The Walking Dead season 10B: Gabriel’s conflicted mindset

The Walking Dead season 10A showed Gabriel trying to be the leader Alexandria needed. Gabriel’s conflicted mindset from numerous incidents may put more people at risk in the second half of the season.

Gabriel’s leadership was pushed to the limit for season 10A of The Walking Dead. When it seemed like things couldn’t get worse for Alexandria, things got worse to an unbearable level. Gabriel’s mindset as a leader heading into the second half of the season may not be good for Alexandria.

In the episode “Lines We Cross”, Gabriel and the community were on high alert with speculation of the Whisperers being back. The community seemed to not know what steps to take next, and it worsened with conflicting orders by other leaders.

Gabriel went to a highly unlikely source for advice while everyone was tense and looking for answers. It turned out Negan was the only one with definitive advice and Gabriel took it in. He then tightened up security to ensure the safety of others.

No one else has ever taken any advice from Negan when it comes to the leadership role, and the fact Gabriel listened to Negan showed that Gabriel was a little tired of the indecisiveness of the counsel as well.

During the episode “Ghosts”, Gabriel was still taking Negan’s advice. Negan’s advice backfired horribly when Gabriel forced him to fight alongside Aaron to clear out walkers.

Gabriel was not putting up with anyone who dragged their feet, and Negan was no exception. Negan did try to negotiate but Gabriel was firm in his decision and was not changing his mind.  It looked like the advice Negan gave worked too well.

There was an even bigger challenge with Gabriel and the counsel during the episode “Silence the Whisperers”. Lydia was taunted constantly and eventually attacked with Negan being the one to save her.

The counsel was unbelievably split over Negan and the incident itself. Gabriel made a mistake when it was time for a vote, and he opted to wait until the next day to make a decision.

Gabriel did not take Negan’s advice and showed hesitation for a critical moment. The consequences were far greater and indirectly caused a further strain in the relationship between Lydia and Alexandria.

The nail in the coffin that finally made Gabriel snap was during the episode “The World Before”. This was when Gabriel learned that Dante was a spy and killed Siddiq. After mourning the death of his friend, Gabriel was ready for action.

Dante was overconfident with the indecisiveness of Alexandria. He felt he held all the cards to further drive a wedge in the community. Gabriel surprised Dante and didn’t hesitate to take him out.

Gabriel has killed mainly out of circumstance and not out of revenge. There was always a hint of remorse and he tried his best to make things right after he did the deed. This was his first kill out of retaliation rather than as defense for war and conflict.

It could also mean that Gabriel is now hanging on to Negan’s wisdom after he made a fast decision to take Dante out. So that’s a good thing that Gabriel is capable of those actions with no hesitation and no remorse, right? Wrong! Gabriel may be able to be on the front line and ruthless when called upon, but there’s so much for Gabriel to lose.

Gabriel may suffer since he has always been the moral compass of the community. If Gabriel is out of control as an authority figure, strategy and patience will not be on his mind. The strong and firm rule of law along with humanity has been the foundation that helped Alexandria grow.

Gabriel is a ticking time bomb and his own snap decisions without a strategy in place can cause miscommunication. It doesn’t matter how skilled Gabriel is or if he feels no remorse about what e does, the truth is without a strategy, he will just be another loose cannon firing away at every target without a strategy for what comes after.

Currently, there are a lot of factors within their own community that could put them at risk and there may be a sharp divide between the leaders. If Gabriel is not on board with waiting or he observes a potential threat, it may be the difference between losing a few or many in the community.

No matter what happens, Gabriel will have to live with what he has done, what will happen, and what comes after. Gabriel will not be the same person he was before, and he may become a person he never wanted to be. Stay tuned to see if Gabriel will keep it together or slowly unravel when The Walking Dead returns February 23rd on AMC.