The Walking Dead – Open Your Eyes

By: Kelly Kearney

The lead up to the mid-season finale finally answered a few questions, mainly what Siddiq saw the night of Alpha’s gruesome pikes border and why so many in Alexandria are getting sick. This big reveal builds up to a tragic ending that will have aftershocks across the community. This episode asked the question, “Who do you trust if you can’t trust one of your own?”

Fear and Lies are What Keep Alpha in Power

We open on Siddiq (Avi Nash) who is still tending to the patients who are not getting any better, regardless of the herbs and hydration he’s using to treat their illnesses. Sitting bedside to Cheryl (Rebecca Koon), one of the sick, he feeds her water having no idea the deadly drink was contaminated by walker guts courtesy of Gamma (Thora Birch). Exhausted from looking after so many sick people, he heads to his notebook to write down a summary of the day and falls asleep. He wakes in a nightmarish state with two arms bursting from the back of the couch and, as he screams, the hands cover his mouth. This terrifying dream is a puzzle piece to the confusing flashbacks that are crippling him.

While Siddiq is dealing with patients and night terrors, Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl (Norman Reedus) arrive home with their Whisperer prisoner(James Parks) and toss him into Negan’s old cell – a cell that’s currently being occupied by Lydia (Cassady McClincy) who feels safer behind bars than she does mingling with the rest of ASZ. Daryl tells her they need the cell and she looks shocked to see they’ve captured one of the Whisperers. The man, who’s eyes are covered, never sees his leader’s daughter and Lydia takes off outside to give Carol and Daryl some alone time with their capture. That’s when Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) shows up and he is angry Carol made the choice to risk their deal with Alpha (Samantha Morton) to kidnap one of her kind. It’s a risk that none of them agreed to and could cost them their lives. He tells her that the Whisperer must get medical treatment from Siddiq before he’s questioned and that he will bringing up this whole thing with the council. Carol tries to argue with him that this was their best option if they want to take down Alpha, but Gabe disagrees and she storms off. Outside she tells Lydia that she is welcome to stay with her instead of camping out in the cell. Lydia takes her up on the offer. And while Carol can be harsh, she seems to legitimately care that the teen remains safe. She even brings her the staff she trained with earlier but then pumps her for information about their prisoner. Lydia admits she does know the man and that he is in charge of watching Alpha’s horde. The man is loyal to his leader, which means getting any information out of him will be harder than Carol probably expects. Then, Lydia breaks down and admits she wishes she went with Henry the night he was killed. Maybe if Lydia was with him then he would’ve been spared the pikes. She will never know, but she does offer Carol some advice on her mother. Alpha twists truths to stay in power. The truth is her biggest enemy. She has convinced her people that what exists behind the walls of ASZ and Kingtop is not real. It’s all an illusion and her leadership depends on convincing her people that their way is the only way. Lydia suggest Carol show the prisoner the very thing he was told did not exist. Show him that a community like Alexandria can exist and that truth will be a crack in the wall of lies Alpha built. It might be enough for the Whisperer to turn on his leader.

While Carol thinks on this big reveal plan Gabe, Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas) and Siddiq head into the cell to check in the Whisperer. Now with the blindfold off, the prisoner tells Siddiq he recognizes him and they both know it’s from the that horrible night that obsessively plays on a loop in his mind. This upsets Siddiq who, even on the best days, can’t deal with the horror he witnessed. Gabe and Dante notice the Doctor’s mood changes and they tell Siddiq to take a break. Once outside the memories of Alpha come flooding back to him.

Good Cop, Bad Cop…

After the two ran into each other at the stream between their two lands Gamma and Aaron (Ross Marquand) decide to meet up again at the border with at least one of them hoping this new friendship will lead to information. Certainly, that’s Gamma’s motive. Alpha ordered her to play nice with the metal armed man so she can find out more about Alexandria and, so far, it’s working. Aaron reveals a lot of information about his home, including that they have fresh baked bread, art supplies and healthy children running free behind the walls. These are all things Gamma was told could not exist, so seeing Aaron pull out some bread and his daughter’s art project really makes Gamma question what is true. Aaron gives Gamma his daughter’s painting and the Whisperer takes it as she wanders back her camp.

Back at the ASZ prison Carol and Daryl decide to play good cop – bad cop with the prisoner. First, Carol offers the hungry man some toast and jam, which he hungrily devours and then spits in her face because who needs food when you have the glory of a benevolent leader like Alpha! Then, all Carol’s kindness goes out the window when he tells her he would have raped her if given the chance. Good cop is over and bad cop Carol puts on her wedding ring and then proceeds to pummel the patriarchal rape joker in the face until the taste of breakfast is replaced with his own blood. He is loyal to his leader and why wouldn’t he be? She killed her own daughter to ensure the entire group survived. At this declaration Carol sees an angle and catches a glance from Daryl that he knows where this whole reveal is heading. As a matter of fact, after the two take turns putting the proverbial boots to the prisoner Daryl chases Carol outside to warn her about what he knows she’s already planning. Carol wants to bring Lydia to their prisoner. If he realizes Alpha lied and risked her peoples’ lives to let Lydia live, he could turn on her. Daryl, who has been playing surrogate Daddy to Lydia since she came to Alexandria, tells Carol the girl has been though too much and he won’t have Carol using her to get to Alpha. The thing is Lydia has grown up in the Whisperer camp. She’s seen brutality and she walked with the dead wearing the skins of the living to mask her humanity. Would one meet and greet with a Whisperer really traumatize her so much? Daryl seems to think so and puts his foot down that they won’t be using her. Carol argues back that Lydia should be able to make up her own mind. The two friends are at a stalemate and Carol adds that Daryl knows this is the best way to get intel on the horde and finally disarm Alpha.

All the while this is going down Siddiq is checking on Rosita (Christian Serratos), who is no better and also upset she missed her call with Eugene (Josh McDermitt). The two parents sit in bed and joke about how unbelievable it is they have a child. Their banter leads Siddiq to admit he’s thought about putting the moves on his baby mama as of late and she admits Gabe wouldn’t even care. The two share a tender moment until Rosita starts a coughing fit and Siddiq realizes it is time figure out what’s causing this illness. He leaves Rosita to go check on Cheryl, who is not improving. The sick woman orders him to get some rest because he can’t be of any help to her if he’s half dead on his feet. The problem is that his awake time is dominated by trying to heal the sick while his nighttime is ruled by the memories of the pikes. Sleeping hasn’t come easy for the doctor, so he continues to push himself hoping he will uncover a clue to what’s making people sick.

Back in the jail cell the prisoner is breaking out in a cold sweat no thanks to the beat down he got from both Carol and Daryl. This onset of fever brings Siddiq, Dante and Gabe back to the cell to see if they can help him, but it appears to be too late. The prisoner starts vomiting blood all over Dante and then drops dead! Siddiq goes into panic mode and reaches inside Dante’s medical bag to see what herbs he gave the dead man, but instead finds a bottle of poison hemlock. This is obviously what killed the prisoner, but Dante swears he didn’t kill the man on purpose. In fact, he blames a distracted Siddiq for packing the wrong bottle of herbs in the bag!

Don’t Drink the Water

After bailing on her meeting with Aaron we see that Gamma is still holding his kid’s art project and not paying attention to her surroundings. That’s when a walker stumbles out of the woods and attacks her, but Gamma manages to slice him down with a pointy end of a tree branch. Alpha emerges from the brush and announces she’s been watching the whole attack unfold. She asks Gamma if she learned anything from Aaron, but the only thing Gamma reveals is that the man with the metal arm has a daughter. To ensure her little spy stays loyal, Alpha whips Gamma’s arm with a switch and reminds her that Aaron is a liar. What he says exists could never be true. All he wants to do is kill them.

Meanwhile, Siddiq heads back to check on Cheryl, but when he gets to her room she’s gone and her bed is stripped. He finds Dante digging her grave and it’s clear the sassy woman did not survive. This triggers a panic attack and Siddiq throws himself into the town’s water supply to cool off. Thankfully, Rosita witnessed Siddiq’s dramatic meltdown and jumps into the water to save him before he can drown. Wet and ready to finally talk about what has been going on with him, Siddiq admits that he was forced to watch as Alpha beheaded their friends. He fells guilty because he couldn’t stop her and thinks their deaths are partly his fault. Rosita shuts that down and reminds him there was nothing he could’ve done. Their conversation segues to the increasing number of the sick and how they all eat differently and lead different lifestyles. There must be a common denominator in making them all ill. Then, staring at the water supply signs that read filtered and unfiltered, it hits him. Water is the common denominator and it must be contaminated!

This leads us back to Aaron who is waiting for Gamma to return to their meeting spot. When she arrives she tosses his kid’s painting in his face. When he moves to pick it up he steps across the border and Gamma pulls out a knife and puts against his throat! That’s when Carol and Lydia show up to save the day. The two went on a mission to find out more information about Alpha but now Lydia is questioning Carol’s motives. When Gamma spots Lydia she knows Alpha lied to her and is so upset that she releases Aaron and takes off into the woods. Lydia then accuses Carol of using her and takes off over the border behind Gamma knowing she can’t be followed.

“Close Your Eyes…”

After being accused of killing the prisoner Siddiq goes to his room and Dante is waiting for him. Cue the big reveal! Dante clicks his tongue and immediately Siddiq flashes back to the night of the pikes. The person that was holding him back from helping his friends whispered, “open your eyes” and then clicked his tongue just like Dante! Dr. Dante is a Whisperer! At this revelation Siddiq attempts to gras his knife and the two struggle and fight with Dante eventually getting the upper hand and choking Siddiq to death! Sure, he’s a little emotional about killing the man he worked side by side with and even tells him he’s sorry while Siddiq gasps his final breath, but Alpha sent him to weaken the community and killing the doctor before his cover is blown is his only option.

There’s a traitor among them and with Siddiq dead nobody has a clue the good doctor is the one responsible for the keeping the community sick by meddling with the water filter taps! The only people who know he is a traitor are dead and this means Dante is free to destroy Alexandria from inside its own walls. Alpha is one step ahead of everyone and thanks to Dr. Dante and his Trojan horse addition to the community, it looks like The Whisperers are far more dangerous than anyone gave them credit for.