The Most Brutal Episode of the TWD was the Pike Deaths in Season 9

The Walking Dead had a bit of a rough patch during seasons 7 through 8, and it finally picked up with season 9, now introducing a major villain that proved to be a massive threat for Rick’s group in comics. This time, Rick wasn’t present, leaving Daryl as the one to take up his mantle of the becoming the main character, and having to deal with the new villain. 

This villain’s name was Alpha, and she led a team of people who believed mingling with the dead was the new way of life. Those who were deemed to weak would be killed by Alpha, her right hand man, Beta, or they would be eaten by the dead, as a sort of sacrifice or punishment. 

Alpha came across the survivors when her daughter, Lydia, was captured by Daryl’s group. They let her go, and she leaves with Alpha. Henry, Carol’s son, was insistent to save Lydia from this group, and it became a huge problem for everyone involved, and Lydia decided to stay with Daryl’s group in the end. 

This outraged Alpha, and as a punishment, she snuck into the communities during their most vulnerable state. Ezekiel, Carol’s husband at the time, was hosting a huge celebration for all communities, and Alpha disguised herself as a random woman that was there to visit. She murdered a couple to pull this off, and even scalped a woman to better disguise herself, really showing how deranged this woman actually was. Alpha had her team sniff out random survivors, and they were brought to an abandoned building, where they would be ruthlessly executed. 

Daryl, Carol, Michonne, Yumiko, and the only survivor that was left alive from Alpha’s capture, Siddiq, are the ones to find what is left of the people Alpha killed. 

She had placed each of their heads on pikes, each of their heads animated, coming back as the dead, leaving a line for the survivors to never cross, that leads into her own territory. The people she picked to die was very hard to watch, because during season 9, we ended up connecting with these people as an audience. 

Some of them were already important side characters in Rick’s group, but the rest of them were random people that had good souls, and while some of them weren’t perfect, they did not deserve to die in such a brutal way. 

What’s worse is that we get flashbacks into how their final moments were like. Since Siddiq was the only survivor, he had severe PTSD, and he was forced to watch each of them die. They fought with all their might before death, and then they were all beheaded, hinted that it could have been one by one, which is so much worse. Alpha wanted these people to suffer, and it was crazy that some of them were young kids, such as Henry, who ended up becoming one of the victims. 

This scene works so well in the show, and it became known as The Walking Dead’s version of their Red Wedding moment like in Game of Thrones. Some fans were upset that major characters didn’t die here, but to me, it didn’t matter who was picked for the pike deaths. This scene is so haunting upon watching it for the first time. Watching our main characters stumble upon such a horrific sight, was very hard to watch. These people were important to each of them, and watching their reactions was brutal. 

Carol’s was the worst one, when she saw her son as one of the victims. Daryl comforted her, telling her not to look, and I’m glad he was there for her, holding onto her as she grieved for the last child she would ever care for. 

Season 9 felt kind of like a happy season too in a strange way, despite how disturbing Alpha was. I think it was because the communities truly felt united here for the first time, and once Alpha committed these murders, everyone kind of fell apart after this, forming resentment towards Lydia, and a lot of people fell into a sort of deep depression, as they tried to process all of these heavy losses. 

Season 9 was my favorite season of The Walking Dead, and this episode is one of the reasons why I think it’s the best season of the television show. 

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn