It shouldn’t take long for this idea to go south…

From all accounts, Dwight’s plan should fail.  After all, in addition to being in Whisperer territory, he and the other survivors are infiltrating the roamer herd in order to thin out the Whisperers from within.  In addition, they wouldn’t be able to distinguish the roamers from the Whisperers unless they heard someone speak.  In addition to presumably never having done this before, this plan had the potential to fail.

But these survivors are more than capable of dealing with a disadvantage.  You’ve gotta wonder just how many Whisperers there are, given that it took one a second to recognize that Michonne was not a member of their group.  And it’s not like Michonne made an effort to conceal her dreads.

Any Whisperer behind her would have noticed that, not to mention her sword.  We’re so used to seeing the survivors pick off roamers at a distance or do what’s necessary to keep them at bay, but there have been instances where they have to get in up close, like in “No Way Out.”

But hey, the plan worked and it helped the group weed out the herd.  In addition, I liked Dwight’s conversation with Laura about wearing the roamer skins.  There’s a practical advantage to this, yes: by wearing the skins, you conceal yourself and are able to hide among and influence the massive herds.  It’s about as doable of a plan as covering yourself in roamer guts to mask your scent.

However, it’s still pretty fucked up when you consider, as Dwight says, that you’re still wearing the skin of what was once a human being.  The Whisperers already do some pretty depraved things and have an outdated stance on rape- they’re a primitive folk.  And that’s not the kind of mindset or group that Dwight wants to be a part of, even with all of the horrible things he did as a Savior.

Not that Laura was trying to persuade Dwight, because she wasn’t.  I think she just saw the practical advantages since, hey, it has worked for the Whisperers thus far.  But yeah, aside from that, it’s still a pretty fucked up thing to do.

Speaking of the Saviors, I expect them to resurface and cause more trouble soon.  That or they’ll be confronted for their non-confrontational stance during this war.  Tara came to kill Vincent, and Heath saw right through her bullshit guise about wanting to return the horse.  As we’ve seen in the past, the Saviors have numbers and would be a great contribution to the war effort, but right now, they’re staying on the sidelines.

It makes me curious how this will impact their relationship with the neighboring communities, more so because you have Saviors like Dwight and Negan trying to do some goodwill and contribute to help the survivors.  Either way, once this war is over, I feel like there’s another skirmish coming between the communities and the folks at the Sanctuary.

By the way, I’m wondering if Beta may be a bit overconfident.  After all, he couldn’t have anticipated Negan getting the better of him or know about Dwight’s plan to also wear roamer skins in order to kill Whisperers.  We know that the Whisperers have a huge number of followers and roamer herds, so we will see if his confidence pays off.

Maggie’s admission to Dante felt very genuine and heartfelt for her character.  She likes Dante, yes, but her heart will always belong to Glenn.  If she entered another relationship, she doesn’t feel that it’d be fair to the other man because her mind would still be on Glenn. And she has a child now.  Part of Glenn will always be with her.

I like that this doesn’t end in an aggressive or confrontational manner, because that would have been the easy, cliche way to handle things.  Again, Maggie admits that she cares for Dante, but he’s not her husband and no man will be able to take Glenn’s place.  I like that. She’s not staying committed out of obligation, she’s doing it because she doesn’t have room in her heart for someone else.  Doing so would just be conflicting.

And speaking of conflicting, the attack on the Hilltop.  From images like the fiery arrows shooting out of the dark or Carl alerting the survivors that they’re under attack, it’s a well-drawn sequence of events from Charlie Adlard.

Like in “No Way Out,” it feels like an ongoing invasion that, as of now, looks to have no signs of stopping, given the massive herds of roamers that we’ve seen.  And with the gate coming down, this battle could rage on for an interminable amount of time.  I am very excited to see this fight continue.

Then we have Lydia making her stand.  She’s told Carl before how dangerous the Whisperers are, and while I don’t believe she knows what happened to Alpha, she has moved past them.  “The time of the Whisperers is over,” she says, and that is a great line to end the issue.  I want Lydia not only to prove her worth in battle, but to stick around for a long period of time.  It would be tragic for her to die in this war.

This was a great issue.  Dwight’s plan to break the Whisperers from within is working at the moment, but the waves of attacks continue as the Whisperers begin their attack on the Hilltop.  Can’t wait for part five.