‘The Walking Dead’ Season 9, Episode 15 Review: ‘The Calm Before’ Is Shockingly Brutal

Even though I’m not a reader of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic books, I’ve been waiting for a long time to see this episode. Doing what I do, it’s hard to avoid spoilers, so I knew we’d see pikes on a hill and I knew there would be heads on them.

I just wasn’t sure which ones. The final choices were . . . interesting. Of those brutally murdered by Alpha and the Whisperers in retaliation for taking Lydia (Cassidy McClincy), only three were anything like main characters. We had the two Highwaymen, just introduced, plus DJ, three of the teenagers, the blacksmith’s wife, and then the big ones: Enid (Katelyn Nacon), Tara (Alanna Masterson) and Henry (Matt Lintz).

Full list of the dead in order of appearance:

1. Ozzy
2. Highwayman second-in-command
3. DJ
4. Frankie
5. Tammy Rose
6. Addy
7. Rodney
8. Tara
9. Enid
10. Henry

I won’t compare this list with those killed in the comics except to say that it’s a very different outcome there. I really thought we were being set up to see certain characters die (Rosita’s pregnancy seemed like a sure thing; both Luke and Aidan seemed like potential goners; when they couldn’t find Ezekiel I thought the worst, etc.) but didn’t expect these three at all.