The Walking Dead season 9 episode 12 recap: Guardians

The Whisperers were already terrifying, but wait until you meet Beta in this week’s all new episode of The Walking Dead. Here’s your recap of “Guardians.”

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead begins shortly after the conclusion of “Bounty.” Lydia, newly reunited with her mother Alpha, is walking without her mask with the rest of the group. Alpha wants to know where her “skins” are but Lydia confesses they were taken. She wants to know all about Lydia’s time spent at Hilltop: Who were they? What weapons do they have? What items do they have to trade? Did anyone touch her?

Alpha isn’t pleased with Lydia’s responses. She broke her own rules to go get her daughter back. She was hoping for information and isn’t getting it. Lydia wonders if that was the only reason Alpha came for her. Though Alpha thinks it’s a stupid question, she doesn’t give her daughter much reassurance.

(It’s worth noting here that watching this conversation is fascinating in and of itself. Lydia is dressed in the clothes Henry gave her and yet her posturing is like that of the Whisperers and walkers around her. They both speak softly. Alpha is menacing even when speaking to her daughter. It’s downright creepy.)

Cue the credits, here we go!

Michonne isn’t happy. She’s meeting with the Alexandria council and she wants to understand who knew about Gabriel’s transmitters. Gabriel insists that only Eugene and Rosita knew about them. She points out that they don’t know who was listening out there, and Rosita and Eugene  almost died because of their efforts. They lost Jesus because of it, and with Gabriel distracted Negan escaped. She blames them for keeping things from her, which makes it hard to do her job.

Gabriel points out that the council no longer has a vote because she vetoes everything as a security risk. They need to be able to reach out to their friends. Aaron speaks up. They lost a friend in the process, and they discovered a new threat, too. Knowing what’s out there makes it even more important to be careful. That’s why Michonne is in charge. She has saved them time and again.

Siddiq speaks up and says he talked with Carol, who said Michonne once again turned down her request to be at the fair. This angers the council, knowing that she spoke on their behalf. Michonne insists that the fair is old news, and with the threat of the Whisperers out there it’s even less feasible. Siddiq says it’s not too late to reconsider. He tells the group that the situation at the Kingdom is worse than Ezekiel mentioned in his letter. There’s a motion to vote again, but Gabriel says Michonne will just veto it. She agrees, because there are people out there “dressed as the dead” who want to kill them.

Michonne says that they would be willing to open their doors, but Ezekiel isn’t willing to leave the Kingdom. Siddiq asks what it means if the Kingdom falls, and she tells him that it means Alexandria survives.

Rosita is having trouble buttoning her pants. She hears Gabriel downstairs and goes to see him. He looks defeated. She asks how it went and he’s not ready to talk about it. He apologizes, knowing he’s being challenging, but there is a lot to think about. She apologizes as well. Their relationship was just getting started and he didn’t sign up for a baby, but it’s a good thing. She also understands if he wants out. She definitely doesn’t want that, though. The ball is in his court.