The Walking Dead season 10 episode 15 review: Building to the final showdown

The Walking Dead revealed more about Princess and set up a huge season finale that, unfortunately, won’t air until later on.

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead, “The Tower,” wasn’t meant to be its 10th season finale, and it shows. It’s a solid episode, but it was clearly meant to set up for a finale that looks absolutely terrifying. However, due to the pandemic situation and the need for social isolation, it was impossible for the team working on the effects to finish the final episode. The real finale will air as a standalone special episode once things begin operating normally again.

“The Tower” sets up a showdown between Beta and the survivors. Beta and the remaining Whisperers lead an incredibly huge herd directly to the door of the old hospital where the survivors have taken refuge. It hurt to see the familiar streets of Alexandria overrun with walkers, but it hurts more knowing that there’s a very strong possibility at least one of the survivors won’t live through the final showdown with Beta.

Beta has been pushed over the edge by Alpha’s death. He wears half her face as part of his mask, and he believes that he hears her walkers whispering to him, guiding him as he seeks revenge for Alpha’s death.

The herd he’s gathered includes the remnants of the previous horde, plus a huge number of new walkers. The survivors have to deal with the double threat of the walkers that are making it impossible to escape and the Whisperers who can climb the stairs and attack them while they are trapped in the upper floors of the hospital.

Adjusted Relationships

In the limited quiet that the survivors have before the herd arrives, several relationships among the key figures come to the forefront. Kelly and Carol have a chance to finally talk about what happened in the caves. In a heartfelt exchange, Kelly forgives Carol for her actions and tells her that Carol has to be who she is, which is really what Carol needed to hear.

Now that Alpha is gone and Carol has chosen to remain with the survivors as part of the community instead of isolating herself from it, Carol will hopefully start to heal from the trauma of losing her son.

Perpetually optimistic Judith, who at times acts more mature than some of the other survivors, was feeling the absence of her mother in this episode as she shadowed Daryl and learned hunting and tracking from him. It’s easy to forget sometimes that Judith is still a little girl because she’s so capable and fierce.

Her exchanges with Daryl were a poignant reminder of how far the group has come since Judith was a baby and how much they’ve lost in that time. Watching Daryl with her is always a delight. Daryl needs children of his own. Hopefully, he will get to see baby Hershel again someday.

Negan and Lydia’s exchange was surprisingly emotional. While I haven’t and never will get over Negan’s murder of Glenn in front of his sick, sobbing, pregnant wife, I was moved by his very real concern for Lydia. The other survivors treat Lydia as an afterthought at best, except for Daryl. No one really cares what she’s going through or what she’s dealing with.

So it was touching to see Negan try to help her process her anger and grief about her mother’s death. He let her take out her anger on him and showed real empathy and compassion. Maybe he has become an actual human being during his years of captivity. We’ll see.

Meet Princess

The highlight of this episode was getting to know more about Princess. Fans of the comics will recognize that both her first appearance last week and much of her opening scene this week came almost directly from the comics, and it was great to see the comics come to life almost panel for panel. The Walking Dead has an almost uncanny ability to cast actors who can perfectly embody the personalities of some of the most beloved characters from the comics and they nailed it once again with the casting of Paola Lazaro as Princess.

Princess’ surface cheer, unique appearance, and slight social awkwardness may have put off Yumiko, Ezekiel, and Eugene at first, but after she opened up a little about her past and the impact of more than a year of isolation, they were touched and asked her to come with them. There’s a lot they don’t know about her yet, but her ability to survive for so long on her own means that she definitely has skills that can be an asset to the group.

Paola’s ability to shift from childlike delight in having people around again to serious vulnerability makes Princess one of the more compelling additions to the survivors’ group. It’s going to be a lot of fun to see what the other survivors make of her and how she fits into the clan.

Maggie Returns

The Walking Dead 1015 left everyone anxious to see the finale episode and get some final resolution to the Whisperer War. Even though 1016 isn’t airing anytime soon, it was revealed in the trailer that Maggie will return in the finale. Lauren Cohan left the show early in season 9, but Maggie’s storyline was left open so that she could return at a later time.

Will Maggie come to the rescue of the group trapped by Beta’s horde? Will she bring another group with her? Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to find out.

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