The Walking Dead: Stalker (10x10)

I straight-up don't understand the idea of Gabriel/Rosita. I never have and I never will.

Cons:

Yeah... that. Their romance is just completely lacking in chemistry. There's really not a lot to say about this. It's like they just skipped to this point where they're an established relationship, and we're supposed to believe in them as a couple. When they were arguing over Gabriel's behavior, it would have worked just as well if they were just friends and co-leaders of Alexandria. The fact that they're a couple has no bearing on anything and it's not fun to watch.

I wanted Alpha to die... how epic would it have been if Lydia turned up and was actually forced to kill her own mother? That would have been a game-changer, and I'm not just saying that because I'm getting a bit sick of Alpha. Even Beta isn't dead - Judith shot him, but he's still alive. Can we please shake things up? Just a little?

I'm also annoyed that we still don't know Magna and Connie's fates... it's not the kind of thing I want dangling over my head. I'll be pissed if either of them are really dead. The suspense is not entertaining, it's just pissing me off.

Pros:

I do like the fact that Gamma started opening up, mostly thanks to Judith reaching out. The same method proved somewhat effective with Negan. Her real name is Mary, and while I'm prepared to be burned, I've decided I believe in her sincerity. It's like watching someone get themselves free of a cult. It's hard to shake, and there are those who are so thoroughly indoctrinated that they'll never escape. But Mary may have managed it, seeing the way this other group of people have managed to live. It doesn't hurt that she watched them successfully repel an incursion lead by Beta. Sure, there were casualties, but the community didn't collapse.

And speaking of that incursion - this episode of The Walking Dead had a couple of genuinely well-crafted action sequences. That is so rarely the case these days, I feel. Everything, from the emergence of the Whisperers, to Judith shooting Beta, to Gamma being dragged away, then threatening to end her own life in order to hold Beta off... it was all tense, and all well-lit enough that I could actually see what was going on! Yay!

And then meanwhile, we've got another really tense, really well-choreographed fight between Daryl and Alpha. And by well-choreographed I don't mean that they were at all impressive. Both of them are severely injured, which is basically why neither of them is able to get a decisive victory against the other. I loved the brutal, slow, plodding violence of this fight. It felt very visceral, truly like two people trying to kill each other and aware that failure will likely mean death.

Despite wishing that Alpha had actually died, I was generally quite pleased with Lydia's return. There was the dream-like quality to her conversation with her injured mother, to the point where I almost wondered if Alpha was just imagining her. But gradually it becomes clear that Lydia is really there. And then she rescues Daryl, which I absolutely love. I'm pretty excited to see their story continue next week, if I'm being honest. I've already admitted to being invested in Connie and Magna's fates, and I'm certainly invested in Daryl. Always have been.

Even good episodes of The Walking Dead, which I'm willing to admit this is, fail to give me that sense of excitement I used to have for the show back in the day. But I'm with it until the bitter end... I just hope my faves are all still standing when we get there.

8/10