Yahoo News Walking Dead episode 15 stuns with shocking, heartbreaking Whisperers twist
Note: This article contains MAJOR spoilers for The Walking Dead season 9 episode 15 'The Calm Before'.
The Walking Dead has brought one of the most shocking moments from the comics to TV, as the Whisperers showed they meant business.
Episode 15 'The Calm Before' stunned as Daryl (Norman Reedus), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Carol (Melissa McBride), and Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura) saw the decapitated and reanimated heads of ten of their friends on pikes.
The victims included series regular characters Tara (Alanna Masterson) and Enid (Katelyn Nacon), as well as Carol's adopted son Henry (Matt Lintz) who has played a major role in season 9's Whisperers storyline.
The other seven victims were recurring characters: Alexandrians DJ (Matt Mangum) and Frankie (Elyse Nicole DuFour), Hilltop member Tammy Rose (Brett Butler) and teenagers Addy (Kelley Mack) and Rodney (Joe Ando-Hirsh), and Highwaymen Ozzy (Angus Sampson) and Alek (Jason Kirkpatrick).
Whisperers leader Alpha (Samantha Morton) used the deaths to send a message to the survivors, after her daughter Lydia (Cassady McClincy) fled the villainous group with Henry, Daryl, and Connie (Lauren Ridloff) earlier this season. The pikes themselves marked a border which must not be crossed, or else Alpha will unleash onto the communities an ocean of walkers – which she showed to Daryl.
In a scene that is exclusive to the TV series, the episode closed with Siddiq (Avi Nash) – who was found tied up near the pikes, having been spared by Alpha – giving an emotional speech to everybody at the Kingdom, bringing the communities together. He recalled how the victims went down fighting and died like heroes. Flashbacks of the victims fighting back together were shown during Siddiq's heartbreaking speech.
Lydia also paid tribute to Henry, as snow began to fall.
The comics version of these events saw Rosita and Ezekiel among the victims – so Christian Serratos and Khary Payton's characters have now outlived their comics counterparts.
It remains to be seen how Michonne, Daryl, and Carol will respond exactly to the brutal deaths, but next week's season finale is titled 'The Storm'.
The Whisperers had already killed Jesus in episode 8 'Evolution', while episode 12 'Guardians' showed Alpha decapitate one of her disgruntled followers with a razor wire.
Tara lasted more than five seasons on the show, meeting The Governor in season 4 and refusing to take part in his assault on the prison. Enid, the Hilltop doctor, first appeared in season 5 when Rick and his group entered Alexandria for the first time.
The Walking Dead airs on AMC in the US and on FOX in the UK.
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