'The Walking Dead' Season 10 Episode 15 Review: Not necessarily a finale as Judith and Princess come in focus
Spoilers for 'The Walking Dead' Season 10 Episode 15 'The Tower'
For good reason, it's relieving this isn't the finale of the episode. 'The Tower' talks more about the survivors finding a sort of inner peace rather than prepping for the ultimate showdown with Beta (Ryan Hurst) and his multitude of walkers and whisperers. While the Princess (Paola Lázaro) storyline gets a fair share of screentime, the focus is on Judith (Cailey Fleming) and her relationship with Daryl.
In order or to escape Beta and plan ahead, Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and the survivors of Alexandria head to an abandoned hospital, which they refer to as the tower. As far as character arcs go, Lydia (Cassady McClincy) suffers to come to terms with her mother's death — and in what comes as a surprise, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) tries comforting her too, revealing his more human side.
Kelly (Angel Theory) and Carol (Melissa McBride) make peace after the former tells Carol about why her actions at the cave made sense. It may have trapped Connie (Lauren Ridloff), but Kelly still nurses hopes of seeing her.
The best storyline has to be Judith. It's not easy for a little girl to mature as quickly as she does. And deep down she hopes that Daryl (Norman Reedus) will be with her to take care of her. Their plotline sees Daryl kill a stranded whisperer and despite Judith's request to not abandon her, he doesn't heed to the child.
It is depressing when Daryl explains the grim truth to her about how he cannot promise he won't leave her. But no matter what, Judith would always have a family who'll take care of her in Alexandria.
Elsewhere, Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Yumiko ( Eleanor Matsuura) and Ezekiel (Khary Payton) have a tough time with Princess. The character — giggly, goofy and deadly agrees to help them find Stephanie. Instead, they go round the city, which also includes crossing a minefield.
While Princess finds this funny, she eventually realizes her mistake. The amusing part is her definition of wheels, which are actually bicycles. Not just do we get to a glimpse of Princess's backstory, this storyline also serves up some comedy in a rather emotional episode.
Beta's death is near and that's a prediction safe to make. With the horde behind him, his madness levels have risen considerably making him twice as deadly. There's also a minor plot that may have teased bad news for Alden and Aaron (Ross Marquand) as they follow the horde to keep the Tower posted on the developments. Except, they run onto a pack of Whisperers. The final minutes see a transmission that Daryl receives about Beta and his army about the Tower being surrounded.
The penultimate episode isn't action-packed and we can look at this battle spilling over to the upcoming season. With the finale date yet to be announced, questions like who will die, what's next for the survivors and what about Princess and the trio will remain unanswered. It's a bit of a wait and even after the battle, there'll still be enough plotlines that may carry over to Season 11.
'The Tower' is a quiet episode. It's driven by the emotions the key characters display and a villain who will stop at nothing to vanquish the last bit of survivors.
'The Walking Dead' Season 10 Episode 15 airs on Sunday at 9 pm ET on AMC.
