‘The Walking Dead’ Kicks off the Whisperer War With a Surprising Rivalry

When we pick up with our post-apocalyptic heroes in The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere, everyone is still reeling from the events of Season 9. The Whisperers, humans who wear zombie skin and act like members of the undead, killed multiple main characters, and delineated their rules: stay on your side of our border, nobody else has to die. Naturally, that peace won’t last — but the central rivalry for Season 10 is setting up is a surprising and exciting one that promises to bring the series to new, emotional heights.

Spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 10 premiere, “Lines We Cross,” past this point.

In the episode, Carol Pelletier (Melissa McBride) returns from a long sojourn at sea. She was destroyed by The Whisperers’ actions last season, particularly because they killed off Henry (Matt Lintz), her adopted son. Jumping back even further, bonding with Henry was a big deal for Carol, since one of her major, defining characteristics was that she was introduced as fiercely protective of her daughter. Then her daughter died, so she got two more surrogate daughters. They both died. So yeah, three times the charm, and Carol has had it. She is on a boat. She is done.

Anyway, she’s also taken the place of Michonne in the comics, leaving her former love Ezekiel (Khary Payton), and fishing/looking for signs of the Whisperers after the long winter as she goes. Upon returning, she has a sweet bonding session with Daryl (Norman Reedus), and the two discuss maybe leaving for good, without making an ultimate decision — though they do seem to lean on the side fo staying around to protect the children.

…and that’s when Alpha (Samantha Morton), leader of The Whisperers, shows up. While Carol stands on a cliff looking over the destruction wrought by a forest fire (one caused by a falling satellite – don’t ask), Alpha walks calmly out of the woods, and stares up at Carol, in the creepiest shot of the episode.

That’s when the central rivalry of the season gets underlined. Carol has long been far gone from the abused housewife she was when first introduced. She went out of control for a while, got it back, found domesticity and long haired hippy happiness with Ezekiel, then lost it again. This Carol we see facing down Alpha is seemingly one with that past behind her, all of those skills, and a mission. There’s an uneasy truce, a cold war, between our heroes and The Whisperers. But it’s clear that when it comes to lines that will and won’t be crossed, Carol will cross those lines to take Alpha down.

Samantha Morton versus Melissa McBride in a no-holds barred cage match? Keep your Rick (Andrew Lincoln) versus Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) fights, this right here is the main event. This is everything we’ve ever hoped for with Carol, and it’s going to be epic. Hopefully she’ll survive the experience.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

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