Season 10, Episode 17
- In the aftermath of the Whisperer War, a returned Maggie contends with Negan now being a free man and another old foe that has followed her from her new home.
This episode and the following five serve as a “bonus” extended run of Season 10, produced to fill the extended gap between Seasons 10 and 11 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Bottle Episode: The episode only focuses on Maggie and Daryl’s party consisting of them, Cole, Elijah, and Kelly. The episode being produced during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated this by default.
- Breather Episode: This episode, while still tense and not without drama and violence, is a much more subdued affair after the big finish to the Whisperer War in the previous episode.
- Call-Back:
- Negan was freed by Carol offscreen in “Silence the Whisperers” and assassinated Alpha in “Walk With Us”.
- Kelly sees an opportunity to search for the missing Connie, who was trapped in Alpha’s cave in “Squeeze” and later turned up alive in the previous episode.
- Hilltop fell during the battle that spanned “Morning Star” and “Walk With Us”.
- Beta led the Whisperers and their horde to Alexandria for an intended assault in “The Tower”, only to find the Alexandrians had fled to the Tower to evade such an assault.
- Continuity Nod:
- Cole and Elijah are well aware of Negan’s murder of Glenn in Season 7’s “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be”.
- Maggie mentions she told Hershel stories of Beth (who died in Season 5’s “Coda”), Shawn (her brother who was one of the walkers slain in Season 2’s “Pretty Much Dead Already”), and his grandfather and namesake Hershel (who was killed by The Governor in Season 4’s “Too Far Gone”).
- Maggie eventually softens towards Carol’s admission that she freed Negan in a desperate bid to save the communities. She previously expressed reluctant acceptance of Carol’s murder of Karen and David back in the plague arc of Season 4, understanding Carol’s intentions were with the group’s best interest in mind.
- Hershel wears a baseball cap like his father did in Seasons 1 and 2. He is also introduced in this episode looking down at the heroes from a tree, much like how in the pilot episode, Glenn was technically introduced watching Rick’s escape into the tank from above, albeit offscreen.
- Cyanide Pill: The Reaper does the equivalent of this with a grenade.
- Death Glare: Maggie has one of these when she sees Negan for the first time in nearly a decade.
- Evil Is Petty: Ever the terrorists, when the Whisperers were unable to inflict any casualties in Alexandria, they still caused property damage to their walls and buildings.
- Foreshadowing: Maggie says that Hershel asked if his father’s murderer got what he deserved and if he’s dead. It’s a startling thing to hear from a boy so young, even one raised in the apocalypse, but in the comics’ Distant Finale, Hershel remained bitter and resentful about the death of his father well into adulthood.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Implied with Carol and Maggie. The former admits she was the one to free Negan and set him on the path to participating in the Battle of Hilltop on Alpha’s side, and Maggie is aghast that Carol freed him at all. However, Maggie appreciates Carol’s honesty and softens a bit, thanking her for telling her and later understanding her intentions.
- Mythology Gag: Before leaving Alexandria, the Whisperers edited the “Silence the Whispers” graffiti to read “Whispers into Screams”, the title of a major Whisperer-centric volume from the comics.
- Not So Stoic: Elijah shows a more vulnerable side to Kelly, unmasking himself and showing he’s being emotionally overwhelmed by the situation.
- Number Two: Cole is Maggie’s right-hand man, with Elijah serving as their physical enforcer.
- Outside-Context Problem: The Reapers are a new group of antagonists who have clashed with Maggie’s new group, but until now have never crossed paths with the Alexandrian communities.
- The Spook: Maggie’s group barely knows who the Reapers are, and the one in this episode refuses to shed light on his motivations other than a taunt that somebody wants Maggie dead.
- This Is Gonna Suck: After Maggie storms off after seeing him again, Negan curses, realizing his chances for acceptance in Alexandrian society just took a major hit now that she’s back.
- Title Drop: Cole does it at the end of the episode upon seeing Alexandria is recovering from the Whisperer invasion.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Maggie says that Hershel asked if his father’s murderer was killed for his crimes.
- The Worf Effect: The Reaper not only manages to gun down several of Maggie’s new allies, but he manages to overwhelm Maggie in physical combat, getting her to step into a trap, and hurls Daryl into a tree. It takes being surrounded by six armed survivors for him to finally surrender.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Maggie intended to bring her village of survivors to live at Hilltop, unaware it was sacked during the Whisperer War in her absence.
- Your Head Asplode: Maggie, Daryl, and Elijah inflict this on a walker whose head is caught in a door they’re trying to shut.
