Spoilers. Obviously.
Not since Negan bashed out Glenn’s eyeball has “The Walking Dead” been quite so harrowing as it was last night, as ‘The Calm Before’ went full “Red Wedding” and left us with our jaws open and our hearts shattered. We knew it was coming. But we definitely were not prepared. Season 9’s penultimate episode was titled ‘The Calm Before.’ Yeah. So much for that.
Setting the tone right off the bat, ‘The Calm Before’ kicked off with two lovebirds from Hilltop traveling to the Kingdom’s fair on their anniversary, armed with big smiles and bigger hopes. But that happy, bright future was cruelly shattered by Alpha and her Whisperers, who massacred the couple en route to Kingdom; to create her own disguise and slip into the fair undetected, the bald Alpha scalped the young woman and turned her hair into a flowing blonde wig. Mind you, even those who haven’t read the comics probably knew that the fair wasn’t going to be a very joyous experience, but the opening sequence of ‘The Calm Before’ ensured that a dark cloud was hanging over the fun proceedings before they even began.
There were some happy moments during the fair, at least, which included everything from a dunk tank to a movie. Reunions between Carol and Judith, as well as Connie and Kelly, were incredibly emotional, and it was nice to see some of the characters cut loose and have a good time for a change. The leaders of each community even managed to sign a bill into law that ensured their unity going forward: if someone wrongs one community, they’re wronging *all* communities. And, well, let’s just say that Alpha had no problem forcing that into effect.
Alpha snuck into the inter-community fair to take back Lydia, but she quickly realized that her daughter isn’t quite her daughter anymore. Lydia finally stood up to her mom and severed the ties that bind, sending Alpha on an emotional and devastating warpath. But Alpha’s goal wasn’t to kill the major players involved with taking her daughter from her. Not yet, at least. Wanting to cut even deeper, Alpha targeted their own friends, family and loved ones.
The episode was capped off with a definitive statement from Alpha and the Whisperers, in the form of TEN human heads on pikes. Members of Alexandria, Hilltop, Kingdom and even the leader of the Highwaymen were attacked and brutally beheaded by the Whisperers, their heads cut off – brains still in tact – and stuck onto individual pikes as the ultimate threat from Alpha. It was a brutal display of dominance that would make even Negan shake in his boots.
The lives lost in ‘The Calm Before’? Some big names were among the fallen:
Henry (Matt Lintz)
Enid (Katelyn Nacon)
Tara Chamblers (Alanna Masterson)
Ozzy (Angus Sampson)
Tammy Rose (Brett Butler)
Alek (Jason Kirkpatrick)
D.J. (Matt Mangum)
Frankie (Elyse Nicole DuFour)
Rodney (Joe Ando Hirsh) & Adeline (Kelley Mack)
The most gut-wrenching loss was Henry, the son of King Ezekiel and Queen Carol. Not just because Henry was so young, but also because we had to endure seeing his mom’s reaction to Alpha’s disturbing display. For Carol, who had finally found happiness with a loving husband and son, it was a devastating return to the dark days when her daughter Sophia had to be put down after turning into a zombie. No character on the show has been put through the wringer quite like Carol has, and for her, losing Henry was arguably more heartbreaking than if the events had played out like they did in the comics, where Ezekiel’s head ended up on a pike.
For us, as viewers, we had spent even more time with two other characters who didn’t make it out of ‘The Calm Before’ alive, with Tara having arrived in Season 4 and Enid coming onto the scene back in Season 5. We didn’t actually *see* any of these characters die, but seeing their heads up on pikes – and subsequently being told the story through Siddiq’s eyes, wherein he revealed how heroic they each were in their final moments – made for some of the most genuinely devastating losses in the show’s history. And with 10 characters being killed off in one shot, ‘The Calm Before’ simply had to be the single most gut-wrenching episode to date.
If this was ‘The Calm Before,’ we shudder to imagine what’s coming in next Sunday’s ‘The Storm.’ Needless to say, it promises to be one of the most must-watch finales of them all.
Season 9 isn’t messing around, you guys. We hope you’ve been watching.
