WiC Watches: The Walking Dead Season 10
By Ashley Hurst
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, Samantha Morton as Alpha – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 12 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC
Episode 1012: “Walk with Us”
“Walk with Us” continues right on from the nail-biting ending to last week’s episode! If you don’t remember, last week saw the Hilltop take the full force of an attack from Alpha’s Whisperers. It was a battle that pushed the capabilities of the Hilltop to the very limit, with the episode concluding with a cliffhanger that saw the longstanding community up in flames.
However, it’s not just the epic aftermath of this fiery battle that makes this episode the best so far this season, and one of the best in the whole show, for that matter. It’s the acting, emotion, and the arrival of a huge twist from the comics we’ve all been waiting for!
Watching this episode really took me back to the show’s earlier seasons. It reminded me of the aftermath of the Governor’s attack on the prison during season 4, or when Terminus didn’t work out in season 5. The episode followed select groups of characters on the run after the attack. It’s always nice to see the dynamic between characters you rarely see together.
A particularly terrific storyline follows Aiden, Kelly, Mary (Gamma) and baby Adam. In previous episodes, Aiden has been very protective over baby Adam. He doesn’t even allow Mary to hold him because she was a member of the Whisperers. However, Aiden’s inexperience with children soon shows when Adam begins to cry, and it doesn’t take long before he is put in the hands of his loving aunt. It’s a beautiful moment.
This being The Walking Dead, beautiful scenes rarely last, and when they are chased by a horde of Walkers, Kelly quickly finds a car to hide in, but Mary remains in the open. She bravely decides to run away and distract the Walkers, to some success. But one does not simply leave the Whisperers, as she learns when Beta sneaks up behind and stabs her. As she dies, she manages to pull off half of Beta’s face, revealing it for the first time. While it’s a horrible way to die, at least she was killed saving her nephew, which is all she wanted to do.
We also see the return of Magna, who was presumed dead after the cave exploded in the midseason premiere. I mean, maybe it’s a tad far-fetched that she returns after being in the middle of an explosion, but it is what it is. She is spotted by Yumiko during the battle at the Hilltop. Later on, we get a nice scene where we hear Magna talk about how she escaped the cave, revealing that she lost Connie on her way out. Carol also happens to be with them, and I love the awkwardness of these scenes. Carol will not apologize, and Yumiko resorts to punching her as tensions run high.
Elsewhere, Daryl searches for the children — who were meant to be taken to safety by Ezekiel — only for Earl to save them. I really liked Judith in this episode; she is quickly turning into one of my favorite characters. It’s interesting to see how she’s growing up with all the bravery of Rick and Carl.
When Earl is bitten saving the children of the Hilltop, Judith faces one of her toughest challenges yet. It’s really sad seeing Earl panic over killing himself, and when he eventually does it, Judith is forced to kill him once he turns into a Walker. I actually found myself quite disappointed when Earl was killed off. Since he was getting more screen time in the last couple of episodes, I was beginning to think he was becoming more of a key character, like he is in the comic books.
Now onto that huge moment that we were all waiting for since the day the Whisperers were introduced. Yes, Negan kills Alpha in this episode. This scene comes as slightly less of a surprise after the preview for this episode heavily implied that this scene was on its way. The way it played out in the show was definitely different from Kirkman’s comics. For one, I found it a lot more emotional. The sex scene from the midseason premiere definitely made this scene more interesting, giving the pair more of a dynamic than they had in the books. The acting was a joy to watch, too. Samantha Morton does a stellar job, while Jeffrey Dean Morgan delivers yet another frighteningly gruesome kill. I might add that his dialogue is on point again.
Negan tricks Alpha into believing that her daughter Lydia is captured and locked in a shack. When she opens the door, it turns out that Negan has put Lydia somewhere different, and he slashes her throat. It’s reminds me of when Rick slashed Negan’s throat a few seasons back.
After the murder, Negan finds Carol and rolls Alpha’s head on the ground. “Took you long enough,” she says. Although it might not have been totally confirmed yet, it looks as if Negan was the spy after all. In fact, if you look back to the midseason premiere, Negan even hints to Alpha that he is the spy. “The spy you’re looking for? Right here in your camp,” he said. “Well, based on my own personal experience, I’d say look closer to home.” Some nice foreshadowing right there!
Overall, I loved this episode. It delivered on an iconic scene from the comics, whilst also giving us a few great storylines featuring characters that rarely share scenes together. If I have one criticism, it’s that the battle was quite short. As epic as it was, I thought maybe they could have focused a lot more of this (or last) episode on the battle; it all seemed to be over too fast!