The Walking Dead season 9 episode 15 recap: The Calm Before

Out in the woods Alpha is back to her old self. Daryl says that she isn’t getting Lydia back. Michonne says Lydia is under her protection. Alpha tells the group that Lydia is no longer a concern. She was weak. Daryl picks up on the choice of words and asks what it means. Alpha pulls out her gun and tells him that he needs to break the habit of speaking out of place. Daryl glances at Carol as he passes.

The sun is up by the time they reach their destination. As they stand on a rocky cliff, thousands of walkers swarm together in the valley below. Alpha says her people are down there, too, steering them. Alpha left them alive because. She says she has walked their streets and she says her people, the Whisperers, don’t live that way. Alpha isn’t going to hurt them. She wants them to stay away from her land. She gives him directions, adding that she marked the field in the North so they can see where the territory ends. Daryl asks if she killed Lydia.

We see a flashback where Alpha confronts Lydia outside the theater. She wants Lydia to join her but Lydia is staying behind. She likes that the people there care about each other. They care about her and are willing to kill Alpha to rescue her. Lydia tells her mother she’ll scream if it comes to it. Alpha says Lydia was her “bug” and she was only protecting her. Lydia has had to deal with that “protection” every day. She doesn’t want to kill her mother. She’s giving her a choice, more than Alpha ever gave her. Alpha says she was never one of them. She takes a long look at her daughter before walking away.

Back in the present, Alpha tells Daryl that she doesn’t think he can protect Lydia, adding that she hopes she’s wrong. “You are,” he says.

Later, Daryl meets up with Carol and the group. They have been waiting for him.

Beta finds Alpha standing alone. “Lydia?” he asks. She tells him she wants to be alone. After he leaves another member of the group walks up and sees her crying. She wipes her tears away and stabs him in the neck. She wipes her nose and takes a deep breath.