Another week, another review of a episode of the AMC Network hit series The Walking Dead. Last week, the show returned exactly where it left off last fall with some great moments and a head scratching moment (who let Judith outside the walls again all alone?) and it ended with the long awaited debut of the leader of The Whisperers, Alpha. This week, we not only follow up from the ending of last week’s episode, but we also get a backstory of Alpha and Lydia which was told in flashbacks during the episode. Alpha did not get a backstory in the comic series yet so this was an interesting twist. Without further ado, here is my thoughts of the episode..
This episode begins with one of the many flashbacks of Alpha and as I am writing this review, I will put all of the flashback scenes on this section of the review. Alpha had hair and it was the beginning of the apocalypse as her along with her daughter Lydia and her husband Frank are in a shelter with many other survivors. Frank wanted to leave the shelter with other people because their supplies are running low and that they need to get more. Alpha did not agree with this at all as she believes that it is too dangerous to even search for supplies. She also brings up that she does not want to give Lydia away if they both die out there. Frank also comes off as abusive with the way he talks to Alpha (side note, during these flashback scenes, Alpha’s birth name was never mentioned at all) and Lydia had no choice but to see them argue. Alpha did calm her down with a game of checkers afterwards and these flashback scenes showed the great bond she had with her daughter. In another flashback during the episode, Alpha smothered a man to death as she believes that he was “too weak” and that he would eventually get the entire group killed. As this was happening, Frank who is now afraid of her, holds Lydia as he was disgusted of what he had just seen. The next flashback, Alpha, who now has her head shaved, says that the dead body needs to be removed, but everyone in the room said to wait until the morning to do so. But the dead body turns into a walker as Lydia walked towards him as the walker attacks. Frank saved her, but the walker bit another person and after they put the walker down, it was there where Alpha decides that they all have to go. Frank refused, but Alpha pushed him against the wall and told him to be quiet in a “shhh” gesture. Alpha and Lydia leaves from that point on.
Daryl is still interrogating Lydia and she reveals to him that she was abused by both her parents and that Alpha killed her husband. Lydia also tries to convince Daryl that he more of The Whisperers than he is with his group. Daryl was not having it at all on this scene as he fired back at her that he was not. After that, Henry and Daryl have a conversation as Daryl believes that she is a waste of time to try to get information but Henry wants to give her more time. Daryl however, does believe that she is not a bad person, but damaged and scared.
Tara leads a group to search for Luke and Alden and they seen a few walkers eating horses (more horses are now gone *sad face*) and Yumiko told them to watch the walker’s hands to make sure that they are not carrying knives. They do realize that the horse was cut open before the walkers devoured the horse. I am starting to like Tara as a leader now if you ask me. As this was going on, The Whisperers were watching them the entire time. Later that day, Magna found a new set of tracks that could have been done by The Whisperers. There were walkers that tried to take them out, but that was not happening at all. They all questioned if it was worth saving him since they all could have gotten killed. When the group splits up, we see that more Whisperers were watching without notice.
Towards the end of the episode, the group at Hilltop notices that The Whisperers are approaching the gate and then we get a similar scene from the comics as Alpha walks right through The Whisperers and stands in front of the gate as she demands The Hilltop to bring her back her daughter.
I like character development episodes especially since we did not get a backstory on Alpha in the comics. Henry and Lydia’s interactions were a little puzzling since in the comic series, Carl Grimes was there with Lydia. Daryl also improved as the person to ask the questions and I believe this episode, he has said more words than any other episode he has been on. The Whisperers are to be taken seriously and I love how the show is making them a big threat as to when Negan and The Saviors were. Another great episode of this great ninth season so what more could I ask.
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