Tales of the Walking Dead – Dee

By: Kelly Kearney

In “Dee” we learn Alpha’s origin story and the path that led to her eventual demise. Working on a steamboat full of survivors, Dee tries and fails to fit in with the group’s friendly leader–even for her embarrassed daughter, Lydia’s sake. When people start to go missing from the boat, Dee is forced to teach her daughter the ultimate life lesson: trust no one. 

The Ship of Dreams

“Let me tell you how I died,” says Dee (Samantha Morton) AKA the one we know as Alpha. Long before she became the Queen of the skin masked freaks and rolling around in the latrine with Negan, Alpha and her young daughter Lydia (Scarlett Blum) spent time on the water with a group of survivors aboard a steamboat. Awkward and unsure of her companions, Alpha questions the vibe on the boat and especially their smiley ex-yoga instructor and now leader, Brooke (Lauren Glazier) who wonders if her guest might be more comfortable in a suit rather than a cocktail dress. It’s a dig at Dee’s appearance and if she meant to offend the woman, it worked. If she only knew the types of suits Alpha will don one day… Brooke is all about aesthetics as well as playing savior by rescuing and feeding those in need after the fall. She tries to soothe her people’s fears by throwing parties–with strung lights and fancy attire to give them some sort of feeling of normalcy. Lydia is drawn to her but her mother finds all of Brooke’s efforts to be a waste of time. She’s her usual Debbie Downer and reminds the smiling Lydia that, “looks don’t matter.” Dee couldn’t be more opposite from the woman fretting about dress shopping and party lights. Right from the start we can tell Lydia prefers Brooke’s company to that of her mother’s, and even though Dee doesn’t say so, her daughter’s attitude stings. 

Down on the boat’s lower deck, the party Brooke mentioned has already kicked off. When Dee arrives in her slapped-together green dress and trench coat she looks and feels like a fish out of water and the bartender, Billy (Nick Basta), rudely calls her out on it the minute he lays eyes on her. Dee spots Lydia dressed like she belongs there and hanging on Brooke’s every word. She waves to her mother but doesn’t get much reaction from, what the bartender refers to as, “the drowned rat.” He questions why she isn’t with her daughter and then insults her by pointing out her grubby and unkempt look. She certainly sticks out like the sorest of thumbs and he alludes to the fact that could be why her daughter is sitting on the other side of the room from her. Dee’s morose and passive-aggressive attitude isn’t a match for this lot, and the bartender accuses the outsider of using Brooke for her supplies and not for a community to call home. She smirks as if he hit the nail on the head and says, “I came for Lydia.” but if she came to the boat to keep her daughter safe then why is the girl ignoring her for Brooke?

After the bartender steps away to grab some more wine, Dee notices the party lights outside flickering and that’s sure to draw the dead right to them. When she goes on deck to turn them off she hears first–then sees a group of walkers meandering on the banks of the river. She knew those lights Brooke insisted set the party mood was a bad idea and even though she knows the boat is far enough away to keep the dead at bay, she still worries, especially about the bartender she doesn’t trust. When she tells Brooke to keep her eye on the man, the woman rolls her eyes because who doesn’t Dee trust? Changing the subject to Lydia, Brooke mentions her birthday is coming up and says a celebration is important for children who need structure and happy times for their development. Lydia is the boat’s only child and Brooke pleads with Dee to help her plan the girl’s party, but her mother is resistant–claiming Brooke is setting the girl up for disappointment. The world is different now, or is it? When the two women start arguing about what’s best for Lydia, Dee raises a knife above Brooke’s head and then strikes down a walker that was caught in the fishing net being hoisted above their heads. Perfect timing or is it a warning to Brooke and this community that this Dee could be a loose cannon?

A Killer Among Them

“I was nine when I killed my Daddy,” we hear Dee–now baldly telling tales from her Alpha future,  recounting her life story. After she ended her father’s life things were better– until the world fell apart and she was forced to flee to a basement with Lydia’s father, Frank. She admits she wasn’t sure if she meant to kill him, maybe her father or maybe she meant Frank, but she admits to herself she’s glad she did.

The next morning, the ship’s exercise class gets interrupted by the news that one of their own, the kind Mr. Langston (George Bryant) has gone missing. Dee is immediately questioned about the last time she saw the man sitting next to her at the bar during the party and she mentions she saw him chatting with Billy the bartender. She also says something about hearing a scream and then splashing the previous night. She never said anything about it because the swamp is full of gators and the dead flailing about. Things that go bump in the night are the new norm now and other group members agree it wouldn’t normally raise suspicion. 

After asking everyone on the boat about the missing Mr. Langston, Brooke and her second in command, Jenna (Rachel Markarian), decide to pull up anchor before the storm hits. They can’t risk getting caught in the swamp during storm season just to go looking for a man who probably fell overboard after one too many drinks. It’s sad, but as the leader, Brooke has to make the tough calls that keep everyone on the boat safe and Billy thinks she’s making the right choice. She leaves the upper deck to tell the rest of the people they’re moving on, having no idea Dee heard the entire conversation while she was mopping up the deck.  Now she knows Brooke isn’t as loyal to her people as she claims to be–not if she’s leaving Mr. Langston behind. 

Later, while teaching Lydia the proper way to set a table, Dee swipes a steak knife and tells her daughter it’s “just in case.” Lydia can see where this is going and asks her mother if she’s planning on leaving because she has every intention of staying with Brooke. Dee doesn’t believe in her daughter’s ability to survive with these people but she does trust in her ability to keep Lydia much safer than Brooke’s floating fantasy. Upset by her daughter’s disloyalty, Dee storms out of the dining room and leaves Lydia to her forks and knives. The rage might be building in her and guiding her decisions but in this instance, she is right. Brooke is organized but naive to what’s lurking beyond that marsh. Dee might be a bad mother but at least she kept Lydia alive to see season 11 of the original series! She must’ve done something right. 

“I WENT MAD IN THAT BASEMENT…”

While taking a breather from her fight with Lydia, Alpha spots Billy dripping what looks like a mirror into the water. She accuses him of signaling to someone beyond the foggy marsh and holds him at knifepoint while calling out for Brooke to help. Things don’t go her way when Billy feels threatened and jumps into the swamp– forcing the crew to dock and send out a rescue team. It is unlikely he could survive the snakes, gators, and the dead, but Brooke wants to try anyway. She’s a kind leader but even she has her limits. She warns Dee to never frighten another person on the boat again and then delivers the ultimate knife to her back claiming it was her unhinged behavior that forced Lydia to want to leave her mother behind. Hearing this, Dee loses it and starts yelling at Brooke to stay out of her relationship with her daughter. The entire encounter is witnessed by Lydia who once again, looks embarrassed by her mother. The truth is, Lydia isn’t embarrassed by how her mother dresses and acts, she’s traumatized from watching her mother kill her father a few months before joining the boat crew. Dee tried to make amends but the bond seems to be broken and considering Alpha’s well-documented abuse, it probably always was. 

Things pick up quickly when Lydia decides to move out of her mother’s room and Brooke is the one to deliver Dee the news. All of her daughter’s things are gone and this flips Dee’s deadly switch and the Alpha personality starts leaking out. She threatens to slit Brooke’s throat if she doesn’t tell her where Lydia is. She truly believes she is the only one who can keep Lydia safe. Just as the two “Alpha” women are about to come to blows, they hear a scream and find the murdered body of Mr. Lagston! Dee switches from fight mode to survival mode. She’s no longer ready to kill Brooke and the two split up to find Lydia and the others before whatever killed Mr. Langston comes for them next. It’s not long before Brooke finds all of her people tied up and Billy shooting them one by one to make room for him and his friends who were hiding beyond the marshes. It seems Dee was right and they should’ve killed that traitor when she caught him with the mirror he was using to signal to the others. Just as things start to get out of control, Dee kicks it into overdrive by killing a few of Billy’s men and setting off a shootout on the boat. In the chaos, she manages to grab Lydia and the two escape on the life raft. Lydia is seen crying under a blanket as her mother tells her those people couldn’t keep her safe.

Alpha is Born

Once they reach shore Dee is killing walkers with a steak knife left and right. One falls on top of her, trapping her beneath its open cavity of guts and goo. That’s when she realizes dead flesh and blood masks her living scent. She calls out to Lydia and has her crawl under the bloody corpse tarp and rubs her baby’s face in blood whispering about dreams and other happier worlds–any place but the carnage around her. They spend the whole day in the cavity of the dead until morning comes and Dee punches her fist through the walker’s chest, freeing them from their shield of rotting flesh. They walk through crowds of dead boat people who made it to shore only to be eaten by the dead until Dee spots the only living member left and she is on her knees. It’s Brooke, and before Lydia sees her, she puts the child’s headphones on and tells her not to move. Of course, Lydia is like every child in the TWDU and doesn’t listen. She sees her mother trying to murder Brooke and stops her from shooting the woman execution style. Dee then promises Lydia she won’t kill her and she keeps her word, but she does punish her by slicing her face to leave her with a reminder of the dreams she gave and then stole from Lydia. Those dreams of a better life will be hard for a kid to shake. There are no pretty dresses and birthday parties in this world. All that’s left are untrustworthy people and the dead. A valuable lesson for a child who would one day become a Whisperer. 

It’s not long before mother and daughter stumble upon an RV park and walkers are laying down the welcome mat. Dee tries to teach Lydia how to kill and survive, but the girl refuses and leaves her mother to take out the hungry pack on her own. She eventually finds Lydia hiding in some creek brush and talking about living with the faeries – a kid’s dream she mentioned a few times during the episode. Dee forgot she’s only nine and too young to raise in chaos and blood. Her mother was also nine and raised on a similar diet so she knows the scars this will make on her daughter’s fragile mind. She cradles the girl and smothers her with love now realizing this world isn’t meant for children. She tells Lydia to close her eyes and just as she’s about to slice her little girl’s throat the trees really do start talking and it isn’t the fairies. She wasn’t imagining these little voices at all! The fairies are actual people dressed in the skins of the dead and they are WHISPERING to join them. This is the day Dee embraced her truth: Alpha, the Queen of the Living Dead.