In the second part finale "A Certain Doom", Gabriel is nearly killed, but he is saved by a hooded, masked warrior in the company of Maggie Greene, who has returned after reading a letter from Carol informing her about the Whisperers.
With nowhere else to go, the group travel to Alexandria, only to find it under repair since it was trashed by a horde of walkers, led by Beta, after the residents evacuated and took shelter in a nearby hospital.
In the episode "On the Inside", when Leah's search party arrives at the yellow house, Daryl covertly signals Maggie, Negan, Gabriel, and Elijah, who hide in a compartment in the floor to avoid the Reapers.
During this time, Elijah is reunited with his reanimated sister who was murdered by the Reapers, but he is unable to put her down without blowing the group's cover with the herd.
In the second part premiere "No Other Way," an injured Elijah joins Maggie, Daryl, Gabriel and Negan in confronting the Reapers in a cat-and-mouse game throughout Meridian, killing most of them.
Elijah later accompanies Maggie and Lydia to Riverbend where he plays a crucial role in the defeat of Toby Carlson and his forces, sneaking up on them while they are distracted by Aaron and Gabriel.
Although Luke and Jules and later Aaron and Lydia manage to make it to the Commonwealth with the herd, neither Elijah nor Jerry who went to find the others do, causing concern that they've perished.
"[4] Writing for IGN, Matt Fowler liked how Maggie's return "came with a really cool Snake Eyes-style ninja warrior carrying giant boline blades".
Club, Alex McLevy wrote that "Maggie’s back, and she brought with her that weird silent masked guy wielding kama blades.
(The pair of them appearing out of nowhere to save Gabriel in the hospital didn't make a lick of sense, but it was a fun twist, and gave Aaron the opportunity to throw some suspicious side-eye in the masked fighter's direction.
)"[6] Richard Rys, who writes for Vulture, also praised Maggie's return: "But infinitely more fascinating is the real hero, her pal Hoodie Ninja, the hockey-masked dude who was seen double-fisting blades and throwing mad Bruce Lee vibes at Aaron in the opening scenes of the episode.
"[9] IGN critic Matt Fowler commented on the new additions to the show and said that "None of them look as cool though as Maggie's cohort, Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari), who seems to operate like The Walking Dead's Snake Eyes at this point, downing foes with Japanese kama blades.
Club wrote that "I sort of admire the decision to take the mask-wearing question mark, Elijah (Okea Eme-Akwari), and immediately reveal him to be nothing but a scared young man, hiding his trauma and fears behind his mysterious costume.
And there's some potential to explore what sent the guy down this path [...] But it came across as uneven and jarring—suddenly the character we've seen do nothing but kick ass without batting a (metaphorical) eye gets too scared to move and needs a pep talk from Kelly?