In “The Walking Dead” recap, Daryl and the survivors find a new home, Beta leads the horde after the communities and Princess introduces herself to Eugene, Ezekiel and Yumiko…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
If there’s one thing that can be said after episode No. 15 in “The Walking Dead” season 10, it’s that the season finale promised to be an epic ending.
Unfortunately the ongoing coronavirus pandemic forced the show to delay the last episode of the season due to post production work that still needed to be finished, which means we won’t see the actual finale until sometime later this year.
The cliffhanger set up by the penultimate episode that aired Sunday night will certainly leave fans wondering how this war will end as Beta leads the Whisperers and the horde after the survivors.
The latest episode also gave an official introduction to Princess — a character comic book readers will know very well — and kudos to “The Walking Dead” casting department for finding Paola Lazaro to play this very outspoken and colorful character. While this is just a small taste of what’s to come, Princess should be a welcome addition to the cast moving forward into season 11.
And while the action was short in this episode, there was more than enough emotion displayed as numerous characters faced the harsh reality of everything that has unfolded in recent weeks including Alpha’s death, Negan’s redemption and Michonne’s exit.
With that said, let’s get into the recap for the latest episode of “The Walking Dead” titled “The Tower”…
Once Upon a Time
Last week saw the introduction of Juanita Sanchez aka Princess — a character well known from the original “Walking Dead” comic books — who has now joined the TV series. She met Eugene, Ezekiel and Yumiko as they walked through a largely abandoned city on their way to West Virginia in hopes of meeting up with Stephanie — the mysterious woman from another community, who might offer the survivors just the smallest sliver of hope.
After introducing herself, it’s clear that Princess hasn’t actually interacted with anybody in quite some time as she’s not even certain that Eugene, Ezekiel and Yumiko are real or just a figment of her imagination. She tries to prove that she’s trustworthy by firing her machine gun at some nearby walkers but the shots scare the horses and they run away, leaving the traveling survivors with no mode of transportation.
Princess apologizes for the error but then offers them an alternative — a nearby garage full of wheels that will help them get to their meeting on time.
Yumiko is wary of trusting her but with options limited, the group doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Princess even hands over her gun as proof that she’s not leading them into a trap.
The group starts to make their way through the city when Princess carefully leads them through an abandoned lot and that’s when they spot one of the horses after its been torn apart. It wasn’t walkers that did the job, however, as Princess soon tells them that the poor creature probably stepped on one of the landmines.
Yes, Princess is leading them through a minefield.
The anger soon gives way to concern as Princess is the only one who can lead them to the exit without getting blown to smithereens. After steadying herself, Princess finally takes the group across the field and to the other side but that’s when Eugene notices something strange.
After exiting the minefield, Eugene sees that they are on the same street as when the first entered the city. In other words, Princess just led them in a circle rather than taking them the most direct route, which means she’s been lying to them.
Immediately, Yumiko is ready to put an arrow through her head but Princess finally comes clean. She’s been out in the concrete wilderness all by herself for so long that she just craved some kind of human contact. On top of that, Princess tells them that even before the zombie apocalypse started, she had a tough time making friends and convincing people to spend time with her.
As a fellow outcast, Eugene can relate and he tells her that he understands what she’s going through but lying won’t help anything. Princess then agrees to lead the group to the garages where she promised to find them transportation.
Once they arrive, Eugene, Ezekiel and Yumiko don’t find cars filled with gas but rather a garage filled with bicycles. Not exactly what was expected but Eugene notes that this will still get them where they’re going in much quicker fashion than walking so in a way Princess still delivered what she promised.
Just when it looks like the group will leave her behind, Yumiko turns to Princess and asks if she wants to join them on this journey. Princess breaks a smile ear to ear in excitement but before they leave, she offers to take the group to her secret stash where they can fill up with supplies, food and even weapons.
After being alone for so long, Princess has finally found friends again.
Promises Made, Promises Broken
Following the Whisperers’ attack on Hilltop, the survivors have decided to abandon the communities and reconvene at an old hospital that’s still standing nearby. Knowing that the horde could be coming for them at any moment, Father Gabriel and the other survivors moved to the hospital in hopes of pointing the Whisperers in the wrong direction while they plot their next move to avoid a herd of zombies, they couldn’t possibly hope to defeat.
Inside, Luke is doing his best to rig together a radio in Eugene’s absence but he needs some parts. Carol volunteers to go find them and Kelly offers to go along with her.
After they make it to an old car where they can find the wires needed, Carol breaks down and apologizes to Kelly for what happened in the cave. Carol’s obsession with avenging Henry’s death, which forced her to go after Alpha with blind rage rather than strategy, led to Kelly’s sister Connie being left behind.
While Carol breaks down into tears, Kelly tells her that she believes Connie is still alive somewhere out there and they shouldn’t give up hope just yet.
Meanwhile back inside the abandoned hospital, Negan is trying to reconnect with Lydia in the wake of killing her mother. At first, Lydia just wants nothing to do with Negan even as he tries to explain to her how he actually liked Alpha at some moments during his days and weeks spent among the Whisperers. She eventually lashes out and tells him she’s glad her mother is dead and most of the people left alive in the communities wish Negan had died right alongside her.
Later that day, Negan runs into Lydia again and he best her to take out her frustrations on him. He knows no matter how much Lydia despised Alpha at the time of her death, that was still her mother and we only get one of those. Lydia finally lets out all of her pain and grief, at first striking Negan and then embracing him as she breaks down into tears.
As for Judith, she wanders out of the hospital and joins Daryl in the woods nearby as he serves as a scout to ensure everyone’s safety. At first, he tells Judith to return to the safety of the group but she wants to learn to do what he does and Daryl finally relents and allows her to follow along.
He explains his job as a hunter to keep an eye out for anything unusual or out of place that would give them an edge over the other predators in the area. In this case, Daryl is seeking out any possibly intruders that might find the hospital or threaten the safety of the rest of the group.
Along the way, Daryl and Judith happen upon a small group of walkers and one Whisperer leading them back to their camp. Daryl shoots the Whisperer in the shoulder with an arrow while he and Judith take out all the walkers.
After finding the fallen Whisperer a few feet away, Daryl questions her about the location of Beta and the herd and any other information she might have regarding the communities. The surviving Whisperer doesn’t know much beyond telling Daryl that Beta and the horde are a few miles away, storming through the communities in a search for them.
As soon as he gets the information, Daryl puts her down with an arrow to the head despite Judith’s objections that maybe they could have helped the wayward Whisperer. Judith can’t help but wonder if perhaps this girl was just lost and waiting for someone to find her.
Finally after Daryl reveals that he reached out to Michonne to tell her not to return to Alexandria or Hilltop but received no answer, Judith comes clean about part of the conversation she had with her mother. Judith tells Daryl that Michonne is out helping some new people she met and that she wouldn’t be returning right away.
Judith stops short telling Daryl that Rick might be alive but more than anything right now she’s mostly concerned that everyone she loves is leaving That explains her feelings towards that fallen Whisperer — Judith is scared that she might get lost one day and no one will be there to find her. After losing the only mother and father she’s ever known, Judith is terrified that Daryl will be the next one to leave her.
Daryl says that he won’t lie to her and try to predict the future about where he’ll be going but he assures Judith that all of those people back in the hospital care about her very much and that’s just as much her family as anybody else. All of those people will do anything for her and one day when she grows up, Daryl knows Judith will do the same for them.
“Nothing can take the place of someone you love being gone but that doesn’t mean everything that follows is going to break your heart”
Judith wipes the tears from her eyes as she finds a glimmer of hope but the crackle of the radio on Daryl’s hip puts an end to this bonding moment as Father Gabriel calls out with a cry for help.
Change of Direction
In Alpha’s death, Beta was lost but now he is found again.
Last week saw Beta reconnect with his past life as a famous country singer, who was eventually transformed into Alpha’s right hand in the Whisperers. Now after fashioning himself a new skin mask made from half of Alpha’s face, Beta is ready to strike back at the people who took her from him.
He gathers the horde and leads them to Alexandria but once they arrive, the houses have all been abandoned. A voice continues to ring out in his head as Beta seeks direction on where to go next. Immediately, he believes the survivors must have fled to the final community belonging to them — Oceanside.
From nearby, Aaron and Alden are keeping an eye on Beta and the horde while relaying messages back to Daryl and the other survivors. Aaron and Alden are acting as scouts to make sure the survivors know where the horde is headed and it appears this was all a rouse to send them directly to Oceanside.
Along the way, Beta begins hearing those voices again and he starts to notice broken branches and footprints along the way. He realizes the entire group is being watched and led towards Oceanside where they will almost certainly find no survivors.
As Aaron and Alden keep watch, they see the the horde has started to shift directions, which is the worst case scenario for the survivors. Aaron quickly gets on his radio to call back to Daryl or Father Gabriel to let them know what’s happening but he can’t get a signal. A moment later, Aaron and Alden are surrounded by Whisperers, who have now captured them as hostages.
Finally, Beta leads the Whisperers to the ultimate goal — the abandoned hospital where the people from the communities escaped after leaving Alexandria and Hilltop behind. That explains Father Gabriel’s cry for help as the survivors have been discovered and the horde is coming for all of them.
“The Walking Dead” season 10 finale will air later this year and we will keep you updated once we know for certain on the day and time for that episode to debut.
