The Walking Dead season 10: Alpha’s 5 best moments

Melissa McBride as Carol Peletier – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 8 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AM8

4. It’s A Trap

Season 10, episode 8 “The World Before”

Alpha used her cunning to trap the group that was looking for the horde in a cave with the horde. In a brilliantly laid trap she played Carol to lead the others into the cave where they became trapped. Throughout the season Carol has taken a reactionary stance with Alpha, and Alpha has been calling all the shots counting on Carol to react blindly instead of acting with deliberate intention. The simple trap worked because Carol immediately pursued Alpha when Alpha deliberately showed herself, then ran. She knew that Carol would follow and that she could lead Carol into the cave.

It’s not like Carol to fall for a trap, especially such a simple one, but she was so blinded by her grief and rage about Henry’s death that Alpha was able to easily manipulate her.

The core of Alpha’s power was in her ability to play off the emotions of others and use those emotions to manipulate. Like any good cult leader she had an instinctive ability to know when to loosen the strings, when to tighten them, and exactly where her prey was weakest. Alpha may not had any emotion herself, except for her love for Lydia, but she understood that most people are driven by them and she knew how to use that to her advantage.