The Walking Dead season ten intensifies with the mid-season premiere episode, “Squeeze.” The last time we saw Team Family, some of them fell into Alpha’s (Samantha Morton) trap: a cave full of walkers. For Alpha this means two things, 1. She has the upperhand, and 2. There’s a traitor in her group.
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Aaron (Ross Marquand) followed a lead from Gamma (Thora Birch), aka Mary about the location of Alpha’s herd. Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Aaron led a group to check out the location. That’s when Carol (Melissa McBride) saw Alpha watching them and ran after her. Everyone followed Carol into a cave and fell in a hole with Alpha’s herd.While they look around to assess the situation, someone sees Alpha looking down at them from a higher ledge. Carol looks at her and screams.
Alpha walks out of the cave from a different exit and tells her people to make sure Carol and her crew don’t’ get out. Daryl’s group tries to find a way out from their current location, but nothing works. The only way out is to get across the herd to the other side of the cave where there is water dripping. One by one the group makes it across. There are some touch and go moments, in particular with Kelly (Angel Theory), but everyone gets to the other side safely.
GET OUT
Daryl is able to climb up to where the water is coming from and he sees a path and it’s tight and Carol is claustrophobic. Aaron says they have to assume they are multiple ways out and they aren’t alone. There’s a question if they have enough food, prompting Magna (Nadia Hilker) to start blaming Carol for their predicament. Aaron tells her to back off, but in a way, it is Carol’s fault.
Daryl uses a match to find air flow and finds a path. The group finds a safe place to fill up their water bottles and rest for a minute. Magna can’t sit still. She asks for Daryl’s matches to look for another airway. Carol sits next to Daryl and it’s time for real talk. Carol never told Daryl that she was claustrophobic, but he knows her so well. He’s more concerned about what she’s not telling him. And he’s very frustrated with Carol. She’s acting erratic and he can’t keep up. Daryl wants to be there for Carol and asks her to talk to him.
Carol admits that she is constantly thinking about Henry. She doesn’t want to just kill Alpha, she wants to hurt her, make her regret what she did and beg for forgiveness. Then Carol will kill her. Daryl understands her pain. He lost Henry too. And he might have tried to do the same thing, but he knows Carol would have stopped him. Daryl tells Carol to stop acting crazy. The people she loves are starting to get hurt. Daryl asks her to promise to be on his side and fight for the future, not revenge.
A SPY IN OUR MIDST
Alpha informs Beta (Ryan Hurst) and Gamma that they have a spy watching them. She wants more people on the border and sends Gamma to give Alexandria a message, that they failed. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) takes an interest in what’s going on and is actually watching Gamma.
Later he interrupts Alpha while she’s using the bathroom and tells her about his suspicions. He had his own community once and had a system that worked. But if you stay in power long enough, people start telling you what you want to hear so you continue to believe you have control.
Negan says she’s not looking for a spy from Alexandria, but within her own camp. Obviously it’s not Beta, but she needs to consider Gamma. She is the only other person who’s close enough to Alpha. This upsets Alpha, but she will consider it. But! If Negan is wrong, Alpha says she will kill him and then she pushes him into the bathroom…gross!
WHISPER IN THE WIND
Magna continues the search for a way out and comes upon a Whisperer. She screams for help and the group joins her as more Whispers appear out of the shadows. After the fight is over, Jerry (Cooper Andrews) finds an arrow and they assume it’s pointing to a way out.
As they move through the path, Daryl finds footprints, indicating that he’s going the right way, but the space is getting smaller. Carol gets anxious and starts hyperventilating. Connie (Lauren Ridloff) tries to comfort her as the group moves along the path. They eventually have to start crawling through a crawl space, causing some trouble for Jerry.
Daryl makes it through to the other side of the crawl space. He looks back to help the others through, but Carol freezes, causing everyone behind her to stop. Daryl has to talk Carol through the tunnel. Meanwhile, Jerry gets stuck. A small group of walkers followed the group and are crawling behind Jerry. He yells for them to move. The walkers grab his feet and start biting. Jerry has to take off his armor to get through. Aaron and Daryl pull him through and he checks his feet. There are bite marks, but no bites on Jerry’s feet. Thank goodness!
DYN-O-MITE!
Magna sees daylight and starts to walk toward it. She stumbles and Daryl catches her. They are on the higher ledge over the herd. The group makes their way to an boarded up exit. They found what looks like a mining dig site. There are pillars holding up the tunnel they are in. If they aren’t careful, the whole thing could collapse on them.
Aaron and Daryl start moving beams to find a way out. Kelly finds a box of explosives and takes out a stick to show Jerry. The dynamite makes Jerry nervous so he makes Kelly put it back in the box slowly while everyone watches her. Magna starts helping Aaron and he tells her to rest. She’s eager to get out of the tunnels because of how she left things with Yumiko.
CRASS REWARD
Alpha returns to camp and asks for Gamma. Beta says the girl never made it to the border. He thinks Gamma may have gotten captured by the spies, but Alpha thinks differently after talking to Negan. Alpha tells Beta that Gamma might be the spy. She tells Beta to find Gamma and bring her home alive. She will deal with her and the pack will watch.
Alpha goes back to camp and tells Negan to take a walk with her. Negan is actually nervous, thinking maybe she’s going to kill him. Once they are deep in the woods, she tells him to stop and take off his clothes. Negan gets really nervous and he starts talking about his community again. He wants Alpha to know that his name meant something. His rule was different than Alpha’s but he understands her.
Alpha tells him to turn around and she is standing before him, naked, with her dead mask on. She’s rewarding him for being right about Gamma. Negan’s only concern is that she is leaving the dead mask on…but he’s not that concerned about it. Before he kisses her, he needs to make sure she won’t kill him afterward. She just tells him to shut up and kisses him.
CAVE OUT
Daryl and Aaron dig out a small hole, enough for Kelly to look out. Daryl turns around and realizes that Carol is gone and the box of dynamite is open. Carol made her way back to the last ledge with plans to blow up the herd…to hurt Alpha. She puts the dynamite in a hole and lights a match. She missteps and almost falls off the ledge. Daryl arrives in time to catch her. Carol starts crying about Henry. They don’t have time so Daryl asks her to go with him. She agrees and tries to grab the stick of dynamite. Carol slips again, causing the stick to fall and explode.
The impact causes the tunnel to start caving in. Jerry and Aaron jump into action and hold up the pillars. They shout for everyone to get out of the tunnel. Connie turns around to go look for Daryl. Magna sees her and tries to stop her, but Connie is worried that he’s hurt. They both go back and run into Daryl and an injured Carol.
Kelly gets out and a Whisperer attacks her. She yells inside the tunnel for help and Aaron jumps out to help her. Jerry is the only person holding up the tunnel as Magna and Connie help Carol. Daryl gets out and pulls Carol out.
CAVE IN
Walkers arrive and Magna goes to clear them out so everyone can get out and Connie follows her. Jerry can’t hold the pillars anymore, so Aaron pulls him out. The cave collapses with Magna and Connie still inside.
Daryl and Kelly start digging, but there’s too much rubble. Jerry comforts Kelly who realizes that the blast will attract both Whisperers and walkers. They will be trapped and they can’t save Connie and Magna if they are dead. Carol tells Daryl to blame her for this. It’s all her fault, but Daryl won’t say anything to her. He walks off to find another way in. He tells Aaron to go home and tell the others they found the herd. Jerry takes Kelly back to hilltop and Aaron follows them, leaving Carol and her guilt behind.
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THOUGHTS
That was so intense. I reminded me of the first few episodes of The Walking Dead when we didn’t know what was going on and anyone could die at any time. This war is going one way…Alpha’s way. And now if Connie and Magna are dead, that could break Team Family. Daryl is already distraught and Carol knows it’s her fault. I’m almost afraid to see what Carol will do next.
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
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