Coming into the season, I heard a lot of positive chatter about the second episode from critics who were able to watch some things early, episode one wasn’t as hyped as this one, and after loving the first episode I was ready for things to take it to the next level. Sadly that never happened for me, I know it was probably needed to get a little more back story on the Alpha and Beta dynamic, but I was hoping for a bit more from the hype.
So what did we learn from the past, and what did we learn from the present? A few things, nothing that seemed overly exciting. 7 years ago Lydia and Alpha knew to walk among walkers with walker blood and guts, unfortunately the pack stumbled upon a crashed vehicle with the horn going off, the walkers got to her and bit off her nose, causing Lydia to scream and forcing them to run off, ending up finding temporary shelter in a building shared by a masked man.
The masked man lets them stay for a night as long as they don’t leave the hallway. Alpha hears the masked man humming later and mimics his humming which irritates him, he tells her to stop and says the sound of the dead is the only music he doesn’t want to ever end, and we figure out why later. Later that night some walkers get in and they pair kill walkers together and like it, Alpha talks about the wearing of walkers and teaches the big man about it, she names him B, since people don’t have names anymore and she will be A. She tries to see his face again and he flips out and says they have to leave in the morning.
Lydia tries to get strong and keeps repeating a mantra her mom told her, “we are all monsters now” and ends up somewhere she shouldn’t be, forcing Alpha to look for her daughter in Beta’s area. Beta kills a walker, who turns out to be Beta’s good friend, Lydia returns in time to stop Beta’s flip out by saying she(Alpha) is trying to save you. In this scene Alpha(and Lydia) finally get to see the mans face. Alpha has a look as if to understand why he wants it always covered. She convinces him to cut off the face of his friend so they can still be apart of each other always, and thus the Whisperer masks are born.
This episode was quite the A and B conversation and most times I wished I didn’t have to C it. Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC
More present day, all Whisperer centered, we know the pack is not near the border, we see how they go out and gather more walkers. Alpha asks Beta to take two sisters who have an ear for the dead. The youngest sister happens to be the one who had to give up her baby and on the way back she has a flash back and starts to cry. Beta has to save her and kill a walker and tells her she is going to be punished.
Alpha actually stops the punishment and talks to her and lets her go, saying nobody else can understand the pain of losing a child. On another run, with Alpha, the youngest sister sees a walker with a baby holder, after the satellite we saw last episode enter the atmosphere, which in turn causes two packs to scatter, with this distraction she takes off her mask and flips out charging Alpha.
Oh wait, I just remembered you’re a bitch and I hate your stupid walker face. Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC
The other sister barges in and saves Alpha, letting her sister become walker food. Back at camp Beta is mad, they lost 3 members and countless walkers after this mess, and in turn Alpha wants to promote the sister, she is now named Gamma because Alpha sees potential in her and she gets more responsibility.
After this Beta finds, follows Alpha to a shrine, a shrine built to Lydia. This is when Beta finds out that Alpha has been lying about Lydia, to the pack and to him, she was telling everyone she killed Lydia, when in fact Lydia is still alive. Alpha flips out, destroying the shrine, maybe to save face to Beta. It’s now time to bring the pack back and show Alexandria what they can do, so they start to bring the horde back and this is when Alpha steps out for a second and sees Carol looking down on her.
The first 3 minutes of episode 3 is out on YouTube, and after seeing that I am EXTREMELY excited for episode 3.
