10.10: The Walking Dead - Stalker

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The group must defend Alexandria from a threatening outside force.

 

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Man, I have not asked this for a long time, but I think this episode deserves an Emmy. Not for the sound or for the music. In fact, be aware that the actor voices almost disappear in this episode, as there is a lot of whispering, hissing, grunting and mumbling. I do applaud the team as they've captured the nature completely, but it's a problem when you don't have subtitles, and the actors voices are so low that you have to turn volume to eleven.

I ask the Emmy to go to the writer Jim Barnes or to the editor Geraldine Iona, as I believe they made the magic happen. For actors I would either give it to Norman Reedus or to Samantha Morton for delivering absolutely terrifying Alpha in the small screen. On the edge is Ryan Hurst, but the thing is there are so stuff that I'm not completely accepting.

It surprised me that Negan's and Alpha romance turned out to be the last for Alpha. I know that the tribe had gathered around their leader at the end, but to be honest, she's walking through the same track as Daryl. I honestly thought he was going to die after Alpha stabbed him in the leg, and left him for the dead. I don't know where he got the strength but I can easily assume that he was tripping in pure adrenaline as soon as Daryl's vision turned grim.

To my memory, Daryl's red vision is the third time in whole history of this season, where they have used the first person view. First one was with Shane at the moment he turned. Second was with Negan using Lucille, and this one really added to the tension. I felt so scared for our beloved ruffian as there was nobody coming to rescue him.

Sure, he hunted down Alpha and it turned out that the shotgun she has been dragging with her is empty, or otherwise I believe she would have blasted Daryl to heaven. What I didn't like about his escape was the zombies, one with roots growing out from him, another showing extensive sea shell infestation.

How is it possible that the man, who has almost composted, and is really turning back to earth is still walking? Those roots hanging out from him indicated that the nature has taken its course. The dead should be dead, but he wasn't and neither was the shell guy. So, the only thing that I can assume that is making to walk is magic. It is beyond the science we can comprehend or even how the dead in the Kirkman's world should behave.

I admire the courage and the patience that Daryl harbours in his soul. He didn't pull the knife until the last minute, and even then, he didn't really scream in agony, even though you can be sure he was in pain... and dying. You cut one of those arteries and you have three minutes left before you have bled to death. I expected Daryl to have already turned, when the night arrived in the petrol station. So I guess he managed to tie his leg and wait for the death to arrive, but instead it was an angel in form of Lydia.

It's easy to understand that she didn't save her mum, when there was nothing Alpha could have offered her. Not to a young lady at the start of her life. But then again she couldn't grant her mum last wish. It was as if she wanted her to realise that the time of the Whisperer's had come to an end and there was nothing for them left in the dead wastes.

Mary said the same thing. The border is unpatrolled and only the horde locations are guarded. Not that she could recognise any other locations then the one that took so many lives. What I don't get is how Beta managed to tunnel his way into the Alexandria and not cause a cave in or even make noises. How did he know where the graveyard was located? Did Alpha tell her?

It is a plot hole, but at the same time it is an amazing plot hole that made Beta to deliver terror into the heart of Rickland. He topped with is performance all the other TWD baddies and even rose above Fear's Filthy Woman. I whooped and praised Judith when she shot Beta through the door, but then I cursed Rick for not teaching the Rule #1 - Always Double Tap. Always!

Jeesus, a scary man comes into the house, and is about to break through the door, what kept Judith from practicing the rule number one? Nothing. I know that she hasn't killed before, but Rosita has and she should have known better to not make sure that the man on floor was not going to turn.

FFS that man had already slaughtered at least half of the Alexandria, before he arrived to the town house. Rosita should have known that instead of trying to escape the giant, monstrous man that had been involved in her husband's death.

I do get that she has a broken heart and Gabriel was right for not taking her out. Still a man of that size, you should make sure that you do follow the rules or you'll risk lives. More lives than they can sacrifice. So I applaud Mary for taking the role and offering her life in the exchange of Alexandrian's souls.

This episode delivers real horror in all forms and it is one of the best TWD has delivered in long time. In the IMDB it is standing at 8.7 at the moment of the writing, but I think the score should be above 9. And that is because the writing is stellar and the whole episode is so, so tensile and full of terror. I think the last time I felt so scared was in the Road to Alexandria. Or in the Fear with the Zombie Twister.

 

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Mary, that took courage reminds me a little of Dwight.
Judith, Michonne has done an amazing job, not only can she defend herself, she has compassion could be just her natural curiosity but its amazing how she makes her own mind up about people.

Beta's entrance into Alexandria was magnificently creepy.

I thought we had lost Daryl, I could feel tears welling up, thankfully Lydia showed up.

Gabriel is becoming a little unhinged, " take them alive, pull teeth, cut off fingers"
We did get a glimpse of another side of him when he beat the Dr to death, I thought it was a one off, a release of his pent up anger but looks like he has lost his compassion, hurt mine and I'll make you suffer.

 

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Gabriel is becoming a little unhinged, " take them alive, pull teeth, cut off fingers"

He is, but I think Gabriel is trying to protect his flock rather than allow any harm to come on them, and it has taken to the edge. Also I think he's writing a new bible, feeling righteous rather being right about it. But if you look into the big book, it's full of stories where they did horrific things to people. In a way he's becoming like one of them from ancient times.

There is also another perspective to what he said, because he now knows through Negan that fear gives him control.

 

[REBerg]

I was more amused than horrified by Beta's wave-from-the grave entrance to Alexandria, but the terror quickly took over as Alpha's right-hand man slashed his way through the community. All he needed to do to gain reinforcements was kill and wait for his new walkers to reanimate.

I whooped and praised Judith when she shot Beta through the door, but then I cursed Rick for not teaching the Rule #1 - Always Double Tap. Always!

That was another classic horror bit. Everyone knows, no matter how apparently fatal a blow a monster might have been dealt, he/she/it always has at least one final lunge in reserve. Rule #2: "If you haven't confirmed it's dead, DO NOT turn your back on it."

The Alpha-Daryl fight was epic. Both probably should have bled out before Lydia miraculously appeared. Daryl uncorked what appeared to be a spurting artery when he pulled the knife from his leg.

 

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The Alpha-Daryl fight was epic. Both probably should have bled out before Lydia miraculously appeared. Daryl uncorked what appeared to be a spurting artery when he pulled the knife from his leg.

Yeah, it was epic, indeed, but the rule with the knifefights is that one or both goes to hospital... afterwards... if they are lucky. I was so, so certain that Daryl was good as dead. He still might be if they are out of antibiotics.

 

[svalbard]

Beta is the top villain of the whole goddamn series. He is a seriously scary dude. There will be memes of his entry into Alexandria. That was so cool. For once TWD delivered on horror.

Alpha and Daryl's fight was great, although I did feel neither of them were in real danger of dying.

On the other hand I did think that Rosita might have gone this week.

 

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Sunday night's episode of The Walking Dead so good that some fans might have been willing to overlook the fact that Beta and the Whisperers had apparently dug a tunnel into Alexandria like some sort of mythical prison escape. Suddenly, the massive Whisperer brute was emerging from the graveyard in Alexandria and wreaking havoc within the community. As it turns out, there was a thoroughly laid out plan for this from the writers behind The Walking Dead, rather than viewers simply having to suspend their disbelief about the Whisperers spending months digging their tunnel. The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang takes it back to a subtle moment from the first half of the season to reveal what really happened.

As it turns out, the grave which Beta emerged from was Cheryl's. Casual viewers might not have noticed the detail or connected the dots but Cheryl was the older woman who Dante poisoned and ultimately dug the grave for. He insisted on digging that grave. While doing so, he helped connect the tunnel for the Whisperers.

"My writer Jim Barnes had this great idea of doing a classic horror movie in the walls of Alexandria, where Beta is stalking our people," Kang explained to EW. "I was like, 'I love this idea, but how does he get in?' So we threw out a lot of ideas. I actually think it might have been that I was like, 'You know what would be so great is I love the idea of him coming through a grave,' but Jim and the writers solved it and was like, 'Yeah, if Dante created this back door because he was screwing things up for them.' He killed this woman Cheryl and then he dug the grave‚ because who’s going to look in a grave? We also wanted to make sure our people didn’t look dumb either. Once they knew that Dante had been sabotaging things in Alexandria, they would have looked. But you’re not going to check in a grave necessarily."

It's yet another testament to the quality writing and detail-oriented style Kang relentlessly displays as showrunner.

"It just came about from a lot of the conversations of, 'How do we make sure that our people are protected and they just didn’t miss something obvious? And how do we also make the Whisperers clever, because they are really good bad villains?'" Kang said. "It’s in a fun way that all these things ever developed, amongst the writers in the room. It was all sort of a group project, to figure it out, and just a good image."

The Walking Dead Showrunner Explains That Big Plot Hole Question

I see. Dante made a backdoor.

Spoiler

Alpha has "nothing to lose" now that daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy) has picked Daryl (Norman Reedus) and the survivors over the Whisperers, says star Samantha Morton, who explains the transformed Alpha created by the end of The Walking Dead 1010, "Stalker." Alpha swears she's "stronger than ever" after surviving a ferocious fight against Daryl and failing to convince Lydia to kill her and take her place as leader of the Whisperers, being reborn with a vengeance.

No longer needing to refrain from unleashing her walker horde against the communities harboring her daughter, Alpha reaffirmed the Whisperer mantra before telling her indoctrinated believers the horde will "butcher and consume" their enemies who must now prepare for war headed to Hilltop.

"Alpha fundamentally did not want her daughter to be living and raised with people that have such fundamental disagreements how to live," Morton explained on Talking Dead. "So it's not just about being a Whisperer or not being a Whisperer, it's just that Alpha, since the apocalypse, just thinks that the way we live in society is so unbelievably wrong. And it doesn't make any sense, and all the reasons that she has for that."

When Lydia discovered a half-dead Daryl and Alpha in the gas station where their battle ended, she told her mother, "They’re human. Not perfect. Just human. That's all I ever wanted. It's what you never gave me." Refusing to kill Alpha marked Lydia's final rejection of her mother and her followers.

"To lose her daughter initially to the other group was awful, but then you find her scene in the gas station where Lydia makes the choice she makes," Morton said. "I think at that point Alpha goes into a different head space of, it's almost like when you’re fighting and you don’t think you’ve got any fight left in you, and you find one more breath, one more kick, one more push, one more punch. So for Alpha in that moment, she's got nothing to lose now."

"We are the end of the world," proclaims Alpha and her Whisperers, their ranks now including a masked Negan, who will wage war on the Hilltop starting in 1011, "Morning Star."

The Walking Dead’s Samantha Morton on Alpha’s Transformation: “She’s Got Nothing to Lose Now”

Alpha has 'nothing to lose' now that daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy) has picked Daryl (Norman [...]

comicbook.com

 

[REBerg]

I see. Dante made a backdoor.

That's still quite a stretch.
Assuming that the tunnel was dug first, what are the odds that Dante would know exactly where and how deep to dig that grave? The Whisperers would have, at best, an approximate location to give Dante.
I can't see Dante being left on his own long enough without raising questions like: "Why are you digging so many holes?" or "Are you digging a grave for that little, old lady or a horse?"

 

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I can't see Dante being left on his own long enough without raising questions like: "Why are you digging so many holes?" or "Are you digging a grave for that little, old lady or a horse?"

Exactly, but the answer is in plausible the territory. We don't know how long they've been digging, but it must have been a while. Where they took the dirt and why the floor was so smooth and had no trails to transport the carts.

That is one of the narco tunnels. The common thing with them is electric lights, tracks for the cart, and an airing duct.

This is breaking the illusion AMC. If the prop master had added tracks and an airing duct, this could have worked better. But I won't let it to challenge me. The episode works nicely.

 

[REBerg]

This is breaking the illusion AMC. If the prop master had added tracks and an airing duct, this could have worked better. But I won't let it to challenge me. The episode works nicely.

I liked the episode. I just thought AMC would have done better to let the "big plot hole" complaints go, rather than come up with such a lame explanation.

 

[Judderman]

The tunnel must have been made previously, though as said it would be hard to hide the noise of that activity. Even at night time. Plus must take some real expert to make and support the tunnel, and finish it at the right place. I think actually it would have to have been started at the Alexandria end, so then the other exit could be made less precise into a field where they then put the vehicle above.... I was thinking just maybe the fake doctor Dante could have started it. And on reading more of the above the quote from Angela bears that out! Anyway as we know this season is not about trying to show realism anymore. Along with the artery blood loss that Daryl had etc. It is more of a proper comic book show now.

Lets just draw a veil over the unrealistic parts. The good think about comic books is they can be a lot of fun! Overall it was a great episode. More of a slasher movie style. As with slasher movies the victims don't finish off the monster until it is either too late or the movie is about to close. Enjoy the fear of the immense bad guy and heckling the stupid, good guys. He's behind you!

 

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TUNNEL ENTRANCE BACKSTORY

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[Dave]

I'm sorry to say this, but why do they attack all the dead with knives and bullets clean through the head, but attack the whisperers only with body shots that don't penetrate their body armour? Surely, it couldn't be as simple as because it would all be over so quickly that the story would have no tension.

Lets just draw a veil over the unrealistic parts.

Okay then, that's probably best.