‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9, Episode 15 ‘The Calm Before’ Recap: Bloodbath

Although a crossover with another show was never planned for The Walking Dead, we are officially calling it one. In a shocking manner that only Game of Thrones was known for until now, the hit AMC series drew heavy inspiration from the HBO flagship show as it delivered one of the bloodiest and most shocking episodes ever.

I was left speechless after tonight’s episode, “The Calm Before.” We never saw this coming, and we never expected it to be this late in the season. The episode’s title says it all, although it doesn’t hold back the horrifying revelation for the next episode. “The Calm Before” will go on to be one of the most harrowing episodes of The Walking Dead since we saw Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) beat Glenn and Abraham’s head to a pulp.

It started out fresh and optimistic, with a sense of hope permeating throughout the episode. The awkwardly-titled fair at The Kingdom is in full swing, and we found all the four communities back together again. But everything quickly goes south when Alpha (Samantha Morton) goes Mission: Impossible on the seemingly innocuous fair. Our survivors weren’t ready for the horror that the Whisperer leader rained down on them.

Gene Page/AMC

Gear up for spoilers, everyone. Here’s every highlight that messed us up tonight on The Walking Dead:

It was supposed to be a beautiful fair, goddamn it!

“The Calm Before” finally showed us the unity that we all wanted to see since Rick left. Everyone’s surprised that the communities were all present, including Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Judith (Cailey Fleming) from Alexandria. Another touching reunion happened between Tara (Alanna Masterson), Carol (Melissa McBride), and Michonne (Danai Gurira)—reuniting the strongest women of the show.

Michonne also did an impromptu Whisperer orientation for Ezekiel (Khary Payton) and Carol. The threat is growing by the minute, especially after all the communities decided to take Lydia (Cassady McClincy) in as part of the family. Michonne then proposed a mutual protection pact, to which all the leaders of the communities signed on the constitution draft that Ezekiel kept in custody. And since the Whisperers’ might come for Hilltop first, the leaders decide to head out to protect the community.

Gene Page/AMC

Here’s what’s really bothersome after watching tonight’s episode—we didn’t know anything bad was going to happen because the fair teased all things hopeful. Henry (Matt Lintz) showed Lydia around so she could see how the community functions as a family. Enid (Katelyn Nacon) encouraged Alden (Callan McAuliffe) to sing for Luke’s (Dan Fogler) band performance before the movie that night. Tara had the time of her life as she got her well-deserved break from all the stress of leading Hilltop. Tammy (John Finn) and Earl  (Brett Butler) felt like a young couple again, with the former Whisperer baby now officially theirs to take care of.

It was the perfect setting for a hopeful future—until it all turned to shit and slapped us in the face.

Alpha Went Detective Mode and Creeped the Hell out of Us

It’s been established that Alpha is a ruthless leader and probably one of the worst villains that the survivors ever had to face. She enters the episode by killing the anniversary-obsessed couple from Hilltop and using the woman’s clothes as a disguise. Alpha then attends the fair (as “Deborah”) with no one noticing her, except for Ezekiel. Jesus, he even escorted her to the nearby clothes section after being warned by Alpha! “I have a feeling it’s going to be a hard winter,” she said to Ezekiel in a creepy whisper.

But Alpha saw everything she needed to see before striking. She knows that Tara is in charge of Hilltop. She knows that Lydia is getting cozy with Henry (causing a little pipe diversion to get the boy away from her daughter). She knows about their plan to protect Hilltop first.

That night, Alpha swoops in for the but tries to get Lydia back. She steals her from the movie (a cute cartoon show that had everyone laughing as if it’s the ’60s) and pleads with Lydia to come back to her. But Lydia—knowing that she’s safer with the survivors than her own people—refuses and tells her mom to fuck right off.

The Core Leaders Set off To Protect Hilltop But End Up Needing It Themselves

After the signing of the pact, Michonne knew that the place had to be protected right away. So she leaves with Carol, Daryl, Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), Magna (Nadia Hilker), and a few men from Hilltop. They then meet Ozzy (Angus Sampson), leader of the Highwaymen, and come across Alpha’s crime scene from earlier. Daryl’s instincts tell them that there was a struggle, so Michonne has her group split up with one going to Hilltop and her, Carol, Daryl, and Yumiko heading out to find the anniversary couple.

But the latter four are then stuck in the middle of a massive horde ambush. They were quick enough to kill all the Walkers, but the victory was shortlived when the Whisperers surround them, led by Alpha and Beta (Ryan Hurst). With them bound, Alpha had Daryl come with her so she could flex her Whisperer muscle. She leads Daryl to a large valley, where hundreds of Walkers and Whisperers are milling about. It’s a lethal threat, as Alpha claims the majority of the surrounding lands and telling Daryl that if they every trespass in any of their domains, she will drive a horde to their community. Daryl also learns that Alpha did a side mission at the fair, and fears for Lydia’s life. Of course, Alpha wouldn’t do anything bad to her daughter. But that’s an assurance that’s only applicable to Lydia and no one else. Alpha also told Daryl that she set up a territory mark and they should go check out.

After making her point clear, she frees Daryl and his group. This freedom, however, is actually a form of torture.

The Pike Mountain: It’s Game of Thrones season, but we didn’t expect the campaign to be kicked off by The Walking Dead.

Next month, HBO’s Game of Thrones returns for its final season. But it looks like The Walking Dead wanted in on the fanfare by drawing themes straight from Westeros! Alright, I might be exaggerating a little bit because what happened after Alpha freed Daryl and the others was actually a scene from the comic book albeit altered significantly.

As Daryl leads Michonne, Carol, and Yumiko back to Hilltop, they come across Siddiq (Avi Nash), bound to a tree and beaten to a bloody pulp. He frantically leads them up the hill (I’m guessing this is the same place where Rick and Negan had their final showdown) to see a line of pikes with severed heads on them (the territory mark). Then it dawned on Michonne—wait a minute, we know these people!

Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Ozzy, DJ, Frankie (Negan’s former wife), Tammy, Addy & Rodney (the two teenagers that Henry had a drunken night with), Enid, Tara, and Henry are all dead. They’re all Walkers now, except it’s only their heads. Yumiko, Michonne, and Siddiq gape in horror; Daryl tells Carol to look away (an exact mirror of when he had to hold her off when she saw Sophia leave Hershel’s barn as a Walker).

It’s the shock of all shocks that we never saw coming. Sure, we thought it was going to be Ezekiel, but the showrunners made the stakes higher by killing off most of the key characters that we’ve been following throughout season 9. Alpha made the ultimate flex of power tonight. And the bad news is that she has no moral code. She’s here to wipe them all out in fear.

Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

Siddiq and the others return to the Kingdom to tell their story. It turns out that after Lydia told Alpha to fuck off, the Whisperer leader called on her people to abduct a select few from the fair crowd. They had them bound in a barn, but Ozzy and DJ saw them and tried to free them. But they were overwhelmed by the Whisperers’ sheer number, eventually leading to their deaths.

It’s a brutal clean-up job if you ask me.

‘The Walking Dead: The Calm Before’ Overall Verdict

There’s nothing else left to say other than “The Calm Before” automatically being the best chapter of Season 9. After “Scars” made us cry and burst with emotions, tonight’s episode trampled on our weak spirits as it killed off those closest to the survivors, and those that we thought would help lead the charge against the Whisperers. It’s a merciless way of wiping out the major threats.

With the stakes raised higher, it won’t be soon before another bloodbath comes raining down on the survivors. That’s the standard that “The Calm Before” sets tonight. With a brilliant pace, intense scares, and the overbearing sense of finality, The Walking Dead just made our Sunday night something that could traumatize us for a long time.

Help us, dear Negan. You’re our only hope.

The Walking Dead continues next Sunday, March 31st, with the Season 9 finale, titled “The Storm,” at 9/8c on AMC. Watch the preview below: