The Walking Dead 1010 recap: Beta comes calling

Alpha wakes up again and pulls her mask off. She’s still bleeding and in pain. Daryl is also bleeding and in pain. They strike up a conversation. She asks him if he can see into the light, and when he says no she lets him know that she’s “tingling with joy” because she can feel the connection with death. She starts saying thank you because the dead made her strong. She says that pain made Daryl and pain made Lydia.

Daryl tells Alpha that pain drove Lydia away because Alpha didn’t love her daughter.

This catches Alpha’s attention. She becomes angry by the insinuation that she drove Lydia away. She’s on her feet and Daryl can’t move, but then she falls and tries to crawl. She doesn’t get far.

At some point later Alpha wakes up and sees a figure in the light. The figure has a crossbow. It’s Lydia., who looks down at her mother and then kneels to accept her mother’s outstretched hand.

Alpha asks if Lydia is really there, and when Lydia says “Yes, Mama,” Alpha admonishes her for using the term. She thinks Lydia has come home to her because they’re the same. She starts singing Lydia’s song to her as Lydia touches her mother’s head. She’s in tears. Alpha grabs a knife and holds it to her stomach. She wants Lydia to push the blade in and take her spot at the leader of the Whisperers. She made sure that her daughter was ready to lead.

Lydia looks at her mother and says she’s not there for the Whisperers or for her mother. Alpha’s expression changes. Lydia says that they’re human, imperfect. Alpha never gave her that but it’s all she ever wanted.

Alpha says she needs her daughter, but she passes out again.

When she wakes up, it’s day time. “Stay” is on her lips and she’s in pain, but when she looks around she sees that she’s alone. She manages to get to her feet. She’s crying, but she’s also furious. She sees her knife planted into a table with “Your way is not the only way” scratched into it. She laughs, cries and grimaces at ones.

Back in Alexandria, Gabriel points to Dante’s grave and tells Scott that there are reports that the Whisperers sealed off some of the tunnels. They see Aaron, who greets them with tired hugs. Aaron asks what happened, but Gabriel asks where everyone is and he explains that not everyone got out.

Later on, Gabriel asks Rosita if she’s sure that she doesn’t want to take Coco to Hilltop. Rosita needs the Hilltop doctor to clear her, and then she can come back. But she’ll be safer with Gabriel. They kiss.

Judith says there’s room for more. Aaron laughs with Gamma/Mary and pats her arm as he helps her into the wagon with Gracie. Rosita extends her hand and tells Gamma her name. “I’m Mary,” Gamma replies. Rosita knows.

When Daryl wakes up, he’s in the woods with Lydia, who says he has been asleep most of the day. She was out in the woods watching him, watching them. “Deciding.” He asks if she killed her mother, and she flips the question and asks if it was Daryl’s father could he kill him. Daryl looks away.

Alpha is on a stretcher and she tells her followers that she is no longer weak, and that she is ready to fight. She wants to hear their screams. She sits up and says the Whisperer mantra. “This is the end of the world. Now is the end of the world. We are the end of the world.”

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm on AMC.