The Walking Dead 9 Deuce: S:9 Ep:12 “Guardians”

This week, Henry followed The Whisperers in hopes of saving Lydia, but that went poorly when Beta found him. We got a glimpse of how Alpha rules the group. Finally, Daryl showed up at the end with Connie to try to save Henry and Lydia. My name is Kent, and I ask 5 weekly questions and then people answer them.  Any comments in BOLD are written by me.  I hope you enjoy and if you or someone you know may want to do this blog, contact me, leave a comment, whatever.  The contact info is at the bottom of this blog.

1.  Will Henry come to regret his decision to follow The Whisperers?

Raylene: I want to say yes but since it was Eugene and Rosita that got their attention to the other communities first, the blame for things to come shall not only lie with Henry. You know how I like to trace things back like I blamed Maggie for the Negan deaths. (Yeah, I can see some blame going Rosita and Eugene. The obvious question is simple. Would The Whisperers have bothered the group if Eugene and Rosita never go out originally? One would assume their paths would inevitably cross, but you would have thought that the case years ago, so who really knows?)

Chris:  I’m sure no matter what happens he will have regrets.  People are going to die because of his choice. I can’t really give him a hard time.  He is doing the right thing. (I take pause on the idea that he is doing the right thing. Even without our knowledge of the outcome, if you put yourself in that situation having survived so many awful things, helping strangers this late in the game doesn’t pay off well. It just adds plot. I understand Henry’s ideology, but it seems like a bad idea all around.)

Kent:  White knights don’t get stained.  He’ll be sad and then after some sweet lovin’, he’ll have no regerts (Yes, intentional.)

2.  Will Connie regret her decision to tagalong with Daryl?

Raylene:  No you are with Super Daryl I think she’ll learn stuff from him. (People who pair up with Daryl do not always have the best track record. Just sayin’.)

Chris:  No way! Nothing bad can happen when you team up with Daryl.  Just ask Beth…. oh wait. His brother Merle teamed up with him and now he’s …. dead.  Just a few episodes ago Daryl helped Rick and that turned out……….

…..Yes.  She will regret her decision. (Well, you summed up everything I was going to leave in a comment to Raylene’s response. I am trying to think who has been there for death’s in the group more, Rick or Daryl. Let’s not forget that Daryl got Glenn killed.)

Kent:  Daryl is the guy in any fight or battle that will always back relatively unscathed.  The people that accompany him may want some red shirts. In this situation, I think Connie may be fine because I don’t think that they will kill off a hearing impaired lady.

3.  Will Alpha regret treating Lydia so poorly?

Raylene:  Alpha to me doesn’t seem to be the regretting type. (I can’t imagine a scenario where you will see her have any regrets.)

Chris:  I’m going to give a solid no to this.  She probably regrets not hitting her harder. (I laughed, and I agree. Alpha needs to warm up her pimp hand.)

Kent:  She doesn’t strike me as someone capable of regrets.  I admire that type of stubbornness. I could learn a lot from her.  Even if Alpha dies at some point, I doubt the last thing on her mind will be regret toward Lydia.  In her mind, she did it to help Lydia learn toughness. Just like when Johnny Cash grew up as a boy named Sue.

4.  Will Gabriel regret his decision to stay with Rosita/?

Raylene:  It seems like he has made his peace that he’ll be raising another man’s baby. She’s an upgrade from Jadis aka Ann. (Is Rosita really an upgrade? Jadis ruled a big group. Jadis is smart and has connections. Most importantly, she seems far more interesting than Rosita.)

Chris:  I don’t think so.  They seem to genuinely care for each other, and unless I’m mistaken, she didn’t cheat on him.  Did she? I don’t remember…. (From what we know from the show, I don’t think that she cheated. My best guess is that she got with Siddiq, things didn’t work, so she got with Gabe. Assumptions are being made on my part.)

Kent:  Yes. I can’t say too much.  But my theory is that there will be regret in giving his heart to someone who may not be around too much longer, say 4 episodes or so.

5.  Will Michonne regret talking down to Judith?

Raylene:  Judith put Michonne in her place of sorts so I don’t see her as being phased on how Mom talked to her. So Michonne shouldn’t regret that. (I think she will regret it as she watches Judith continue to get close to Negan. Also, when Negan saves Judith next season, because that’s gonna happen.)

Chris:  She probably already does.  Judith is too much badass for Michonne to handle. (Let’s remember this come next year when Michonne is written out of the show in some capacity. I can no longer assume death after the Rick and Maggie situations.)

Kent:  If I’m Michonne, I’m borrowing a pair of Negan’s shittin’ britches.  Michonne is one of the 5 characters not to trifle with on the show, along with Carol, Daryl, Alpha, and Judith.  Aside from Carol, I fear Judith the most.

Final Thoughts – Sorry for all of the regret questions.  Is Alpha the most ruthless leader in TWD history, so far?

Raylene:  I would have to say Alpha and Negan are tied for me but I know that there are more to come with her and especially Beta who I love by the way. My question is: when Lydia and all were walking back to camp she was surrounded by her kind how didn’t the walkers smell Lydia I would think we give off some scent of the living. Do the masks give off a scent? How to they keep them from drying out and shrinking? I know not speaking and walking like them with the masks on protects you but that’s only your head. Maybe I’m thinking too hard about this. (I have also wondered about the scent thing. They may also be doing something with their clothes, or perhaps the masks are enough. Still, Lydia would have been smelled by now, in my opinion.)

I also feel Carl wouldn’t have been able to be caught so easily I don’t enjoy this not being his story and I do miss Rick’s presence’s as well (Could that be a reason why they didn’t keep Carl around? Beta is a badass, but I take Carl in that fight every day of the week. Would it be believable that Carl would be this naive, probably yes, but not so easily caught. A scenario with Carl fighting off 5 walkers and then Beta capturing him could have worked. Just something to ponder.)

Chris:  Yes, only because of how unaffected she is by the violence.  Negan was ruthless, but at the same time he was caring. He took care of his people and was even friendly with Carl.  The Governor was ruthless too, but more in a psychopath kind of way. Alpha is cold and uncaring. She truly sees herself as an animal, which makes her very dangerous.  I love the way the whisperers have been portrayed so far, and Beta looks awesome too. (I still think that Negan gets a somewhat unfair reputation. Hell, I will go so far as to suggest that if Negan had killed other people in the lineup that weren’t beloved characters, the narrative may be different. Say it was Sasha and Jesus or Aaron, would it have mattered as much?)

Kent:  I am torn on this.  Alpha is pretty ruthless, but The Governor was too.  Governor in the comics would be my answer. Here, I have to analyze what we have seen.  Governor killed innocent people, remember guys in the chopper, just because he wanted stuff, but also how he seemed friendly first.  The way that he handled Milton and Andrea. The fact that he led ad endangered two very different communities just to mess with Rick, and he got everybody killed….except Tara.  Isn’t that the most ruthless part of it all?

Alpha is ruthless in what little we have seen of her. We can make plenty of assumptions, but so far we have seen the beheading, the lack of care for that woman’s baby, and her abuse toward Lydia.  I am choosing The Governor right now. By the end of the reason, I have a feeling I will change my tune.