In the Season 10 finale of The Walking Dead, Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan has a “make or break” moment with his character when it comes to joining the final act of the Whisperer War. He has the chance to abandon the joint communities and flee, but instead, he chooses to disguise himself in the skin of a walker and go after Beta.

However, he has a very emotional moment with Lydia just before, where he leaves her a key asset that changes the complexion of the war drastically. Unfortunately, as great as the dramatic moment is, Negan’s big plan brings about a massive plot hole.

Negan has a discussion on identity and the future with Lydia, who wants to move past being Alpha’s broken daughter and prove to everyone they can trust her. He then leaves her mother’s mask after questioning if she belongs with people who don’t respect her, and heads out, leaving fans wondering if he’s really contemplating abandoning ship himself.

Negan told Daryl moments before that he was reluctant to go out there as the Whisperers would recognize his mask from the time he spent infiltrating and fighting alongside them, all so he could get close and kill Alpha. However, this is where the problem arises because what he does to Lydia is counterintuitive to his logic.

Giving her Alpha’s mask basically makes her a target because the Whisperers in the horde would know this impostor is someone in the alliance, and given how long they spent with Lydia, they’d figure out it’s her. Even if they somehow don’t realize it’s her, they’d still try to cut that person, whether she’s in the horde or roaming the wilderness for some other Whisperer to find. That said, Negan should have known she’d use it to go into the herd, and seeing as they have no clue as to Beta’s exact location, Lydia’s walking into a death trap.

In the end, this moment was done so Lydia could slither through zombies and get the loudspeaker so Daryl’s secret squadron could lure the walkers off a cliff. Sure, it provides a great moment of triumph as Lydia proves her worth as a hero, but Negan endangered her life. It’s also surprising that Negan kept the mask at all as it represented abuse and trauma for Lydia, which is why she tossed it over the cliff at the end. Ultimately, Negan should have discarded it from the start to kill the past, as it’s only kept in the show so Lydia can put her zombie-wrangling skills on display.

The Walking Dead Season 10 finale stars Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Josh McDermitt, Christian Serratos, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton and Cooper Andrews.