The Walking Dead season 10 episode 3 review: Two forces of nature collide

The intensity of the conflict with the Whisperers is ramping up on The Walking Dead, and Carol’s on a mission to destroy Alpha.

Spoiler warning: This post contains spoilers for The Walking Dead.

When Alpha murdered Henry last season on The Walking Dead, it wasn’t clear how the loss of another child would impact Carol. Would she grieve on her own and try to make peace with another loss? Or would she be out for revenge against the woman who killed her child? At first, it seemed as if she would try to process her grief and move on alone.

But after returning from the solitude of the boat, it seems like she’s come to terms with her sadness — and now she’s angry and wants justice for Henry’s death. In “Ghosts,” she’s taking pills to stay awake, partly because she’s having nightmares and partly because she’s going out hunting for Alpha at night and then doing her part around the community during the day.

When the leaders of Alexandria are summoned to the border by Alpha, Carol is prepared and she’s not going to blow a chance to take Alpha down. The meeting at the border may be one of the finest conflict scenes The Walking Dead has ever done. It’s tense and taut. Michonne and Daryl recognize that Alpha has them beat. She has the “nuclear weapon” that could destroy all of the communities and kill all of the survivors. So they try to keep the conversation neutral. They agree to her border changes and don’t antagonize her.

But Carol isn’t going to take a submissive tone with Alpha, ever. She and Alpha are equal forces of nature, and if Alpha didn’t know that before, she knows it now. Carol refuses to accept Alpha’s border and won’t lower her eyes as Alpha demands.

After Alpha tells Carol that Henry screamed for her before the Whisperers beheaded him, Carol pulls her pistol and shoots at Alpha without missing a beat. It’s clear now to everyone, including Alpha, that Carol isn’t going to stop until she gets justice. And Alpha should understand that, considering she can’t let go of Lydia. It’s going to be very interesting to see how future interactions between these two powerful women go down.

The old Negan reemerges

Negan seemed to be transformed by his long imprisonment and what he saw when he finally escaped. After returning to Alexandria, he tried to impress upon Michonne and the others that he had a lot to offer and he could help them. And he does seem to genuinely care about Judith.

But during this week’s episode, there were definite signs that the old Negan is returning. When Aaron confronted him, Negan knew exactly where Aaron was the most vulnerable and used that to say things that he knew would get under Aaron’s skin. Aaron managed to give that pain right back to Negan, but Negan’s Mr. Nice Guy persona is definitely slipping.

What will happen if Negan returns to his old ways? Will they decide he’s more trouble than he’s worth and kill him, or will Michonne insist that he be kept alive to honor the future that Rick and Carl wanted? The communities are in a hardcore fight for existence against the Whisperers, so they really can’t afford to have a loose cannon like old Negan running amok inside Alexandria.

But, they might find that old Negan is an asset in the fight against the Whisperers. Negan, for his many murderous and tortuous flaws, is a master manipulator and someone with a keen ability to size up people’s vulnerabilities and hit them where it hurts the most.

That could be a skill that could come in handy as they try to get any kind of advantage they can get against Alpha and the Whisperers. Is it worth embracing Negan’s dark side to get rid of Alpha? Will they be able to put Negan back in check after Alpha is killed? There are a lot of things to consider before they decide to use Negan as a weapon.

Mother to mother

Despite the fact that, in The Walking Dead comics, it’s Negan who finally takes Alpha down, in the show it really should be Carol that triumphs over Alpha. Carol and Alpha are the most evenly matched because they are both women who have been transformed by traum, and they’re both women who would do anything to protect their children. Alpha may have drawn first blood in this match up, but I’d bet on Carol for the win every time.

The fight against the Whisperers continues with a new episode of The Walking Dead next week on October 27th. What did you think of “Ghosts” TWDFamily? Tweet us @SonyaIryna and @CulturessFS to tell us your reaction to this dark and intense episode.