‘The Walking Dead’ Recap: ‘Squeeze’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

​Over the course of its illustrious ten-year run, The Walking Dead has introduced some incredibly vile and twisted villains for our heroes to face off against. The kind that quite frankly put worry into the minds of every TWD fan as to whether or not Rick and his friends and family would survive the various plans of these wicked individuals. And while many of the final battles between Team Rick and the various members of the Legion of Living Dead Doom ended in costly fashion, the good guys and gals always came out on top, and there is oddly enough, a solid reason for their victories in that; they always held onto their humanity and used it in their time of need.
 
Because the gang always held steadfast to the fact that there was a better way, a peaceful way, and they never once folded or let the enemy get under their skin, giving them the upper hand when the baddies tried to break them. In fact, their ability to hold together and work as one, frustrated their enemy into making a mistake more often than not and in the end, that’s quite the wonderful way to handle these ugly battles. For it keeps our heroes pure, and it makes them a beacon of hope. But as season nine and ten have continued along, the show is beginning to pose some interesting questions to the audience, specifically; can the good people of Alexandria and Hilltop stay infallible forever? Or is it possible to break them and bring the worst parts of them to the surface?
 
As it turns out, the season ten midseason premiere took the time to address both of those questions and sadly, the answers ‘Squeeze’ provided us with are unsettling to say the least. For this particular tale made it clear that these intrepid survivors, who have been through hell together; do indeed have a breaking point. The kind that would motivate them to stoop to the lowest levels imaginable. But before we dig too deeply into that, let’s take a moment and celebrate the fact that this was actually one intense tale. The kind that quite frankly left you on the edge of your seat and this really was quite the impressive feat when all is said and done.
 
If anything, it has been a little while since we’ve seen some genuine horror on this show, the kind where the dead are a horrifying and unsettling threat. And being in the dark with the dead, and the Whisperers, and not knowing if either monster was waiting in the shadows made for an eerie experience. Something that was only enhanced further by the fact that the threats kept coming from out of nowhere and that almost led to the loss of a character. For in a stroke of genius storytelling, Jerry and everyone else in the cave were forced to push through a tiny opening in the hopes of escaping, with walkers hot on their tails and that was simply the stuff of nightmares, as was watching Jerry comes within mere inches of losing his life to a bite.

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​Oddly enough, the scares bring us right back around to the all-important questions we discussed a little bit ago. Because above all else, there is one reason and one reason alone as to why this group found themselves facing such trouble, and that would be Carol. For it was her desire to make Alpha pay for her crimes in vengeful fashion that led them into this cave in the first place and at long last, Daryl was finally ready to confront Carol about her behavior. And it was quite refreshing to see him call her out for endangering her life and the lives of others with this angry quest for revenge, and it seemed as though his blunt honesty finally reached her. But alas, Carol’s pain and fury run deep and sometimes, it takes a grave mistake to finally see the error of one’s ways, and she most certainly made one of those.
 
For when she was presented with some ancient and sweaty dynamite, she saw another opportunity to stick it to Alpha and the Whisperers by blasting half of the horde to bits. And of course, she took it upon herself to do so in solo fashion and had it not been for Daryl, her attempt at payback would have ended with her death. But regardless of this heroic and poignant moment, the damage from her decision was devastating for certain. For the dynamite did indeed go off, and the resulting shockwave nearly buried everyone and in a chaotic escape, Connie and Magna were left buried beneath the dirt, all because Carol gave into the darkness and the anger in her heart and her tears show us that she finally understands that Alpha got the better of her, and what she does with that information going forward, is crucial to her redemption. 
 
What’s truly amazing about that heartbreaking ending though, is the sheer fact that it demonstrates that Alpha is quite possibly the ugliest villain that our heroes have ever faced. Because she has no shred of humanity left within her, no sense of fear, meaning that everything our heroes have used to win in the past mean nothing here. And to top it all off, she really does indeed know how to shatter a human’s spirit and get exactly what she wants from them, as evidenced by the strangest ‘love scene’ ever with Negan. But what matters more here, is that beating someone who knows people’s weaknesses before they do, could be an impossible task and with everyone infighting and shivering with fear at the Whisperers, her next strike could be a costly one.
 
Either way, this really was one hell of a way to kick off the back half of season ten. For this particular tale was terrifying through and through and it was just magnificent to see scenes that leave your heart racing once again. But truly, the fallout of Carol’s vendetta is what matters the most in this midseason premiere. Because it really seems that only Daryl is in her corner right now, and even that is on shaky ground, and her return to Alexandria will be met with shame and doubt. Which means it is now up to Carol to pull herself out of the darkness and find a way to join the cause in proper fashion and she will have a lot of work to do in the days to come, as will the people of Alexandria and Hilltop. Because slowly but surely, they’re reaching their breaking point with everything Alpha is pulling off and it is going to take a miracle to bring them all together before it is too late. Until next time.

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