Recap: THE WALKING DEAD S10E10 – “Stalker”

Welcome back, you undead-loving monsters. I apologise for the lateness of this recap for those of you who may have been waiting for it; I attended C2E2 over last weekend and that threw my schedule for a loop and I’m only now beginning to catch up on everything.

Well, where did we last leave the crew? Carol caused the apparent death of Magna and Connie, which has devastated the group and left Daryl an emotional mess. Alpha is starting to warm up to Negan, and shows her appreciation in a way that I honestly just don’t even want to think about, let alone type. Need more detail? Check out my recap of the last episode right here. Let’s dive in!

“Your turn.” 

Beta enters an RV and opens a hatch in the floor, leading to some sort of underground cavern. He lights a lamp and begins walking.

Rosita’s baby wakes up and she gets up to comfort her. She turns around and discovers that a Whisperer is standing over the baby. Rosita watches, unable to move, as the Whisperer plunges a knife into Coco, waking Rosita up.

Gamma appears outside Alexandria with multiple guards pointing weapons at her. She removes her mask and tells them that Carol and the others have fallen into a cave where Alpha keeps her walker horde. Gabriel is a little incredulous, saying that Gamma first told them that the horde was in a field. He wonders how Alpha was able to move her horde from the field to the cave within a short time span. Gamma genuinely doesn’t have an answer, and confesses to the group that Alpha left her nephew behind at Hilltop which is why she’s betrayed the Whisperers. Gabriel wants Gamma to point out the location of the cave on a map, but Rosita instead offers Gamma a knuckle sandwich which knocks her down. She yells at Gamma, claiming that she’s lying.

“No torture, no games. No second chances.” 

Daryl is still near the cave, tracking a Whisperer. The Whisperer then meets up with Alpha, which puts Daryl on alert. He unsheathes his knife, ready to move, but spots a group of walkers following Alpha out of the cave.

Gamma wakes up in a cell and finds Rosita and Gabriel staring her down. They tell her about the last Whisperer they had in that cell, the one who killed Siddiq. Gamma looks sorrowful, promising she had no idea about any of it. Gabriel and Rosita have one simple rule: Gamma has to convince them that she isn’t like any of the other Whisperers, and she’ll die if she can’t. Gabriel thinks the story of her being the aunt of the adopted Hilltop child is a lie, so Gamma tells them the truth: she killed her sister, and Alpha didn’t even need to ask her. They finally begin to believe her.

Meanwhile, Daryl continues to track down the Whisperers and a small horde of walkers. He shoots a Whisperer with his crossbow which catches the attention of some walkers. Alpha and the others are caught off guard, looking around frantically when Daryl jumps in and kills a few of them. Alpha is too quick, cutting Daryl’s face and blinding him with blood. She continues to slice and stab him, and manages to get away.

“How do we know any of this is real?”

Gamma is letting loose everything she knows about the cave; there are multiple entrances and exits but they’re bound to be heavily guarded. The border, however, won’t be as crowded because Alpha can’t secure the entire thing due to its size. Gabriel sends her back to her cell.

Rosita still remains hesitant, but Gabriel becomes serious. He says the reason they’re hesitant is because they’re scared of the Whisperers, which is why he allowed Gamma inside. They successfully broke her, which means they can do the same to more of them down the line. He gives an order to torture anyone Whisperer they come across so they can be broken too.

Alpha manages to track Daryl down to an abandoned gas station, noticing bloody handprints on a sign nearby. Inside, Daryl still has Alpha’s knife stuck to his leg and reaches for a weapon to defend himself. Alpha hears some walkers nearby and makes some noise to draw them into the station.

“I’ll see you out there.” 

Gabriel and Rosita are preparing for their mission when Gabriel asks about how she’s doing; he noticed that she was a bit odd in the meeting room earlier. They get into a bit of a fight, with Rosita asking why he’s been so erratic lately. She points out that his behaviour makes it look like he’s itching to get into a fight with the Whisperers. She caps it off by saying that she has a feeling Coco is wondering where her father is.

Judith approaches the window of Gamma’s cell, wondering who she was before the Whisperers took her in. Gamma, or Mary, recounts the names of her parents and where she went to school before losing her train of thought. She tells Judith that Alpha has a way of making you forget who you were so she can make you into the person she needs you to be. Rosita comes in and tells Judith to head inside and they’re locking down soon.

Back at the gas station, Alpha draws in three walkers to go after Daryl. He manages to kill two of them but ends up taking the knife out of his leg to kill the third one, and he begins to bleed out.

“You think you’re still alive?”

Gabriel formulates a new plan after seeing Rosita’s reaction to all the planning. He wants her to stay behind while they break up the approaching walker horde. She finally confesses to him that she’s been having nightmares about the Whisperers, and it’s killing her. He kisses her and gives her his hat, and then actually says the words, “I’ll see you soon.” So yeah.

We then catch up with what Beta has been up to. In Alexandria, a hand punches from inside a grave. It’s Beta. He rises, unsheathes his knifes, and gets to work. He spots a pair of guards trash-talking the Whisperers and takes care of them. He enters a family’s home and slaughters the whole brood. He gets on his knees and waits for the inevitable. They begin to rise, hands twitching and throats snarling.

Gabriel wonders where the supposed horde is; he then realises what he’s done. He’s abandoned Alexandria to the threat of the Whisperers. Back there, the recent undead stalk the streets of the town. Beta kills the guards at Gamma’s door and enters her cell. Gamma protests: Alpha has been lying to all of them but Beta is having none of it. Just then, Laura comes in pointing a spear at his neck. She asks Gamma to go run for help, and she quickly obliges. Gamma is calling for help and Judith hears it, asking her to come inside her house. Beta obviously overpowers her, knocks her out, and runs to the street. He enters Judith’s home, and it’s dead quiet. He heads up the stairs with nary a sound coming from him. He checks the first room he sees but hears a sound coming from another room; he finds that room locked by Judith shoots him through the door. Gamma rushes Judith and her brother out of the room but Beta trips Gamma onto the floor before she can escape. He had a piece of metal under his jacket acting as a bulletproof vest. Before he can pick her up, Rosita appears, and they fight. Beta’s about to kill her when Gamma puts a knife to her own throat: she knows Alpha wants her alive.

Beta is walking Gamma through the woods when Gabriel and others rush in for the attack, but Beta manages to get away without a scratch. Gamma is rushing to explain herself, promising she didn’t betray them and begs for her life. Gabriel believes her.

“Do you see beyond the darkness, into the light?”

Alpha and Daryl are still in the gas station, suffering from their injuries and bleeding profusely. They do some light chatting when Daryl says that Alpha never loved her daughter Lydia. Alpha is furious, or as furious as she can be given the circumstances. She can’t even walk straight to get to Daryl and loses balance, falling down. Then, her daughter Lydia walks in. Surrounding by light, looking like a dream. But it’s actually the real thing. Alpha thinks that Lydia has come to earn her birthright, to kill her and lead the Whisperers. Lydia finally and truly breaks her mother’s heart; she didn’t come here for the Whisperers or her mother. She came for Daryl. Alpha wakes up and finds Daryl gone.

Aaron finally comes home and finds Alexandria battle-tattered. He tells Gabriel what happened in the cave in Whisperer territory.

Rosita is off to Hilltop to get checked up by the doctor there, and Judith and Gamma, now Mary, join her for the ride. At the gas station, Alpha is being attended to by some Whisperers and she promises them she will unleash the walker horde upon her enemies.

The End 

This was a good episode! Things are about to get deadly serious, and I’ll see you this Sunday for my recap of the next episode, “Morning Star.”