People on both sides of the Whisperer War contend with the death of Alpha.
Actually Pretty Funny: Ezekiel manages to get a good laugh out of the bizarre, well-dressed walkers chained up around the city. Yumiko gets a laugh out of it too.
Bad Boss: When a Whisperer declares Beta the new Alpha, Beta angrily refuses and responds by feeding his face to Alpha’s decapitated head, and ends up stabbing him and feeding him to a walker.
Bait-and-Switch: The Whisperers corner Daryl and Negan at the site where Carol left Alpha’s head. While one of them confirms Negan killed Alpha to Daryl, the two appear to be up the creek. Then they declare Negan the new Alpha and bow to him.
Carol is explicitly confirmed to be the one who freed Negan offscreen during “Silence the Whisperers”.
Jerry is elated to see Magna alive after “Squeeze”. It’s implied he partially blamed himself for her going missing since he held the cave wall up as long as possible. Alpha also taunts Carol for her actions during this episode.
Eugene moved to Hilltop after “Silence the Whisperers” partially to get away from the Ship Sinking he suffered with Rosita.
A few Whisperers actually declare Negan the new alpha even though by default Beta is the next in the chain of command. Negan opined in “Walk With Us” that Beta isn’t a charismatic leader type that people will want to follow, and this seems to confirm his belief.
Cassandra Truth: Twofold. Daryl does not initially believe Negan when he says that he killed Alpha, nor does he believe that he joined the Whisperers as a mole so he could kill Alpha from the start. He realizes Negan was telling the truth on both points when a group of Whisperers declare Negan the new Alpha for killing the old Alpha, and then when Negan saves Daryl by killing those same Whisperers.
Cerebus Retcon: Carol’s snarky “took you long enough” in response to Negan presenting her with Alpha’s head was a cathartic, amusing way to end “Walk With Us”. Here, though, it’s decidedly less funny since both Carol and Daryl unfairly criticize Negan for taking too long to assassinate Alpha; when as Negan points out, the task was far from a cakewalk and could’ve easily made things a thousand times worse if he got it wrong.
The title of the episode is derived from the iconic scene in Season 4’s “The Grove” in which Carol told Lizzie to “just look at the flowers”, a known coping technique for the girl, to distract her as she executed her. Alpha tells Carol the line when she is nearly killed by a walker towards the end of the episode.
Carol mounts Alpha’s head on a pike to avenge Henry and the other pike victims in Season 9’s “The Calm Before”.
The ghost of Alpha mentions the death of Sophia during early Season 2, and Carol’s previous attempt to be The Aloner when she went into exile towards the end of Season 6 and for much of Season 7.
Alpha taunts Carol with the line “everything works out the way it’s supposed to”, something Mika would say during Season 4.
Negan orders Daryl to kneel before him, all too similarly to Season 6’s “Last Day on Earth” and Daryl’s extended stay as a prisoner at the Sanctuary during Season 7. Like those occasions, Daryl has little choice but to comply, but this time, Negan is actually on his side.
Like how Lori’s ghost haunted Rick until he settled his dispute with his inner demons and his questionable decisions in Season 3, Alpha’s ghost stops tormenting Carol the moment she decides she wants to live and kills the walker that nearly ended her life.
Eugene, Yumiko, and Ezekiel approaching the deserted city on horseback pays tribute to the famous shot of Rick entering Atlanta during the pilot episode.
Death Seeker: All but said to be the case with Carol as this season has strongly implied, when Alpha asks what she wants, only for Carol to be shaken back to reality by nearly being killed by a walker. However, she defies this when she finds the strength to kill the walker that nearly kills her.
Decapitation Presentation: Carol mounts Alpha’s head on one of the border pikes as a “fuck you” to the Whisperers for Henry ending up suffering this trope’s fate.
Decomposite Character: As Michonne has exited the series, a departure that did not take place in the comics, Yumiko takes her place as the prominent leading figure and former attorney who joins Eugene’s journey to meet Stephanie.
Dragon Ascendant: Beta takes leadership of the Whisperers after Alpha’s death, though he refuses to take the title of Alpha since in his twisted mind, Alpha is still alive as a disembodied head. He eventually puts her down and returns to the Whisperers with some walkers he’s gathered.
Drunk on the Dark Side: Negan enjoys having people kneel before him a bit too much and relishes having the power to make Daryl kneel before him, as well as getting to wield a firearm again. He still pulls back and helps Daryl kill the Whisperers, but his somber tone afterwards implies he knows he enjoyed it too much. He also admits to Daryl he enjoyed being a Whisperer a little because it made him feel important again.
Everyone Has Standards: Negan firmly outlines that he doesn’t kill people who don’t deserve it and he especially does not kill innocent children.
Face Death with Dignity: When he (fairly) assumes he’s going to be executed and Carol asks if he wants forgiveness, Negan admits he’s done what he’s done and he’s not going to beg for his life.
Failed a Spot Check: Due to entering a coughing fit while fighting walkers, Ezekiel failed to notice a walker biting his horse until it later collapsed, on the verge of death from the virus.
Fire-Forged Friends: Downplayed. Daryl and Negan form a sort of understanding after Negan saves Daryl from the Whisperers and it’s confirmed that Negan killed Alpha. Daryl is willing to sit with his back to Negan and hear him out.
I Hate Past Me: Beta alternates between listening to old records he recorded with “Half Moon” and violently destroying junk in what’s implied to have been an old residence of his. He has a bizarre quasi-concert when he blares the record to a horde of walkers and cries as he remembers the crowd of people who applauded his performance.
Insistent Terminology: Subverted. When Ezekiel asks Jerry to help lead the refugees and preserve the legacy of the Kingdom, Jerry nearly calls him “boss”, but stops himself and refers to him by his real name. It shows that Jerry is finally letting go of the old king persona Ezekiel himself let go a long time ago.
Kangaroo Court: Negan accuses the Alexandrian council of this as he suspects they’re voting to execute him, which is neither 100% true or 100% wrong. On one hand, people like Aaron have experienced the horrors Negan inflicted firsthand, but on the other hand, people like Siddiq (who joined Alexandria after the war began) and Gabriel (who has an oddly respectful relationship with him after they survived a horde together) are more forgiving. Laura is also a reasonable woman who may have completed a full Heel–Face Turn, but she can understand what Negan at least tried to do with the Saviors. And everyone knows that Negan willingly risked his own life to save Judith during the blizzard. We the audience also saw Gabriel pick apart the story that Lydia’s surviving assaulters gave. While the accidental murder of Margo certainly didn’t help Negan’s prospects, the only member of the council who seemed strongly in favor of killing Negan was Aaron, defying this trope.
Kneel Before Zod: A few Whisperers actually declare Negan the new Alpha due to having murdered Alpha. Negan then orders Daryl to kneel before him to trick his loyal Whisperers.
The Last Dance: Ezekiel feels that, with his condition worsening, joining the journey to find Stephanie and potentially new allies is a worthy final adventure for him.
Meaningful Name: Beta’s stage name during his time as a country star headlining the band “Half Moon”. The main piece of promotional material of him we see has the right side of his face obscured in shadow, making his face a first quarter moon, or half moon. Beta lost the left side of his mask to Mary, leaving him once again with the right side of his face obscured, this time by his remaining mask. By the end of the episode, Beta has replaced the missing portion of his mask with skin from Alpha’s face, with the obscuring of his face now making him a third quarter moon. But now with his entire face covered again, he’s a new moon (the phase where the moon is not visible in the sky), representing how he is ready to begin the fight against the communities again after accepting Alpha’s death. And for what it’s worth, Alpha’s pale, decaying skin is eerily reminiscent of a lit moon as well.
Beta sees putting down Alpha’s head as this, after keeping her “alive” the whole episode.
Ezekiel is forced to give one to his horse, which is dying of a walker bite.
Mood Whiplash: Eugene, Yumiko, and Ezekiel are finding a bunch of strange walkers chained up around the city when they are suddenly met by a woman wearing pink with purple highlights in her hair and a machine gun... who greets them with a huge “OH MY GOD HI!!!”
My God, What Have I Done?: It’s brief, but the already distressed Negan has to stop and look clearly devastated learning that the communities’ children nearly died in the Battle of Hilltop, an attack he took part in as part of his cover.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Discussed. As Negan points out in the flashback, if he fails to assassinate Alpha, it will make things exponentially worse for the survivors.
Properly Paranoid: Daryl is implied to have found Lydia and learned of how she was captured by Negan who was carrying a Whisperer mask. Naturally, even discounting the fact that he was the leader of the Saviors who killed Glenn and so many others, Daryl has every desire to kill him.
Ship Tease: Carol's hallucination of Alpha taunts her by saying Daryl isn't coming to get her after what happened with Connie in "Squeeze".
Villainous BSoD: Beta suffers this after learning of Alpha’s murder. He shuts himself inside a bar and listens to his old records until he’s ready to return to the action.
Was It Really Worth It?: Negan asks Carol this when she mounts Alpha’s head. It’s implied it’s not wholly giving her the satisfaction she wants.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Among the survivors of the Battle of Hilltop, only Lydia, Alden, Kelly, Adam, Aaron, and Luke are not seen in this episode. Lydia is implied to have already rejoined Alexandria, but the others are not seen at the makeshift refugee camp in the cottage.
The Hilltop/Kingdom refugees, weary from their brush with death and the loss of their home, immediately begin questioning Eugene for contacting Stephanie and keeping it a secret. Ezekiel steps in to give Eugene a chance to explain himself, though.
Both Carol and Daryl question Negan on why he took so long to kill Alpha. Negan isn’t having it, since earning Alpha’s trust, getting her alone to kill her, and making it out of Whisperer territory with his own life intact isn’t exactly a quick and easy job, so he throws it back in their face. Carol comes off as particularly unreasonable since Negan is literally begging her to keep up her end of the bargain so he can keep his life, but then starts complaining he took too long; Daryl also begins ranting that Negan took too long even though he didn’t believe him in the first place.
You Are in Command Now: It’s implied that Jerry will be taking leadership of the Hilltop/Kingdom refugees with Ezekiel and Yumiko heading out for Eugene’s meeting with Stephanie, or at least will he stepping up to help lead them, anyway.
