User Reviews

Flashbacks and time shifts are fun plot devices to flesh out the newer characters back stories.

On the job training for younger wannabe Whispers learning to seamlessly blend in with the dead can be difficult at times.

Ryan Hurst (aka Beta, Opie-Sons Of Anarchy and Chick-Bates Motel) could easily play a Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees type of role.

If you were a constant drunk bum stumbling around in the pre-ZA, learning the Walker Shuffle should be no problem at all.

Padded cells make for a nice crash pad.

Killing and then eviscerating Walkers together is a good way to start the bonding process.

Innovative and creative camera angels and techniques can add quit alot to an already intense atmosphere.

Reminiscing of your dead baby in the middle of a large Walker herd can lead to serious problems.

Being anointed by Alpha is the equivalent of being promoted at your job in the Whisper world.

Nothing says eternal love and memory like wearing your dead buddies face and t-shirt.

Its safe to say that Alpha and Beta's relationship status is complicated.

Best line of the night: We're all monsters.

My initial reaction to finding out that there would be a Whisperers-only episode was somewhat disappointed; I felt they could spend an episode doing more productive things - of course, seasons of THE WALKING DEAD have always been too long. These worries persisted for a few minutes into the episode, but went away soon enough, shortly after the opening credits came to an end.

THE GOOD

• As much as I may think that the character of Alpha is better suited to a comic book or anime, there is no doubt in my mind that Samantha Morton was the perfect choice to bring her to life. She immerses herself astoundingly well into the identity of Alpha, and the fun she has as she loses herself in the role transpires from the camera to the viewer. A cast highlight, to be sure.
• On a similar note, the level of disturbing and deranged emotion portrayed by Ryan Hurst through a dead and rotting mask is a truly commendable feat.
• The new Whisperer, Gamma, had a somewhat interesting journey throughout this episode. Not only her dilemma with her mentally-broken sister, but also her subsequent rise throughout the hierarchy of the dead. Some questionable acting and writing, but a great concept nonetheless.
• The cinematography, in camerawork, colour scheme, and set design, has seen such an uptick in this season. Nearly every shot in these two episodes have been great to look at. I don't know if the budget was increased or if AMC has employed new directors or what, but whatever the case may be was the right decision to make.

THE BAD

• As always, child actors fail to bring any life to their character.
• In the past timeline, I feel it became somewhat hard to follow. I can only guess why Lydia went off on her own, or who the man in the yellow shirt was meant to be, or exactly what Alpha was talking about throughout the climactic scene, which is either a tribute to poor directing or my own stupidity.
• The delivery of dialogue from Thora Birch (Gamma) and Juliet Brett (Frances) generally left quite a bit to be desired. For whatever reason, they were able to act very well with their eyes, but their vocal performances fell rather flat.
• In the final shot, I knew what I was meant to be seeing due to my own inference, but it took me until the final half-second before the black credits rolled to actually see Alpha and Carol. The shot has so much potential on paper, but a severe lack of contrast between the figures and the scenery made it somewhat dissatisfying.

VERDICT: B-

Some phenomenal ideas somewhat let down by the usual questionable execution lead to an almost-excellent study of the unstable mind that could've been much better.

EDITED ON DEC 12 2019 to reflect my more recent thoughts.

This was a really great episode. I see that for many people it will feel slow and boring but you need to understand the whole story. This episode makes Alpha and Beta more dimensional Vilians. There are lot more to them than just walking with the dead. I liked the scene were Alpha went to the old camp and Beta followed here. It tied in perfectly wirh the flashbacks scene. 1st Alpha helped Beta and the Beta helped Alpha.

They are definitely one of the best Vilians this series had.

Can't wait for The Whisperer War!

This episode gave us a better look of how Alpha and Beta became close friends and later start the group called "The Whisperers"

While I love flashbacks, just compare this to a show like Lost, and yeah, there is no comparison.

This was interesting, and a nice change of pace, but still nowhere near what the show used to be.

Out of the 133 episodes this has to be the worst. Whole episode about two characters with no charisma or charm and no redeeming features. We're supposed to believe a child who was scared one day by walkers is covering herself in their guts the next day? Who was the walker Alpha knifed in the head, Beta's son? No idea. Alpha builds a whole shrine to her daughter even though she is not dead then tears it all done after a couple of words from Beta, ha.

And are really supposed to believe that the whisperers are going to go to war with Alexandria et al because they put out a fire caused by a crashing satellite. The show is taking the piss out of the viewers now and I am out.

This episode will clearly divide some opinion & judging by the rating score, clearly already has, although it's hard to decipher just how many of those votes are a real indicator of how viewers (if they even watched the episode) enjoyed this very latest instalment of TWD because of the strange dedicated hatred some people have for the show.

Now yes, this episode didn't advance the main overall plot & the episode ends in the exact timeframe in which the premiere ended, the same ending scene to be precise, & will be a point that a lot of the people that disliked this episode will complain about, but that doesn't make an episode bad if done well, correctly & is meaningful.

Some of my favourite TWD episodes have been character driven stories that didn't advance the main plot but instead developed & added to the stories of select characters, relationships or groups. 'Clear' in Season 3, 'Live Bait' & 'Still' in Season 4, 'Here's Not Here' in Season 6 'The Cell' in Season 7, 'Guardians' in Season 9 & I can now add 'We Are the End of the World' from Season 10 to this list.

Now The Walking Dead may mean different things to different people, but for me the show's best & main story narrative is obviously the people that still inhabit the world. The people they are, how they adapt & change in order to survive. It's about survival, the survivors & their stories. It's episodes like this where we gain some insight into how two very interesting & brilliant characters met & came to be the people they are in the current timeline. It really fleshed out the two leading characters of the Whisperers adding more to their roles than just being 'the bad guys'. We also get to see more of Lydia's upbringing in this world, as well as some big hints as to who Beta's real identity is.

The acting & score are top notch, Samantha Morton is chilling as Alpha & Ryan Hurst once again brilliant as Beta. The fact both characters have become two of my favourites in such short time on the show is testament as to how good their portrayals are.

Overall this episode, at least for me, was a real strong one & right up there in terms of the very best episodes of the Walking Dead, showing that not everything has to be about action

This episode was there to show us the backstory of the whisperers. It was a very creepy episode with some good, disturbing dialogue. The reveal that beta was wearing his sons face was creepy, and depressing as hell.

This episode begins 7 years ago, a Woman got eaten after a car accident. Alpha is hurting a girl badly. Alpha gives Beta his name. Three Whisperer girls got eaten up by walkers. Alpha is searching Lydia, she walked away. Alpha and Beta tell each other that they are The End of the World together. Solid episode of The Walking Dead Season 10, a episode of the past. The beginning of the Whisperers. It was okay but not worth watching again sometime.

Nice filler episode, rather have had it later on in the season instead of the second episode but it did it's job by making me a bit more excited for the next episode. I do want to see more of Beta though and am very intrigued by his character way more than Alphas. There was nice development with the sisters and the introduction of Gamma and hope to see that evolve into unpredictable events that can unfold the story of season 10 into something great which, Walking Dead is in desperate need of. And I only say that because walking dead is at an all time low but in terms of quality it's back to being a better than average show again ever since Angela Kang stepped in.

Now to go back on the title of this review... it's very annoying that people rate just to rate without watching the show. I've seen this for a couple of other shows and it completely deludes someone else's view of an episode or movie before they watch it. I get it, season 7 and 8 were not so good but season 9 and 10 have been an evident increase in quality yet the people who want Walking Dead to fail so bad continue to rate it 0's without watching! Don't be immature about it and ruin the experience for others. It's not ruining mine but because I try to watch before I read reviews but I could see it from keeping others from watching it for themselves.

B: "There's some smoke near the border." A: "They've crossed over. We should punish them." What? How? The ending of this episode was just poorly done. Carol and Alpha's staring contest is meaningless. Alpha apparently already knew they had crossed the border and was on her way when she spots Carol from the forest when in the previous episode it ended like Alpha had just left camp for some fresh air and the encounter was a coincidence. If you want to do interwoven plotlines they have to join up properly.