‘Tales of the Walking Dead’ Episode 3 Ending, Explained: How Did Dee Meet the Whisperers?
Welcome again to a new Ending Explained for Tales of the Walking Dead. The anthology series has become quite a breath of fresh air after only three episodes. The series’ format really allows for the world of The Walking Dead to feel more expansive and interesting than it is in the main series. We are able to go to different places, meet different characters, and be witnesses to different styles of tone. The first two episodes of the season were quite lighthearted, but with this third episode, we go back to the darkness.
The third episode of this season of Tales is titled “Dee” and if you have been watching The Walking Dead in these past seasons, then you know to whom that title is referring. This is basically the origin story for Alpha, the villain of both seasons 9 and 10 of the main series. In this episode, we see how Dee and her daughter Lydia live and then how they are forced to survive in this post-apocalyptic world. This episode could be considered a tiny picture where the entire Walking Dead universe can be encapsulated.
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Tales of the Walking Dead episode three. Read at your own risk.
How Was Dee Before Becoming The Alpha?
The episode begins in a very interesting way. The way it is shot gives us a very strange picture of the environment. We are definitely on a boat, but unlike other settings in the Walking Dead universe, things seem a bit different. Everybody is very well-dressed, the boat seems very well maintained as it floats down the river in the bayou, and people are having a party, laughing, teasing, and drinking with each other. It is quite strange. It is here that we are introduced to Brooke, the beautiful and competent leader of the boat.
Brooke has created a sort of heaven inside this old steamer boat. She is trying to keep some part of the old world alive, and all the survivors seem to think they are really in some sort of heaven. Lydia, Dee’s daughter, wants to be beautiful and proper like Brooke, and not like her mother, Dee. Someone cannot really adjust herself to being around all these people having a party when on the shore there are zombies just waiting to eat them. Dee is always on edge. Her experiences don’t allow her to keep her guard down.
Billy, a new recruit from a couple of weeks ago, even tells her that she looks like shit and that she should make a bigger effort. He says she needs to prove she is worthy of being on board. Dee doesn’t say anything, but she marks Billy immediately. She doesn’t trust her one bit. Meanwhile, Lydia keeps dreaming of parties, and fairies, and much more. Dee thinks Brooke is being a bad influence on Lydia; she’s selling the little girl a world that doesn’t exist.
Dee caught Billy sending signals to the show with a mirror, but no one really believes her. Brooke tries to mediate the situation, but when Billy sees that Dee has a knife in her pocket, he jumps into the river. Brooke is angry with Dee because she cost them a worker. Lydia sees the incident and goes to Brooke. She doesn’t want to be around her mother anymore, she is afraid of her. Dee threatens Brooke, that if she doesn’t tell her where her daughter is, then it will be her head. At that moment, the boat is attacked.
How Did Dee Meet The Whisperers?
It turns out Dee’s suspicions about Billy were completely correct. Billy comes back with weapons and five other men, with the intention of killing six people and then taking their place on the boat. He is definitely attracted to Brooke, and it seems as if he thinks they can go back to being a peaceful place after what he has done. He kills two other survivors, and he is ready to kill the rest. Not only that, but he thinks the boat is heaven that needs to be protected.
Dee thinks otherwise. She cuts the throat of one of Billy’s men and then shoots another. She jumps to the lifesaver boat where Lydia is and then starts rowing towards the shore. In the distance, the bullets and screams of the people on the boat can be heard. They are killing each other, and Dee will have none of it. She needs to protect her daughter; that is all that matters to her. On the shore, Dee fights some zombies. Lydia still thinks she can go back to the boat and go to parties.
They come across an RV park, and they find that it is outrun by zombies. Dee kills many and then leaves with Lydia. It is becoming more and clearer to Dee that Lydia is not able to survive in this world. Brooke did too much damage to her mind. Lydia even says she can hear the trees and the fairies calling to her, and she wants to go with them. Dee takes this as if Lydia is saying she wants to die, she doesn’t want to live in this world anymore.
Dee grabs her knife and gets ready. She is going to kill her daughter and spare her from all the suffering and misery of this world. However, she starts listening to the voices Lydia was talking about; they are not an illusion. They are real. The Whisperers appear before her, and they think Dee and Lydia can join them. They knock her out, but they will spare their lives. The episode concludes with Dee, now Alpha with her shaved head, talking to the mummified head of Hera.
