The Walking Dead season 9 review: Alpha unmasked – and four other talking points from episode 10, 'Omega'

After a tedious mid-season premiere, the latest episode of The Walking Dead was 47 minute-long proof that the back half of season nine could be brilliant television.

The six-year time jump, while an unexpected and entirely welcome adrenaline shot, has presented the show with some flaws. For instance, it’s quite frustrating to see a large amount of screen time handed to newer cast members who, in the six years we didn’t see, have become key players in the community.

But fortunately, when season nine flies, it soars. This is evidenced in “Omega”, an episode designed to introduce us to the woman behind the Whisperers, as well as seemingly confirming the long-standing theory that it's set int he same world as Breaking Bad.

Below are the five main talking points from The Walking Dead season nine, episode ten.

1. Flashbacks

The feeling that you’re about to watch just another standard episode of The Walking Dead disintegrates the moment it opens with a flashback. It’s very rare that the series deploys this narrative technique – they usually appear in episodes with big deaths – especially ones dating right back to the start of the apocalypse, which is about 11 years ago in show time. In these particular flashbacks, we see a young Lydia – the girl imprisoned at the Hilltop – and her parents, one of whom will go onto become the walker skin-wearing villain we saw at the end of last week’s episode (more on her b

2. Henry and Lydia

While it’s admittedly really weird that Henry (Matt Lintz) developed a crush on Lydia (Cassady McClincy) before he even met her, it’s nice to see him find something that’s suddenly attaching him to his new home at the Hilltop – so much so that he’s content with sleeping on cement with no duvet because she asks him to; you can tell he’s grown up in the apocalypse. Despite not caring about them at all last week, this episode did a great job in convincing me a relationship between these two could be a sweet prospect, even if Henry is essentially just a low-rent Carl Grimes.

3. Daryl

Let’s hear it for Norman Reedus. This episode is cold hard proof that the writers of this show got seriously lazy with Daryl in season seven and eight. With Andrew Lincoln gone, it’s fallen to Reedus – now one of television’s highest-paid stars – to pull his weight and he’s succeeding with aplomb. One scene in particular, which shows him visibly disturbed at the abuse suffered by Lydia at the hands of her mother, is perhaps the first time he’s been worthy of an Emmy. It only took him nine years.

4. Tara

Tara (Alanna Masterson) is flourishing thanks to the time jump. Once the show’s biggest nuisance, she’s now being afforded the opportunity to flesh out her character and in place of the half-funny quips, we have someone who’s trying to establish some damn order now Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Jesus (Tom Payne) have left her to run Hilltop all by herself. Masterson has stepped up; a serious tone suits her. However, those leadership skills are going to be seriously put to the test next week as she faces her first true challenge as community leader, thanks to the below.

5. Alpha

The casting of Samantha Morton is quite clearly a genius stroke. Following in the footsteps of David Morrissey (the Governor) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan) is a hard task, but she certainly seems up to the task as Alpha, the leader of the Whisperers. This is proven rather effectively when we see her mercilessly slay her husband in one of the aforementioned flashbacks, which show her losing her grip in the wake of the apocalypse. Through these scenes, not to mention a big hype-up from Lydia, the episode positions her as a more fearsome villain than the Governor and Negan put together. When we see an unmasked Alpha marching to Hilltop at the end of “Omega”, it’s hard not to feel a chill creep down the spine.

You can find our five biggest talking points from last week's mid-season premiere here.

The Walking Dead continues in the US every Sunday with the UK premiere arriving the following evening on FOX.