The Best of ‘The Walking Dead’ – Season 10

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Episode 1012: ‘Walk With Us’
Original Airdate: March 15, 2020

‘Alpha. That thing you’ve been looking for. I found it.’
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- Negan

​One thing that we can all agree upon, is that the world is a messy and sometimes dark place. One that can easily corrupt a pure soul and turn them to complete and utter darkness. Where they cause harm to others, harm to themselves and generally no longer care about the rules they were raised by and abided by for years on end. They just do as they please, and see where the day takes them, and if they are held accountable for their actions… it is what it is. These are the folks we consider to be lost, and these are the folks that so many harbor worry for, regarding their future or their capacity for good and what’s incredible… is that these are the folks that we do whatever we can to rehabilitate and give a second chance to in this life.
 
Because for all the messy and ugly we see in this world, we also know of its endless beauty and the magnificent moments that bring us joy, and that people are indeed capable of great good and wonder. So, we in turn, come to believe that the lost can be saved, can be redeemed even, regardless of what they’ve done. Which is why prisons and therapeutic programs to put broken people back together again, exist, because there has to be a better way, and everyone should deserve the chance to enjoy peace and happiness. But sometimes, even that doesn’t help, and we see the worst of the worst sink deeper or return to old habits… and some folks, commit such heinous crimes that we aren’t even sure they are worth the time or effort. Which then begs some important questions, can everyone be saved? Can there be redemption for the absolute worst of the worst?
 
Well as it turns out, the writer’s room of The Walking Dead on AMC… firmly believed that the answer to those questions was a resounding yes. For the last episode in our farewell retrospective to the series, featured a redemption story. One that was seemingly improbable and powerful in nature and that makes ‘Walk With Us’ the best that season ten has to offer. Simply because it posed an idea of what it would take for someone to be redeemed that appears to be irredeemable, and the first step on that journey… one that saw Negan finally atone for his hideous sins and acts, involved surrounding a bad person with an evil that was greater than anything they’d ever committed in their criminal career, if you will. Since Negan was firmly embedded with The Whisperers in this tale and commissioned to help in an all-out assault on Hilltop.

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​Which allowed for him to see firsthand, Alpha’s true cruelty and madness and the savagery of Beta. Because he was forced to watch a stronghold that once fed the Saviors, one that he saw as a resource to be controlled… burn. And he was forced to watch the people within it suffer and that was in the end, quite difficult for Negan. For this was wanton cruelty and delighted devastation, that was devoid of rhyme and real reason. For Alpha just wanted to exert power over people and indulge in her darkest desires and that… that definitely gave Negan perspective and helped him to understand… that there is true evil in the world. The kind that has no regard for anything but its own existence and that those who haven’t committed to that level of darkness and destruction, can be saved if they truly commit to doing something good. 
 
A reality that was further hammered home by Negan and Alpha’s heartbreaking talk in the woods, where Negan learned how she was beyond ready to kill her own daughter to just flex her muscles and well… that is what of course, led to the beginning of Negan’s redemption. For that fight and that talk really gave him perspective on the person he was and the person he could be and that allowed for him to complete his mission and put Alpha down and hand over the head to Carol and well… that made for one brilliant story. One that really did put Negan in a position to finally reflect upon his journey and his sins and how he could find his way back from the darkness and become a worthwhile person that could be more than a horrible legend and a monster. 
 
Which makes this a powerful and poignant episode, one that speaks to the power of redemption in our world and how we have to approach it differently in our world to achieve it, by catering to the person and not our hopes and of course… it set the stage for so much more for Negan. Since the final season saw him complete his redemption arc and find new ways to prove he had changed and wanted a better life and to be a better man. All because he saw where he had been, and what he could be and refused to go that route and really, that makes this episode, of the finest this series has to offer, and it also doesn’t hurt that it plays into the central theme of the series regarding whether or not we can be saved. And well… now that we’ve reached the end of this retrospective, the time has come to turn our attention to one last story in this universe: the series finale. And prepare for all the tears and terror and hopeful elation that it is going to send our way as we bid farewell to this important and iconic series.

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