After the battle of Hilltop, the group struggles to reunite, Alpha is betrayed, and an alliance is revealed. Here’s our recap of “Walk With Us”!
“Walk With Us” feels a lot like after the prison falls in season four. Lots of members of the group are unaccounted for, several are on their way to a meeting point. What sets the feel apart is that Alpha is very much alive and actively trying to kill the survivors. It’d be like if the Governor took off into the woods after Rick and Carl.
As the Whisperers are combing the battlefield for survivors or those they can make part of their horde, Alpha explains to Negan that she’s still looking for Lydia. Negan tells her that he’ll find Lydia, but Beta puts a stop to all that, and tells Negan to gather more walkers, and he’ll find Lydia for Alpha.
Out in the woods, Negan gets bored really fast with gathering and just kills a walker. After that first kill, he sees Lydia running/limping through the trees. He takes off after her, but doesn’t see her first.
He spots Aaron, who is dragging an unconscious Luke. Aaron tries to confront Negan, but walkers come upon them. In a move that’s truly Negan, he leaves Aaron on his own to continues his chase of Lydia.
It doesn’t take long for Negan to catch up to Lydia, and he drops his Whisperer mask and grabs her. She tries to fight him, but he doesn’t let her go. He tells her it’s time to end this.
Eugene, Carol, Magna, and Miko
Away from the destruction of Hilltop in “Walk With Us”, Eugene is frantically looking at all the pieces of his radio that were destroyed in the fire. Rosita chased after him into the burning home, but she’s not with this group, and Eugene doesn’t mention her.
He does approach Carol, and she encourages him to go find the girl he’s looking for even though she doesn’t have all the facts. At this point, going to the person with questionable judgment and selfish nature doesn’t seem like the way to go, but their conversation makes him feel better.
Prior to that conversation, though, Carol listens as Magna (who was with the horde at Hilltop) explains what happened to her and Connie.
The managed to get away from the walkers and Whisperers in the cave, but found themselves in the middle of the horde. As they were led out, Connie and Magna were separated, and she didn’t find Connie again.
Instead of apologizes or giving Magna any words of consolation, Carol says that she’s going to start walking toward the rendezvous point. Miko gets big mad about Carol not accepting responsibility for what’s happened to them.
All of what’s happened, including the fall of Hilltop. When Carol asks if Miko if she really thinks Magna wants her apology, Miko punches her right in the mouth.
It’s glorious, but also, exactly the self-flagellation Carol wants, so I hate that she’s given that measure of comfort.
After Carol walks off, Miko and Magna officially break up, but it’s on good terms and with an understanding that what was going on before doesn’t matter now. This is the best way for things to be.
Daryl, Jerry, and others look for kids.
At the rendezous point, the children and Ezekiel are nowhere to be found. Frantically, Jerry and Daryl go searching for Ezekiel. They eventually get all the way back to Hilltop and find him under some of the tin from the wall. He had been knocked out, but when they reach him, he stands up.
Thankfully, he explains that the kids are with Earl.
Earl has been spotlighted a lot the last two episodes, and it’s fitting for him to get that time before “Walk With Us”. We see him with the children of Hilltop, offering them water, and comforting them. He doesn’t look great, though. He tells the kids to stay in the room they’re in, but Judith follows him out.
He’s ran a spike through the table on the other side of the curtains, and his sleeve is pushed back to reveal a walker bite. It’s so tragic, and he takes the time to talk to Judith and build her up.
“You can’t do this.”
“I don’t have much choice.”
“I can stay here with you, so that you’re not alone when it happens.”
“Oh, honey, I’m not alone. I have Tammy and my son. Alden will take good care of Adam. And you, Judith, you’re so strong. You’re so brave. But now I need you to keep those kids safe from me. Please. Go back out there, and don’t come near me again, okay?
Later, Daryl, Jerry, and Ezekiel find the home with kids. They all run out, but Daryl goes in to find Judith. She’s sitting on the floor beside Earl, who she had to kill after a botched attempt at taking his own life to protect the kids.
Daryl sits down with her and put his arm around her. “Walk With Us” hits on something from the previous episode that Daryl talked to Judith about…walkers aren’t always just walkers. This is the first time Judith is feeling that.
Gamma, Alden, Kelly, and Baby Adam
“Walk With Us” finds Gamma in a tense walk with Kelly, Alden, and baby Adam. the baby won’t stop crying, and Alden doesn’t want to take any of Gamma’s advice on how to soothe him.
Finally, he gives her the baby, and his cries stop. Later on, they stop for a break in the woods, and Alden asks about Adam’s mom. We learn that her name was Frances, and Gamma feels a lot of guilt that she’s there, and her sister isn’t.
The moment is broken up when Gamma hears walkers coming, and the take off through the woods. It becomes apparent that they’re going to get overrun when they find a broke down mini van. They get into a mini van, but Gamma slams the door sealing Alden, Kelly, and Adam inside. She gets the walkers attention and leads them away. By the creek, she kills them all.
When she’s done, she raises her face to the sun (like her sister did) and gets ambushed by Beta. He stabs her in the stomach, and she hits at him, ripping half of his mask off.
That causes him to get really mad, and he twists the knife, killing Gamma. He sits her up next to a tree and waits for her to turn, and another Whisperer shows up. He sees half of Beta’s face, and finally puts it altogether.
He’s that super famous country singer, but before he can say much, Beta kills him, too.
Gotta keep that secret identity secret.
As Gamma wakes up walker-ized, she gets hit with an arrow right between the eyes. This is Alden’s way of putting her out of her misery, but WHY DIDN’T HE KILL BETA!? If you have that great of an aim, kill the huge, murderous dude then put the walker down.
Negan and Alpha
“Walk With Us” ends with the reveal that we weren’t surprised about.
Negan goes back to the Whisperers camp and tells Alpha that he’s found what she’s searching for. She follows him out through the wilderness, as he talks to her about what she’s trying to do, kill her daughter. They stop for a moment, and Negan opens up to Alpha about his wife and how hard the loss hit him.
“A long time ago before meat-lovers like him started showing up, I, uh, I lost somebody that was close to me. Pancreatic cancer. If the disease wasn’t eating her up from the inside, then the chemo was kicking the ever-loving shit out of her. And yet, I don’t know. Maybe, uh, maybe the cancer just put things in perspective. She was, uh, she was never more beautiful. Didn’t matter how frail she got. Even when she lost her hair.”
“Be grateful. Death set her free.”
“The thing is, when she was gone, I just–I didn’t feel much of anything anymore. You know? I didn’t feel scared. I didn’t feel happy. I, uh, I didn’t feel anything. I was just…here. And that is my strength. Now, me? I am dead to this world. But you? See, you are pretending. You think that it makes you strong to say that emotions aren’t real, that we are animals. That is bullshit. And you know it. And now you claim that you have to kill your own daughter–your own flesh and blood.”
“It is her destiny. That disease that took your wife because that was what nature intended. She could not take you with her. But you live every day wishing she could. Lydia was made for this. To be free. With me.
“You still love her.”
“I have to do it because I love her. She will always be my baby.”
She kisses Negan, thanks him for what he’s done, and moves toward the shack. When she gets there she opens the door, but Lydia isn’t there. Alpha turns around, and Negan slices her throat. He catches her as she falls to the porch, and he gently kisses her cheek before placing her fully on the wooden beams.
This turns into a view of a bloody burlap sack in Negan’s hand. He drops Alpha’s walker head on the ground at someone’s feet. The camera pans up and we see that it’s Carol.
“Took you long enough.”
With Alpha dead, Beta’s sure going to be pissed. Add into that Negan’s non-betrayal and escape with Carol’s help, and it makes her actions of chasing Alpha into that cave even more pointless.
If you sent out a sociopath to kill your enemy, why’d you put everyone’s life in danger and get people killed because you couldn’t wait?
Carol’s getting on my nerves in a big way.
We’ll be away from this part of the world for a little while. Next week, we’re back with Michonne for the first time in several episodes as she arrives at the island with Virgil.
It appears this will be Michonne’s last episode. Will they be able to wrap up for story in such a small amount of time?
Let us know what you thought of “Walk With Us”!
The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC at 9/8c.