SPOILERS for episode 9 of The Walking Dead follow this break.
While much of Season 10 has hopped between communities thus far, episode 9, titled “Squeeze,” focuses almost entirely on the group of survivors now trapped in a cave with Alpha’s massive horde. With regard to major plot points, this list of characters includes Daryl, Carol, Connie, Kelly, Aaron, Jerry and Magna.
When it comes to escaping the cave and the horde, Magna and Daryl lead the charge, with the former suggesting she’s eager to leave so she can patch things up with Yumiko. The duo lights up the tight caverns full of thousands of walkers and the occasional Whisperer. For the most part, neither has any trouble avoiding threats. Perhaps surprisingly it’s Carol who is most impacted by the turn of events, as claustrophobia begins to set in. Connie calms her down by drawing “U R O K” in the distressed woman’s palm.
This heartfelt interaction doesn’t stem Carol’s bloodlust for Alpha, though, as Daryl pleads his friend to let her thoughts of revenge go. While she tacitly agrees to a truce, viewers will see that she may not have been entirely truthful about those prospects.
Amongst the caverns the group encounters a stick of dynamite, which could possibly be used to create an exit out of the bustling cave. Jerry explains how volatile it is, but Carol secretly picks it up anyway. Later on in the episode Carol goes missing, and Daryl finds her at the edge of a cliff, saying she could take out half the horde from this spot. Daryl tells her to forget revenge and rejoin the group. It’s then the dynamite explodes.
In the chaos at the newly opened exit, Connie and Magna help Daryl, Aaron and Carol get out while Jerry holds the hole open. At this point Whisperers descend, and Magna and Connie are forced to confront them. The cave collapses with Connie and Magna still inside. Carol tries to make Daryl blame her for the situation, but he refuses to accept the charge.
Kelly is obviously distraught, while Daryl tries to pull out the remaining rocks, but is forced to leave as walkers become attracted to the noise of the explosion. The episode makes the fate of Magna and Connie unclear, but both characters do survive for now.
Elsewhere in the episode, there’s a steamy plotline involving Alpha and Negan. When Negan tells the leader about Gamma’s betrayal, she initially thinks he’s being paranoid until she discovers Gamma has suspiciously gone missing. Alpha sends Beta to look for her, and Negan gets a special reward for his loyalty. She asks him to walk to a clearing with eyes forward and take off his clothes. Thinking he’s about to be executed, Alpha turns Negan around to reveal she’s also mostly naked, with her mask still on. Negan is understandably cautious of the situation, but he relents and the pair kiss.
While not much happens inside the walker-filled cave, the death cliffhanger is an appropriate way to finish off the midseason finale. Will Magna and Connie survive being trapped? Does Negan have ulterior motives with regard to his relationship with Alpha? All these questions and more will be central to the rest of Season 10.
The Walking Dead Season 10 midseason premiere airs February 23 on AMC.
What are your thoughts on episode 9 based on these spoilers? Did the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead deliver on your expectations? Tell us in the comments section!
