The Walking Dead: Will Oceanside Ever Catch A Break?

WARNING: SPOILERS for The Walking Dead 11x16, 'Acts of God'.

After an ill-advised threat towards Maggie's son Hershel goes awry, and his raid on Hilltop turned up nothing in episode 11x15, 'Trust', The Walking Dead's final mid-season finale, 'Acts of God' opens with Lance Hornsby decides that Maggie, Daryl, Aaron, and Gabriel are too big a threat to his future plans. However, not for the first time, Hornsby underestimates the skill and familial bonds of our heroes, and his attempts to arrange their deaths end with Leah and many Commonwealth Troopers dead.

In response, an angry Hornsby immediately takes Alexandria and Hilltop as Commonwealth Outposts, and in the episode's chilling final moments, Troopers gather the residents of Oceanside, with Hornsby flipping a coin to decide their fates. The moment has many fans asking: Will the small seaside Community ever catch a break.

The Oceanside Massacre

When Tara Chambler stumbles upon Oceanside during a supply run gone wrong during season seven, the community is made up entirely of women and young children. Finding this somewhat odd, she eventually asks why. Oceanside's Matriarch, Natania, informs her that when The Saviors found Oceanside's original location, they rounded up all the men, and every boy over the age of ten, and slaughtered them, in the hope of ensuring the community's compliance (it is later revealed that this massacre, led by Simon, happened against Negan's orders). Instead, the women and children relocated, and now kill outsiders on sight.

Tara almost becomes a victim of this policy, but Natania's granddaughter, Cyndie, takes pity on Tara and helps her escape, in exchange for promising to never reveal Oceanside's location.

Rick's group raids Oceanside

For a while, Tara keeps her promise. However, with the the group in desperate need of weapons for the war against Negan and The Saviors, Tara reluctantly tells Rick about Oceanside. She justifies her decision with the belief that Oceanside will ultimately be better off with the Saviors gone.

Rick's group raids Oceanside, taking all of their guns. Walkers are drawn by the sound of the raid, and the two groups work together to drive them off, forging a fragile trust. The Alexandrians leave with the guns, but Rick promises to return them when the war is won.

Enid kills Natania

With the war dragging on and their forces depleted, Aaron and Enid head to Oceanside in the hope of recruiting them to the cause. The mission takes a dramatic turn when, hearing someone angrily confronting Aaron, a panicked Enid shoots and accidentally kills Natania, devastating Cyndie and the rest of the Oceanside community.

While this obviously causes a few issues in Alexandria-Oceanside relations, Aaron eventually convinces the group, now free from Natania's fear-driven decision making, to fight for their future.

The Fire near Oceanside

During an multi-community trip to Oceanside to train for a likely battle against the Whisperers, a falling sattellite crashes near the community, resulting in a forest fire. Everyone must work together to keep the fire from reaching Oceanside.

While they successfully douse the blaze, our heroes needed to briefly venture into Whisperer territory to do so, probably giving the enemy increased awareness of Oceanside's location. Later in season ten, Oceanside is used as a decoy to keep the Whisperers from discovering the group's hideout in an abandoned Hospital.

Beatrice's Death

In The Walking Dead's original season ten finale (before the bonus episodes were announced, Beatrice, a prominent Oceansider ever since the community's first appearance, joins fan-favourite Carol on a mission to deliver a bag of audio equipment through a herd so it can be used to lure the Whisperers' massive Walker horde over a nearby cliff.

Everything seems to be going well until Beatice is stabbed in the leg by a Whisperer. Her sudden scream draws the attention of the herd, and she is quickly swarmed. Her last act is begging Carol to take the bag of equipment, but Carol is unwilling to risk her own life for it. If not for Lydia retrieving the bag, Beatrice would have died for nothing.

With all the above, and now Hornsby's attack, Oceanside is clearly one of the most hard done by communities' in The Walking Dead. However, fans have noted one spot of hope: Luke, who moved to Oceanside during season ten, did not appear present during Hornsby's gathering. Hopefully, he can deliver word to the others if Oceanside needs to be rescued or avenged.