Omega

An amazing episode, they really focused a lot on domestic abuse with lydia suffering from it, Daryl of course and also the mention of carol with ed. I did like how they went from flash back to present day and back and forth. Then that ending was so cool just seeing the whisperers walking up to the gates of hilltop. What made is so cool is even though you know they are people seeing those "walkers" walking up to the gate with purpose and not mindlessly wandering around was so eerie. Damn this season is so good and hell Beta has not even arrived yet!

TWD is back to storytelling again. It's what makes a good show great again, backstories in particular. It's where they went wrong with Negan, we never saw anythig about his past. Unlike the Governor's tremendous backstory, it's the reason we care for a character. Now we just need a good twist here and there like they used to be so very good at.

Bababooe, what are you even doing here? You make it very clear that you give this show not one chance at all. Your reviews say that you hate this show for seasons already. Why are you still here then? Season 9 has been a very good season so far and every episode deserves at least 8/10. But people like you keep voting 1/10 for no reason, just because. When you look at the votes you can see that at least 300 people give 1 star and that can't be more obvious. Imdb is no longer a representative platform for me, because of you fakers and haters.

Over and out.

Character over plot, character over action. Those are the things I have been waiting this show to get back to after a few seasons (albeit good seasons) of more plot focused episodes, rather than keeping the focus on developing characters. Daryl got more to do in this episode emotionally than the past 3 or 4 seasons combined, sans his one episode at The Sanctuary right after Glenn died. If we need to have episodes that only give us scenes in one specific community, then they better be like tonight. We got a pretty decent backstory from Alpha & Lydia, shaping why they are the way they are today, and in turn gave us a glimpse into what Daryl's childhood may have been like being a survivor of child abuse himself. All coming to a head when Alpha comes knocking at the door of the Hilltop. Next week could either go the really bloody route, or the extremely intense throughout, only to have no blood shed at all. I would guess the latter.

8.4/10

This episode was one of the best filler episodes thanks to the wonderful writing and acting, making the jail scenes work perfectly as Norman Reedus and Cassady McClincy had chemistry and just seeing Cassady portray Lydia in such a believable and true form as the character is truly broken, won't spoil anything more than she does an incredible performance. Letting the camera and story focus more with Magna's group is nice to see as more screen time means more development and that's a good thing for new viewers that haven't read the graphic novels. The focus on telling Lydia and Alpha's backstory was a good idea, I can't wait to see what Angela Kang and the film crew bring next to the remaining 6 episodes.

Samantha Morton was the highlight, seeing her act was interesting, strong acting. She doesn't really have the same body type as Alpha in the graphic novel but it looks natural and with her as woman makes Alpha even more terrifying. I'm glad she got the role, only good things can come from her as Alpha.