Be warned! This review will cover aspects of the episode. Spoilers will lurk like groaning walkers...
Like its fellow blood-thirsty series Game Of Thrones, The Walking Dead has often trotted out big deaths in penultimate episodes. And The Calm Before certainly carried on that tradition, hitting one of the most lethal moments in the comic books' run. More on that later, and if you're reading this at all before watching the episode, please... don't.
This week's show was very much building up to that big final moment, though of course we're left wondering what the team will do with next week's season finale. A lot of the run time here was given over to happier times, pleasant reunions for characters who haven't seen each other in years and various fair business.
Of course, we were warned from the opening moments that bad things would be happening, meeting two characters at the start who were a happy couple, celebrating their anniversary by heading to the fair from Hilltop. Yes... that wasn't going to last long, was it? And it actually tied in well with the rest of the story, Samantha Morton's Alpha stealing poor Hilde's (Caroline Duncan) blonde locks to sneak her way into the fair.
Allowing the show's characters a few moments of actual joy and celebration was a nice touch; there are too few chances for people to smile on the show. But of course it was all in service of the terrible discovery later, as, after he and some of the others were captured while heading to protect Hilltop, Daryl learns the terrible price the Whisperers have torn from the communities for keeping Lydia and taking out some of their group – 10 deaths (down from 12 in the comicbook version).
So it was time to say goodbye to a real mixture of characters, from the important (Tara! Enid! And, yes, if only in terms of the story, Henry) to the who-is-that-again? likes of Frankie and two of the Highwaymen. The impact was a little mixed – for all that we're not fans of Henry, he didn't actually deserve such a horrific death, but we're not sure we'll miss him from the narrative – but it was an effective moment of horror, carried all the more by the reactions of Carol and other regulars.
Next week we'll see how our heroes react to this latest act of violence by the Whisperers – if Siddiq's speech is anything to go by, it'll serve to draw them together – but the baddies have that massive group of zombies in their pocket. Still, at least Samantha Morton's leader continues to be different from some of the other villains we've seen. Her "survival of the fittest attitude" and the fact that she's quite happy for the communities to leave her group alone, and only strike if she's wronged. Until next week....
In summary
Highlight: The big stick reveal.
Lowlight: The return of teen angst with Henry and the rest.
Kill of the week: Tara. Did not see that one coming.
Quote of the week: "I don't know if there's a happy ending here" – Carol, who should know.
Zombie of the week: The giant horde of walkers rounded up by the Whisperers as a sort of doomsday weapon.
MVP: Samantha Morton's Alpha.
The big question: Snow was falling as the episode closed, the start of what Alpha promised would be a cruel winter. But Game Of Thrones may want its gimmick back. Oooh! Cameo from Jeremy The Night King? He likes zombies.
Read this season's reviews
Read last season's reviews below...
The Walking Dead* Season 8, Episode 10: *The Lost And The Plunderers
The Walking Dead* Season 8, Episode 13: *Do Not Send Us Astray
The Walking Dead* Season 8, Episode 14: *Still Gotta Mean Something
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9pm on AMC in the States and Mondays at 9pm on Fox.
