This post contains spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 10’s mid-season finale.
It’s a wrap—for now. The Walking Dead has reached the middle of its tenth season with an episode that addressed some plot holes, introduced a new character, and hints at the survivors’ world expanding once again in the midst of their tension with the Whisperers. The second half of the season has been set up pretty nicely with a big cliffhanger and Michonne’s time with our group is swiftly coming to an end. And, as usual, there are some questions leading into the back half of this season. Here’s everything that went down and what could happen next in The Walking Dead:
The Dante Plot Holes Are Filled
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There were a lot of questions about how Dante infiltrated Alexandria without Lydia recognizing his face. Episode eight immediately answered this question by revealing that Dante was a newcomer to the Whisperers when the pike massacre went down. This makes narrative sense because Lydia was already gone and living with the Kingdomers at this time.
Dante came into Alexandria by joining a random group and likely lying about his pre-apocalypse life. This raises an eyebrow because Michonne has been very anti-new people for years. It’s surprising that Alexandria would let a large group of people come in freely. Perhaps Michonne and the council saw how awesome Magna’s group was and decided to lower their guard. No matter what, it’s super sad to see how guilty they all feel about letting their guard down with Dante.
Father Gabriel’s Revenge
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Gabriel went from being a coward to a trusted leader in more ways than one. He’s managed to hold on to his religious beliefs and balance it with the tough acts it takes to survive in this world. But, one thing he has really managed to avoid is brutally killing people.
He will shoot and protect his group during a battle but Gabriel isn’t known for his big kills like Rick, Michonne, and others. That all changed in this finale with Dante. His frustration over the Whisperer situation, Negan’s escape, and Siddiq’s murder leads him to take out his frustration by stabbing Dante wayyyy more times than necessary.
Gabriel trusted Dante and felt the most guilt over allowing him into the community, so it made sense. Plus, it was much more satisfying to see him go to such a dark place as opposed to Daryl or Rosita.
Hello Rosita Action
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This might be the most that we have seen Rosita all season long. She gives Dante a well-deserved beating, puts walker Siddiq down, and goes out for some walker killing therapy like Sasha did back in Season 5. Most of the Dead fandom can agree that Rosita has gotten the short end of the storyline stick for a while so perhaps the back half of the season will be her chance to shine.
Siddiq’s death has given her another level of anger over the Whisperers and she’s willing to do anything to stay alive for Coco. Her weird relationship with Father Gabriel seems to be on the outs as well, which is great because her life is so much more that being a part of a convoluted love story. And with Michonne’s exit coming soon, there needs to be an OG woman survivor in Alexandria to stand tall and make solid decisions. It would be great to see Rosita travel to the Commonwealth and help to rebuild a larger world.
Carol Caused A Conundrum
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Speaking of OG women survivors… what is going on with Carol? Even Daryl briefly confronts her about putting herself in harm’s way. Her deep hatred for Alpha is understandable but her latest rash decision put several of her friends in a dangerous predicament. Now Carol, Daryl, Aaron, Magna, Connie, Kelly, and Jerry are all stuck in a cave with hundreds (maybe thousands) of walkers—and it’s all Carol’s fault. Daryl told her to chill but she couldn’t just let it go.
Did she really think that she could just chase Alpha down and kill her in a cave? Why wouldn’t she see that its a trap? Where is Dog when you need him? Sigh. She gets a lot of props for some of the great things she has done in the past but Carol is way off her game this season.
It wouldn’t be surprising if at least one person dies while the group tries to pull off this great escape. It’s a safe bet that either Kelly or Jerry might die. If Kelly dies, that will cause some major tension between Daryl and Connie considering Carol is his best friend and the reason why they are stuck in the first place.
If Jerry dies, that will be the last straw to crush poor Ezekiel and Carol will feel awful about indirectly causing his friend’s death. Connie has quickly become a fan favorite (hello Donnie) and the Aaron/Gamma dynamic is still building so it wouldn’t make narrative sense to kill either one of those characters. And the fallout behind Magna’s death wouldn’t impact Carol or Daryl as much as the others. Either way, this situation is only going to drive a deeper wedge between Carol and, well, everyone.
Who Is Virgil? And, Why Is Michonne Going With Him?
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The Walking Dead introduced yet another new character, Virgil, during the mid-season finale. Michonne, Luke, Scott, and Judith went on a side adventure to a library during their trek to Oceanside. Virgil saves Luke’s life but nearly loses his own after attempting to steal from Oceanside.
He had the absolute worst timing to pop up considering everyone being on high alert following Siddiq’s murder. But Virgil somehow convinces Michonne to not only spare his life but allow him to pay off his debts with a trade. He says he’s a family man who went scouting for supplies for his protected community.
The next day, she sets sail alone with this stranger off to a community on Bloodsworth Island. Her plan is to bring back weapons for the Whisperer war and Virgil will return the boat he is borrowing to go home. Ummm, what?
Virgil doesn’t have a comic counterpart, so who knows where this will go. His story makes sense— Bloodsworth Island is a real place south of Dorchester County, MD. It isn’t open to the public and was formerly used for Navy activities, so it makes sense for someone to build a community there. There’s a finite amount of resources on the island, so people would have to leave to search for more supplies.
Michonne knows it’s a real place but how can she possibly know if this man is telling the truth. What if he is taking her somewhere to be set up? How does she know that these people will just let her walk off with WEAPONS because one of their own broke a barrier at Oceanside? Why does she have to do this by herself? It seems like a big risk to send Michonne off on her own, especially after someone who seemed trustworthy ended up being a Whisperer.
This certainly won’t be the last we will see of Michonne. She’s the biggest character on The Walking Dead right now, so her sendoff with have much more of an emotional wallop. Hopefully, she will get a bottle episode to reveal what’s at this location. And perhaps there will be a hint or information there about Rick’s location that will cause her to leave. It wouldn’t make sense to introduce this character and build an adventure with him and Michonne for it to not directly impact her decision to leave.
Can Gamma be trusted?
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Gamma and Aaron continue to build their relationship in this episode. She reveals her real name, Mary, and asks to see her nephew in exchange for telling Aaron about the herd. On one hand, Gamma seems like she might want to genuinely flip from Alpha’s side. She obviously cares about her nephew and knows that Alpha is a liar.
But there’s no herd at the promised location and Alpha just so happens to pop up at the same time. Did Alpha somehow figure out that Gamma gave up information? It would make sense for Alpha to set Gamma up so she can lure Carol and others into a trap. She already had a spy via Dante so asking Gamma to spy doesn’t really make much sense. However, there’s still a possibility that Gamma is purposely playing everyone under Alpha’s orders.
If Gamma is truly a trustworthy person, then she’s going to have a hard time outsmarting her leader. Alpha has instilled a ton of fear into her followers but maybe Gamma’s feelings of betrayal and love for her nephew will make her take the risk.
Where are Lydia and Negan?
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Lydia ran off into the woods and no one has seen her since. Where did she go? Has anyone found her? Timelines are always wonky on The Walking Dead but it has probably been a couple of days since she went out on her own. Now no one will know where she is until next year. The same goes for Negan, who won over the Whisperers (well, most of them) but was also absent in the mid-season finale. Did Negan find Lydia? Are they hiding together? Now we have all winter to ponder on their locations.
How do you feel about Michonne’s journey? Do you think Virgil will become an important character? Will anyone die in the cave? Let’s hear your thoughts and predictions in the comments below.
Image Credit: Gene Page/AMC