The Walking Dead Review: Ghosts (Season 10 Episode 3)
Believing someone is important in the walker apocalypse; but believing yourself is just as important, something Carol finds herself challenged by on The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 3, “Ghosts.”
The fear of the unknown marks another episode of psychological tension, as the episode opens up the compelling thought of how far these characters are willing to push themselves, mentally and physically, to fight the stress, the trauma, and the worry of protecting one another.
This continues to be a strong angle to take The Walking Dead, as it internalizes the threat and makes it as paralyzing as the external. There have been so many losses over the seasons, but the ones caused on The Walking Dead Season 9 Episode 15, “The Calm Before,” will not let go, and it’s coming out in unexpected ways.
The walker onslaught opening the episode is one of the more chilling images The Walking Dead has played with so far this season, creating this sense of doom as there is seemingly no end in sight. The way the episode frames it initially as Whisperer retaliation and an attempt to wear them into submission creates this boiling point that makes the inevitable meeting with Alpha full of unpredictability.
The land grab by the Whisperers adds to something that The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 2, “We Are The End of the World,” managed to put into question: how big are the Whisperers, really? The fact that they can be everywhere and see everything makes their numbers either spread thin or larger than expected, and the fact that it’s left to the imagination is a smart way to approach them as an enemy.
That Alpha also wants to bait the main characters by bringing them to a place filled with emotion is a sign of how little regard she views them with. Samantha Morton plays the scene with this strange calm, as though she enjoys the hate Carol sends her way. Perhaps she sees Carol’s penchant for violence and rage as similar to her own, a mirror image of sorts.
Carol’s psyche, as a crux of the episode, leaves a lot of potential for Melissa McBride to play with. There’s so much pain in her performance, closing off almost everyone around her apart from Daryl. It’s what makes the realization that Daryl’s story is something Carol hallucinated or dreamed all the more affecting, as she’s so withdrawn that moments of openness turn out to be figments of her imagination.
The most painful of those moments comes when she sees herself with all of the lost children from over the series, showing that tragedy and remorse are so prevalent in her character. The reason for her mental deterioration is because her memories and survivor’s guilt have seeped into every fiber of her being to the point where it’s all-consuming and bleeding into her reality.
The loss of time playing into the paranoia of the Whisperer threat is a great mechanic to toy around with throughout the episode, that the mind can be just as dangerous as the external threat. But the fact that Michonne and Daryl are questioning Carol’s fitness, and that the Whisperer they’re hunting turns out to be real, shows that the time for paranoia is indeed at hand.
It will be interesting to see if this thread will continue, and if Carol’s ties with the group are too far gone now, not only from their not believing her, but Carol’s own hesitation that the long-standing bonds she’s made with the others aren’t as solid as she originally thought.
Aaron and Negan are a pairing that comes as a surprise. The animosity is still clear between them, and so testing that with Negan’s potential escape and his means of playing with Aaron’s life comes as a sign that although Negan may not be entirely redeemed from his playfulness, there is some redemption in there, buried deep, as he comes to rescue him in the end.
Aaron’s blindness creates another terrifying factor for The Walking Dead, where vegetation growing on the walkers can now become incapacitating. The environment constantly adapting now makes everything far more threatening, which makes Aaron’s arm attachments, including the mace, a fun but necessary function in this new normal the characters find themselves in.
The Walking Dead Season 10 Episode 3, “Ghosts,” takes the internal and causes it to inform the external. The Whisperers are everywhere, and only Carol, so far, is seeing that. Her need for revenge may be clouding her judgment, but the intent is clear enough. Whether or not further cracks create an effect on relationships remains to be seen, but the hint of those cracks are a compelling factor going forward.
One thing is for sure: The Walking Dead is using emotion as a powerful tool to strike at the hearts of its characters, and it’s becoming a stronger show with that in mind.
What did you think of this episode of The Walking Dead? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.