The Walking Dead midseason finale review: The Whisperers have arrived

On The Walking Dead midseason finale, a rescue attempt introduces Aaron, Jesus, and Daryl to the Whisperers tagging closely behind in a herd.

Negan slips out of his cell

Last episode, Michonne headed for Hilltop to take Magna’s group to their new home. That means someone has to stay behind and keep an eye on Negan, since he isn’t allowed out of his cell.  Gabriel is the one that volunteers to take on the task and tries to help Negan meditate and release any negative feelings he may have about his imprisonment.

Negan being Negan interrupts their meditation wanting to talk about the spicy details of Rosita and Gabriel’s relationship. This frustrates Gabriel, of course, but Negan assures him that he’s entertained by listening to conversations through the window and even tries to bait him with the scoop on what Rosita has said. Using Rosita’s gossip as fuel, Negan unnerves Gabriel and he storms out of the cell in time to see riders coming in from Hilltop with news of Rosita’s injury which makes him feel guilty.

Negan gets comfortable enough to taunt Gabriel about smelling his poop while cleaning it up — what a charmer, right? Gabriel snaps at Negan for being soulless but its only because he’s upset over Rosita. Negan offers a bit of sympathy when he learns of this, but then again, we never know what his intentions are behind any emotion.

Later in the stormy night, Negan realizes his cell door isn’t locked anymore. With the worst villain ever out on the loose, plus Whisperers on the way, this doesn’t look good for any of the communities.

What remains a mystery is who left the door unlocked? Could it have been Gabriel accidentally leaving the door open because he was preoccupied with Rosita or did someone unlock the cell purposely without Negan knowing?

Michonne receives a cold welcome at Hilltop

Back at Hilltop, we see guards rushing in to warn people that riders are coming and that everyone should hide for safety behind Hilltop’s walls. Michonne and Siddiq ride in behind them with the newcomers hanging out on the back of their wagon. Luke is excited about the prospect of what lies ahead especially since he can see how prosperous the farming grounds are. The others aren’t excited at all. Connie is overly aware that these Hilltop people may treat them like suspicious criminals much like Michonne did.

Michonne tells the guard they are there for Rosita and to drop off new people to join their community. This information isn’t enough to allow them to pass, everyone including Michonne and Siddiq must also leave their weapons behind. Magna isn’t happy about this since they recently got a hold of their weapons again. But dropping weapons before entering the grounds, seems to be customary in both Alexandria and Hilltop.

Michonne is brought to Tara and Enid and let’s just say the warmth and joy that we are used to is nowhere to be seen. Tara is not elated by Michonne’s presence and shows no tenderness toward someone who should be more family than a friend. Instead, she behaves as if they just met at a bus stop. On the other hand, Siddiq must have still been in communication with Hilltop, and there is no love lost there.

Enid informs Siddiq that Rosita is recovering from dehydration. Tara gives Michonne the whole scoop on the mission to find Eugene and how Aaron, Jesus, and Daryl went out to track him. As the leader of Alexandria, Michonne seems embarrassed that she’s been unaware of the movement of her own people. She had no idea what Aaron, Rosita, and Eugene were even doing, and that’s a lot of stuff going on that she should be at least somewhat aware of. What makes her even more agitated is that Siddiq is not remotely surprised by the news because he had been kept in the loop.

As for the newcomers, Tara says that it will be up to Jesus when he returns to decide if they can join Hilltop. She tells them that they will have to earn their keep if they stay permanently and can lodge there in the meantime. While Michonne is already hating every second of being at Hilltop, even with Maggie’s absence, Siddiq assures her that being at Hilltop is a good thing. She just doesn’t believe it.

In the distance, Michonne sees Carol watching on before turning away, and I got the feeling right away that Michonne’s actions in the past few years have made her incredibly unpopular. She must have made a move that Rick would have never have done to have so many people against her.

While the newcomers pick out their new place, Carol and Michonne warm up to talking, and they catch up a little on RJ, Judith, and Henry’s blacksmith apprenticeship. Michonne mentions a letter she received from Ezekiel and says she couldn’t help as much as it pained her. And when Carol interjects that there is still time to help, Michonne claims that it was hard to turn her down, but she had to. Why do you ask? I have no idea. This is yet another piece of that mystery that has torn the communities apart during Rick Grime’s six-year absence, and as we reach the midseason finale, we are no closer to knowing what happened.

The only thing that is clear is that Michonne has made some decisions that have pushed Hilltop to go against her and she turned down the Kingdom. Carol tries to convince Michonne to put her hurt aside from her loss because they both lost children and have moved on past that. But Michonne isn’t having it even if Carol is digging up Sophia and Carl in the process. She tells Carol that each community has to take care of their own also though they are still family.

Michonne and Siddiq sit on the bedside when Rosita wakes up. They bring her up to speed on the group that went out to get Eugene, she dashes out of bed not wanting to rest because she knows that the guys are not aware that the herd out there talks and is more dangerous than any herd they’ve ever encountered.

A rescue attempt goes horribly wrong

And in the expedition to find Eugene, Aaron, Jesus, and Daryl find the walkers milling around in a circle in an open field. They’re astonished because they’ve never witnessed this type of walker behavior before. As they walk away, a female walker seems to stop in her tracks and look to the side indicating she is probably alert of the people coming to save Eugene.

Daryl uses his refined tracking skills to lead the way to Eugene’s barn. On the way, we find out that Daryl had traded with Hilltop over the years and Aaron tries to give Jesus some leader advice. But before they can really talk turkey about Jesus’ fears of commanding a community, Daryl realizes the herd is headed in the same direction as them. To throw them off the track, Daryl throws an alarm clock in the opposite direction to attract the walkers away from Eugene.

By the time it’s nightfall, Aaron, Jesus, and Daryl find Eugene using the dog to sniff out his location under a trap door. While they’re all eager to hit the road back to town, Eugene is frantic because the herd that chased him to the barn can talk. The other problem is that the herd has been back twice which means that they’re still looking for him. Like clockwork, the herd shows up. Eugene at this point has figured that the walkers have evolved. He thinks that since their brains are still functioning after they become walkers.

Daryl and dog stay back to distract the herd while the others try to get Eugene as far as possible. Daryl heads to the crossroad where the herd will appear next and lights up some firecrackers to lead them down a different path. Not only do the walkers completely ignore the firecrackers, but they continue in the same direction. Aaron, Jesus, and Eugene make it to a cemetery and realize that the herd hasn’t changed course even with Daryl out there. Eugene is too hurt to move any faster, and the walkers are directly behind him. After failing to throw Eugene over a cemetery fence, Aaron decides they will have to do some hand to hand combat with the walkers to clear things out a bit for their escape.

Aaron and Jesus fight it out with swords and even Eugene stomps out a walker that gets too close. Sadly, there are far too many walkers, and they seem to be coming in waves. Eugene tries to unlock a cemetery gate and finds that the doors are deeply rooted in the ground and unable to open. Suddenly, Michonne appears trying to help open the gates from the other side. And to Michonne’s surprise, Magna and Yumiko have come along to help too.

The joint effort finally opens the door. While all of them call out to Aaron and Jesus to come through the gate, Jesus stays behind to fight off the walker parade that hasn’t stopped moving in on them.  One of the walker’s ducks away from Jesus blade and pops up behind him to say, “You are where you do not belong,” before stabbing him right in the back.

Aaron and the others come running back into the cemetery to Jesus. Daryl nabs the Whisperer that did Jesus in with an arrow and the others take care of any other loose ends. Since this is the first time they’ve killed a walker that can talk, think, and move independently, Daryl inspects the walker and finds stitches all along the side of its face. He cuts open the stitches and discovers that he had killed a person who was wearing walker skin. Finally, the Whisperers have been unveiled.

Everyone moves in close because as mentioned before, the herd is, and the few walkers they’ve taken down are just the beginning. And as the circle of friends faces the walkers (and Whisperers?) around them, the mid-season episode comes to an end.