Spoilers The Walking Dead - Season 9 discussion and spoilers

I seriously dig the Highwaymen wearing Civil War costumes. It's so weird and random, yet it absolutely feels right.

According to Talking Dead, an actual letter was written up for the actors to hold in the scene where Carol, Ezekiel and Jerry are first discussing them. Among the various demands listed was "paperback books. Preferably fiction, but we'll settle for almost anything. Absolutely no romance."

 

You know I think one of the things I look forward to the most is just seeing which movie is picked for when we get to see the big scene of everyone watching it. Well I don't know if that will be a scene but if it isn't I think it will be seen as a big letdown. I guess it will come from something AMC has the rights to or whatever bigger company owns AMC. Could they play "Love Actually?" Let's see the final scene with Rick Grimes and the cue cards.


Jason

 

Makes sense, really. Virginia is home to tons of Civil War reenactors and living historians. Black powder is easier to make than cordite and ball rounds equally as easy with lead, a fire pit, smelter and molds. Very sustainable and a lot of those guys have all that equipment and clothing, and easily know how to last for years on 19th century tech.

 

Well, this episode was pretty good and had some interesting developments. Daryl and his Doom Patrol had a nice little showdown with the band of Whisperers who were coming after them, and even Dog got to kick some Whisperer butt. Daryl himself got into a knock-down drag-out battle with Beta, which ended with Beta going down an elevator shaft. But in an ending reminiscent of James Bond movies, Beta is not done yet. You beta beta you bet. Meanwhile, the bonding between Daryl and Connie continues-- who knows, maybe it is leading to a romance. And young love continues to blossom for Henry and Lydia, although I still don't trust Lydia at all. Not because I think Lydia is a mole, but because I think she is severely conflicted-- it's the new and improved versus the old and familiar, Zombie Apocalypse style.

And over at the Kingdom, a new threat arises-- those painted glyphs were left by a band of robbers called The Highwaymen-- and apparently defused by the magic of Hollywood. The Highwaymen are now working as privateers for the Kingdom, apparently, although there is some unease. I really hope that they integrate into the Kingdom and don't betray Ezekiel and Carol. It would be a nice change of pace to see that civilization has climbed back up to a place where it's more profitable to be a part of it than to prey on it. Also, I loved the look on Tara's face when the riders came to the rescue.

Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain.

 

They've stated that Zombie movies don't exist in this universe...

 

I don't like this season.

1) The whisperers are losers so far. All they do is lose. There hasn't been a single episode where the whisperers got an undisputed victory over our protagonists, the way Negan did for over half a season.
2) The tone is very cartoony now. The thing that made Walking Dead interesting in the beginning is that it played a zombie apocalypse straight.
3) The tone is also too light. I know the previous seasons were criticized as too dark, but jumping from "all out war" to robbers joining our heroes in order to watch a movie? Too fast.

 

4.83 for this Sunday's episode as the ratings continue to recover from two straight Sundays of intense competition. This is the highest rating in a month. Also, the highest since the Rick exit drop off.

 

Should we start calling it the Rexit?

 

I kind of agree. I mean it's still okay for the most part just like I felt the last couple of years of "X-Files" or "Stargate" were okay but the magic is kind of gone. Most of my favorite characters are gone and the show tends to focus on some newer characters that just don't really interest me that much. I have also noticed the tone is more light. In fact I think the characters are a little to civilized. I kind of liked it better when they felt almost as dangerous as the bad guys and RIck went to some really dark places on the show. Now the good guys are very clearly the good guys and the bad guys are clearly the bad guys and it's a little to much, traditional tv for me that only works in something like "Trek" where I kind of like the show to be more uplifting even when it's tackling serious issues.

Jason

 

I think for me it's that the show is still fine, maybe even good, but it just isn't Walking Dead, and I didn't sign on for starting a new show...

 

Oh, shit. I didn't realize they needed your permission for that.

 

gtfo of here with this.

 

The Who reference for the win!

I thought about that and hoped it was going in that direction. Not since his time with Beth in 4B has Daryl come close to feeling more than friendship with a woman.

Yeah, she's not finished serving her mother, and Henry is too love-struck to see that she's not the refugee he imagines her to be.

Were is it light? After a couple of seasons of he Saviors and major character deaths, i'm not seeing the light part of this series.

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You cannot have the protagonists always on the edge of, or actually operating in darker parts of their personalities, or there's no contrast with the villains, and too many moral lines are blurred. That's what happened to Rick from 5B until the end of last season. He--or anyone else--is not a hero when they're (constantly) just as immoral as the villains.

 

Well they don't need to be hero's. They just have to be slightly less bad than the bad guys. As for light I think it might come down to the fact that we now have somewhat stable and established towns. They still face some danger but risks aren't quite the same. You have like 3 towns to visit. A way to big cast to a point where many characters get sidetracked. I'm not sure why the show can't always be on the edge.

Of course at some point that can get old which was one issue the show use to have. . Find a safe place only for it to be destroyed and have to movie on. Which case means the issue could be the show has simply stayed on tv for two long. Perhaps there simply isn't much story left that hasn't already been done or is worth exploring. So your right now got a show that is sort of running out of gas but you still have enough elements around that people like to make it still, okay viewing. I can't think of the last time the show did something that was actually a improvement on what the show has already done. Other than making the zombies come alive I am not sure what is left that would really blow my mind at this point.

Jason

 

Hit the nail right on the head. The allure of the show was the non-stop tension. Death was always right around the corner. And hit another nail on the head with the fact that even that tension was getting old. The options at that point were to either end the show, or have it to change into something quite different, and they chose the latter.

 

Very dark events are still occurring, but the tone of the show has changed. No way would any other season have these highwaymen or the king's mission for a bulb.

 

We still do not know anything about the Highwaymen to make a judgement about the tone of the characters, and the bulb is just a random "day in the life" scene to show how the Kingdom deals with regular life (it cannot be plotting for battle around the clock), but that does not represent a shift for the entire series.

 

You don't understand what I'm saying.

 

No I think you're not getting the consistency of the show.

 

On screen? I was kidding anyway.

This is what I've been waiting for for a long time. At some point civilization needs to recover. Enough with the wandering around meeting little mob bosses. And as they're rebuilding civilization, we've got these grimy little necrophiliacs wearing human skins to provide contrast.

I was thinking about that, as well.