The Walking Dead heads on pikes episode, The Calm Before
By Renee Hansen
If you are a fan of series that are set in the apocalypse, you are no stranger to gory scenes and death. The Walking Dead has provided many such scenes, with some making more of an impact than others. One occurred during season 9, episode 15, “The Calm Before.”
The episode originally aired on March 24, 2019, and is based on events of Volume 24, Issue #144 of The Walking Dead comics created by Robert Kirkman. “The Calm Before” was written by Geraldine Inoa and Tales of the Walking Dead showrunner Channing Powell and directed by Laura Belsey.
Viewers experienced a wide range of emotions during this episode, from the highs of the fair to the lows of the reveal of Alpha’s (Samantha Morton) pike victims.
How did Alpha get the pike victims in The Walking Dead?
When Daryl and the others return to the Kingdom, they discover a bloody and beaten Siddiq (Avi Nash). He shows them to the hill, where a horrific site greets them. There, they find ten people: Ozzy (Angus Sampson), Alek (Jason Kirkpatrick), D.J. (Matt Mangum), Frankie (Elyse Nicole DuFour), Tammy Rose (Brett Butler), Rodney (Joe Ando Hirsh), Addy (Kelly Mack), Enid (Katelyn Nacon), and Tara (Alanna Masterson), and Henry (Matt Lintz), who had been decapitated and their heads put on pikes.
This was a warning from Alpha to the communities who had crossed her borders. Siddiq, who was left alive to tell the tale, would later explain how the Whisperers captured them. Before the victims were killed, they were found by Ozzy, Alek, and DJ, which gave them a fighting chance. They all fought and protected one another, even taking out some Whisperers, dying as heroes.
In order to round up the victims, Alpha infiltrated the Kingdom’s fair in a disguise as one of the women from a caravan headed to the fair. She does this to confront Lydia (Cassady McClincy) and is rejected by her daughter.
Before each victim is revealed, viewers see someone looking for them at the fair, and then their reanimated head is shown. It was fantastic cinematography that sent viewers on a roller coaster of emotions. Watching Carol’s reaction to losing yet another child was unbearable.
The pike scene is one remembered well by viewers of The Walking Dead series.
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