Photograph by Jace Downs/AMC
(Spoilers ahead)
Each week, we comb through the guts of The Walking Dead, much like a horde of hungry walkers, to bring you the episode’s best moments, surprises, and other post-apocalyptic curiosities. This week: murder, espionage, and intelligence gathering.
Season 10, Episode 7: “Open Your Eyes”
Loudest sigh of relief: We went into this episode thinking that the big reveal would be that Siddiq beheaded everyone due to extreme manipulation/brainwashing on the part of Alpha. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
There can be only one: This show really doesn’t like to have two doctors at one time, doesn’t it?
Biggest surprise: Not that you’d find it in an interior design magazine, but Daryl’s home was a lot more put together than we would have thought it to be.
Biggest regret: We regret not trusting our initial instincts on Dante from the beginning of the season. We didn’t like him then, and we definitely don’t like him now.
Biggest question: How did Lydia never recognize Dante?
Second biggest question: Why do they even have a jar of hemlock in the first place?
Best feat of strength: Rosita, still sick from drinking toxic water, dives into the reservoir and saves Siddiq from drowning. We know Rosita is a badass, but considering we watched this illness take Cheryl’s life in the previous scene, and judging from how frail Rosita was in previous scenes, this seemed just a bit unrealistic.
Best jam: From that spread, strawberry
Unlikely friends: There’s something endearing about Gamma and Aaron’s conversations, perhaps just because Gamma seems to be the most human of all of the Whisperers. Here’s hoping she escapes and the two become actual friends.
Worst promotion: Gamma was cracking under the grief of her dead sister, yet the captured Whisperer can withstand all the jams and jellies you want? Clearly the wrong person got a Greek letter.
A lesson never learned: Minus Henry and potentially Sophia, Carol is just no good around kids. So maybe Daryl should have worked a little bit harder to keep her far away from Lydia?
Easiest prediction for next week: Lydia is going to run into Negan, get some grade-A life advice from him, and return to Alexandria.
Best line: “You fight for what, sandwiches?” —the captured Whisperer
Most disturbing image: Dante killing Siddiq, assuming Siddiq is indeed dead. It’s a huge departure from the comics and something we legitimately didn’t see coming. But it brings up a lot of questions—how did Dante join Alexandria? Is there any kind of screening process? Wasn’t anyone suspicious if he just showed up out of the blue?
Best kill: The Whisperer dying of hemlock poisoning. It set the scene for a classic who-can-you-trust whodunnit, which coupled with Siddiq’s PTSD led to an interesting episode.
Episode MVP: The imprisoned Whisperer. Obviously he was a terrible person (mainly for wasting precious jam), but his slip-up informing our heroes that the Whisperers believe Lydia to be dead might just prove to be the most important intel going into the midseason finale.
