The Walking Dead season 9, episode 15 recap: The Calm Before

Well, that was a tough The Walking Dead episode to watch, wasn’t it?

The Walking Dead gave us one of the most dramatic episodes we’ve seen in a while. But before I get into my recap, if you have not watched the most recent episode–stop reading now, because of major spoilers ahead! Okay, you’ve been warned. Now, let’s get to recapping!

There is a lot to discuss about the season 9 penultimate episode of The Walking Dead and so much to process. But before I get into the heavy stuff, let’s talk about the highly anticipated fair. After a season full of talking it up, the day finally arrives, and it was well worth the wait. In fact, I sort of wish I could have been a part of the excitement. How cute were the caramel apples and the movie?

All four communities finally came together after years of being apart so it’s essentially a catch-up session. As the episode begins, it’s a bit jarring to see a couple who we’ve never seen before. However, there’s a reason for it, and it’s not very pleasing. A series of flashbacks leading up to the present reveals that Alpha kills both of them and steals the woman’s clothing as a disguise.

King Ezekiel kicks off the event with an inspiring speech while all community members listen to him with smiles plastered on their faces. But there’s no time to waste because while the fair is in full swing, the community leaders have some things to talk about, er whisper about. After giving it some consideration, Gabriel reveals that they are giving Lydia asylum. Tara isn’t on board with this at first and who can blame her? It’s Hilltop that will be attacked, not any other community.

But as everyone points out, there was a point where each one of them was a target of suspicion. Even Tara was difficult to trust at first considering she was on the Governor’s side once upon a time. This is enough to convince Tara to come on board, but the Hilltop still needed protection. In the spirit of being united, all the leaders sign the pact, promising to come together against all external threats. Who else caught the Queen Carol signature?

As the fair continued to carry on, Henry and Lydia walked around taking it all in while Enid and Alden finally defined their relationship. Speaking of relationships, Lydia is grilled and questioned by Addy’s friends who wanted to ensure that Lydia understood she wasn’t welcome here. To be honest, I’m on their side, who even likes Lydia?

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Daryl, Carol, Magna, Yumiko, Dianne, and Marco all set off towards the Hilltop. There’s an unsettling feeling as they head out but there isn’t much time to think about that because we’re too busy watching Daryl be googly-eyed towards Connie. This is a ship I’m so rooting for. Let’s hope it happens soon (please make it happen soon).

The Walking Dead season 9 penultimate episode starts to get intense as nightfall arrives and Daryl and company get surrounded by walkers. Side note: I’m always wondering WHY they don’t realize that this will happen. You’re heading off into the middle of the night where walkers can emerge at any point in time and amongst them the people that are pretending to be them. Anyone else see the problem in this?

They manage to take down the walkers but it doesn’t matter much because following closely behind are the Whisperers. Daryl is surprised to see Beta alive as he emerges from the darkness to tell Daryl he screwed up really bad by not handing Lydia over. They really should have just given her back, she’s not worth all this.

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And as Henry assures Lydia it’s her he likes, a sneaky Alpha makes her way into the fair wearing the disguise of the woman she just killed. She’s getting the lay of the land when Ezekiel approaches her to say hello and introduce himself. If you’re a The Walking Dead comic book fan, this is a scary moment for you because you’re assuming you know what’s coming up next.

As the movie began, it’s hard to ignore that Ezekiel is nowhere to be found, and neither is Henry. But Alpha seems to have made herself cozy in a seat right next to her daughter, who is taken back to see her mother there.

In a flashback or flashforward (we’re not really sure), Alpha guides Daryl to a cliff which overlooks thousands of walkers gathered together. Whenever Alpha wishes to unleash hell on the communities, she simply has to let them out and they will be guided in that direction. Has she thought of everything? And as Daryl processes that sight, Alpha says she’s letting him go and that his friends will be waiting for him at the border. Uh, we’re not ready for this.

I was pretty certain that Alpha was going to kill Lydia, but alas it didn’t happen. She left her alive and well and instead returned back to her herd and killed one of them instead as tears fell down her face. The tears are a bit confusing considering it’s Alpha, but her random decision to kill sort of cancels out those tears. But it wouldn’t be just Alpha who would be crying up a storm in this week’s episode of The Walking Dead.

As Daryl and company made their way to this border, they found Siddiq tied to a tree, bloody and hurt. In our heart of hearts we knew what was coming up next (well, not all of us), but it didn’t help us nonetheless. As the group made its way up the hill, a gruesome image began to emerge in the distance–a line of stakes with heads on them. Yes, that’s right, and we weren’t ready to see who was on them.

With each step, the stakes became clearer and clearer and with them the heads of those who were brutally murdered–Ozzy, Alek, DJ, Frankie, Tammy Rose, Addy, Rodney. But there were still three more, and comic book fans were assuming they’d know who would it be. However, it’s not at all like the comics in that regard and instead the heads of Enid, Tara, and Henry are shown. Seeing Tara’s head really hurt, I was not ready for that one.

Can we talk about how amazing the direction is in this episode? As we sit on the edge of our seats wondering who we’ve lost, the scenes flash back to the fair with people trying to look for those that have died. And as the scene would flash back to the border of heads, we would learn who is dead and gone. Didn’t it feel like the end of Avengers: Infinity? But seriously, amazing direction and everything in this episode.

Now that Alpha and her Whisperers have struck in the most horrible way, how the hell is our group going to take revenge? Stay tuned to find out in next week’s season 9 finale of The Walking Dead!

The Walking Dead airs every Sunday at 9 PM EST on AMC!