Warning! SPOILERS for The Walking Dead season 10, episode 10 ahead.
The Walking Dead has just given very good reason to believe that Beta is the real threat of season 10. After an incredibly dark midseason premiere, The Walking Dead season 10 is kicking the Whisperer War into the next gear with a devastating attack on Alexandria.
Already, the survivors begin The Walking Dead season 10 in a tricky situation, with several characters trapped in a cave with Alpha's walker horde. The season 10 midseason premiere sees most escape, but thanks to Carol triggering a collapse by detonating dynamite in a last ditch attempt to destroy the horde, Connie and Magna are trapped inside. Their fates still remain unknown, but before the others even reach Alexandria to share the news and possibly get volunteers for a rescue, the community is attacked in the dead of night. Beta is prowling the streets of Alexandria, and no one is safe.
In The Walking Dead season 10 episode 2, "Stalker," Beta secretly invades Alexandria, traveling through a system of tunnels and rising undetected from Dante's grave in the community's cemetery. He then walks through the darkened streets, entering homes and murdering the unsuspecting residents within. Beta's victims, of course, become walkers and begin preying on Alexandria as well, only adding to the ongoing threat. The entire sequence is one of the most terrifying The Walking Dead has ever filmed, and it pulls heavy inspiration from horror movies like Halloween and Night of the Living Dead. More importantly, though, its placement in this episode only highlights why it's Beta and not Alpha who is the real Whisperer threat in season 10.
In contrast to Beta's murderous rampage, Alpha spends this week's episode locked in a grudge match with Daryl. After the collapse of the cave that traps Connie and Magna, Daryl goes to hunt for the Whisperers and discovers Alpha leading a pack of walkers. He follows her and attacks, but quickly takes several hits and becomes badly injured. Still, even with Daryl's weakened state, Alpha is unable to finish him off. She eventually winds up just as beaten up as he is, pursuing Daryl to an abandoned building where they both collapse from their wounds. Lydia arrives not long after, and upon seeing her daughter, Alpha asks Lydia to kill her and lead the Whisperers herself. Lydia refuses and instead helps Daryl to escape, but the very fact that Alpha is seemingly ready give up doesn't suggest she has the conviction to carry on as the Whisperers' leader.
Beta, on the other hand, is extremely committed to the Whisperer way of life, even more so than Alpha. It's what makes him such a devoted follower of Alpha's, but it's also why there's no one better at being a Whisperer than Beta. In "Stalker," he's fully embraces the Whisperer mentality, rising like the dead to silently stalk and kill the living. The clear allusions the episode makes to iconic horror movies - for instance, Judith shooting Beta and him later getting up, reminiscent of Halloween - work so well because Beta has been established as an unstoppable killing machine. Now, The Walking Dead is juxtaposing that against Alpha's inability to kill one badly injured man and her wish for death, and it makes a strong argument for Beta becoming the new Whisperer leader.
In The Walking Dead comics, Beta does assume leadership of the Whisperers following Alpha's death, so there's already a precedent. Granted, Alpha is still very much alive on AMC's The Walking Dead, but there are several characters who want her dead, and it may not be long before one of them can do the deed. If so, Beta would clearly assume leadership just like he does in the comics, and given the devastation he's able to accomplish in this season 10 episode, that would be very bad news for the survivors in Alexandria.
The Walking Dead season 10 continues next Sunday, March 8th with "Morningstar" at 9pm/8c on AMC.