'Walking Dead': What Just Happened With Siddiq and DanteTheWrap

(Major spoilers ahead for the November 17 episode of “The Walking Dead” on AMC)

The mid-season finale of “The Walking Dead” is just a few days away now, and things are starting to get very serious as the truce between the communities and the Whisperers has become increasingly strained. War is coming. We just don’t know when. But with the way the situation continues to escalate, it’s hard to imagine the truce holding up much longer.

In the comic book version of “The Walking Dead,” the transition from peace with the Whisperers to all-out war was a simple one, but the dynamic is much more complicated on the show. In the books, as I wrote about last week’s episode, the communities were basically ignored by the Whisperers during the peacetime. The peace was only broken when the escaped Negan wandered into the Whisperers camp, joined up, and eventually murdered Alpha (Samantha Morton).

On the show, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has joined up with the Whisperers and might pull the same move that his character did in the comics, but there are far more variables at play in this version of the story. Gamma (Thora Birch) is a big one, certainly, as the Whisperer third-in-command was having a bit of a crisis of conscience in general that was extremely exacerbated when she found out that Lydia is still alive. Who knows what she’s going to do next?

Also Read: 'Walking Dead': What Did Carol Really See, and What Did She Hallucinate?

But an even bigger variable right this minute is Dante (Juan Javier Cardenas). At the end of this week’s episode, a generally traumatized and physically ill Siddiq (Avi Nash) started to put the pieces together about why so many residents of Alexandria were getting sick. He realized that really the only thing all the sick folks have in common, aside from all living in the same town, is that they all drink from the same water supply. And thanks to a water purification system that sure seems easy to accidentally screw up without anyone noticing, it appears the problem is just that everybody is drinking bad water.

But Siddiq didn’t know why or how that happened. Until the very end of the episode, when one of his PTSD flashbacks to Alpha’s brutal massacre from last season popped up again and he realized that Dante had been there too — as the Whisperer who had held his eyes open to force him to witness the carnage and tell the others what he had seen.

So, yeah, Dante is a Whisperer spy, and the episode ends with him apparently killing Siddiq. Though to be clear, while Dante certainly choked him out we don’t know if Siddiq is actually dead or if he’s just unconscious.

Also Read: Lauren Cohan May Return to 'The Walking Dead' 1 Season Earlier Than Expected

Either way, Dante is a pretty major wild card right now. He’s a character with no comic book equivalent, just like Gamma, and in the books the Whisperers did not have a spy in Alexandria sneakily sabotaging them from the inside like this. So we can’t look to the comics to figure out what this development means or what’s going to happen with Dante next.

But I maintain what I wrote last week — I think that the peace between Alexandria and the Whisperers will finally break down in the mid-season finale. That’s next week! I don’t know if the breaking point will be Negan murdering Alpha or whatever Gamma and/or Lydia after they each run off into the darkness, or if Carol and Daryl and the others will find out Dante’s identity and initiate war themselves.

Whatever it is, we’ll probably find out in a week.

'Walking Dead' Leaders Ranked, From Gregory to Maggie to Ezekiel

On "The Walking Dead," plenty have tried to lead, but few have been successful. Here we look back on all those who led others to safety -- or their graves.
Gene Page/AMC
14. Gregory (Alive) of the Hilltop Colony. Gregory no longer is in charge, thankfully -- he was maybe not the kind of leader anyone ever needed.
Gene Page/AMC
13. Deanna (Deceased) of Alexandria. Deanna helped keep Alexandria together early on. She was a great judge of character, but did not recognize the walker threat for what it was. She died after the walls of Alexandria fell, leaving the community to Rick.
Gene Page/AMC
12. Dawn (Deceased) of Grady Memorial Hospital. Dawn took charge of the hospital when her predecessor failed to keep people safe, but her practice of requiring forced labor in exchange for meds earned her no friends, and eventually led to her death.
Gene Page/AMC
11. Natania (Deceased) of Oceanside. Emotionally scarred by their brutal defeat at the hands of the Saviors -- after which Negan had every male above age 10 executed -- Natania sort of fell apart, like so many characters do, because of the trauma.
10. Gareth (Deceased) of Terminus. Gareth and his fellow Terminus residents promised weary travelers sanctuary, only to kill and eat them cannibal style. He became obsessed with getting revenge on Rick, eventually leading to his death at Rick's hands.
Gene Page/AMC
9. Hershel (Deceased) of The Farm. Hershel kept himself and his family safe on his farm during the early days of the outbreak, eventually offering shelter to Rick and his group. But Hershel believed that the walkers could be returned to human form, which proved a costly mistake.
Gene Page/AMC
8. Alpha Wolf (Deceased) of The Wolves. The Wolves were a savage group who killed anyone who had something they desired. The Alpha Wolf was a good killer, but his people were ultimately wild and undisciplined.
Gene Page/AMC
7. Joe (Deceased) of The Claimers. Joe and his group lived as nomads, taking what they want when they want. He lived by a simple code of justice, but did not bat an eye when he or his people needed to kill. He underestimated Rick, Daryl, and Michonne, getting every Claimer killed.
Gene Page/AMC
6. The Governor (Deceased) of Woodbury, Martinez Camp. The Governor was all charm and class on the outside, but his inner workings were that of a cold blooded killer. After the citizens of Woodbury abandoned him for Rick, he eventually took over another camp, and subsequently led them to their deaths at the prison.
Gene Page/AMC
5. Jadis (Alive) of The Scavengers. With all of her people dead now, Jadis is not actually a leader anymore. But when she was a leader, by "Walking Dead" standards Jadis was extremely reasonable for somebody who leads a group of people who live in a junkyard. And making Rick do gladiator fights with armored walkers was pretty funny.
AMC
4. Negan (Alive) of The Saviors. Also no longer a leader, but when he was Negan ruled The Saviors through a combination of charm and savagery. He's fun to watch!
Gene Page/AMC
3. Maggie (Alive) of the Hilltop Colony. Obviously, she's much better as the boss of the Hilltop than Gregory ever was, and her pragmatism is currently a pretty nice contrast to the idealism of Rick post-Carl.
2. Rick Grimes (Alive) of Alexandria. Rick is a natural leader who has guided his group through hell and back. He has led them through countless battles with the both the living and the dead is is still standing to tell the tale. But for how much longer?
Gene Page/AMC
1. King Ezekiel (Alive) of The Kingdom. His kingdom is gone thanks to the Saviors, but his legacy is still pretty solid. He kept that place going as long as he possibly could have, and he wasn't a coward when it came time to choose sides in the war with the Saviors.
Gene Page/AMC

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TheWrap looks back at the heroic and villainous leaders on the hit AMC series

On "The Walking Dead," plenty have tried to lead, but few have been successful. Here we look back on all those who led others to safety -- or their graves.

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