Season 10, Episode 16
- The Final Battle of the Whisperer War is upon the survivors as Eugene's group makes one last push to reach their rendezvous.
Originally planned to be the Season 10 finale, this episode instead became the sixteenth, with an extra six planned to air in early 2021. This episode was also referred to as “The Whisperer War: The Final Showdown” in marketing.
- Adaptation Distillation: In the comics, Aaron and Jesus fought and killed Beta together some time after the horde was vanquished. In the show, Jesus is long dead, and Beta is killed by Negan and Daryl at the end of the war.
- Asshole Victim: After being a leader of a cult of crazed psychopaths, nobody is going to miss Beta. Maybe his music from his time as “Half Moon”, but there’s always records of that.
- Back for the Dead: Beatrice makes her first appearance since the first episodes of Season 9, only to perish midway through the episode.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Maggie's hooded ally, Elijah, saves Aaron and Alden when they are surrounded by Whisperers. Together all that sub-group.
- Maggie and Elijah arrives at the tower just in time to save Gabriel from three Whisperers that had overpowered him.
- Beta knocks Negan on his ass, but Daryl is able to successfully sneak attack and kill him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Beta is dead and the Whisperers and their horde have been vanquished, the survivors have reunited with Maggie and Connie is revealed to be alive and is found by Virgil. However, Eugene's group has been met by a group of potentially hostile soldiers.
- Book Ends:
- The survivors were introduced to the Whisperers when one of them landed a fatal sneak attack on Jesus in Season 9's “Evolution”. The survivors effectively end the Whisperers when Daryl is able to sneak up on Beta and stab him in his eyes, causing his eventual death in the horde.
- The season premiere had Carol standing on the cliff overlooking the valley where Alpha had been keeping her horde before winter, only to end up in a distant face-off when Alpha herself showed up across the ravine. The season finale shows Carol standing over a cliff as she prepares to lead the horde off of it. While the first time had only strongly implied Carol was considering suicide, it’s made 100% clear here that Carol was ready to kill herself. The last bit of Alpha, her mask, is then thrown over the cliff by Lydia after she saves Carol.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Maggie makes her grand return to the series, last having appeared in Season 9's “What Comes After”.
- Virgil turns up again after last appearing in “What We Become”.
- Connie returns after going missing in “Squeeze”.
- Call-Back:
- Lydia makes it clear she is on good terms with Carol again after their falling out early in the season.
- Daryl and Carol (and by extension the others) have been told by Judith that Michonne is away helping other people she met during her journey to Bloodsworth Island in “What We Become”. They are unaware of her journey to find Rick.
- Lydia says she knows how to control a horde, having been taught by her mother. We learned in “Stalker” that Alpha planned on passing leadership of the Whisperers to her daughter one day.
- Connie was trapped in the cave-in caused by Carol in “Squeeze”. Magna later confirmed the pair of them snuck out of the cave with the horde, but became separated.
- The Cameo: Rosita makes a brief, wordless appearance at the end of the episode holding Coco and reuniting with Gabriel.
- Character Death:
- Beatrice is stabbed and dragged into the horde by a Whisperer.
- Recurring Hilltop resident Oscar is killed by a knife to the chest from one of the Whisperers.
- Beta is killed by Negan and Daryl.
- Cliffhanger: Connie is revealed to be alive and is found by Virgil. Also, although the communities are safe, Eugene's group has been surrounded by armor-clad soldiers.
- Continuity Nod:
- Carol's letter to Maggie catches her up on the events that have transpired in her absence - namely, the deaths of Jesus, Tara, Enid, Henry, and the other victims of the pike massacre. Though the full contents of the letter are not seen, the premiere episode of this season indicated that the last letter Carol left for Maggie would’ve only covered up to the end of Season 9.
- In the Season 9 finale, Carol stopped Lydia from killing herself. Now, Lydia returns the favor by stopping Carol from throwing herself off the cliff.
- Covered in Gunge: The survivors send out pairs of people using this trick again, though this time, they are put to the test against the largest herd to date as well as the Whisperers keeping an eye out for such a trick.
- Death by Adaptation: In the comics Beta lingered as a threat for several issues after the horde was vanquished and the war ended. Here, his death comes at the end of the war.
- Devoured by the Horde: Most of the Whisperers are wounded by surprise by the survivors and subsequently suffer this fate. Beatrice gets held down by one of them to also get eaten. Finally, Beta himself is devoured by his own horde after being mortally wounded by Daryl.
- Exact Words: Beta imagines members of the horde telling him that “the end” is near. Beta believes they mean he’ll wipe out the survivors soon... but then the music starts, and they quip “our end”.
- Eye Scream: Daryl stabs Beta in each of his eyes.
- Face Death with Dignity: Remembering his creed, Beta dies ecstatically as the horde devours him.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the opening scene, Maggie can be seen still wearing the wedding ring Glenn gave her.
- It's Personal: When Negan challenges him, Beta drops everything and charges him seeking revenge for Alpha's death.
- Last Episode, New Character: Elijah, the hooded ally of Maggie's.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Daryl tells Carol that Judith told him that Michonne has not returned home as she's helping some people she met.
- Mauve Shirt: Beatrice had just enough characterization to qualify as this.
- Mythology Gag:
- The title of the episode was the title of comic issue #167, in which Andrea died of a walker bite; the title was subsequently used for the name of the volume in which the defeat of the Whisperers took place (which included #167). As no major heroic character death takes place in this episode, but the Whisperers are still defeated, the use of the title remains relevant.
- The opening shows Gabriel bumping into Dianne and falling to the ground as everyone hurries to prepare for the horde surrounding the Tower. Comic!Gabriel dies when he sees the herd coming and panics, breaking his leg as he descends a ladder, and being gutted by Beta and left to be Eaten Alive.
- One of the train cars in the final scene prominently features the initials “PM” - a nod to the leader of the Commonwealth in the comics, Pamela Milton.
- No Name Given: The masked, hooded warrior accompanying Maggie is not named. Later episodes reveal his name is Elijah
- Not His Sled: It appears that Gabriel's comic death would be adapted to the screen when he stays behind to buy Judith and the hospital evacuees enough time to escape. He's then rescued by Maggie and Elijah, and survives the battle.
- Relationship Upgrade: Luke and Jules have made it official.
- Rule of Symbolism: Lydia finally throws away Alpha's mask as the horde walks off a cliff to their doom, symbolizing the death of the Whisperers, their barbaric ways, and of Alpha's abusive hold over her daughter.
- Shout-Out: Eugene uses the phrases "trekking", "boldly voyaged" and "assimilate" in quick succession.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Gabriel outlives his comic counterpart, who met an especially gruesome end being gutted alive and left to the walker horde by Beta at the onset of the comic's version of the Whisperer War.
- Unseen No More: Beta’s face is finally shown as the horde devouring him rips off his mask.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Not many are happy that Negan is amongst the survivors thanks to his part in the attack on Hilltop (among other obvious reasons). Oceanside is also unwilling to trust Lydia, and Daryl points out that Negan has to keep putting his ass on the line if he wants to be part of the community.
- The Worf Effect: Though the fight is brief, Negan is quickly knocked down and at the mercy of an insane, vengeful Beta. Daryl has to get the jump on him to save Negan.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Gabriel pulls this at the Tower to give Judith, Scott, and Rachel enough time to escape. He holds them off pretty well and he ends up being saved from this being a fatal example of this trope when Maggie and company arrive to save him.
