he meant what he said about hoping Daryl survives. It’s hard to find people like that- someone you’d do anything for. Lance thought that way about Pamela and hoped to make her feel the same way about him.

He’d help her build up the Commonwealth, while she took the credit. Even by bringing in Carol’s communities, which Lance admits was mishandled. But it was never enough. There was nothing Lance could do to change how Pamela saw him. He was just her chauffer’s son. But Lance asks Carol what comes after the unrest. If Pamela doesn’t survive, there will be a power vacuum.

Looking at history, the people who suffer the most in revolutions are the civilians. Carol and her people would hold 50,000 in their hands. To Carol, until she finds her people, there is no after. Lance knows that Carol will find them, but then she’ll have a choice to make: will she let the Commonwealth burn? Carol says it’s not her problem.

Fair, but what about the next generation that should have a better opportunity than the one that came before? Otherwise, what’s the point?

Don’t ask Carol about kids, Lance. She doesn’t have the best track record with handling them.

The two happen upon what appears to be skin when a walker grabs Lance’s ankle. He screams while Carol takes care of another walker behind her. When the coast is clear, Lance is nowhere to be seen, but more walkers certainly are. Carol opens fire on the dead and even pulls the skin off of one.

Lance is up one level with the flashlight. He apologizes, as he thought she was right behind him. Yeah, okay. The two flee the site and head into a clearing…where they walk right into the hands of the Commonwealth soldiers. Not for long, as Daryl snuck his way here and opens fire on the soldiers.

Press conference time. Pamela asks if Yumiko enjoyed her stroll through the square, and it was lovely. Good, so Yumiko won’t mind hearing that Connie has now been taken with the others. Pamela admires the loyalty that Yumiko has for her people, and she hopes that Yumiko will understand why she’s doing this for her people. Yumiko already understands: this press conference is for Pamela, not the people.

But Pamela says that Yumiko’s words will help restore people’s faith. But to Yumiko, they aren’t her words- it’s just bullshit theater. All the same, but make sure you know your lines.

So the press conference begins. It’s announced that the Commonwealth will be moving forward with prosecuting Eugene Porter, who has been charged and arrested with the events on Founders’ Day, including Sebastian’s death. Pamela, meanwhile, chats with a guard, who assures her that the soldiers are sweeping every quadrant.

Yumiko addresses the crowd with a prepared speech. She starts off by saying that it’s a privilege to serve this great community. Not long ago, she was part of a community that had been lost to the ravages of the outside world. Governor Milton welcomed her with the gift of a second chance to live lives they thought were gone forever. For Yumiko, that meant being a lawyer again and uphold the ideals of the old world.

Eugene Porter was also part of her community and someone she grew to know well. That’s why the past events have shaken Yumiko to her core. Regardless of the personal cost, they must always seek justice if they are to preserve who they are. Yumiko goes off script to thank someone who means the world to her and the community: her brother. She puts Tomi on the spot and asks him to stand, which he does.

She calls Tomi an invaluable member of the community and someone who has always wanted what’s best for everyone. She just wanted to thank him for that. She then thanks her people for always having faith in her, and at this point Pamela is probably wishing that she vetted Yumiko’s script.

To honor them and the pursuit of justice, she announces her intent to defend the wrongly accused Eugene Porter. She looks forward to her day in court. Despite these people not having any idea who Eugene is or his past, Yumiko’s announcement somehow still gets some applause. Instead of dropping a mic, Yumiko drops her speech and leaves.

Daryl, Carol, and Lance arrive close to a house where they spot two Commonwealth soldiers on guard duty. Lance tells them that the tracks fork a few times, but he knows the route that the supply chain takes to get there. Carol is surprised to hear that the Commonwealth has a working train. It was part of a plan to expand the Commonwealth’s reach and connect communities all the way to the sea.

Carol questions whether Lance means connecting, or conquering, but he suggests they move before dawn. However, Lance won’t be joining them. Daryl and Carol know they can reach the location without them. After all, he did just say there’s a train, so they wait for it and see where it goes. Again, Lance talks about how he helped build the Commonwealth, which everyone knows by now.

He envisions a new day where everyone can start again, but to Daryl and Carol, not everyone can do that. At least, not Lance. They offer him a chance to run, as a chance is more than he deserves. Lance admits that he’s made mistakes, but he’s a changed man. That past guy died in that cell. He wouldn’t survive. However, Carol knows that Lance is a smart guy and might survive.

Lance turns and walks away, but he grabs a rifle from a nearby van. Before he can fire, Carol puts an arrow in his neck. Carol and Daryl hop into the van and ride off.

We join a convoy as a Commonwealth soldier walks down the aisle of a bus. Among him are various citizens with burlap sacks over their heads. The soldier injects each person with something before moving to the next. One of the person he pricks turns out to be Ezekiel. I bet it’s the walker vaccine. They call it TWD-19.

The convoy continues down the dark road as the episode comes to a close.

“What’s Been Lost” leaves the characters in quite a predicament and it’s interesting to see the complicated situations that await them in the episodes to come.

I quite liked the title and how much it plays into just how much has been lost in this new world. There’s no real rule or sense of law and order. No structure. Not many actual families besides the ones you make. That’s all gone. The Commonwealth, like Alexandria, serve as a reminder of what the world used to be and how society can improve it for generations to come, like Lance proposes.

For Yumiko, the opportunity to practice law is a chance to regain something for her that was lost when the world fell. But with how Pamela has had Yumiko’s friends taken, there’s no real sense of fairness, only justice. Even that’s a murky word now because Pamela just wants someone to make an example out of, even though Eugene deserves a fair shot.

Then again, like last time, Eugene keeps hope alive that they will find a way out of this situation. That comes when Yumiko makes the decision to defend Eugene instead of prosecute. Because of how, compared to the others, Yumiko has toed the line and kept her mouth shut, Pamela may not have expected her to flip and decide to defend Eugene. Still, can she really be surprised?

Eugene is her friend, and Yumiko already doesn’t take well to the news that her friends have been removed from the Commonwealth. Of course she wasn’t going to stick to the script, and I’m surprised that Pamela even allowed Yumiko on stage in the first place. Pamela could’ve just said herself that Yumiko would prosecute Eugene.

With the odds against her, it’s good that she kept hope. Tomi wanted Yumiko to just survive, and Eugene had accepted his fate, so it would be expected for Yumiko to go along with how things played out. But like the others, Yumiko is a fighter. I’m curious to see how her relationship with Pamela, what’s left of it, plays out now that she’ll be defending Eugene.

Lance likes the sound of his own voice, let’s be honest. Perhaps he really does believe in a greater vision in this new world, but he’ll also say and do anything that protects his own ass. Daryl and Carol see right through him, but they know he’s a survivor. After all, he made it this far by talking and making his way out of any situation. Until now, he’s never met Carol and Daryl, though.

So when they give him a chance to walk away, I do think they were going to let him walk, but they also expected him to try and attack them. They’d probably be surprised if he did just run. So not only is Lance dead, but he’s given away the news that the Commonwealth has a train. That’s damn useful information for Carol and Daryl that Lance could’ve kept to himself if he just kept his mouth shut.

It’s unfortunate to lose Lance because Josh Hamilton has been great in the role. Much like Sebastian, it’s a deviation from his comic counterpart, but more than that, he’s been interesting to watch because you never know where he stands. One day, he’s loyal to Pamela, and another, he’s willing to broker deals with Carol to help Ezekiel. Had he just walked away, he probably could’ve found a way to survive.

Not that Pamela had much use for Lance anymore, but between that and finding Sebastian dead for good, she’s not going to be a happy camper. The real mystery is where are the survivors being taken and what will become of them? We shall see.