The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 5 Review: What It Always Is
Paul Dailly
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Is Negan playing the Whisperers?
At the beginning of The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 5, the former villain was against setting up a new Sanctuary, but by the conclusion, he was wearing his signature leather jacket and clutching his trusty baseball bat while stumbling across the border.
It served as a solid cliffhanger, but the very notion that the reformed villain is reverting to his old ways is laughable. Negan sees the value in the unity between the Hilltop, Oceanside, and Alexandria.
But he knows that nobody is ever truly going to trust him because of the past. It is difficult to trust the man who thrived on murdering people like it was going out of fashion.
But if anyone can take down Alpha, it's Negan, and his meeting with Beta is only going to complicate things further.
You see, Negan is going to tell Alpha he was trying to save her daughter after years of being a prisoner.
If Beta or any of the other Whisperers overhear that, then the strained relationship between Alpha and her people will continue to crumble.
Alpha is all about people following her rule and being transparent with her, but the moment everyone realizes she's bee playing them, there will be fireworks.
Now that we know Alpha is responsible for the tree falling as well as the constant walker attacks, there's no telling what other tricks she has up her sleeve.
Aaron extending the olive branch to Gamma was the stupidest thing he's done because he's now going to be manipulated, and it could lead to the death of even more of the survivors.
Aaron has been the most frustrating character throughout The Walking Dead Season 10. He doesn't give a crap for the rules, and that's what can get people killed. He crossed the border even after Michonne told him not to on The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 1.
However, he knows that the Whisperers are planning something, and the curiosity will only continue to get the best of him as Gamma manipulates him.
Careful now, ears are the trickiest.
Alpha
Brandon was a loose cannon that had to be put down. Negan was adamant about being a better person, but all of that fell by the wayside the moment Brandon murdered the mother and son Negan saved.
The focus on Brandon was not needed. He hasn't been a big part of the series, so it would have been better to have someone else urging him to return to his villainous ways.
The most telling thing about this was that Negan refused to wear the jacket or carry Lucille at first. Maybe, just maybe, Negan decided that playing the Whisperers and dismantling them from the inside out would be the best course of action.
Ezekiel's cancer returning perfectly explained why he was ready to commit suicide on The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 4.
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He's survived this long in the apocalypse that he feels it would be horrible to go out with an illness.
Given that he's swelling up and feels like the symptoms are worse than before, then it's possible that Ezekiel will not survive for much longer. Siddiq had a positive outlook, but it's easy to have that when you don't have the equipment to check how advanced it is.
Ezekiel has been suffering in silence ever since Carol decided that being his Queen was only going to bring her a life of misery. He still loves her dearly, and I reckon she would have hightailed it to the Hilltop to check in on him.
Alright you big ass freak. Let's do this.
Negan
Carol is very good at turning her emotions off, but she will be overcome with guilt when the truth about his grim prognosis comes out. It's nice that the show is bringing some realism back into the narrative because post-apocalyptic shows, in general, tend to forget that people don't just die because of the apocalypse.
The weakest part of this installment centered on Kelly being missing. Kelly is a very underdeveloped character, one who has not had much screen time. That's why it was difficult to really care whether she was found dead or alive.
I respect that the producers wanted to show how difficult it is to be in that particular environment when your senses are starting to fail, but it would have had much more resonance if the character was developed more ahead of it.
Oh, let me in, and there you are! Oh, I am going to huff. I am going to puff. I am going to blow your ... all the way in.
Negan
What was most frustrating was that Magna was still acting out. Stealing supplies is not good, especially when there are many mouths to feed.
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That perfectly shows that Magna thinks disaster is going to strike and that when it does, her people will be on the road again, and shunned by the community at the Hilltop.
That is difficult for Yumiko and Connie because they finally feel happy to be in a community, and if one of them is messing it up, it falls back on all of them.
Magna is another underdeveloped character, but hopefully, we'll get some more insight into her machinations in the coming episodes.
That's it, right? You almost had me, back on the bus when you kicked me out. Then I remembered, this is Negan. He's always messing with people, keeping them in line. So, I realized it was a test. It's going to get a lot more dangerous from here on out. That's what you said to me. You wanted to make sure that I had the balls to do what had to be done. What do you think? I passed, right. I am Neg-
Brandon
[Negan bashes Brandon's head in with a brick.]
What did you think of Negan's actions? Is he back to his villainous ways?
Hit the comments below.
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The Walking Dead airs Sundays on AMC.
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Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
