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

Michonne finds Siddiq tied to a tree. He has been beaten, but he keeps walking once he’s free. They pass through the trees and see 10 pikes on the mountain. Daryl walks up as the group spots the heads on the pikes.

Ozzy. Alek. DJ. They’re still moving.

Eugene and Rosita ask Nabila if they have seen Frankie.

Frankie is on a pike.

Earl asks Connie and Kelly if they have seen Tammy Rose.

Tammy Rose is on a pike.

Gage is looking for Rodney and Addie.

Rodney and Addie are on pikes.

Luke and Alden sing merrily on stage, but Alden’s eyes are wandering through the crowd.

Enid is on a pike.

Michonne and Siddiq are shocked.

Gabriel tells Eugene he needs to speak with “her.”

Tara is on a pike.

Lydia finds Ezekiel and says that her mom was there. She can’t find Henry.

Daryl screams and runs to Carol, grabbing her and telling her to look at him. But Carol knows.

The camera pans across the nine heads.

The tenth head is Henry.

Later, Siddiq tells the story of what happened. He is on stage and the people are assembled around him. He was taken, and he was made to see what happened. He was going to die with them, but Alpha said “tell them” and he was knocked out. He woke up and they were gone. He thinks Alpha left him alive to scare them and drive them apart, but he wants to tell another story.

In the barn the Whisperers had the group tied up. Ozzy, DJ and Alek found them. They fought back. They defended each other, even when they didn’t know each other. They were family. We see the fight. Henry sees Alpha.

In the end, Siddiq says their time was “cut short” while their time keeps going, and they have to fight, too. For them, and for everyone else. They must honor the people they lost. They died as heroes. That’s what he wants them to know.

Later, Daryl takes Lydia to the hill. She takes off her Hilltop coin necklace and places it at the bottom of Henry’s pike. She stands beside Daryl, who looks at her before walking away.

The first snowflakes start falling. Winter is here.

The season finale of The Walking Dead is March 31 at 9pm on AMC.