‘The Walking Dead’ Season 10, Episode 12 ‘Walk With Us’ Review: Oh the Taste of Sweet, Sweet Revenge!

Last week’s Game of Thrones-esque episode of The Walking Dead brought a foreboding feeling of uncertainty. Just as the Kingdom was wiped out last season, Hilltop takes the fall after the onslaught of the Walkers and Alpha’s (Samantha Morton) Whisperers. Tonight’s episode, titled “Walk With Us,” is a harrowing reveal of all sorts—the Hilltop dwellers are displaced, and the Whisperers are after them all. It’s one thing to be driven out of your home, it’s another when these freaks decide to track you down and end you forever.

As the Hilltop dwellers scramble to safety, the Whisperers grow their offense as we’re left with nothing but ashes and ruins. But it’s not all sadness and defeat this week. As Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) rises up in the Whisperer ranks, he decides to do the unthinkable—he finally chooses a side and professes it in the most shocking of ways.

“Walk With Us” is arguably one of the strongest episodes of The Walking Dead season 10. Here’s everything that went down on tonight’s episode. Tread with caution as this is a spoiler-rich journey.

The Whisperers Release the Negan on Clean-up Duty

Jace Downs/AMC

The rain of fire ravaged the entire area of Hilltop as Daryl (Norman Reedus) and his troops fail to contain the attack. Left with no choice, Daryl directs everyone to evacuate at a rendezvous point. The night drones on with Hilltop engulfed in flames. The next day, Alpha, Daryl, Beta (Ryan Hurst) and the Whisperers survey the damage. Alpha was successful in driving them out, but she didn’t get what she wanted. The Hilltop dwellers are still alive. They need to turn and walk with the Whisperers. Beta sends Negan to horde round-up duty, something that the latter absolutely hates. He goes on to bash the heads (with the new and improved Lucille!) of every Walker he comes across until he stops dead in his tracks—Aaron (Ross Marquand) sees Negan as he drags an injured Luke (Dan Fogler) to safety. Of course, Aaron gasps at the sight of his former foe donning the Whisperer mask. Negan tries to explain but they are quickly overwhelmed by a small herd of Walkers closing in on them. Negan runs off, leaving Aaron to fend for himself. Incidentally, Negan sees Lydia (Cassady McClincy) limping away and catches her for Alpha.

Gamma/Mary Finally Reunites With Her Nephew

Alden (Callan McAuliffe), Kelly (Angel Theory), and Gamma/Mary (Thora Birch) were one of the groups that got separated from Daryl’s main group after Hilltop fell. It would have been a friendly and fast trip to the rendezvous point if not of them carrying Adam, Earl’s son/Mary’s nephew. Alden wasn’t able to calm Adam’s cries, even as Mary offered help. Kelly encourages Alden to hand Adam over to her. After all, he is Mary’s nephew. Eventually, Alden surrenders Adam to Mary, who was able to make him stop crying. They camp out to rest as Mary tells Alden and Kelly about her sister Frances (you know, the Whisperer whom Alpha forced to give the baby up). The somber moment is cut short when another small herd makes its way to them.

Jace Downs/AMC

They hole up in an abandoned van and Mary decides to draw the herd out. As she does, Beta suddenly catches up to Mary, stabbing her in the gut. She wakes up as a Walker, much to the delight of Beta. Little do they know that Alden and Kelly are watching, shooting Walker Mary with an arrow through the head. Beta’s not going to have the last laugh here. The Whisperer giant takes off again. Seriously, there’s something about seeing him run that pisses me right off. I don’t know, Tom Cruise’s runs look awesome. But when it’s Hurst doing the running, I can’t help but see a massive chunk of flesh awkwardly lumbering towards the bathroom.

Carol and Eugene’s Heart to Heart

Another shocking return came when the Walkers and Whisperers poured into Hilltop. Magna (Nadia Hilker) was among them, covered in Walker guts and pretending to walk among them. Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) tries hard to process this after the attack. She holes up with Magna, Carol, and Eugene (Josh McDermitt) before heading to Daryl’s rendezvous point. Magna is visibly shaken and starved, barely making sense of things. Yumiko directs her anger to Carol and slaps her, sending Carol packing and wallowing in her guilt even more. But with Magna and Yumiko’s reunion also came their break-up. Magna couldn’t take how Yumiko always doubted her, and the two end their relationship in amicable terms.

As Carol isolates herself and feels the burn of the Yumiko slap, Eugene offers her some company and tells her about how frustrating it is that he cannot meet Stephanie (the voice on the radio) anymore. His radio equipment’s all busted up from the fire, and there’s no way for him to radio back to her and report on the day’s developments. Carol simply tells Eugene to just go and meet her. For all he knows, she might just be there waiting for him too. The two share an intimate time together, attesting to the strong bond that they have built up surviving the zombie apocalypse over the years.

The Kids Are Alright (Except for Judith)

Jace Downs/AMC

As the Hilltop fell, nobody really had a solid extraction plan, especially with the kids involved. Sure, Daryl and Ezekiel (Khary Payton) had an agreement about having any of them extract the kids when shit hits the fan, but it wasn’t necessarily followed to the dot. As the Walkers infiltrated Hilltop, people were scattered and undermanned. It was Earl who ended up saving the kids and rescuing Judith (Cailey Fleming) from further trauma (Judith was hacking and slashing Walkers when she accidentally killed a person who revealed himself as a Whisperer). Daryl, Jerry (Cooper Andrews), Rosita (Christian Serratos), and the rest of the Hilltop fighters went straight to the rendezvous point but were unable to find the kids waiting there with Ezekiel. They spread out for a search party and came across a shed. True enough, it was where Earl holed the kids up. But there was a catch. While waiting for Daryl and co. to arrive, Judith chanced upon Earl preparing to kill himself. It turns out that he was bit, and he needed to act fast lest he reanimates. A curious Judith sees Earl sprawled on the table, but not dead enough to not become a Walker. Left with no other choice, Judith had to put him down. Daryl and his crew eventually arrive to save the kids, with a traumatized Judith clutching her legs on the floor. It’s a good thing uncle Daryl was quick to offer his emotional support. Damn, poor kid.

A Drastic Power Shift, Again All Thanks to Negan

We knew that Negan joined the Whisperers on purpose. But we definitely didn’t see this coming earlier than expected. After capturing Lydia, Negan leads Alpha to her location. The Queen of the skin freaks is hell-bent in killing her own daughter so she could join the Walkers, something that Negan is obviously not comfortable with. He even tries to tell her about his wife who died of cancer, but the bitch wouldn’t budge. “This is her destiny,” Alpha stresses. Meanwhile, inside the shed, Lydia struggles to free herself. Alpha opens the door to find it empty and suddenly gets her throat slashed by Negan. Lydia was in fact holed up, but she was in another shed far from Alpha’s reach.

Jace Downs/AMC

But that’s not the biggest shock of the episode. In the comics, Negan brought Alpha’s head to Rick as his pledge of allegiance. But since Rick’s long gone, we’ve gone another key character as a replacement. Negan rolls the head over to Carol, who suddenly returns to her ruthless persona and says, “Took you long enough.” I know, I know. What the fuck, right?

Sweet, sweet revenge, indeed.

‘The Walking Dead: Walk With Us’ Overall Verdict

“Walk With Us” is one of the most engaging and entertaining episodes of The Walking Dead Season 10 thus far. Directed by Greg Nicotero, the episode has everything you’d need to feel reconnected to what made this show great in the first place—there’s lots of Walker action and human drama that pits morality and practicality against each other. If last week made me suffer a slight panic attack, “Walk With Us” had me reeling in my seat, desperate to look for a sliver of hope (which I later found in the last moments of the episode). For what it’s worth, “Walk With Us” easily set the season up for a finale that could redefine the show for the next seasons ahead. We’re done with the show’s renaissance; now it’s time for a revolution.

The Walking Dead continues Sunday, March 22nd, with “What We Become” at 9/8c on AMC.