Whether Negan seducing Alpha was part of the plan is questionable, but Carol knew that charming, manipulative Negan could get close to the Whisperer leader — close enough to land a killing blow without her expecting it. There were also other inciting factors that pushed the former Savior to betray the Whisperer. Negan has his own version of a moral code (believe it or not), and while he’s cool with forcing multiple women into “marrying” him at the Sanctuary, he absolutely abhors rape and violence against children. This is why he killed the Savior who tried to rape Sasha and why he spared Carl in season 7 (although he later tried to brain the young Grimes to punish Rick).
While it’s Alpha’s encouraged rape culture that finally convinces Negan that the time is right to pull the plug on the Whisperer leader in the comics, the TV version of this scene plays with cringey sexual tension (they share one last awful kiss), as Negan leads Alpha to Lydia, whom he’s locked in a cabin but not the one her mother thinks. Negan says he’s captured Lydia for Alpha but he’s really done it to protect the young woman from her mother. After all, Alpha plans to let a walker feed on Lydia in a twisted ritual that she believes will fulfill her daughter’s destiny. But Negan won’t condone the murder of a child — not to mention that he’d already sacrificed his freedom once to protect Lydia — and tells Alpha that her beliefs are bullshit.
It’s no surprise, then, that when Alpha enters the cabin, it’s empty and her throat is cut open by her beau. Lydia, meanwhile, finds herself in a different cabin far from her mother and safe from harm. Alpha dies in Negan’s arm. One has to wonder if Negan actually developed any feelings for the creepy cult leader or at least pities her as she passes. Either way, he cuts off her head and tosses it at Carol’s feet. The Queen simply remarks, “Took you long enough.”
Here’s a scheme worthy of the very best moments in Game of Thrones, as we learn that Carol has been pulling the strings against Alpha the whole time while distracting her minions elsewhere. Of course, she almost got Magna killed and later did get a bunch of people in the Hilltop murdered in order to keep Alpha busy while Negan made his move. Was Lydia crossing the border back to her mother also part of Carol’s plan? She was the one who used Lydia to show Gamma the truth about Alpha, after all. Was she just creating a situation with which to send Lydia packing just to fuck with Alpha?
Perhaps some of this stuff was just a coincidence, but Carol has gone to great lengths in the past to get her way. Could she have masterminded the events of the last few episodes to avenge her son’s death? However deep this particular rabbit hole goes, we know that, at least for now, our Queen is victorious.
