The Walking Dead season 10 episode 8 review: Alpha’s plot revealed
By Sonya Iryna
This week’s intense midseason finale of The Walking Dead opens up a potential exit for Michonne and shows why Alpha should never be underestimated.
With fans still reeling from Siddiq’s shocking death last week, The Walking Dead midseason finale showed the extent of his crimes, and Alpha’s cunning. Dante also killed Cheryl by smothering her, and he turned the water levers to the unfiltered position then disguised them to look like they were dispensing filtered water. That’s what was making everyone sick. And he did all of it on Alpha’s orders.
Alpha chose Dante specifically because he was relatively new to the Whisperers and Lydia didn’t know him. Alpha planted him in Alexandria to keep an eye on Lydia and to cause the community to fail on its own. Alpha could destroy the communities at any time with the enormous horde of the undead she controls, but she wants the communities to fail from the inside to prove to her followers that she is right and that the communities don’t last. It’s an important tool for keeping her control over them.
Dante happily tells Gabriel all about his assignment, because he is totally sure that Gabriel and the others on the council will do the right thing and give him some sort of public trial. But Gabriel isn’t having it, not this time. Gabriel ends up brutally stabbing Dante to death. But the rest of Alexandria is shook that a Whisperer was in their community and they didn’t know. It will be a long time before they feel safe letting anyone new into their community again, if ever.
There were two poignant callbacks in the sequences showing how Dante arrived in Alexandria that provides great continuity to the story and recalled old friends that are gone. Gabriel is seen reviewing Dante’s entrance interview tape.
They still use the camera Deanna used to record interviews with people that want to join the community, like Deanna did. And on the tape Gabriel asks Dante Rick’s three questions that everyone had to answer to join him. The Walking Dead always does a masterful job of weaving in those little references and Easter eggs to make sure that the people who came before are always very much part of the story.
Gamma’s betrayal begins
Gamma had quite a shock last week when she saw that Lydia was alive. That, and her conversations with Aaron, have brought her humanity to the forefront again. This week, Gamma reveals to Aaron that her name is Mary and that the Hilltop rescue baby is her nephew.
She asks Aaron a lot of questions about the baby and wants to know what his name is. She asks to see him, but Aaron tells her that’s not going to happen. Then Mary volunteers to trade information for a visit with the baby.
She tells Aaron where Alpha’s horde is in hopes of getting to see her nephew again. It’s safe to assume at this point that Mary is no longer a true disciple of Alpha’s. She and Lydia could bring Alpha down without the communities having to risk any more of their own people.
Meanwhile at Oceanside…
Michonne, Judith, Luke, and the others meet a new survivor who is trying to steal a boat from Oceanside. Virgil has arrived. Virgil in the comics plays a pretty big role in the story, but the show doesn’t always follow the story, so it remains to be seen how Virgil will affect the current story arc. Virgil lives with his family on an island that is two days’ journey by boat.
Michonne agrees to take him back to his island, but only to get weapons from the naval depot on that island that Virgil says she can have. She’s hoping that those weapons can aid the communities in the fight against Alpha.
Is this the beginning of Michonne’s exit arc? It could be. We don’t know exactly how many episodes she will appear in this season, but it’s only a small number. It’s possible that Virgil and the island will play a role in her exit, although it’s doubtful that this small journey is her actual exit.
It’s a trap
Daryl finally does call Carol out for involving Lydia in her plan to bring down Alpha, but Carol dismisses his concerns. She’s fixated on killing Alpha, and she’s going to use anything she can to make that happen. When Aaron tells the others that Mary has given the location of the horde, they meet up with a team from Hilltop to go destroy the horde if they can. As they cross Alpha’s border again in the darkness, Carol and Daryl share some intense moments where their powerful emotional connection is on full display. But the horde isn’t where Mary said it would be, and everyone wonders if her information can really be trusted.
Carol sees Alpha, alone, and takes off after her. This is a huge mistake, since Alpha obviously knew they crossed the border and let herself be seen alone on purpose. She led them directly into a trap, and now the teams from Hilltop and Alexandria are stuck in a cave with the horde, because Alpha has moved the horde underground. Carol’s mistakes are piling up. She needs to take a step back from single-minded pursuit of Alpha and stop letting Alpha play her. Underestimating Alpha is only going to get people killed.
10A and 10B
The first half of season 10 of The Walking Dead flew by. This season is the highest-rated season of TWD on Rotten Tomatoes, and both critics and fans are raving about the horror movie look and feel of the show this season, as well as the incredible narrative arc. There are some even more thrilling and terrifying stories coming in 10B, along with the introduction of some important new characters and the return of a beloved character. All of these elements combined could make season 10 the best season of The Walking Dead in many years. Unfortunately, fans will have to wait until the new year for new episodes of The Walking Dead.
Next. The Walking Dead season 10 episode 7 review: Alpha's always watching. dark