‘The Walking Dead’ Season 10, Episode 5 ‘What It Always Is’ Review: The Negan Is Released

What do you get when you cross civil unrest with outnumbered rational minds? It’s a whirlwind of bullshit and irrationality.

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead, titled “What It Always Is,” paints a picture of how the communities are slowly succumbing to the Whisperers’ mind games. It’s bad enough to have to deal with the unknown wave of Walkers coursing through their gates. It’s another to have your people slowly lose their shit and jump to rash decisions.

The construction of the Hilltop’s walls go smoothly, but a new problem arises—someone is stealing supplies from their already-dwindling stash and Magna (Nadia Hilker) couldn’t care less to get to the bottom of things. Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), on the other hand, enjoys that taste of freedom but is cut short when idiotic Negan superfan Brandon Rose (Blaine Kern III) jumps to his “rescue.” Meanwhile, things with Ezekiel aren’t as healthy as what it seems. Are we losing another cast member here?

Here’s what went down on tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead. If you haven’t seen it yet, get out while you still can. Spoilers will be dropped from all corners.

It’s a Not-So-Special Negan Fans’ Day

We still don’t know who let Negan out officially, but I do think it’s Brandon. As Negan explores the beauty of the woods outside Alexandria and without supervision, Brandon the superfan appears to bring back what once was. A little backstory: Brandon was the son of a former Savior back in the day and was raised in Alexandria. His dad still misses the Savior days so he kept on telling Brandon about Negan’s exploits from killing unsuspecting survivors and even Carl Grimes (this was met with an overbearing hostile vibe from the man himself when Brandon told him about it). Brandon, amazed by these stories, catches up to Negan and brings Lucille and his black leather jacket back. But since we know that Negan is a reformed man, he balks at the sight of these relics from a past long gone.

Brandon keeps on telling him to start a new era of the Saviors, but Negan only so much as humors him—until that blood-curdling scream rings out from a nearby abandoned bus. Brandon suggests wiping them out to steal their supplies, but Negan jumps to the person’s rescue (much to Brandon’s amazement, yelling “Damn! Classic Negan!”) and discovers that it’s a woman with a young boy. Little does Brandon know that he is slowly signing his death certificate here. We all know that Negan has a soft spot for kids (word on the street says that he was once a P.E. teacher who relished in teaching tweens how to overcome their weaknesses), so he develops a close bond with the young boy. He even teaches him the art of nut tapping for fuck’s sake. And since Brandon is a creepy little shit who wants nothing but violence, Negan sees him off.

Jace Downs/AMC

But twisted Brandon can’t get a hint. When Negan returns from scavenging wood, he discovers Brandon—crowbar in hand—standing over the woman and young boy’s bodies doing the infamous Savior whistle. “You almost had me back in the bus when you kicked me out,” Brandon says. “But I remembered, this is Negan, he’s always messing with people to keep them in line. So I realized, there’s a test. You wanted to make sure I had the balls to do what had to be done!”

In a fit of rage, Negan sacks Brandon in the head with a rock, never stopping until he’s beaten it to a pulp. Negan then takes Lucille and wears the leather jacket and proceeds to look for anyone to take out his rage throughout the night. He calls to a small herd and bats the Walkers one by one until Beta (Ryan Hurst) appears with a few Whisperers. But Negan’s been waiting for this moment. Beta has no idea about the wrath that’s about to rain down on him. “Alright, you big-ass freak, let’s do this,” Negan declares before lunging at Beta.

Holy shit. This has got to be one of the best Negan moments I’ve ever seen.

Something’s Up With Magna, And It’s Very Concerning

The episode opened with Kelly (Angel Theory) on a hunt. However, her hearing finally breaks after showing signs in Oceanside. She was able to kill a pig but was overpowered by a small herd of Walkers. She then falls in a ravine and passes out just as a Walker approaches.

Back at Hilltop, Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) gets word that some supplies are missing, and Magna was supposed to watch over it. Yumiko confronts her about it, but Magna feigns disinterest. Seriously, something is up with this woman. Last week she had great sex with Yumiko. And then, after that session, suddenly she’s here being salty and shit? Meanwhile, Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Siddiq (Avi Nash) arrive to offer some assistance. When a group of scavengers returns without Kelly, Connie (Lauren Ridloff) gets increasingly worried.

Jace Downs/AMC

Daryl heads out with Connie to look for Kelly. Her trail leads to several dead ends and the pair suddenly bumps into Magna. Eventually, they find Kelly sprawled near a tree and drifting in and out of consciousness. Kelly also urges Magna to reveal that she’s the one stealing supplies and stashing them in the woods—much to Connie and Daryl’s shock. Back at Hilltop, Yumiko again confronts Magna about what she did. The only explanation we get? Magna doesn’t trust the community after a series of Walker attacks came and went. She doesn’t trust the community that took her in and gave her a place that she could call home. What an ungrateful bitch.

Ezekiel Opens Up a Secret, Aaron Crosses the Border

Siddiq’s arrival at Hilltop opened up a shocking revelation—Ezekiel (Khary Payton) is sick with thyroid cancer, and it looks like he’s ready to accept his fate. Siddiq also shared about his PTSD, which was a breath of fresh air for both men. Siddiq then urged to Ezekiel to call Carol on the radio and tell her about his condition but chickened out at the last minute.

Jace Downs/AMC

Elsewhere, Aaron (Ross Marquand) seems intent in making some sort of connection with the Whisperers. As he explores the bridge near Alpha’s (Samantha Morton) border, Aaron comes across Gamma (Thora Birch) contaminating the river with Walker’s guts. Later, Gamma brings the news to Alpha, who’s also intent on carrying out a punishment. Gamma’s brother suggests a half-assed technique, which has him being killed by Alpha and Beta. As he reanimates to a Walker, Alpha has Gamma bring him to the river to act as a sentry. But it also looks like Gamma is slowly losing respect for Alpha. She kills the Walker but injures herself in the process. Aaron sees this and gives Gamma a bandage. Now, I don’t know if this is a weak attempt to appeal to their kindness or a sinister plan to capture one of their own as leverage. One thing’s for sure—Alpha is definitely watching, and Aaron is about to get his ass kicked for crossing the border.

‘The Walking Dead: What It Always Is’ Overall Verdict

“What Is Always Is” is an episode that proves to be a great character study for Negan. If you’re finding it hard to empathize with his character, this episode might just do it for you. I’ve long since forgiven Negan myself, but it’s not exactly something that a lot of us would think to do even a few years after being overpowered by Rick. “What Is Always Is” also offers superb sequences that look into each of our main spotlight characters’ psyche. As The Walking Dead proves to be a great show again, it’s now banking on the psychological aspects of what our characters are forced to go through in this hell that the Whisperers have unleashed. Overall, it’s good to see Negan thrive. Seriously, I can’t wait to see him go toe-to-toe with Beta!

The Walking Dead continues Sunday, November 10th, with “Bonds” at 9/8c on AMC.