The Walking Dead (10×04) Silence the Whispers Review

For our review of last episode of The Walking Dead, click here.

Synopsis: Still paranoid Alexandrians get riled up over the Whisperers and take their fear out on Negan; Back at Hilltop, the group deals with an unexpected safety issue. (IMDb)

Now what the heck was that episode? For a series (at least the last few seasons) whose individual parts have more than not have consistently been better than their sum, here again is another episode that just can’t put it together and ended up being a complete mess once again in more ways than one (story, tone, etc). That’s not to say that Silence the Whispers had nothing going on (it certainly didn’t have Whispers) because it did but it will certainly be a challenging watch.

First of all, what the heck was the music that played at the start of the episode (it also played at the end of the episode). It will surely make some people think that they are watching the wrong show. It played as characters in Alexandria and Hilltop living (Magna and Yumiko are a thing apparently). Meanwhile, a sad Ezekiel got knocked out of his funk by a falling tree that crashed through a Hilltop barn. Panic obviously set in as they were faced with plenty of injuries while speculation set in about who or what may be responsible.

The episode title referenced Lydia who especially had a hard time in the episode for obvious reasons as the same group of obnoxious Alexandria teens would not seem to leave her alone. Negan (and later Daryl) tried to help, however, she would rather handle it herself. Meanwhile, Michonne, while taking a group to Hilltop (Judith wanted to be more involved), saw Ezekiel alone in the distance and went to him and let the rest of the group go ahead. He was feeling particularly low after all his recent loses and bad luck which was understandable so she tried to make him feel better by sharing her own insecurities about having to lead everybody alone (without Rick) which would lead them to kiss (to which Ezekiel apologized).

While Hilltop had to protect their tree-damaged wall from walkers (giving us are obligatory meh walker battle scene of the episode which would of course be cut short due to the insurmountable amount of walkers compared to the low number of defenders), Lydia had to protect herself from the obnoxious teens who had ganged up on her until she was saved by Negan, who in the process of doing so, accidentally killed one of them which would definitely not help his case (the apparent leader of that group appeared to experience some remorse). Siddiq still has PTSD but who cares? More importantly, Negan definitely put Daryl in a tough situation (he was in charge while Michonne was away) but he believed Lydia while facing conflicting feeling about him. Negan was starting to adapt to the others’ way of life.

The Alexandria council was divided on how to deal with Negan but they were willing to spend the night thinking of their votes, however, it wouldn’t matter after Negan suddenly disappeared (Lydia claimed she released him which wasn’t true as she wanted to be caged because she felt safer there). Meanwhile, Michonne was set to lead a delegation to Oceanside.

Finally, the episode featured the message “Silence the Whispers” over Lydia’s door but the final shot saw that message plastered everywhere.

Sometimes these messes are passable and this one was barely passable. What’s the endgame come the midseason finale? At this point who knows and should we even care? They clearly don’t know what to do with their own characters anymore.

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.