'The Walking Dead': How to end the Whisperer threat once and for all without slaughtering them
Spoilers for 'The Walking Dead' Season 10 Episode 14 'Look at the Flowers'
With Alpha's (Samantha Morton) head removed from her body, then subsequently defaced to enhance Beta's (Ryan Hurst) mask, it's safe to say that the leadership of the Whisperers is somewhat in question.
Things are so confused that some of the Whisperer stragglers are even ready to put a newcomer like Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) in charge. Not that it worked out very well for them.
Without a head (literal or figurative), the Whisperers are scattered and there's never been a better time to finish them off once and for all — without having to kill them.
The Whisperers are a cult, plain and simple, and they've risen from the ashes of the world that came before. They've very much embraced the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality of the apocalypse, dedicating their lives to being one with the walkers.
It's an outrageous idea, one that requires great mental and daily fortitude — and one that can't allow for anyone leaving, or going against the cult, as Gamma (Thora Birch) found to her dismay. Gamma, however, is the hope that the Whisperer conflict can be laid to rest by offering the stragglers the hope of a better life.
Alpha was a classic leader. She recruited those who had no options, indoctrinated people with almost religious fervor, and reinforced the loyalty of cult followers with tests, extreme punishments, rituals and above all, harsh punishment to whoever would stray from the path.
With her gone, however, and Beta off doing his own thing, there is no one left to enforce those rules, and the Whisperers have a chance to be free.
Cult exit counseling — or deprogramming, as it was known when it embraced more controversial practices — is necessary for people who have spent a long time in the cult. One doesn't just leave a cult — its practices and beliefs stick inside the mind and are extremely hard to erase.
Two important things help reintegrate cult members with society — one is for former cult members to associate with non-cult family members, which is a large part of the reason why Gamma joining the survivors was so successful.
Another part is to try and recreate the environment that came before — a monumental task for survivors in the post-apocalypse world, but not impossible.
The survivors are already on track — with the hilltop, and with Alexandria, reclaiming the world that was lost to them. Rehabilitating the Whisperers is the next logical step - in fact, not just them, but people like Negan.
Both the Whisperers and Negan have been people whose worst sides were brought out by the apocalypse, but with the future being rebuilt, maybe it's a side of themselves that they can leave behind.
The next episode of 'The Walking Dead' airs on April 5 on AMC.