Episode 16 will air later this year.
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Online Editor
Well, it’s been awhile.
Life has been busy, and I have not been able to keep up with “The Walking Dead” as much as I would have liked. With COVID-19 sweeping the globe and throwing everything into a state of flux, it has presented me with an opportunity to catch up accordingly with my favorite zombie drama.
The Walking Dead: “The World Before/Squeeze”
Season 10, Episodes 8 and 9
Airdate: 11/24/2019 and 2/23/2020
***SPOILERS BELOW***
It’s impossible to talk about both episodes in separate sections; they go hand-in-hand with one another.
Let’s just get the negative out of the way first: I hated the cliffhanger in Episode 8.
It’s not that it was a bad way to end things. It just wasn’t a particularly satisying way to end things for the time being, and it really made every one of the characters involved look rather dumb.
The Walking Dead has a history of doing mid-season finale cliffhangers, and it’s always been decidedly mixed-bag. Seasons 2, 4 and 9 had great ones. Seasons 3, 5 and 7 had very flat ones. Seasons 6 and 8 had very, very bad ones. As for the ending of “The World Before”… I can’t say it’s a bad ending, but it’s definitely not one of the better ones.
Daryl, Connie, Carol, and quite a few others end up trapped in a cave, surrounded by what is believed to be Alpha’s horde of walkers. They find themselves in this situation by stupidly falling one-by-one into the cave at Carol’s lead; the sight of the Whisperer leader made the former Queen of The Kingdom fly into a rage. Literally: in one of the most surprisingly bad moments from Melissa McBride on this show, she lets out a hilarious scream when Alpha appears at the top of a ledge in the cave.
Again, while the cliffhanger wasn’t such a bad way to go, I can’t say that I ever bought the possibility that anyone we really care about would’ve died. The later episodes revealed my assumptions to be true, even if we don’t see one of the characters for the remainder of the season.
Perhaps the only person that I believed to be in any real danger is Connie, if only because it will cause further tension between Daryl and Carol. But given the popularity of both the Daryl and Carol friendship and Daryl and Connie relationship, I’m not sure the show will ever willingly pull that particular trigger.
Ironically, a person who probably should have died is Connie’s longtime companion, Kelly, but that’s just my opinion. I don’t feel connected to Kelly as a character like I do Connie, and that’s not the fault of the actress, just the fault of the writing.
Perhaps the most intriguing part of episode 8 concerned Michonne. She hadn’t had much to do all season long, but that changes in “The World Before.” Michonne and Judith come across a new survivor, Virgil, who entices Michonne into getting on a boat with him and sailing away to an island full of weapons… weapons that can be used to fight the Whisperers.
Episode 13 picks up Michonne’s story. It also finishes it, at least on the television show. More on that later.
The revelation that Dante is a Whisperer spy was resolved pretty quickly, as Rosita continues to be a total badass by taking out the disgraced doctor and a zombified Siddiq while making sure that baby CoCo is taken care of. In a stunning turn of events, the noted pacifist Gabriel murders him in brutal fashion while paying him a visit in Negan’s old cell, which took me by surprise but was a welcome change of pace from the pacifist Gabriel we’ve come to know these last few seasons.
Speaking of Negan, we don’t see him in “The World Before,” but he does appear in “Squeeze.”
In one of the most geniunely revolting moments in the entire history of this show, a dirty and disgusting Alpha initates sex with the former Savior leader. This is what she considers a reward for leading her directly to who the traitor in the Whisperers was; that traitor being Gamma, who is beginning to see the error of her ways in order to see her nephew once more.
Alpha is clearly infatuated with Negan, and that proves to be a critical mistake. More on that later.
The Walking Dead: “Stalker”
Season 10, Episode 10
Airdate: 3/1/2020
Beta invaded Alexandria in this episode, and the results were deadly.
In what was my favorite episode of the season up to that point, Beta took a tunnel dug by Dante through an RV guarded by Whisperers that leads straight into Alexandria via a fresh grave. He went from house to house, killing citizens indiscriminately. This was an absolutely beautifully shot scene that gave off Michael Myers vibes.
Rosita was paranoid about something like this happening, and her paranoia manifested itself when she came face-to-face with the giant. She went toe-to-toe with Beta, getting both arms slashed open in the process, but before that, it was young Judith Grimes of all people that left an impact with a well-placed gunshot to the chest.
Beta isn’t fazed very much (he was wearing a protective vest, stopping the bullet from being a killshot), and completes his rampage, collecting Gamma and killing the former Savior-turned-Alexandrian Laura in the process. Gamma manages to escape from Beta when an Alexandrian search party intercepts them, and fully turns on The Whisperers for good.
That’s not the only action we see in this episode: Daryl and Alpha get into a bloody, brutal fight that nearly leaves them both dead. After delivering critical wounds to one another, both are bleeding out and collapse worse for wear in a condemned gas station. Lydia is the one that returns after a 3 episode absence, rejects her mother’s plea for Lydia to kill her and decides to save Daryl instead.
Even in such a short time, Daryl and Lydia have become one of the best relationships in the show. Daryl is clearly fond of the girl, and sees a bit of himself in her. He is the kind of parent that she needs.
The Walking Dead: “Morning Star”
Season 10, Episode 11
Airdate: 3/8/2020
“Morning Star” is basically a march to war. The first big battle of The Whisperer War was coming fast, and the Hilltop was their first target.
There’s not much to say about this episode but that it was great. There is a lot of talking, but unlike the later years of the show’s Gimple era, these conversations felt natural and meaningful. Daryl forgives Carol despite him having every reason not to, Carol hooks up with Ezekiel and Eugene and Rosita kind-of-sort-of kissed.
The voice on the radio, Stephanie, sets up a time and a place to meet, and Eugene is torn on whether or not to go or stay with his friends. He doesn’t have much time to decide, as the battle begins in the episode’s closing moments.
It doesn’t look good. Alpha and Beta have blocked all of the escape routes, so the children cannot be evacuated. The roadblocks are Negan’s idea, but Negan definitely is not for killing all of the occupants of Hilltop; Alpha ignores his suggestion to let them live.
In addition, The Whisperers cover weapons in flammable liquid, and begin setting Hilltop ablaze with them. In the episode’s cliffhanger, our gang is literally trapped between two walls of fire.
The Walking Dead: “Walk With Us”
Season 10, Episode 12
Airdate: 3/15/2020
A lot happened in “Walk With Us.” The Hilltop was completely destroyed, burned hollow from the inside out. Gamma was killed by Beta, Earl Sutton was ultimately killed by a walker bite and put down by Judith, and Alpha herself had her throat slit by and her head cut off by Negan, who finally revealed his true colors in this episode.
In one of the more satisfying moments of the last few seasons of the show, it’s revealed that Carol was behind Negan’s escape, and the two share the screen for the very first time. The two more imposing, deadly characters were on the same side the entire time. Alpha never stood a chance.
Carol says in Episode 14 that this was Negan’s ultimate chance at redemption, and that it would help everyone forget about what he did during his time leading the Saviors. I don’t know if that’s exactly true, but I do know that it will go a long way in helping rehabilitate his image. Negan’s redemption arc has been one of the highlights of the show’s run these last few years.
Negan did seem remorseful about killing Alpha, and even seemed like he didn’t want to have to do it, but once Alpha became dead set on killing Lydia (who Negan tied up and hid elsewhere), her fate was absolutely sealed.
It was too iconic of a comic scene to deviate from, and I’m glad that the show found a way to accommodate that with Carol’s involvement.
The Walking Dead: “What We Become”
Season 10, Episode 13
Airdate: 3/22/2020
Rick Grimes is still alive, and he’s still looking for his family.
This was the biggest takeaway from Danai Gurria’s final episode as Michonne. The only way she could realistically leave was if she were to go off searching for Rick.
I thought it was a great decision to have Michonne get Judith’s blessing to leave. The decision to have Michonne leave her kids behind was a strange one that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the show does its best to cover its tracks and give Michonne as much of an out to leave as possible.
It also helped that Judith straight-up lied to Michonne about the Whisperers threat. Alpha may not be a problem anymore, but The Whisperers are still very much a threat. Judith downplays it, because she knows how much having Rick back would mean to Michonne. She knows how important it is.
Before Michonne discovers the big news, she is drugged by Virgil, who lead her to the island under false pretenses. Virgil, crazed and delusional at this point, drugs Michonne and tries to get her to see herself in a different light. From the drugs, she hallucinates a completely different reality: she lets Andrea get eaten in “Beside The Dying Fire” and she’s ignored on the side of the road in “Clear.”
Instead of joining Rick’s group and falling in love with him, she’s found by Negan and the Saviors. At the outpost where Rick and his group killed a mass of Saviors, she kills Glenn and Heath and escapes the massacre. Instead of Negan, she is the one weilding Lucllie in the clearing, and she chooses a version of herself to bludgeon. And ultimately, she’s killed by Daryl and Rick while running away.
Michonne’s hallucinations reveal a side of her that was critical to see; she clearly has guilt about her role in the outpost massacre, and I’m glad the show finally addressed how messed up it was to do that. Michonne clearly doesn’t think that some of the things she had to do were necessary, and has regrets about them.
It was also nice to see some of those long-departed characters again, even if most of it was archived footage.
I thought that in terms of how it all went down, Michonne’s farewell was about as good as one could have expected to be. It probably deserved to be a little less open-ended, especially because there’s a very good chance that she will not ever return, but it was a fitting conclusion to her role on the show.
The Walking Dead: “Look At The Flowers”
Season 10, Episode 14
Airdate: 3/29/2020
The title of this episode is deceiving.
“Look at the flowers” is an iconic phrase, popularized by Carol killing Lizzie back in Season 4. It’s a phrase that indicated that this episode would be a heavy, intense episode. I didn’t find anything about this episode to be particularly intense. That doesn’t mean it was a bad episode; I just was expecting something else.
After placing Alpha’s head on a pike, Carol double-crosses Negan and leaves him at the border. She fully intends to leave the group again after causing everyone so much grief, but hallucinations of Alpha hamper her journey away. Alpha taunts Carol, taunting her with insults from her past. After being buried under a collapsed shed and narrowly escaping, she decides to return to the group, saying that it’s not too late to make up for her transgressions.
I’ve seen a lot of people completely deride Carol’s actions over this entire season, and I feel the need to comment on that as well.
I don’t think a lot of people are taking into account that grief often makes people act irrationally. Carol had a normal, happy life once again for many years, and had an adopted son for over half a decade that she grew to care about very much. If your son got beheaded, you’d probably want to do anything that you could to get justice. You’d make countless stupid decisions, and you’d push away everyone who tried to talk you off the ledge.
So was Carol making some really dumb decisions? Yes. Did she care about what happened to get what she wanted? Not at first, until it started affecting Daryl. And did she dishonor Glenn and Abraham’s memory by freeing Negan? Absolutely. But grief makes you irrational. It makes you angry and it makes you be willing to do anything in your power to make things right.
Carol finally got what she wanted, but it didn’t really make things right. Alpha may be dead, but Beta is still as strong as ever, and he’s becoming progressively more unhinged following her death. He skins Alpha’s head, and stitches part of it onto his walker mask. It’s hardcore as hell, and despite his anger and grief, Beta showed no signs of slowing down.
Also in “Look At The Flowers,” Beta’s true identity is finally confirmed. He was in fact a famous singer, by the stage name “Half Moon.” The revelation that Beta was a country star before the apocalypse hit isn’t exactly a surprise; Season 5 of “Fear The Walking Dead” actually spoiled it. That being said, it still is rather amusing, and the album of one of his songs that he plays to amass a new herd of walkers is actually a really catchy tune.
While all of this is going on, Negan goes to retrieve Lydia but is caught and threatened by Daryl in the process. Negan tries to explain what happened, and while Daryl believes him he still debates on whether or not to end Negan for good. He’s finally swayed by Negan saving his life and attacking two Whisperers that think he’s “the new Alpha.” They’re not friends now, but Daryl decides not to kill him. That’s progress.
Eugene decides to tell the group about Stephanie, and both Yukimo and Ezekiel decide to go with him. They make it to the city of Charleston, West Virginia, where they find the city nearly empty aside from a strange display of walkers dressed up in various absurd outfits. It’s then that they meet Princess, a character introduced in the comic series after the Whisperer War that honestly added very little to the plot. Aside from being very talkative, she didn’t do much.
I have faith in Angela Kang, however, that Princess’ television counterpart will not be wasted.
The Walking Dead: “The Tower”
Season 10, Episode 15
Airdate: 4/5/2020
“The Tower” was not meant to be the final episode of Season 10, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting every facet of our reality, we find ourselves with a premature conclusion to the season. The finale, titled “A Certain Doom,” will air at an undetermined point later in the year.
The episode really emphasizes just how much The Whisperers have affected our communities; in addition to Hilltop being destroyed, Alexandria has been temporarily abandoned. Beta unleashed his new horde on the community, and doesn’t seem satisfied that there was no one there to see it. Well, almost no one: Aaron and Alden were nearly spotted by Beta when they were hiding inside the windmill.
Aaron and Alden follow the horde and relay movements back to the communities who are all gathered at an abandoned hospital (nicknamed The Tower), but end up getting captured anyway.
Carol and Kelly also have a very emotional scene while out scavenging for supplies, where Carol attempts to apologize for getting Connie separated from the group back in “Squeeze.” Kelly forgives her, and her pep talk seems to really resonate with Carol.
Meanwhile in Charleston, Princess scares off Eugene, Ezekiel and Yukimo’s horses by shooting her massive guns and leads the group through a minefield to get transportation… which turns out to be bicycles. The minefield is an unnecessary diversion; the bicycles were in a garage that the group passed on their way into town. Princess turns out to have depression, and just wanted to make friends. While the group is initially angry, they decide to let Princess come with them.
Also in this episode, Judith goes into the woods with a reluctant Daryl, and tells him that Michonne is not coming back, although she doesn’t tell him exactly why. And Negan comforts Lydia, who is still reeling from her mother’s death.
It’s a very low-key episode, but it wasn’t meant to be the finale, and thus it’s difficult to be too hard on it. Hopefully, the season finale is finished sooner rather than later.
SCATTERED OBSERVATIONS:
– Maggie Greene-Rhee is back. Lauren Cohan returns to the show in the season finale, and she’s now fully aware of all that has happened since her departure. While I don’t think that the quality of the show has suffered since she left, I would like to see Maggie again. There are so many exciting things for her to be involved in, and I think Angela Kang would do the character justice and give her great material to work with. I also hope that Cohan got every penny she deserves for her work; one of the original reasons for her departure was not feeling like she was being adequately paid.
– It’s also going to be interesting to see how Maggie will react to everything when she returns. Hilltop is gone, half of her closest friends and confidants are dead and her husband’s killer is roaming free. That last one, in particular, is going to be quite the scene.
– If “The Tower” looks familiar, that’s because we’ve seen it before. That’s the same hospital exterior used for Grady Memorial Hospital back when the show was set in Georgia.
– Connie was temporarily written out of the show because actress Lauren Ridloff had to film Marvel’s “The Eternals.” The show made it clear in “Walk With Us” that she did not die, so expect her back on the show at some point in the near future.
– Princess is played by actress Paola Lázaro, who I have not heard of before. However, I will say that I think that Lázaro knocked it out of the park, and that I can’t imagine anyone else in the role now.
– Samantha Morton is no longer a part of the cast following “Look At The Flowers” and it bums me out that she never even got an appearance on “Talking Dead” to say goodbye due to the show going dark that week because of COVID-19. I do hope that she’ll make some sort of appearance on the show in the future; after all the hard work that she put in on the show, she deserves it.
– In addition to the season finale being delayed, filming of Season 11 will be delayed as well. Also, production on “Fear The Walking Dead” has been halted, and the premiere of “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” has also been delayed. While I don’t care for the former, the latter looks intriguing and I’m bummed out that I won’t be able to check it out anytime soon.
– Whenever the finale airs, I’ll be back to cover it in detail, and also make predictions for Season 11.
