The Walking Dead season 9 episode 12, review: Beta, beheadings − and 3 other talking points from 'Guardians'

We’re already three episodes into the back half of The Walking Dead season nine and showrunner Angela Kang has wasted no time in letting us know that the show’s latest foe is a different kind of villain to anything viewers have seen before.

If there’s one takeaway from the latest instalment, titled “Guardians”, it’s the realisation that many of the show’s lesser characters have sneakily managed to worm their way into our hearts. Take, for instance, the return of Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) for the first time since November – for a character whom the majority of fans despised when he was introduced back in season five, it’s staggering just how happy you are when the one-eyed priest shows up.

While it’s always a pleasure catching up with characters who we don’t see as much due to the increasingly bloated cast, it's even better that we’re getting more Daryl than ever before: the absence of Rick and Maggie has barely been felt thanks to Norman Reedus’s screen time. Long may it continue.

Below are the five biggest talking points from The Walking Dead season nine, episode 12 (you can find last week's here).

Beta and the Whisperers's camp

Lydia said her crew don’t stay in one spot for very long and that’s certainly true considering their latest camp gets overrun by the very real kind of walkers at the end of the episode. Their base is rather nondescript other than being largely contained of people hard at work skinning walkers in order to to make the custom made masks of the undead they all wear. To think how much they could sell them for if currency was still a thing in this world. It also turns out Alpha is far scarier without her mask; staggering around while hunched over in broad daylight makes the Whisperers look quite foolish – and don’t even get us started on Alpha’s hushed tones, which had me shouting “just speak NORMALLY” at the screen on multiple occasions. Next to her second-in-command Beta (Ryan Hurst), she might not be so fearsome after all.

The beheading

Well, you might think that until Samantha Morton pulls it back with a scene that should have fans seriously worried. Poor puppy-eyed Henry (Matt Lintz) who, after being caught by the Whisperers, clearly thinks Alpha will spare him, is left gulping after witnessing her literally decapitate one of her own people in front of him. It’s a scene that showcases Alpha’s no holds barred malevolence as well as alerting us to her preferred method of murder – you better believe we’re going to see one or more of our heroes meet a similar fate in a future episode. In fairness to Henry, he keeps his bottle; I’d be a quivering wreck.

Negan’s absolution

In a twist no viewer could ever have expected, tonight’s episode gave us a scene in which Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was far more tolerable during an interaction with former fan favourite, Michonne (Danai Gurira). We swiftly discover she learned of his prison escape – and subsequent return – off screen, which is a shame considering we were spared of what could have been a pretty dramatic moment, The two end up sparring, with Negan requesting absolution for his old bat-swinging ways. To Michonne's surprise, young Judith (Cailey Fleming) fights his cause; Negan clearly has a fan in her. This debate raises some intriguing questions about atonement – Michonne's ability to accept Negan might have changed would be a gamble, albeit one she knows Rick and Carl would have approved of. It would also hopefully make Michonne likeable again.

Michonne’s decision

Viewers who’ve never read the comic book series are probably wondering what the hell this “fair” is that all the characters have been going on about since episode six. The good news is it’s fast approaching, probably just in time for the season finale in four weeks – and this outing sees Michonne pass a vote that could see Alexandria reunite with fellow communities, including the Kingdom and Hilltop (still no word on what the hell went down between Maggie and Michonne, but it’s coming). One person who’s not so happy with her decision? Bearded wonder Aaron (Ross Marquand) who looks more like Rick with every passing episode.

Three men and a baby

If you’d said last season that the latest run of The Walking Dead would feature a storyline that saw Rosita (Christian Serratos) pregnant with the child of Siddiq (Avi Nash) while being in a relationship with Father Gabriel having batted off the affections of Eugene (Josh McDermitt), I’d have probably assumed you were referring to some kind of bizarre fan fiction in the darkest stretches of the internet. But here we are – and the only thing it’s making me think is that Rosita is in the firing line. Let’s not forget: this show has previous in killing off a pregnant woman. Whatever goes down, this particular situation – which presents a symbol of hope – will probably have a sad ending. The show is called The Walking Dead, after all.

The Walking Dead continues in the US every Sunday with the UK premiere arriving the following evening on FOX at 9pm