WiC Watches: The Walking Dead Season 10

Cailey Fleming as Judith Grimes – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 15 – Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Episode 1015: “The Tower”

“The Tower” picks up right where last week’s episode left off. Beta takes matters into his own hands and leads Alpha’s enormous zombie horde right into Alexandria. Elsewhere, we have Eugene, Ezekiel, and Yumiko, who try to make sense of the eccentric “Princess” they have just crossed paths with.

Let’s start with Beta and that horde. After last week, we now know that he’s out for revenge after Negan murdered Alpha. He’s even wearing Alpha’s face as his Walker mask, which is much more disgusting than it is cool — but it’s still a bit cool. So when he and his army arrive at Alexandria, Beta soon realizes that it is completely abandoned, except for Aaron and Aiden, whom he does not see. This is already a big change from the comics, in which the Whisperers attack Alexandria and there is a huge battle.

Something I would have liked to see is the Alexandrians actually evacuate the community. In this episode, it felt like they just breezed over that bit, so that when Beta arrives they’re already gone. There’s no sense of panic or urgency and the whole scene seems a bit pointless in the end.

Both Aiden and Aaron try to follow the ever-moving Whisperer horde. They learn that Beta plans to travel to Oceanside, though the plan is quickly changed. In fact, it looks like Beta knows exactly where our survivors are hiding (the tower) and heads right for them. Aaron and Aiden try to radio Gabriel, but get no answer. We don’t see any more of how this pans out, but it’s all building up to one epic battle in the season finale!

The star of this episode for me was Judith, who grows bored with hiding and goes off on an adventure of her own. Before long, she encounters Daryl and he is not happy to see her out alone. When Judith explains herself to him, Daryl reluctantly allows her to tag along on his scouting mission, teaching her some tips and tricks along the way.

Judith’s youthful innocence is on display when they encounter a runaway Whisperer who was previously threatened by Beta. He talks to the lady and gets all the answers he needs, but then — to Judith’s shock — he kills her. I think he did it more to put her out of her misery than out of spite, but Judith still thinks she could have been saved.

Despite the other two major storylines at play, I think this one was my favorite. There’s a lot of emotion between these two characters, who a long history going back multiple seasons. I think this is something that would be hard to achieve with most other characters left on the show.

Another emotional side story sees Negan try to help Lydia. After killing Alpha (her mother) he wants to apologize and allow her to take her anger out on him. I feel sorry for Lydia, who lost out on any sort of childhood with a mother as crazy as Alpha. Negan sees this and understands her. He hates to see her so trapped in mixed feelings.

When you’re trapped in a confined space for so long, it makes it easier to let out your true feelings, as Lydia finally does. She takes it all out on Negan, punching and hitting him. She blames him for everything, calling him selfish. For the viewer, it’s a great sense of relief. I think we’re going to see a very different, more confident, Lydia moving forward.

Anyway, in the other major storyline, Juanita “Princess” Sanchez gets a chance to shine, or at least, she tries. Princess becomes overexcited at the sight of Eugene, Yumiko and Ezekiel. They are rare visitors in the city. Ezekiel tries to be nice and introduce himself, Eugene remains quiet, while Yumiko and Princess almost instantly get off on the wrong foot.

In her excitement, Princess shows off her gun and fires at some stray Walkers in the distance. The problem? Well, her gunfire scares away the horses. This is a big deal for Eugene and his crew, as they’re tied to a strict schedule to meet up with Stephanie. Without horses, it’s unlikely that they will make it in time. But Princess apologizes and promises the team “wheels” should they follow her.

In an odd turn of events, Princess innocently leads the team into a minefield, and I mean that literally. She says she’s maneuvered her way through the mines hundreds of times, but that doesn’t seem to calm anyone. Tensions are further increased when she loses track of the mines, and forgets the way out of the minefield.

A couple of mines do accidentally blow up, but they finally make it out unharmed. Except for one thing: Princess takes them right back to where they started, getting her directions mixed up. She risked their lives for nothing. As expected, Yumiko doesn’t take to this in good humor.

Eventually, Juanita does lead them to “wheels.” While they were expecting something more, it turns out that she has bicycles, so she wasn’t exactly lying. Our three survivors seem to accept the fact and are happy for the bikes. Even Yumiko, who’s had it in for Princess all along, invites her to join them.

Overall, I’ve got to give it to Princess, she’s added a lot to this show already. I like how she brings a bit of lightheartedness to a group of survivors who are so serious in everything they do. Sometimes it’s nice to have a laugh.

With a huge cliffhanger like this, I can’t see fans being too impressed with having to wait until later this year for the season finale, which has been delayed on account of the crew not being able to finish post-production because of the coronavirus.

At least we’ve got an action-packed finale to look forward to. Once it airs, season 11 won’t be too far away, either!

Grade: C

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