Is this the end of Hilltop on The Walking Dead? In “Walk With Us,” Alpha (Samantha Morton) continues her attack on Hilltop. Last week the Whisperers went full force on Team Family. Who will live? Who will die?
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THE END OF HILLTOP
Hilltop is on fire. Everything is chaotic as Carol (Melissa McBride) tries to kill walkers from on top of the wall. Daryl (Norman Reedus) leads the militia against the walkers walking through the gates. The fire is spreading, so the community has to evacuate. Earl (John Finn) and Alden (Callan McAuliffe) are using a catapult, throwing stuff to stop the walkers. Lydia (Cassady McClincy) heads for the gates and Mary, aka Gamma (Thora Birch) stops her. She can’t go out there because Lydia knows what her mother wants. Lydia says she will never walk with her mother.
Ezekiel (Khary Peyton) leads the kids to safety but stops for just a minute. Judith (Cailey Fleming) is missing. She cuts down walkers left and right. A walker tries to grab her and she stabs him in the stomach. When he falls to the ground, a mask falls off. He’s a Whisperer and begs her to stop. The guy dies as Judith stares at him. Earl sees Judith, takes her katana and leads her to safety.
The fire destroys the mansion, including Eugene’s (Josh McDermitt) radio room. He runs inside to try and salvage what he can. The militia kills enough walkers to build a wall of the dead that stops the rest of the horde. But then there are explosions happening all over. Walkers are coming in from all sides. Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) is getting her bow ready to shoot when she spots Magna (Nadia Hilker) walking with the dead. Carol looks down at the devastation. Hilltop is gone.
UNSATISFACTORY VICTORY
The next morning, the Whisperers finish off any wounded and gather the guardians. Alpha watches Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) kill a Hilltop resident by bashing in his head with Lucille. She instructs him to stab survivors through the heart. She sacrificed a lot of guardians and needs to replenish. Negan says he needs to show her how to savor a victory, but Alpha doesn’t feel victorious. She didn’t get everything she wanted. She didn’t get Lydia.
Beta (Ryan Hurst) interjects and says Lydia is not among the dead. He won’t stop until he brings Lydia to Alpha. Alpha walks away and Negan tries to follow, but Beta stops him and tells him to gather walkers. Negan obeys, goes into the woods and spots Lydia. He follows her and runs into Aaron (Ross Marquand).
Aaron is dragging an injured Luke (Dan Fogler) on a makeshift stretcher. When he sees Negan walk by in his Whisperer mask, Aaron grabs his sword. Negan tries to say it’s not what Aaron thinks, but Aaron thinks he wants to kill Negan. Unfortunately, walkers descend on Aaron, who’s yelling at Negan at the top of his lungs. They are coming for Luke as well. Aaron has to let Negan go. Negan takes off his mask and finds Lydia. She smiles when she sees him. But then Negan grabs Lydia and says he’s sorry.
SOOTHING CRIES
Alden leads Adam, Kelly (Angel Theory), and Mary to the rendezvous point. Adam is crying and there’s nothing Alden can do to calm him down. Mary tries to help, but Alden won’t allow it. He says it’s enough that he let her tag along. Kelly tries to advocate for Mary, but Alden reminds her that Mary and her people left Adam to die. Mary tries to tell Alden how to soothe the baby, but he doesn’t want to hear it.
Adam’s cries get louder, so Mary tries one more time. Alden reluctantly gives the baby to Mary and Adam immediately stops crying. He just stares at his aunt like he already knows her. The trio stops to rest and Alden asks about Adam’s mother. Mary is sad when she talks about her sister, wishing that she was there to hold Adam.
Mary hears something and says they need to move. The Whisperers caught up to them. They walk toward a road and walkers are waiting for them. They run to the other side of the road and find an abandoned van. It takes both Alden and Kelly to open the door, but they get it open just as the walkers catch up. Mary hands the baby to Alden and shuts the door.
WALK WITH US
Mary stands outside of the van and starts screaming so the walkers will follow her. Mary kills the small group of walkers easily. When she turns to walk back, Beta is standing behind her and stabs Mary in the stomach. He says to her, “you will walk with us.” Mary fights back, saying she will never walk with them. She pulls at Beta’s mask, tearing part of it off. Beta pushes his knife up into Mary’s heart, killing her instantly.
Beta props Mary’s body up against a tree and waits for her to turn. Another Whisperer approaches and immediately recognizes Beta’s true face. He even says Beta’s voice always sounded familiar. Beta kills the Whisperer for recognizing him.
Walker Mary gets up, with Beta watching her. As she walks towards Beta, an arrow flies through the air, hitting Mary in the head. Beta looks behind him and doesn’t see anyone. He runs away before Alden can get another arrow ready to shoot.
BITTERSWEET ESCAPE
Carol is with Eugene, Yumiko and Magna. Eugene was able to get some equipment out of the mansion and is trying to put the radio back together. Magna and Yumiko are sitting nearby. Carol hears Magna tell Yumiko about how she got out. She and Connie (Lauren Ridloff) were searching for a way out of the cave and ended up with the walker horde. They walked with the horde to get out but somewhere along the way, the horde pushed between Connie and Magna and they got separated. Magna lost Connie.
Carol turns to walk away and Yumiko notices. She gets angry with her, saying Carol should be begging for Magna’s forgiveness. Carol is aware of how she has hurt people, but she knows it won’t help anything. Yumiko punches Carol for her lack of remorse.
Magna didn’t want Yumiko coming to her defense and says not everything turns out the way Yumiko thinks it should. They start arguing, but Magan stops the argument saying Yumiko was right to kick her out of their room. Yumiko jokes that her nights have been a lot more peaceful since Magna disappeared.
WANTING SOMETHING BADLY
Carol retreats to a nearby log. There is a walker under a pile of leaves near her. The walker reaches up to grab Carol, but Carol just pushes the walker’s hand away until she finally kills it. Eugene checks on Carol after that punch. She asks if he ever wanted anything so bad and went after it only to make everyone mad and get people killed. Actually…remember when Eugene joined the Saviors.
Eugene tells Carol about his scheduled, very important meeting that he has to cancel. Carol tells Eugene to go to his meeting if it’s important and simple enough. He thinks he needs to help to recover after losing Hilltop, but Carol encourages him to go to the girl. He smiles and wishes for Carol to get everything she wants. Carol watches Eugene walk away and spots Lydia’s staff on the ground. She picks it up and looks around for any sign of the girl or the Whisperers.
MISSING
Daryl leads a small group to the rendezvous point, including Nabila (Nadine Marissa) and Jerry (Cooper Andrews), who are very worried about their kids. When they get to the location, the one person there is a walker. Nabila gets upset that her kids aren’t there. Daryl tells the group to spread out and find the kids.
The kids are with Earl. They had to hide in a small house in the woods. Earl does his best to keep them calm. He gives them water and moves into the next room. Earl was bitten by a walker and doesn’t have much time left. He hammers a board through a table and prepares to impale himself in the head. Judith walks in to check on him, seeing that he’s about to die. She offers to stay with him, but he doesn’t want her to see him die. He tells her to go back to the other room and protect the kids from him. Judith starts crying and holds his hand before leaving the room. Earl’s last act is to ram his head into the table.
Jerry finds Ezekiel under a piece of sheet metal in the rubble at Hilltop. He tells them that Earl has the kids. The kids are asleep and Judith stands guard with her katana. She goes back to the room where Earl lays dead. He didn’t fully impale himself and he reanimates, grabbing Judith.
Daryl, Jerry, and Ezekial find a small shed. Daryl goes in and the kids run out, happy to see him. Judith is the only kid not running out. Daryl goes inside and finds her sitting next to Earl’s dead body. She is sad and holding on to her katana tightly. Daryl takes the katana and sits down next to her, putting his arm around her.
NEGAN’S GIFT
Negan tells Alpha that he has what she was looking for. They walk into the woods and talk about the guardians. Alpha sees beauty. Negan sees a bag of bones. Alpha is certain that Negan will see things her way soon. He proved himself to her again and now it’s time for him to become a lion. He assumes she wants him to lead, but he thinks that power should go to the cub.
Negan tells Alpha about Lucille, his wife. She died from cancer and he thought the cancer made her more beautiful. Alpha says he should be grateful. Death set her free. Negan goes on to say he didn’t feel anything after she died. And that’s his strength. He’s dead to this world. But Alpha…she’s pretending. Alpha thinks it makes her strong to say emotions aren’t real and they are animals, but they both know she doesn’t believe that. And now she wants to kill her own flesh and blood.
Alpha says it’s Lydia’s destiny. Cancer took Negan’s wife because that’s what nature intended. She couldn’t take Negan with her, but he wishes everyday she could have. Lydia was made to die and to be free with Alpha. He asks if she still loves Lydia. Alpha is killing Lydia because she loves her. Lydia will always be her baby though. Negan kisses Alpha and Alpha thanks him. She walks toward the shed.
Lydia wakes up tied to a chair in an unknown room. She fights hard to get untied and get out of the room.. She unties one arm and quickly unties all of the ropes. Lydia opens the door.
Alpha opens to the door to the shed.
Lydia only sees a field in front of her. Alpha sees an empty shed. She turns to look at Negan and he slashes her neck. Negan holds Alpha as blood gushes out of her neck. He kisses her one more time and lays her on the ground. Alpha dies.
Negan puts Alpha’s head in a bag and throws it in front of someone’s feet. Alpha has turned and looks up at Carol! Carol looks at Negan and says it took him long enough.
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THOUGHTS
Wow! I know I said that last week, but Wow! This season is just getting better. I was on the edge of my seat throughout this episode of The Walking Dead. RIP Mary aka Gamma and Earl. RIP Alpha?
The emotions were high when it came to the kids, especially Judith. I just want to hold that little girl. I remember thinking last week how nonchalant she is about killing walkers. But this week, I think she realized that those walkers were people once.
I hope they find Connie soon and alive. It’s my hope that Daryl is the one to find her and that starts their romance! hahahaha! I’m not one for romance in the apocalypse, but Connie and Daryl are special.
I honestly thought Negan would have stopped Alpha early in the fight, but he didn’t! That was a nice twist to see him fulfill his TWD comic book destiny and find out he’s working with FREAKING CAROL! Carol and Negan have done a lot of damage. Aaron is mad, Daryl is mad, Yumiko is mad…all for the sake of killing Alpha. I hope it’s worth it.
Just because she’s dead doesn’t mean the war is over. Beta will step up. There are more Whisperers and walkers than there are Team Family members. I’m a little afraid of what he will do next. There are four episodes left of The Walking Dead season ten. And I have a feeling it’s about to get really crazy!
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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