Undead Walking
Fansided

The Walking Dead Villains: Who ISN’T The Worst? Part 10

By Liam O'Leary

Ryan Hurst as Beta - The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 14 - Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC
Ryan Hurst as Beta - The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 14 - Photo Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 6
Next
Samantha Morton as Alpha, Havana Blum as Young Lydia – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 2 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC
Samantha Morton as Alpha, Havana Blum as Young Lydia – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 2 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC /

Alpha

As surprised as I was by what we saw of Beta, this season’s most surprising character, easily, was Alpha.

Last season, I crowned Alpha the most irredeemable character, maybe of all time, so, to try to argue about her redeemability now is…difficult, and, from my end, was something I never thought I’d even consider.

Yet, what we saw of Alpha in this season made me change my outlook on her, and, it all centered around the person whose mistreatment at Alpha’s hands made me consider her so despicable in the first place: Lydia.

This season, we saw that, despite how abusive she was toward Lydia, Alpha really did care about her…it’s just so rare that she showed it that you could be excused for thinking it never existed.

Starting with the season’s second episode, “We Are The End Of The World”, we saw a much different dynamic between Alpha and Lydia than the one we’d seen previously. We saw Alpha vigorously defending Lydia from walkers, and, when Lydia stopped Beta from attacking her for killing the walker of his friend, instead of smacking Lydia (As she recounted to Beta earlier), she hugged her.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, Samantha Morton as Alpha – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 12 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan, Samantha Morton as Alpha – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 12 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC /

Furthermore, we saw that, for the entire season, nearly everything Alpha did was, in some way, motivated by Lydia. Whether it was trying to get Lydia back alive, replace her with a surrogate, or bring her back another way, it was all about Lydia. The attacks on Alexandria? I think it was all to convince Lydia to come back. The assault on Hilltop? An attempt to bring Lydia back the only way Alpha believed she could (At that point): As a walker.

But, why, though? After all the abusive behavior she hit Lydia with, why, all of a sudden, is Alpha going to such lengths to get her daughter back?

So Lydia could follow in her footsteps.

That’s it. All Alpha wanted was for her daughter to take after her. It’s such a relatable thing, I can scarcely wrap my head around it, because I’m seeing it coming from someone who seemed so utterly detached from anything that normal just one season ago, yet, that’s what it was.

Yes, Alpha murdered a lot of people, and ruined the lives of many more, but, she was still a woman whose heart was broken by her daughter rejecting her and the way of life she made. What parent wants to have their child turn their back on everything they’ve tried to get them to believe in?

It doesn’t excuse what Alpha did, but, it makes you realize that, like Beta, deep inside the monster that we saw, was a human being who’d lost something that helped to hold them together. No, Alpha was not the most redeemable villain of Season Ten of The Walking Dead, but, she was redeemable.

Who IS the most redeemable?

Callan McAuliffe as Alden, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Nadia Hilker as Magna, Lauren Ridloff as Connie, Eleanor Matsuura as Yumiko, Kerry Cahill as Dianne, Jackson Pace as Gage, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Callan McAuliffe as Alden, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Nadia Hilker as Magna, Lauren Ridloff as Connie, Eleanor Matsuura as Yumiko, Kerry Cahill as Dianne, Jackson Pace as Gage, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 1 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /

I’m going to be honest: This might be one of the easiest seasons of The Walking Dead to determine which villain(s) is the most redeemable. Of all the villains we had this season, the only ones who didn’t kill anyone were Margo, Alfred, and Gage.

Were they jerks? Sure.
Were they bullies? Absolutely.
But…were they killers? Hell, no.

As I said earlier, I believe that, had Ozzy, Alek, Addy, and Rodney not been killed, Margo, Alfred, and Gage would have been perfectly normal. They might have been a bit abrasive, but, bullying Lydia as we saw in “Silence The Whisperers”? No, sir.

Even with their bullying, they never tried to kill Lydia, even though they could have. This makes me think that…they didn’t want to. They wanted Lydia out of Alexandria, yes, but, I don’t think they would have resorted to murder to achieve it.

When you’re in the company of a collection of murderers, being the only people who didn’t, and didn’t seem to want to, it easily makes you the most redeemable of the bunch.

Next. The Walking Dead Villains: Who's The Worst? Part 10. dark

But, what do you guys think? Was there another villain who was more redeemable than Margo, Alfred, and Gage? Was there someone I didn’t even think of who you thought belonged here? Let me know in the comments!

And, of course, if you enjoyed this, and want to hear my ideas on how to survive a zombie apocalypse, you can always pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can also find it on Amazon here, and, on iTunes here!

Home/Opinion