The Walking Dead Season 9 Episode 10: The Critic of Omega

By Matt Fowler

Warning: the full episodes of the episode follow …

"I'm glad my mom and you are friends."

"Omega" is not an action packed chapter nor particularly intense, but it is one of the best episodes of Walking Dead for a long time. Several factors have contributed to this situation, but first and foremost is that Daryl finally begins to take shape as a fully realized character. It's sad that it has taken nine years, but there's no better time than the present, right? Especially if we plan to succeed him as a new Rick – a notion that has been prevalent after the release of Andrew Lincoln, but that seems even more concrete now after the departure of Danai Gurira.

Over the years, Daryl, as a stoic and lonely badass, has overflown potential, but his main function has always been that of a self-exiled outsider. A capable fighter, of course, but not a character who has always resonated much further than his vest and crossbow. He felt the main emotions, yes. Rage, guilt, despair. But for one of the main of the show heart characters, he more or less suffered in silence and was relegated to the rank of quarrels and not taking a shower.

Anyway, I'm not going to turn this into a real Daryl scandal since it seems to be taking a turn, but now all the clues left out at the start of the season – especially in " Consumed "of Season 5, when Daryl seized book on how to treat abuse victims in childhood – about Daryl's early trauma finally begins to surface and serve the story . To be fair, one of the main reasons that Daryl kept for himself and only let himself be approached by a small number, is because of his trauma. I understand that. Naturally, he is afraid to connect. In "Omega" however, he is able to reach out to Lydia, the daughter of a crazy and abusive mother, in a way that allows her both to open and tell the story. History as a whole.

In fact, the fact that most of the episode deals with the ramifications of abuse – whether it's Daryl, Carol or Lydia – has done a lot more hard-hitting and interesting. in general.

The use of Henry by Daryl, then (reluctantly) himself, to get information from Lydia is the most emotionally proactive thing that he has done for years. And when you mix this with Lydia's confused and tormented mind, which leads us through a "unreliable narrator" flashback with some unpleasant twists, "Omega" is able to stand as a chapter that not only evolves, Daryl, but also very fast and efficient introduction to Alpha and his gimmick as the new antagonist of the series. Damn, we're still waiting for Negan's story, years later, and he's the biggest villain of the show so far. Do you see how cool it is to just get someone's contract right from the start?

Of course, it does not always work. Especially when it's about a very drastic and wild character take the zompocalypse. Fear the Walking Dead tried to explain his latest villain, Martha, with a series of flashbacks and it did not work. Mainly because there was a strange gap between what had happened to her and what she had ended up being. She was deprived of help so she turned into someone who thought that only the walkers were "strong?" It did not seem right to me. Anyway, tactics Is with Lydia's mother – alias Alpha – because the twists help us discover that her mother has always been a hangman. She was not a sweet person who went crazy and wild. It was a horrible aggressor who got worse when the world went to hell. It is much easier to buy a "Whisperer" like this than to choose a calm and innocent person who makes such a hard and painful choice.

By the time Alpha shows up at the end, with a pack of Whisperers (it's cool and scary to see them move normally), at the gates of Hilltop, we're all ready. We have a solid starting point for his entire shtick. I guess the surprising thing is that Alpha is coming back to Lydia, when Lydia insists she will be left out, but on the whole we are ready to argue here. The loyalties of the episode are with Lydia, Henry, his backstory and Daryl. There is a story B involving Magna, Yumiko, Connie and Kelly trying to rescue Luke, but that does not distract attention from what is more centered than usual. No Alexandria, no Kingdom: Just Hilltop and their prisoner.

Even Henry is not completely terrible this week. His naivety still arouses fervor, but he makes great progress when, after discovering that Daryl was poking at him and Lydia, he asked why Daryl had not introduced him into the plan. As he went along, he was willing to help him get information, even though he saw at the same time the "good" in it and cared for it. So … good for him. It is not known whether he works with Daryl, in the end, when he shows Lydia the camp. And if he was not, it was a brazen gesture that could have killed him. Anyway, Daryl is watching and would have stopped Lydia if she had caught this hammer. I guess I chose to believe that after his previous conversation, Henry was working with Daryl at this point. It was a bit like a chaperoned date.

Uh, too … relational goals? Find someone who will pre-clean your worm for you. Sorry, it's as innocuous as I could make that sound.