Halfway now until the midseason, The Walking Dead’s “Silence The Whisperers” gave us lots of questions, and much to think about. Tension has been mounting between the good guys and the bad guys, and by the end of this weekend’s episode, all hell is close to breaking loose.
1. Where did Negan go?
Negan is on the loose. “Silence the Whisperers,” ended with Father Gabriel discovering an empty cell when weighing his options as the deciding vote on Negan’s fate. Negan is in the hot seat for the death of Margo, accidentally killed when Negan rescued Lydia from a violent ambush committed by Margo, Alfred and Gage. Though Negan bought into the Alexandrians’ way of life after a near eight-year prison term, an angry mob out for blood forced his escape with the help of an unidentified accomplice.
Gabriel reports ex-Savior Laura was on guard duty, but she claims innocence. The likeliest suspect is Negan’s keeper, the little-seen Brandon, who first appeared to keep Negan in line during the Season 10 premiere, “Lines We Cross.”
Brandon was seen again in “Silence the Whisperers,” arriving on the scene of Lydia’s attack shortly after Margo’s death.
Why am I so all over the place when it comes to Negan? On my review last week I wished he was dead, but now I’m glad he escaped and I hope he lives. Why’s that? Is this the intention of the producers? Because if the answer is ”yes”, well, they succeeded.
2. Hilltop
King Ezekiel seems to be in shock after a series of losses in his life. By the time the tree falls on Hilltop, injuring nine people, he seems so locked up that Jerry is considering taking him to medical care with those who have been injured, and the king briefly recovers and says it is not necessary.
The locals are surprised at falling tree. Connie is the first to reject the idea that it was a simple accident, and they suspect it’s Whisperers’ work. In particular, I see the incident similar to the sequence of hordes that attacked Alexandria. There’s a moment when Judith says that it could be Alpha just playing with them until they get tired and couldn’t agree more, Little Grimes has shown some signs of wisdom this early season.
On the way to Hilltop, Michonne’s entourage finds the king wandering alone along the road that gives access to both communities, and the samurai decides to see what is happening to him. Michonne then finds the king standing on the edge of a bridge and is worried. She approaches, comforts him, and then he kiss her (what the actual f*ck). Perhaps the scene that most shocked fans in the tenth season trailer seems to have been nothing more than a moment of the King’s vulnerability.
The King then lists his recent losses: Benjamin, Shiva, The Kingdom, Carol and Henry. Them he sees himself in a desperate situation as he doesn’t know what to do. It was the second time Ezekiel had faced a situation where he had to decide something
Michonne then comforts him by remembering the times she lived alone before meeting Rick, Carl and joining the survivors still in prison. It was a good moment.
3. Alexandria
As Hilltop goes through her troubles, Alexandria continues to train for possible conflicts and Lydia continues to struggle to adapt to the place. Alone since Henry’s death, she’s been bothered by a trio of irrelevant characters: Margo, Alfred – introduced this season as members of the Robbers, and Gage – the friend of Addy and Rodney – but who will give the community trouble. The only one she finds a refuge with is Negan, but he remains “forbidden” to interact with the locals.
The former Savior quickly advises her not to be downcast about the taunts and to let them notice her presence. She chooses an unconventional way to strike back the bullies by cutting a squirrel on their dining table. The group decides to take revenge by surrounding and attacking Lydia, who is saved by Negan.
Continued belowHowever, when pushing away Margo, he does not measure the force and she hits her head on a wall and dies.
The scene is a clear reference to a comic moment. In issue #150, Rick is attacked by Morton Rose, who was one of the victims of the Whisperers, and Vincent, who had his son killed by them. The two beat Rick and seriously injured him. Margo’s death is similar to the comic death of Sherry, Dwight’s wife. In issue #166, she leads what is left of the post-Negan Saviors and attacks Rick, saying that she no longer wants to partner between communities. The sheriff breaks free from Dwight’s wife’s blow, but she hits her head on a table and dies.
4. Siddiq, Magna, and Oceanside
Siddiq has what appears to be another panic attack. It’s very clear that he has serious trauma after being spared by Alpha at the stake scene, but what does he hide? The show has already prolonged the boy’s desperation for four episodes without giving any clue what else it might be and I’m tired of it. Ok we got it, he has some real mental issues but what now? We need some answers and poor Siddiq needs a break or something really bad will happen to him if this prolongs any longer.
Magna leads her group in protecting Hilltop’s entrance after a considerable horde approaches the camp, attracted by the fall of the tree. Yumiko, Luke, Kelly and Connie all agree to move away from the zombies, as the situation has been controlled from the inside, but Magna wants to keep fighting. Then she fights with Yumiko, annoyed that her girlfriend led the survivors. How long will Magna’s strong personality in this series halt the development of what was a very interesting comic book character?
Still at Hilltop, Michonne receives a call from a Oceanside survivor, who says she saw a Whisperer watching the camp. She then decides to send a retinue with Judith, Luke and other survivors. But Eugene decides to stay in Hilltop, saying he wants to help with the reconstruction. In fact, he is running away from Rosita.
5. More questions without answers
Where did the group of walkers who attacked Alexandria come from? The episode began with a very tense sequence, where the survivors of Alexandria fought for hours against hordes and more hordes of walkers. Since the zombies kept knocking on the gates of the community, everyone thought the army was sent by the Whisperers. This is because the border demarcated by Alpha has been crossed three times. The first episode, for example, ends with Carol staring at the Whispering leader where the villain had shown Daryl the zombie army. Here we had the first hint that Alpha would fight back the breach of the “agreement” between the communities.
The show wouldn’t feature two characters ensuring so much that it was not the Whisperers who sent the horde for no reason. So the question remains: where do they come from? We know Alpha has a horde of tens of thousands of walkers, as Daryl well saw, and if he wanted to, he would send them all at once to settle with his enemies, as Lydia said.
Once again, it was an episode that left more questions open than answers or solutions. We’ll get to the fifth episode next week, closer and closer to the end of the first half of the season, so some tension will grow in the next chapters. Did you like this episode? Tell us in the comments and I’ll see you next week!
