Review: #TheWalkingDead S10 episode 12 WALK WITH US #TWD #TWDfamily

Previously:

Review: S10x11 MORNING STAR

~ S10x12 Walk With Us ~

Written by: Nicole Mirante-Matthews and Eli Jorne

Directed by: Greg Nicotero

'I am at your service, Frowny McTwo-Knives'

Another winner, with surprises that kept on coming and getting bigger and bigger, right up to the very last moment!  Straight in with the action at the start as Hilltop burns—does this mean it's all over, decimated and overrun with Walkers, like Hershel's farm and the prison?  An abandoned monument to lives lost, like the Kingdom and Sanctuary?  Or can they rebuild, and save those fields of crops?  As Carol looked out from her post, just before the titles, she looked like a medieval queen whose castle has fallen, whose people are fleeing at all sides....

Even Judith killed a Whisperer; her Nebraska moment?  At least the Walkers have no battle strategy, and form a nice safety barrier around themselves once the ones at the front are killed.  Thank goodness all was not a total disaster radio-wise, because Eugene has already made his date of 'momentous, do or die, Brobdingnagian proportions'.  Couldn't you just feel his pain about the lost communications system, as he mumbled incoherently?  Nice little scene there with Carol; I don't think I've ever actually seen them talk before.

'Eugene.  Just go to her'.

Things have to start to get better for Carol now, surely; we know Daryl's forgiven her, and I'm sure Connie isn't dead, despite Magna's tale about losing her hand in the confusion, which just has to be a red herring.  Nice to see Magna using the Guts method of Walker avoidance, too—no, I wasn't fooled into thinking she was one of them; her eyes were still normal.  😉

... talking of Carol, I've always thought Yumiko was a boring/totally pointless character, and now I wish even more that a Walker would get her, after that stream of accusations and 'cherry cheesecake to the kisser'.  Um, love, Magna chose to walk back into the cave after it started collapsing... even the lady herself didn't blame Carol.  Keep Magna, and let's say goodbye to Yumiko, I say!

Mary's death was very sad ... although I could see Alden's point, I'm so glad he relented to give her that lovely, happy moment with Adam—and foiled Beta's plan to make her walk with us as a Guardian.  That scene when the two of them, Kelly and Adam were sitting on the logs had a bit of a Season 4b-post-prison feel to it, I thought; reminded me of Bob, Maggie and Sasha on the road, or Tyreese with Lizzie and Mika, and baby Judith alerting Walkers every five minutes.  RIP, Mary🙏

As for Mary tearing off half of Beta's mask, I felt it symbolised that his end is near.  Love how he's constantly spitting feathers of jealousy over Negan! 🤣 

Death number two was also a great shame; Earl and Tammy Rose were both excellent characters who should not have been written out.  Judith was a total star as ever, of course.  Wasn't that the sweetest thing when she offered to sit with him until 'it' happened?  And I loved how brave he was, making sure all the children were okay, before he did what had to be done.  RIP, Earl 🙏

'I'm not alone.  I have Tammy and my son'

The way RJ ran straight to Daryl tells me that he will be the one looking after him (and Judith) once Michonne has gone, which could bring out yet another new side to him.  Giving Rick's children the childhood he never had—that's a nice thought. 

(btw, did you notice how Rosita still managed to look stunning, even after a night battling the Burning Dead?!).

😱😱😱

'It was not a victory; I do not have everything I want' 

And so to Death #3, which I accidentally found out was going to happen a couple of days ago, but never mind; I'm not sure my heart would have stood the suspense if I hadn't known.   Some excellent scenes earlier on, with Negan secretly killing Guardians and potential Guardians and finding, to his amusement, that the skin-suits actually work.  

'All I see is a bag of bones and some gnarly-ass teeth'

JDM's Negan is surely one of the best written and acted characters in the history of TWD, and he should be allowed to stick around until end, along with Daryl, Carol, Judith, RJ, Rosita, Eugene, Aaron, Gabriel, Alden, Kelly, Jerry and Ezekiel. And Luke and the lovely Scott ;)

'I want you to become a lion,' said Alpha, but her mistake was in not realising that he already is one.  Her errors of judgement were also down to the fact that (in my opinion) she was in love with him; when he was talking about his wife, she looked at him not like Alpha, not like the leader of the Whisperers or the sort of person who chops people's heads off and puts them on sticks, but as a woman—and she'd been at the Boots cleansing milk, too; I've never seen her face so clean.

Negan's speech about his wife becoming frail and losing her hair gave us a strange insight into why he was attracted to Alpha's baldness (and maybe also the vulnerability that she didn't know she displayed), but when the tears flowed I was somehow not totally convinced by them, any more than I was by those that appeared just before Rick slashed his throat, or when Maggie went into the cell to kill him.  I think the emotion he felt when his wife died paled into those he has experienced since.

Much more real was his speech about how he felt after she was gone, that gave a real indication of why and how he is as he is, and does what he does: 'I didn't feel scared, I didn't feel happy, I didn't feel anything, I was just here—and that is my strength.'  Though, yes, sometimes his heart is still touched; I think he was genuinely fond of Carl, and is of Judith. 

That Lydia was not in the building he took her to was a surprise to me; it's a much-used twist but I was still fooled.  I found Alpha's death oddly sad, because of the person she could have become, with her strength of character and charisma ... and because she loved Negan.

'Took you long enough'

Yes, the best bit of ALL was the end!  So it was Carol who let him out, all along, as some suspected—which does raise questions; why did she risk so much to kill Alpha herself, if she knew Negan was going out there to do it?  And was any other sort of deal struck?  I wonder if we'll see the moment when it happened.  Maybe she went out on her own end-Alpha missions because she suspected he could not be trusted.  All will be revealed, I am sure.

Three cheers for Samantha Morton, who gets 11/10 for her portrayal of Alpha; I'm sad to see her go. 

Looks like Alexandria is going to be fairly overcrowded, then.  And who will kill Beta?  It has to be Daryl, surely - though I've heard a theory that Negan will save Daryl from being killed by Beta, and get killed himself.  Please no, we can't lose Negan!

And here's a picture of Aaron as he only had a small scene this week :)

Next week will be a sad day indeed..... the last of Michonne.....😢😢😭😭