Spoilers The Walking Dead - Season 9 discussion and spoilers

By "its the fact that he is Rick that the rules of reality were bent in that very specific incident in order to continue his story." is another way of referring to plot armor, not that Rick was immune to the virus.

Regarding the webisodes mentioned by The Wormhole, check out "The Oath"--

 

I know, Rick's reaction to the virus is my own theory, based on my ideas about the origin of the virus-- not that he's immune, but that it acted "correctly" on him. It also explains some other plot conveniences.

Fantastic, thanks for that link. I'll save it and watch it today.

 

The Walking Dead
Season 9 / episode 8 - "Evolution" - Mid-season finale

Michonne: Nice moment with Carol about both losing children and still being family, despite...whatever created the rift between communities. It begs the question if the "X" branding on Michonne & Daryl were the work of Maggie, others at Hilltop, or allies (e.g., the Commonwealth) during yet another war...

Henry: So he had a crush on Enid, only to have it dashed. Now that he's met new teenagers who like to
flout the rules, get ready for this emotional kid to break Carol's heart in one way or another.

Daryl: So, Daryl only made a couple of annual trips to Hilltop in the aftermath of Rick....

Magna / Connie / Kelly / Yumiko and Luke: Magna--like Merle, Simon, Gareth, and the Claimers has to be one of the most instantly unlikable characters introduced in series history. At least Michonne was able to draft some of them into service.

Rosita and Father Gabriel and Negan:
Negan passing time by playing catch in a Steve McQueen / The Great Escape way, and still playing the manipulative games with Gabriel (about Rosita), including his disgusting feces game.

...and who set Negan free?

The Whisperers: Although the fog-shrouded cemetery set piece was fantastic, Jesus had no reason to stay back. In other words, Tragedy Plot Convenience, but at least the true nature of the Whisperers was revealed.

NOTES: What the hell happened that Michonne, Siddiq and the others are so feared (hated?) by Hilltop's residents?

"They're not dead in any sense that makes sense."--Eugene's best line, and something one would have expected to hear early in the series.

Somehow, Negan makes it back to his Sanctuary, whistling that same, old tune….

Overall, the mid-season finale was satisfying and a strong set-up for 9B.

 

A VERY satisfying episode....but I am still sad about Jesus. I really liked him.

I really want to know what the hell Michonne/Alexandria did that pissed everyone off so much. Does it have something to do with the "x" scars Michonne & Daryl have?

 

Jesus's death was really sad. At least Daryl got the guy who killed him.

I did not expect Michonne, Magna and gang turning up at the cemetary. How did they find Jesus and Aaron in the fog ?

The blacksmith trainee kid is going to carry on Carl's storyline from the comics, i guess.

The midseason trailer is already out and i am looking forward to the rest of the season.

 

I was kinda hoping it was the case that the walkers had actually evolved. More human baddies, a bit bored of that.

 

Plot-enhanced senses, I imagine.

You mean Henry. I thought about his place on the show and how Gimple should not have killed Carl off. Chandler Riggs would have been great in this part of the storyline.

Same here.

Well, for a show...or a show creator that runs away from even explaining the basics of reanimated, cannibalistic corpses, I doubt the show would ever inch toward a concept like "evolving walkers" since that would demand an in-series explanation more than the original outbreak.

 

Which is exactly why I can't stand whiny teenagers, because usually their only purpose in a narrative is to do something stupid, and it didn't take this idiot long at all.

My bet is Gabriel, because as we've already seen, he's incapable of actually locking anything (a gate, a door, whatever) when he's feeling emotional, and he was worried about Rosita and pissed at Negan when he last closed the cell door.

 

Regarding how did Michonne find them... don't forget... Rosita woke up, so she would have at least described the place, to give them an idea where to go

Regarding the open jail cell... yeah, Gabriel forgot. But the GUARD that was there, and unchained Negan from his handcuffs… he didn't notice either??

Jesus' death was a surprise (well, THIS Jesus).. I wonder if this is what brings Alexandria to the Faire? And is this a stray from the comics? I know there was at least one major death due to the Whisperers... did they kinda bend that and is one of my favorite characters potentially safe?


I kinda don't like the big time jump (The Judith scene would have been a great coda or flashforward)... I mean, Fear had FINALLY caught up...and now it means that Morgan and company will NOT show up, and new storyline of him going back east will be an absolute waste.

The only possibility of reconnection is the Rick movies.

 

Certain aspects of the storyline maybe, for example I could totally see Carl and Enid having a falling out in the six year gap, especially in light of this horrible event that apparently went down between the citizens of Alexandria and Hilltop and being jealous of her having a new boyfriend. But I don't see the trying to impress the cool gang by getting drunk thing working with Carl. By the time he left the show, Carl was becoming an alpha himself respected by many of the communities leadership, including Negen. So he wouldn't be so concerned with trying to ingratiate himself with the teenage In Crowd.

Never mind that, shouldn't the outside door of the jail also be locked?

Indeed, Jesus is not killed in the comics.

Spoiler: comics

In the comics, Ezekiel is the one killed with the introduction of the Whisperers.

Although the event where that happens could still happen in the show, and IMO, is almost certainly how this season will end.

 

So, are they weeding out all the Brits from the cast?

 

Oh i did not know that the guy who played Jesus was British.

 

This was an exceptionally creepy episode. For a show about Zombies that's been on for nine years, we don't really get a lot of traditionally spooky scenes like being surrounded by the walking dead in a foggy graveyard. That was pretty cool. Well, except for the part where the Zombie dodged Jesus's sword fu and stabbed him in the back-- and whispered sweet nothings in his ear. And something tells me that Jesus won't be back in three days. And then we see Micchone freak out at the red blood on her katana and Daryl clipping the sutures on the corpse's skin suit. Brrrr.

After all the ominous scenes of Zombies behaving in new and weird ways, and engaging in strategy and other cognizant behaviors, as well as Eugene theorizing that they are evolving intelligence, it's almost kind of a letdown to know that it's merely a bunch of necrophiliacs leading the pack. But still, this is something bizarrely different for the survivors to deal with.

And on top of that, somebody forgot to lock Negan's door-- or deliberately set him free. I wish he would just freakin' die already.

In other news, we got some more gossip about the falling out between Alexandria, the Hilltop, and the Kingdom, but no solid information. Henry turns out to have some solid character, despite his teenage whining (and possibly had a secondary motivation for moving to Hilltop, but Enid is already taken). And the new kids on the block went with Micchone to save Eugene and the boys, so maybe suspicion of them is misplaced after all.

 

Maybe Maggie had Michonne and Daryl punished for something?

 

But why would they bother explaining it when they don't even explain how the dead came back to life, how the breakout happened or the origin of the virus. Making Walkers slightly more intelligent makes them more threatening and scary.

 

Hmm. I wasn't sure about the cliffhanger - I wasn't feeling very tense at the end of it. I think I was spoilt with the Rick cliffhanger already and this didn't live up to that.

Jesus's death was very telegraphed in the final scene - maybe it's because we're on season 9, and we're used to mid-season cliffhangers usually involve a lot of tension and loss? I'm sad he' gone though.

I thought the setting was very good though - all of the fog was very eerie.

If Negen is going to go full renegade now he's finally out, call me uninspired. I hope something more interesting happens with him.

 

I hope Henry straightens up, but his farewell with Carol was so teary-eyed, that it read like a tease of bad things to come.

That was a my point--they would not explain allegedly evolved walkers when they won't provide an explanation for the existing creatures that have always been there. However, if the walkers were not simply the living wearing dead skin, but a new form of walker, there would be no way for the showrunners to have the heroes ignore something so significant--something they never believed possible.

 

Maybe. TWD's mid-season finales have featured a number of major and/or notable deaths--

• S2: Sophia confirmed as dead
• S4: Hershel and The Governor
• S5: Beth
• S7: Spencer
• S8: Carl reveals he was bitten so he was pretty much a dead man standing
• S9: Jesus

...so the series will keep this tradition alive, probably until the end.

I see his trying to manipulate the Whisperers into a position where he can assume leadership (by getting current leaders killed). After that, who knows?

 

Hmm...interesting...so at mid season finales...expect a white person to die! A nice twist there.

I wonder how that is going to work.. Negan is so darn loud. Jadis would have made more sense in terms of taking over the Whisperers. And i wondered... were the Heapsters an attempt at a variation of the WHisperers? I wonder if they encountered each other before and / or influenced each other?

 

You're right. I did enjoy the rest of the episode. I really want to know why there's such a distrust between everyone after the time-jump. I'm also still finding the refresh very interesting. Can't wait for it all to come back in a few weeks.

A musical maybe?