The Walking Dead season 9 episode 12 recap: Guardians

The man says she’s not fit to lead anymore, and Alpha laughs. Beta grabs him and puts a knife to his throat, and the man says she’s changing the rules, but Alpha says she knows that it was the woman who is actually challenging her. Alpha saw her. The challenge is hers. Alpha, still wearing her mask, stares her down. The woman says Alpha led them into danger and having Henry around will only lead to more danger. She failed them.

Alpha looks around at her people, who refuse to look up at her. She says they follow her by choice, because she makes them strong and keeps them safe. The woman says she doesn’t want to fight, but Alpha says it’s too late. She wraps a garrote around the woman’s throat and twists it so hard her head falls off, and her boyfriend is forced to watch as Alpha grabs the head and hoists it triumphantly. She hands the head to the boyfriend, who quivers in anger and fear. Alpha holds up a bloody finger to her lips and shushes him, telling him that crying is “weak.” Then she stabs him in the side. Henry looks on in horror.

Michonne looks in on RJ, who’s sleeping. Judith comes up the stairs and Michonne asks how practice was. She knows Judith was late because she had been outside the jail. Judith admits she goes there to talk to Negan because she feels sorry for him, which shocks Michonne. Judith knows Negan is not her friend, but she appreciates that he listens to her when not everyone else does. Michonne forbids her from seeing him, but Judith won’t hear her. Negan is a human being even though he did bad things. She points out that Negan escaped but he came back. Michonne says people “don’t really change.” Judith says Michonne changed, and upon hearing that Michonne sends her off to her room because she needs a minute.

Henry watches as the man and woman’s bodies are hauled off. Lydia picks up the campsite and tucks her necklace under her shirt, signaling to him that she’s on his side. He looks away, smiling.

Alpha washes the blood from her hands and asks Beta to remove her mask. He steps in and unties it, setting it on a tree branch. She remarks that it has been years since the last challenge, and that this time it felt different. He says that she has kept the pack alive and they all know it.