WARNING: The following article includes spoilers for The Walking Dead Season 10, Episode 11 "Morning Star," which aired Sunday on AMC.
At the end of the previous episode of The Walking Dead, Alpha resolved to take out the joint communities after a near-death experience at Daryl’s hands and another rejection by her daughter, Lydia. In the show’s most recent episode, “Morning Star,” Alpha is ready to follow through, and Hilltop is first on her list of targets.
THE WHISPERERS
The episode begins with Beta and the other Whisperers tapping trees and draining the sap. Meanwhile, Alpha and Negan are bonding by whipping each other’s arms. Alpha’s still recovering from her injuries so Negan’s reluctant to inflict more pain, but Alpha insists -- and then insists it’s Negan’s turn.
Later, the Whisperers lead their walker horde while hissing what may be the Whisperer equivalent of a rousing pre-battle speech. Negan, finally all skin-masked up, is right next to Alpha leading the way.
EUGENE
We haven’t checked in with Eugene for several episodes but apparently in that time his audio-only relationship with Stephanie has blossomed. They are even competing to see who can spot the most shooting stars each night. Stephanie tells Eugene he better not be cheating by counting satellites because she’s seen one recently. Eugene realizes she’s talking about the satellite that almost burned Oceanside down; that means the two of them must be close. He suggests they pick a time and place to meet in person. Stephanie is still cautious. She wants to discuss it with her people first.
ALEXANDRIANS
Meanwhile, the Alexandrians, including Aaron and Rosita, arrive at Hilltop. Earl notices Mary’s presence and asks Aaron who she is. Aaron explains she wants to see her nephew, Adam, the boy Earl and his wife adopted before his wife’s head ended up on a pike at the hands of the Whisperers. Needless to say, Earl is less than eager to give Mary access to his son.
CAROL
Carol has isolated herself at Daryl’s camp in the woods. Ezekiel seeks her out to comfort her. Carol rejects the gesture, but Ezekiel doesn’t leave. He sits down next to her, ready to be there if and when she need him.
KELLY
At Hilltop, Yumiko and Luke -- who has apparently returned from Oceanside -- are preparing to go to the cave to attempt to rescue Connie and Magna. Despite being injured, Kelly is determined to go with them. Luke is concerned about Kelly putting herself in harm’s way again, Yumiko is just preoccupied with Magna.
DARYL & LYDIA
Before Yumiko, Luke and Kelly can be on their way, though, Daryl rides up on his motorcycle with Lydia to inform them that they can’t leave because Alpha’s on her way.
ROSITA
Rosita seeks out Eugene but before she finds him, Stephanie signals Eugene on the radio. When Rosita answers, Stephanie goes silent. Eugene enters the room horrified. He tries to get Stephanie back but she doesn’t respond to him. Eugene is furious at Rosita for causing him to break his promise not to reveal his and Stephanie’s chats.
NEGAN
During a lull in the Whisperers' march on Hilltop, Negan approaches Alpha to offer some advice. While massacres are great, Negan suggests that instead of slaughtering everyone at Hilltop and Alexandria, perhaps it would be smarter to let them live and make them join the Whisperers. Alpha is willing to listen to his proposal.
HILLTOP
Yumiko sends two Hilltoppers out as scouts and then enters a meeting in progress. The leaders of the joint communities are debating whether they should stay and fight or flee. Lydia encourages them to go. Her mother’s horde is too big for them to stand up against. But many others wants to stay and preserve what they’ve created there. Daryl ends things on a compromise: They’ll take the kids to Oceanside and regroup there.
When they set out with the caravan though, they find the way blocked by a fallen tree and one of the scouts Yumiko sent out, who’s now a walker, strung up above it. Daryl recognizes this from his past experiences with Negan. He knows all the roads will now be blocked. They’re trapped at Hilltop and are going to have to fight.
The folks at Hilltop are scared. They only have a few fighters and no one from Alexandria or Oceanside would be able to get there in time to help. Earl ends up being the voice of encouragement. They have a militia and weapons, everyone just needs to get in the head space for the battle that’s coming.
CAROL
Carol goes to see Ezekiel in his room. She touches the handkerchief around his neck. He tries to play it off but Carol knows better. She kisses him and they sleep together.
Afterward, Ezekiel tries to joke with her but Carol doesn’t react. Ezekiel comments that she’s lost her sense of humor and Carol counters she left it on the dresser at the Kingdom before it burned down. Ezekiel says that he left his pride there too. Ezekiel asks if they would have gotten together if she didn’t think they were going to die that night. Carol feigns ignorance.
A bit later, Carol goes to see Lydia, who is sitting alone waiting for the fight to begin. Carol informs Lydia she’s going to kill Alpha. She wants to know if Lydia will hate her for it, but Lydia says she won’t be thinking about Carol then. Carol thanks her for telling the truth. Lydia points out that people don’t know how to do that anymore.
MARY
As preparations continue at Hilltop, Mary notices her nephew alone. She starts to approach him but Alden stops her. Aaron steps in to try to de-escalate things but Alden is unwilling to yield. Mary represents the Whisperers to him and she’s not going to touch Adam.
EUGENE
Later, Eugene is busy working on the electrical system when Rosita approaches him. She brings up Stephanie, but after what happened earlier, Eugene thinks it’s a lost cause. Rosita informs him that Stephanie likes him and proves to him that Eugene likes Stephanie too. She encourages Eugene to do what he needs to in order to reconnect with her.
Eugene returns to the radio prepared to make a grand gesture. He starts to sing a song he and Stephanie had talked about earlier. At first, she doesn't respond, but after a pause, Stephanie starts singing the next verse. She asks to meet him in a week in Charleston, West Virginia. Eugene is thrilled.
And the boost comes at the perfect time. A gaggle of rats has just come running out of the woods through Hilltop as the other citizens work on the community’s defenses. It’s a sure sign that the Whisperers’ horde is close. Rosita comes to get Eugene for the battle. Eugene is now determined to make it out of the fight so he can go on his date.
HILLTOP
The citizens of Hilltop are making their final preparations for the fight. Ezekiel gives Henry’s armor to Lydia, Aaron gives Mary a spear, Judith tries to reach Michonne over a walkie-talkie but doesn’t get an answer. A limping Daryl approaches Ezekiel and notices his neck. He asks if Ezekiel’s okay and Ezekiel tells him he has cancer. Daryl expresses his condolences but has something else on his mind. He proposes if something happens to one of them, the other gets the children out of the war zone. Ezekiel agrees.
Daryl then goes to talk to Judith who hasn’t joined the other kids yet. Judith wants to fight, but Daryl makes it clear that’s not an option. Judith insist she isn’t scared but then admits she’s worried about losing the people she loves from her little brother to her mom to Daryl to Carol. Then she presents Daryl with a gift for luck: a new vest with angel wings. Daryl puts it on immediately. He asks Judith to promise him that if Ezekiel comes to get her during the battle she’ll go with him no matter what. Judith agrees and watches as Daryl heads out to fight.
Carol finds Daryl during a final meditative moment at the Hilltop graveyard. She asks him not to hate her. He responds he could never hate her and walks away.
All the fighters in Hilltop await the horde in front of the gates in the formation they practiced. Kelly tests the ground. The horde is coming… And soon it's upon them. Hundreds maybe thousands of zombies.
At first the defenses Hilltop set up work well. An electrified wire splits some in two. When that fails, the zombies are held at bay by a barrier as the group takes out walkers one by one. There are so many, though, that soon the barrier is straining under the weight of them.
Meanwhile, from behind the horde, the Whisperers catapult the sap they collected earlier at the Hilltoppers. They’re all doused in it. It’s pine sap and it’s highly flammable. Soon burning arrows follow the sap and someone is quickly burned alive.
On the outskirts of the battle Negan approaches Alpha. He thought they were going for a surrender not a massacre. Alpha informs him that everyone at Hilltop will join her horde. Negan is impressed.
The Hilltoppers retreat just as the walkers break through their barrier but as they approach the gates, several more burning arrows light it on fire. The Hilltop fighters are caught between unending walkers and a wall of fire with no way out. Things are not looking good…
The Walking Dead stars Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton, Cooper Andrews and Samantha Morton. It airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.