A clip from this Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead, titled “Morning Star,” has been released, showing its opening minutes between Negan and Alpha.
Thankfully, the scene is nothing like the last interaction we saw between the pair, but consists of what Negan suspects to be an initiation ceremony, or in his typically crude style, “the next level of kinky Whisperer shit,” consisting of each of them lashing the other’s forearm with a thin strip of wood and further suggesting the disturbing connection they seem to be forming.
The plot of the episode sees the Whisperers march on Hilltop, their position meaning that Alexandria will be unable to arrive in time to offer reinforcements and the residents having to stand on their own in what looks like it will be a medieval-style battle on an open field. The title refers to the common name for the weapon Daryl is seen brandishing in the trailer, a spiked piece of metal attached by a chain to a wooden handle. In reality, it would be a highly impractical weapon with which to battle zombies, but because they look so awesome and Daryl is such a quintessential badass, he’ll likely be seen wielding it with brutal efficiency.
The end of the clip sees Negan with a zombie skin mask shambling alongside the horde that the Whisperers are shepherding though the forest, joining in with the sinister chants of “We are the end of the world” and “We take them all.” Given his newly cemented position and the stakes of the episode, it will likely soon be revealed whether or not he has truly defected to the Whisperers, or if it was a ruse to attain a position of influence within the animalistic group of survivors.
If nothing else, the promised action will be a welcome change of tempo for this season of The Walking Dead, the pace of which has been maddeningly slow, and hopefully its aftermath will see things start to move towards some kind of resolution.
